Many people have a lot to say in
regards to the female body when it comes to reproduction. Many believe that
abortions should be illegal and obsess over whether the mother is being
“selfish” in her behaviors while carrying the child. These are often the same
people who will do nothing to help insure the health of the baby after birth. Strangers
in public have taken it upon themselves to tell pregnant women what they should
and should not put into their bodies. Who are we to tell anyone what she should
or should not do to her body? However, when it comes to a fetus, everyone feels
that they should be able to express their opinions while the opinion of the
mother often goes unheard or ignored.
When a woman gets pregnant, she is
no longer seen as her own person. The pregnant woman is responsible for
providing a safe environment for her fetus for nine months and then is expected
to drop everything for the next 18 years to raise her child. Once a woman
becomes pregnant, societal standards dictate that her life is no longer her own
and to think of herself as independent would be selfish. By making sure the
fetus is given the best chance at life despite what it may do to the mother
provides the fetus with rights no other person has.
Access to reproductive rights has
often been used as a weapon in order to threaten women into making choices that
aren’t truly theirs. The case of Walker
v. Pierce demonstrates how the doctor in question would not treat patients
that were poor and pregnant with their third child unless they agreed to
sterilization after giving birth. These women were likely desperate and needed
medical attention and for the sake of their well-being and that of their child
agreed to a procedure that they ordinarily would not have. Women, especially
those with limited resources, are often coerced or forced into making certain
decisions, regardless of how they feel. Depo-Provera was often used as a form
of coercion and illustrates many issues regarding reproductive rights. Firstly,
this drug was proven to be harmful to women and was not even approved to use on
animals. Additionally, women were not educated on the side effects and access
to any form of welfare was often threatened unless the woman agreed to receive
the injection.
Given the most recent election and
current political climate, reproductive rights are likely to be threatened and more
precarious than they have been within the past few years. Many women fear how
Donald Trump and Mike Pence will influence their future medical care and the
options available in order to express reproductive freedom. In the final
presidential debate, Donald Trump promised to abolish Roe v. Wade immediately, thus leaving the decision of whether
abortion should be legal to individual states. Whether he is actually able to
do this is another story, but it leaves many people panicking. If decisions
regarding abortion were left up to the states, many women would be left without
the option of abortion, resulting in women seeking unsafe options or traveling
out of state, which is not feasible for everyone. With the abolishment of
abortions, an influx of young, poor, pregnant women would likely ensue because this
demographic would not have the resources available to take preventative actions
or seek help after. These women would give birth to babies and likely not have
the resources to care for the child, and the cycle continues.
Donald Trump’s vice president Mike
Pence is anti-abortion and has been a force behind the movement to defund
Planned Parenthood. While abolishing Roe
v. Wade could limit access to abortions, the defunding of Planned
Parenthood would further reduce women’s access to important healthcare
resources. Planned Parenthood provides women many services in addition to
abortion to insure women receive the comprehensive reproductive care they are
entitled to. Most of the care is preventative and educates those who come
through the doors. It is estimated that Planned Parenthood manages to reach 1.5
million youth alone per year. Along with the centers spread across the country,
the website can provide online users a lot of information in a private setting.
Under the Obama Administration,
strides were made in order to insure that women have access to contraception regardless
of whether their employer and the insurance company agrees and that Planned
Parenthood receives reimbursements from Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
These strides have declared that to do anything of this nature would be
breaking federal law. While the Obama Administration has made leaps and bounds,
these accomplishments will not necessarily be safe under the Trump
Administration depending on who is appointed attorney general. On public
forums, women have been advising other women to get the contraceptive IUD,
which can be effective for up to 12 years. The IUD is a form of birth control
that would not be influenced by policy if the patient chose to get the implant
soon. However, this is yet another example of how women are strong-armed into
making choices that are not entirely theirs. While personally an IUD sounds
scary, if that is the best option in order for me to have access to effective
and reliable contraceptives, I would probably make the choice to get an IUD.
Women have also been recommended to stock up on Plan B and other emergency
contraceptives incase Planned Parenthood and other purveyors of emergency
contraceptives are defunded making these products hard to come by.
Ultimately, despite the opinions of
politicians or of her next door neighbor, what a woman choses to do with her
body should be a decision that is ultimately her choice. It is her body that will
experience the aftermath of an abortion, it is her body that will carry a baby
for 9 months and be encouraged to take vitamins and limit alcohol and caffeine,
stop smoking and eat a well balanced diet. Her career will be affected at least
by maternity leave or if she chooses to stay at home with her child could be challenging
to continue years down the line. She will be taking care of the child for the
next 18 years. And if her spouse chooses to stay home so she can work, that is
their choice, but the mother will continue to be criticized for being selfish
enough to choose her career over child rearing. Regardless of the decision
made, it is likely not an easy one and not one that is made at the drop of a
hat. Men often make the argument that they would love to carry a child, and
while they say that, it is impossible. Until it is possible for men to carry
their children, the woman should be the only one in charge of her body and in
order to do so, we must have full access to our reproductive rights.
