Hello. Today, I feel we need to talk about a woman's right to choose. To be pro-choice means believing that women can decide on their own, based on their personal beliefs, health, and life circumstances, without government interference. Let me repeat myself: I am pro-choice, which does not mean that I am pro-abortion. Each person's situation is unique and that needs to be recognized. If abortions are banned, we are taking away all individuals' options to make their own person decisions on when or whether to have a child. People would lose the freedom of how they create their own families. Resolved, abortions should remain legal.

Many believe that abortions are morally and religiously wrong. This decision is a personal choice. Different religions believe different things. The Bible tells us that we are not living with a soul until we are born (Dixon). That is why in Christianity people are "born again" and not "conceived again". Women even had abortions in the Bible. It specifically states in the Bible, "When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the women's husband shall lay upon him," (Dixon). This means that the only one who punished someone who aborts a fetus is the husband. Therefore, abortion is not considered a sin according to the Bible, and abortion does not apply to the statement "thou shalt not kill". Many people choose not to believe in a god. In this case, religious immorality is not an issue. Not everyone is a strong believer in the Bible, so should the government decide they are by banning their right to abort an unwanted fetus because someone else believes that it is religiously wrong?

Making abortion illegal is also unsafe. If it is illegal, many people will abort the fetus in an unsafe way, either by hurting themselves or going to an unsanitary back-alley doctor. Let me compare it to prohibition. No matter what, people wanted to drink. So, when it was illegal, people found ways to go past the government and illegally sell it. The same will happen with abortion. To have less health risks, abortions need to remain legal. Less than one percent of all abortion patients experience a major complication associated with the surgery when a licensed doctor performs the abortion legally. The risk of death associated with childbirth is about 11 times higher than those associated with abortion according to a study by Planned Parenthood. Therefore, legal abortions are safe.

Next, there is the case of rape and incest. I believe that in this situation, abortion should be an option. Let us say that a fourteen-year-old girl is raped and becomes pregnant. Should this girl have to ruin her life by having the child, dropping out of school, and raising the child? Also, should the child have to deal with growing up in an unhealthy environment, whether it is in an unstable home or an orphanage? I believe that if a person is not fit to raise a child, then the child does not need to be brought into a situation which is harmful to it's mental or physical health.

I would like to touch on the issue of "partial-birth" abortions. "Partial-birth" abortions and regular abortions are two completely different things. "Partial-birth" abortions are performed in the second and third trimesters, and entails inducing labor, delivering the baby's torso, and crushing the baby's head. I consider this method of abortion disgusting and brutal. A partial breech delivery is not technically considered a "birth" at common law because the head is not delivered; however since most of the body is delivered, I believe that this should be banned. A woman has the right to choose, but within a certain timeframe. If a woman decides to abort a fetus, she has plenty of time to have an abortion during the first trimester, when no physical destruction of the fetus is necessary. This gives her three months that decision.

In conclusion, aborting a fetus during the first trimester should continue to be legal. Abortion is not a sin and does not contradict the Bible. We need abortion to remain legal to insure the safety of every woman who decides to abort a fetus. This gives women their freedom of choice and freedom of safety. The only immoral situation would be if women's rights to make their own families were limited.