Body And Reproductive Rights

One of many battles in the war for women’s rights and equality is that of body and reproductive rights. The struggle continues as women are threatened more and more by bills and laws that will restrict their choices and rights regarding what they can and can’t do with their own bodies. Limiting a woman’s choices and freedoms by enacting laws that prohibit abortion is wrong and can harm a woman mentally, physically and emotionally.
One case that does not always come to mind when people think of abortion is the case of women and couples that originally wanted and planned to have a child. In many of these cases, the women discover that their pregnancy would have severe complications, health risks, or that the baby would eventually not survive. …show more content…
They could have become pregnant at a very young age, they can’t afford to have or take care of a child, their pregnancy threatens their health, they have an unfit home life in which to raise a child, or they could have become pregnant due to rape or incest. Yes, sometimes women of these circumstances choose to keep the child and are happy down the road with that choice. However a woman, who does not want to or cannot, should never be forced to keep the child. There are many arguments made against women getting an abortion under these circumstances. In the case of pregnancy by rape, pro-lifers often argue that “the child shouldn’t have to suffer for the sins of the father”. However, they do not consider here the suffering of the …show more content…
In many cases it can cause serious psychological damage, depression, anxiety, insomnia and much more. In some cases after the child is born, women sometimes find that no matter how much they’d want to, it is extremely difficult to accept the child and realize that it is not to blame. According to an article in The New Yorker titled, “The Legitimate Children of Rape”, a British psychologist named Joan Raphael-Leff works with and writes about rape victims who become pregnant as a result of the attack. She writes sometimes the woman “feels she has growing inside her part of a hateful or distasteful other...the fetus who takes on these characteristics is... barely tolerated or in constant danger of expulsion, and the baby will emerge part-stranger, likely to be ostracized or punished.” Although, this is not true in all cases of pregnancy due to rape. The article also states that one woman says that her son, who was conceived by rape is an “entrapment beyond description”. It goes on to state that eventually the child developed psychological issues and social services removed him from the family. This reveals that denying women abortions can cause severe emotional distress for the woman, but it can also negatively affect the unwanted child down the