Abortion Legalization?
With a new administration in the U.S. and a new horizon for everyone, there is a very important topic we’d like to discuss: ABORTION.
To date, it has been getting fresh attention in the news with Texas’s new law allowing “one of the nation’s strictest abortion measures, banning the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.”
At the fulcrum of the abortion debate is one prominent disagreement: when human life begins. Does it begin at conception? At the first heartbeat? At the birth itself?
Those who are against abortion often believe that life begins at conception, when a fertilized egg implants in the uterine wall and a womb-owner is officially pregnant. Therefore, abortion—to those with this perspective—is legalized murder. Simple as that.
So how, we must ask, do we continue a conversation across paradigms? If we believed that abortion was murder, we, too, would fight for the government to ban it. The problem is that there is no scientific answer as to when life begins. “Life” as a concept remains subjective.
Where do we go from here?
With what we do know: the impact of abortion legalization on women’s health is significant.
Paradoxically, abortion bans have not reduced the number of abortions taking place (Faúndes and Shah, 2015); they have simply resulted in riskier procedures as women are driven “underground” to have them performed. (Cates et al., 2003).
Furthermore,“abortion-related maternal mortality in Romania fell by 67% and by 40% in Singapore after induced abortion was legalized.” (Singh and Ratnam, 2015)
In reality, access to abortions merely ensures safety, support and choice to womb-owners.
❥ If you’ve had an abortion and need to talk to someone…
We’ve listed some of the bigger abortion hotlines and support resources. Talking to someone can go a long way in helping you heal and process your experience.
The Hope Clinic
✍ Text "HCFW" to 797979
📞 Or call (615) 321.0005
Exhale
✍ Text for support: 617-749-2948
📅 Weekdays 3 p.m. – 9 p.m.
📅 Saturday 1 p.m. – 9 p.m.
📅 Sunday 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
All-Options
📞 Call 1-888–493-0092
📅 Monday-Friday, 10 am – 1 am Eastern
📅 Saturday-Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm Eastern
Connect & Breathe
📞 Call 1-866-647-1764
📅 Tuesdays-Thursdays, 6pm – 9pm Eastern
📅 Saturdays, 10am – 2pm Eastern
Are you curious about learning why abortions are healthcare and how to break down the many ways people with vaginas have been put down and made afraid of their bodies by the patriarchy?
Watch or listen to our episode with Rachel Holt (founder of About Your Body), wherein we learn this and much moooore!
