Pro Choice

Cagan 1 Erica Cagan ENC1103.036/Prof. Bieze December 2, 2011 Word Count: 1147 Her Choice If a woman doesn’t have control over her own body, than does she have any control at all? Abortion has fostered one of the most controversial, contentious and ethical debates in the United States. People divide themselves into two groups: pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life argues that abortion is murder, and the mother has no right to take the life of a potential child. Prochoice “ refers to the political and ethical view that a woman should have complete right over her fertility and that she should have the freedom to decide whether she wants to continue or terminate her pregnancy” (Bose). In 1973, the Supreme Court made it possible for woman to obtain a legal abortion from well-trained medical surgeons which was a giant step forward for women’s rights (Pomeroy). Undertaking an abortion is a woman’s choice and any proposal to take away this autonomy not only violates a woman’s civil rights but would also cause many more problems in regards to a woman’s health. A woman’s autonomy is the one thing no one should be able to take away from her. Abortion is an extremely private matter that the government has no right to interfere in. If the civil rights of a person entitles him or her to not have unwanted infringements by the government and the government tells a woman that she cannot have an abortion, then is this not a violation of civil rights? Without abortion, woman would be condemned into pregnancy which “forces them into submissive roles in society” (Pomeroy). Pregnancy denounces women to “second class citizenship, since in our society, mothers are second class citizens. Once a woman becomes a

Cagan 2 mother, her resources to education, employment, and health care become severely limited” (Pomeroy). Society has no right to control what happens to a person's body, and does not try to do this to men's bodies in such a manner, so abortion “has equalized women by giving them