Every woman should have the right and opportunity to access safe and legal abortions if they choose. Today, abortion laws and restrictions vary by state. Abortion is legal in Montana for now unless Joe Biden decides to change abortion laws. Biden recently said, “Reproductive rights are a constitutional right. And, in fact, every woman should have that right.” If abortion were to become illegal, women who were sexually assulted would be forced to raise a child on their own, even if they are not in the position to raise a child, not to mention being reminded each day of the traumatic experience. On top of these reasons, it is unfair to the mother to be eternally attached to a father they do not love.

     Women should not be forced into motherhood after being sexually assaulted. Many rape victims are young girls who can barely take care of themselves. How can a child be expected to give birth and raise another child? According to the non-profit Human Rights Watch, young women have “less access to information about safe abortion.” This can be made much worse since women rarely have access to adequate “sexuality education in schools,” meaning women are often unprepared for unplanned pregnancies.

     About 44% of pregnancies are unplanned, meaning the woman was not expecting a child. Raising a child is a huge responsibility, and many women aren’t willing to give up their life to stay home and take care of the child, especially if the father is not in the picture. The Irish Times published an article discussing how abortion is “fundentally about childcare.” An unplanned pregnancy often leads many single mothers to “give up their education, move back home, or give up their jobs.” A woman should not have to give up everything she has worked for to become a parent if she does not want to. 

     Unplanned pregnancies often force the woman to raise the child herself because the man is not ready to be a father or does not want to become one. There are many reasons why the father leaves. Maybe they wanted to have kids someday, but they did not foresee it happening yet. According to an article published by the Institute for Family Studies, many men respond to a “partner’s pregnancy with anger and distrust” which often causes them to leave their partner. No one should have to raise a child on their own and women should not have to be eternally attached to someone who will not love and support them while raising their child. 

     Abortion has always been a controversial topic of discussion. People have conditioned their minds to believe that women should not be allowed to have an abortion if she was not seually assultued. Many people believe that men should have a say in whether or not their partner should have an abortion. In Joe Bialek’s article published by The RiverDale Press, he states his opinion that “abortion today is used primarily as a birth control,” meaning people just think of it as another way of preventing pregnancy because they “are too self-centered to take precautions.” However, even if a couple takes precautions during sextual intercourse, there is still always going to be a risk of pregnancy. People also think abortion is wrong because there are other options such as open and closed adoptions, however many women do not want to go through nine months of pregnancy.

     I believe that abortion should stay legal because women should not have to be eternally attached to someone they don’t love, or give up everything they’ve worked for because of an unplanned pregnancy, and most of all women and young girls should not be expected to give birth to their rapist’s child and have to be reminded of the traumatic experience everyday.