Abortion: The Right to Choose

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Abortion: The Right to Choose

The reelection of President George W. Bush holds potentially significant consequences for women's rights, particularly a women's right to choose. Abortion, a hot button topic of main stream society, was first made legal in the United States with the Supreme Court's landmark case of Roe v. Wade in late 1973. The Court's current configuration favors abortion and a woman's right to choose by a five-to-four vote. But many political and Court analysts believe that these next four years will give President Bush the opportunity to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court, a President and administration that Senator Hillary Clinton says, view "Roe v. Wade [as] the biggest abomination of The Constitution in our history ." A champion of the pro-life cause, President Bush will most likely fill any open spots on the Supreme Court with conservative justices holding an anti-abortion stance, thus putting Roe v. Wade at risk of being overturned and giving individual states control over abortion laws. These next four years could very well be a turning point for women's right in America. Although pro-life groups see abortion as a murder, it is my conviction that abortion rights should be preserved because it is a woman's right to have self-governance of her own body, life begins at birth not conception, and it protects the health of the mother or fetus giving the child the opportunity to live a fulfilling life.

During a recent march of abortion rights supporters and pro-choice advocates in Washington D.C., Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League said, "[It] is about the totality of women's lives and the right to make decision about our...

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...clinics would be even more detrimental to society than upholding the system currently in place.

No doubt, abortion is a highly controversial subject able to evoke highly charged emotions on both sides of the issue. Yet, it is my firm belief that abortion is a woman's right that needs to be preserved. Women who opt to have an abortion will do it for different reasons based on their individual circumstances. A child should bring joy and happiness for a family, welcomed into a world of love and warmth. Unwanted pregnancies only create an environment of neglect for the baby by parents that were not prepared for such a big step in life in the first place. It is a woman's right to decide what to do with her body and life. Taking away Roe v. Wade and abortion rights is taking away a woman's right to self-governance, her right to choose what to do to her body.

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