Bodily Autonomy: Abortion
According to Positive Women’s Network USA, “Bodily autonomy is the simple but radical concept that individuals have the right to control what does and does not happen to our bodies.”
“Bodily autonomy is about the right to make decisions over one’s own life and future. It is about being empowered to make informed choices,” the United Nations Population Fund points out.
The idea of abortion can be understood through the lens of bodily autonomy—should humans have the right to do with their own bodies as they please? We shouldn’t even need to ask.
Abortion
“An abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy. It is a basic healthcare need for millions of women, girls and others who can become pregnant. Worldwide, an estimated 1 in 4 pregnancies end in an abortion every year.”
— Amnesty International, Key Facts on Abortion.
According to the NHS, “An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It's also sometimes known as a termination of pregnancy. The pregnancy is ended either by taking medicines or having a surgical procedure.”
There is evidence that suggests that penalizing abortion doesn’t reduce the number of abortions that take place:
“The number of induced abortions will be reduced through education and access to effective contraception. To criminalize abortion only causes suffering and deaths, particularly in less privileged countries and among the most marginalized sectors of society—exactly the group of women whose health and well-being FIGO has the duty to protect with all its capacity. Making safe termination of pregnancy broadly available is, paradoxically, one of the means that will help reduce the number of abortions.”
— Anibal Faúndes and Iqbal H. Shah, Evidence supporting broader access to safe legal abortion
Some facts about abortions from the Bed Bible:
“Six out of 10 of all unintended pregnancies end in an induced abortion.”
“Around 45% of all abortions are unsafe, of which 97% take place in developing countries.”
“Comprehensive abortion care is included in the list of essential health care services published by WHO in 2020.”
“Countries and health systems could make substantial monetary savings by providing greater access to modern contraception and quality induced abortion.”
“Lack of access to safe, timely, affordable and respectful abortion care is a critical public health and human rights issue.”
The Argument Against Abortion:
Some individuals declare themselves pro-life, which is known as “the belief that all human life is created equal regardless of size, level of development, education, and degree of dependency. Consequently, by this definition, taking the life of a preborn baby is a violation of the fundamental right to life,” as stated in Focus on the Family.
At the heart of the discussion of whether or not abortion should be legal, there seems to be a disagreement about where (or better when) human life actually begins. For example, the Pro-Life Action League states in their page Life in the Womb that “Biology is clear that at conception, also known as fertilization, a unique organism comes into existence. Since this new life possesses human DNA and is the offspring of human parents, it can only legitimately be described as human life.”
In other words, abortion very much equals murder in the pro-life movement.
Food for Thought:
While agreeing on where exactly does a human life begin can prove to be very difficult, there are some realities we might want to consider when it comes to deciding what the law should dictate about abortion for citizens around the world.
The right to a safe abortion is part of people's exercise of their reproductive rights and their bodily autonomy. People who choose to have abortions, among many other reasons, might be thinking about how:
Not all children who are part of the adoption system get to ever have a family.
Unwanted pregnancies can impact the lives of the parents in multiple ways, which could have an impact on the children.
“Most of the mothers and about half of the fathers reported having less money and struggling more financially post-birth as compared to their pre-pregnancy financial situations,” highlights a study by Kavanaugh et al. (2016)
“While people of all socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds get abortions, about half of all individuals who obtain one live below the federal poverty level. When someone already struggling financially is denied care, it puts them in an even more difficult economic situation,” as pointed by Diana Greene Foster, a professor in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco out in an NBC News coverage.
"Major and colleagues found that women’s self-esteem levels were lowest and depressive symptoms highest just before having an abortion, with immediate improvements observed from the period before to the period after the abortion," point out Biggs et al. (2019)
Unwanted children might not face the same conditions planned children do. There has been a variety of studies that have set out to understand the effects it can have on a child's development to be unwanted vs. to be wanted and different correlations have been found. See:
Comparison of Health, Development, Maternal Bonding, and Poverty Among Children Born After Denial of Abortion vs After Pregnancies Subsequent to an Abortion: "We also found that children of women denied an abortion experienced poorer maternal bonding than did subsequent children of women who received an abortion."
Addressing Japan's fertility decline: influences of unintended pregnancy on child rearing: "The data analysis suggests that unintended pregnancy has a higher risk of leading to negative child-rearing outcomes."
Some birthing people might find themselves unexpectedly pregnant while being in abusive relationships or having experienced a difficult childhood, which could make it less likely they feel comfortable with the idea of parenthood and might increase the likelihood of children growing up with an abusive parent per their mother's relationship.
It is true that many of these considerations are also in the minds of people who have planned pregnancies; for example, bringing another person into the family will always require more financial resources—people should have the right to decide whether or not those are responsibilities they can, want and will take on.
"The right to choose when you have a family, when you have a baby, or to not have one at all is literally your chance to live life to your fullest potential. Abortion is a form of contraception."
At the end of the day, we are allowed to hold the beliefs that best serve us, but it isn't our job to impose our beliefs into the lives of others to control their actions.
This is part of bodily autonomy: freedom.
Roe vs. Wade
You might have already heard about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Utilize our Abortion Rights Protest Resource List to find a protest near you. Know a protest we don’t have on the list? Email us: info@mysexbio.org.
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