Pro: Hands off my body by Benjamin Hanson
Roe v. Wade needed to be overturned to allow the people and the government of the United States to create a better system. A system that understands that abortion is a human right and not a civil right.
The Supreme Court accepted that abortion falls under a woman’s constitutional right to privacy in 1973.
Civil rights are defined as the rights a person gains that allows them to be a member of a governed society, such as a right to free speech and to vote.
Your civil rights are an agreement between you and the country you live in. Your human rights are the basic rights afforded to you simply because you are human.
Abortion shouldn’t have been codified as a civil right, when it clearly is a basic human right for a woman to choose what she can do with her body.
When a person needs medical attention, it is not their civil right that allows a doctor to provide care without any prejudice, it is their rights as a human. Why isn’t the same said about abortion?
At least 15 states have banned abortion since the overturn while 61% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal.
Roe v. Wade provided U.S. citizens a civil right to an abortion for almost 50 years. But it should’ve been seen as a stop-gap only, one that ensured women could seek a safe abortion as the government worked to define it as a human right.
The U.S. could look at different abortion laws across the world and see how their citizens have responded.
41 of 47 European countries legalize abortion “on a woman’s request or broad social grounds.” The time limit on when abortion is legal varies across each country, but within the first trimester is widely accepted.
Australia decriminalized abortion in 1998 and has a federal system in place that allows abortion across each state. Time limits vary between each jurisdiction, but the federal law is upheld.
The United States is almost deeply divided on every issue, due in part to its political party system and the freedom of expression.
But a new federal law that allows abortion to be legal in every state, while allowing each state to determine the gestation limit and reasons allowed for abortion is the best way to keep every citizen happy.
Roe v. Wade needed to end to ensure the government and the people of the U.S. could work together to create a new federal law.
The Woman’s Health Protection Act is one step closer to a better country for women’s bodily autonomy.