Imagine this: you've graduated college, settled down, have been married to the love of your life for a couple of years, and now you are ready to start a family. You both want a child to raise and to love. You have longed for starting a family since the day you said "I do" and you have been trying to get pregnant for a few months now. Each month you get hopeful that this time you are pregnant and that you are finally getting the beautiful baby you have been waiting to have, yet again you were extremely disappointed. You go to the doctor and have tests run and out of nowhere you find out you will never be able to carry a child. Just like that, all of your hopes and dreams have been crushed. Imagine what it is like to go home and tell your husband you cannot give him the child he wants, or the family you have both hoped to have for many years. Better yet, imagine what it is like to be the husband in this situation. Your wife feels like she has let you down, you're both devastated, and you need to be able to comfort her. Many couples face these devastating situations everyday. There are other ways to start a family when the woman can not become pregnant; however, those ways are not feasible for everyone. You can have an in vitro fertilization or adopt; however both of those are very expensive. How do people really handle this situation? 

All around the world every day people are facing the tragedy of knowing they cannot ever have children; yet at the same time, other women are choosing to terminate their pregnancies. Perhaps the fact that people are okay with ending the life of a child rather than giving that child and a couple that cannot conceive the opportunity to have a loving family is the bigger tragedy in the world today. 

An abortion is when a woman purposely ends the life of a baby before the baby is born. This is a controversial issue in America today, and has been for the past 40 years. The first major argument regarding abortion was the Roe vs. Wade supreme court case in 1973. Jane Roe wanted to terminate her pregnancy; however, the Texas law at the time would not allow her. In fact, in most states at this time abortion was illegal unless it was a life-threatening situation for the mother. According to Planned Parenthood, "Roe has come to be known as the case that legalized abortion nationwide" (Roe V. Wade: It's History and Impact). In the years since, abortion has maintained its place as one of the "hottest" topics in American controversy and especially in political debates.

 There are two sides to the argument on abortion, "pro-life" (meaning regardless of the situation, no woman should ever be allowed to have an abortion) and "pro-choice" (meaning a woman should have the right to choose what to do with her body, including whether or not she wants to carry the child to term or terminate the baby's life). There are many reasons people choose the side of the argument they do.

 Pro-life supporters believe abortion is wrong because it is murder, that everyone should have an equal opportunity at life, it's dangerous, or for religious reasons. Another key factor in people being against abortion goes back to the scenario of a family not being able to conceive a child. So many people would love to have children but can't afford adoption, yet people who are lucky enough to be able to conceive are having abortions. Every day in America someone is killed and people are upset over it, because murder is wrong. If there are no questions asked about whether or not a person was in the wrong for killing that person, then there should be no questions asked when about whether or not it is wrong for a woman to have an abortion. When she chooses an abortion, she chooses to take a human life. America being a country founded "under God" brings up a great deal of religious controversy when the topic of abortion is brought to the surface. One important verse that helps Christians to form their opinion regarding abortion is found in Proverbs 6 when the seven things God hates are talked about, including God hating "hands that shed innocent blood" (New King James Bible, Prov. 6:17).

 The reasons people support the pro-choice side of the situation vary a bit more than pro-life. Some believe it is a woman's right to have an abortion whenever she pleases because it is her body. However, the vast majority of people who are in favor of women having a choice feel this way because of rape victims, teen pregnancies, bringing the child up in a bad home, or aborting the baby in order to protect the mother from potential danger when delivering the child. The battle in America regarding abortion has been a constant one for many years and the laws have changed several times along the way. 

 According to the current law, women can terminate their pregnancy for any reason; however, the laws in our country truly need to be reexamined to see how it is a contradiction to allow the murder of a baby that is not yet born, while saying murder of anyone else is morally wrong and illegal. Both sides of the argument have understandable and valid reasoning for their beliefs. It would be a very tragic experience to carry a child for 9 months being reminded daily of being raped. It is unfortunate that many times in today's society babies are brought into bad homes and have to be raised by people who do not really care for them. There are so many factors that play into the decision of this law, and there is no way to please everyone. While the government can not please everyone in their decision for whether or not abortions should be legal or illegal, it would still be the better option to go with the more morally correct choice which is making abortions illegal in the United States because an abortion is taking a human life.

