Abortion Restrictions

Week #7 Article #1

Tomlinson, Chris (2013, October 20) Next round in fight over abortion restrictions. San Antonio Express News- Associated Press

http://www.expressnews.com/news/texas/article/Next-round-in-fight-over-abortion-restrictions-4911456.php

Category of problem: Health/ Medical

Level of problem: State

This article concerns:

The looming abortion restriction in the state of Texas, and how and when these restrictions will go into play unless something is done.  

Importance/affect on families/individuals:

This is important to families and individual because it will affect when, where, how, and under what circumstances a woman can get an abortion. By adding all of these restrictions, the state in control of the options a woman and her family has.

My input:

I feel that the state is infringing on a woman’s right to decide whether or not they want an abortion, and how and when they want to go about it. Deciding to have an abortion is a hard thing for a woman to do, and no one should interfere with her choice, because it is in fact her choice. No one knows what it is like to be in a certain situation but the woman affected, so It should be up to her what to do. The state wants to infringe upon these women's rights by limiting the use of pill induced abortions and making it so that a woman can only get an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy if the mother is in danger because of the pregnancy, or if the child itself is not going to survive. And this law that comes in to play at the end of the month is not where it stops. Next year in October, the law will also restrictions on where an abortion can happen. This will not only limit resources for women, but it will leave many clinics shut down. It is really unfortunate when people try to push their beliefs on other peoples situations. The state of Texas has made itself clear on its conservative stance on abortion, but that doesn't mean that they should take peoples right to resources away, nor should they take away the right to a choice of whether or not to have an abortion. The conservative males who govern our state should not be making these decisions that cut off women's resources. If you are against abortions all together, then that is great that you have a stance on the issue. However, you cannot expect others to have the same stance. By closing down clinics, limiting resources, and making abortion choices at the government level, this will leave women who are in certain circumstances to go to unlicensed, unhealthy places to have an under the radar abortion. This should not be something that can be cut off. Texas has taken the stance to not only cut off education on how to prevent pregnancy all together with condoms and birth control, but they have also said "You know that abstinence only sex education that ended with lots of teen pregnancies? Well guess what! Now you can't have an abortion either." If conservatives are so against abortions, why not teach pregnancy prevention and get rid of the needs of unnecessary abortions all together...just a thought.