Is the government slowly taking over our lives? They control whom we can marry, whether we can vote, the information we have access to, and now they want more. In 1973,
the Roe v. Wade trial gave the constitutional right to safe and legal abortions. So why do women struggle every day to find access to it? People still argue that abortion is murder, even though abortions are a safe way to end a pregnancy because It reduces maternal death and injury, gives women control over their bodies, and makes it less likely for women to suffer mental health illnesses.
A study conducted in 1988, indicated 3 major reasons as to why women get abortions. In the study, seventy-five percent of the women reported getting one because they thought the child would interfere with work or school. Sixty-six percent said they could not afford to have a child, and fifty-percent said that they did not want to be a single parent or had problems in the relationship.
Despite the information, there is a misconception that women use abortion as a method of birth control. Most of these women want to wait until they older or in a more stable position to raise a child. We have to consider these two facts: Women are fertile for over 30 years of their lives and contraceptives are not 100% effective. So it is completely possible that despite taking preventative measures, that a woman gets an unwanted pregnancy.
So why is this an issue in the United States. This is because the people and politicians are not on the same page. The U. S whether it be due to race, education, political affiliation, gender, or age. Pew Research Center reports that in 2018, 58% of U.S adults believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases while 37% believe it should be illegal in all or most cases. Politicians have been restricting access to abortions since it was made legal. One example of this is the federal ban on abortion coverage. All 50 states prohibit the covergae of abortions in insurance in some form. . Throughout some states no one can get a plan that covers abortion. In others it is limited to those on Medicaid, federal employees, and/or those who health insurance comes from the new health care exchange.
The Federal government threatens the funding for contraception and family planning services, while ignoring policies that would promote parenthood such as paid family leave and affordable childcare. Without understanding the consequences or the process, White Republican Christian males enact the majority of these policies that hurt these women. Twenty-one states limit abortions based on the age of the fetus. In Iowa, for example, it is based on when doctors can hear a heartbeat, at six weeks. Arkansas and Texas enacted laws allowing health care providers to withhold information about a woman’s pregnancy to prevent her from potentially getting an abortion. This is before most women know they are pregnant. In 2017, Twenty-nine states enacted at least two abortion restrictions that are not based on any scientific evidence.
These are the exact reasons why so many women have to go through D&E abortions. D&E stands for Dilation and Evacuation. These are done in the second trimester of the pregnancy. The method was first used to fully remove the fetus from the uterus after miscarriage. Some women have D&E abortion due to health issues or because they discover fetal abnormalities later in the pregnancy. Other women have D&E abortions because of the barriers that prevent them from getting one earlier. A study, Late Term Elective Abortion and Susceptibility to Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, done in 2010 showed that the top 2 reasons for late term abortions were not realizing one was pregnant(71%) and difficulty arranging an abortion(48%). Compared to abortions done in the first trimester, D&E abortions pose a more serious threat to women’s health The risk of complication jumps to 50% in the second trimester from a mere 3-6% at 12-13 weeks gestation.