Over the years, the United States has been back and forth with the abortion laws changing them multiple times and often attempts are made to add more stipulations to the law. In 1973, the Roe vs. Wade supreme court case made abortions legal in the United States. In the years since, it has been left up to each individual state to choose under what circumstances one can have an abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, as of March 1, 2016 there are many different circumstances the different states take into account when it comes to abortion -- including: physician and hospital requirements, gestational limits, "partial-birth" abortions, public funding, coverage by private insurance, refusal, state-mandated counseling, a waiting period, and parental involvement. All 50 states have their own laws regarding each of these situations, some states making it easier than others to obtain an abortion. 

Many of the people who are a part of the pro-choice party agree with women having the right to choose because they "feel bad for girls who have been raped" or because "it would be better to not bring a baby into that home situation". Both of these are very valid arguments.  Just because someone committed a crime, that should not give the woman the right to end the life of the child. So many people want children, but cannot conceive them and they would want nothing more than to have a baby, why not give them the opportunity by putting the child up for adoption, rather than terminating the pregnancy. Unfortunately, in today's society many people have drug problems, bad home situations, or are just too selfish to actually care for and raise a child. All of these issues along with others could definitely cause many potential issues in trying to bring a child into the family. While all of these are true facts and honestly quite scary facts to face, the innocent baby in the situation should not be the one to take the blame. It's actually quite ironic that people who support abortions consider themselves to be pro-choice. They say they are pro-choice due to human rights; however, the baby never once gets a say in whether or not he or she gets a chance at life. Maybe it should be "mother-choice" because that is really all it is. The child never has a chance and it is unfair to the precious baby.  As Ward Ricker says, "Abortion is wrong because abortion kills little human beings. That makes it, purely and simply, a human rights issue, involving the most basic of all human rights, the right to life". All humans should have an equal right and the equal chance to good for this world.

Currently there is another supreme court case regarding abortion taking place involving the Texas laws, "Whole Women's Health vs. Hellerstedt". In this case, people are fighting against the current Texas law that requires abortion clinics to be within a certain distance from the hospital. According to the Los Angeles Times, people are upset by this law because it is forcing abortion clinics to close and they believe that rather than trying to make abortions safer, it is actually another tactic to eventually get rid of abortions completely. This case is just one example of how the argument has continued to grow since the biggest case in 1973. Since then, modern medicine has only grown.

If women do not want to have babies, then perhaps they should take advantage of the preventative options provided. For the most part any doctor will prescribe a girl some sort of birth control and there are many different ways for women to obtain birth control (the rod in the arm, an old fashioned pill, a permanent insert, and several other options). Planned Parenthood is an organization that is very well known across the America and is very supportive of women having the choice on what to do with their bodies. Planned parenthood will provide women with birth control at no charge. It does not really make since as to why girls would not take advantage of getting birth control for free only to end up paying for an abortion because they do not want to have a baby. There are so many options to help prevent a woman from needing an abortion that it should never been an issue. Even if a woman is raped making the situation out of her control, she could put the baby up for adoption. 

There is really no easy answer to the question of whether or not abortion should be legal. There are most definitely terrible situations that an innocent child has no business being raised around and it would be very hard for a mother to have to carry a child after being sexually assaulted. However, these are not valid reasons for taking a human life before the child ever has a chance to make a difference in the world. Rather than focusing on the mother's human rights, we should focus on the baby's human rights. Abortion should be illegal because abortion is taking the life of a human being. Abortion is murder. 

Go back to imagining your life as the young newlywed family that wants to have a baby. It has been a few more years now and although they told you that you would never have a baby, you have continued to try and have hoped for a miracle. Finally, you and your husband have lost hope in conceiving a child; therefore, you have decided to look into adoption. The local adoption agency works with you to help find a child that will be a good fit for your family. Imagine now the agency you have been discussing your journey with puts you into contact with a young girl that has been raped. You meet this girl when she is only a few months pregnant. She does not want to have an abortion; however, she is only a young, single college girl and could not imagine raising this child on her own. So, for the last six or seven months of her pregnancy you can build a bond with and grow to know the mother of the baby you will have the opportunity to raise. She has a healthy baby after nine months and it turns out to be a winning situation for everyone. The girl had a chance to be impacted by the couple who would be taking her child, the girl had a chance to help the precious couple who otherwise would not have been able to have children, and the innocent baby will now have a chance at life. This is a much happier ending than the mother choosing to terminate the pregnancy, leaving the baby with no chance to live and the other couple no opportunity to have their family.

