I.

Introduction/Thesis Statement
A. Thesis: Reproductive rights such as the right to have an affordable abortion,
contraceptives,and paid maternity leave demonstrate why it’s important to have
reproductive justice.
II. Reproductive Rights
A. The right to have an abortion/affordable abortion
1. All women should have the right to abortion if they choose to do so.
Regardless of whether or not they have the resources or not, it does not
matter.
2. When speaking on whether or not a woman should have an abortion,
we’re debating on whether she can have her reproductive autonomy
(​Fried​)
3. Legal, illegal, violent, or peaceful, threats have been made towards
abortion access over the years. (Fried)
a) “seven people involved in abortion
care have been murdered since 1994, and over 80% of
clinics which offer abortion services have experienced
violence, threats and serious harassment.” (Fried)
b) Hyde Amendment (1976)
(1) The amendment “restricts federal funding for abortion for
women receiving Medicaid except in the cases of rape,
incest, or when the woman’s life is endangered”
(​Engstrom​)
(2) The hyde amendment is clearly an barrier for women to
have an abortion
(3) Abortions are not cheap and if someone is on Medicaid, it
is clear that they probably won’t have the resources to pay
for an abortion.
(a) Without insurance, the average cost of a first
trimester abortion is $470. (Engstrom)
(b) The average cost of a
second trimester abortion at twenty weeks is
$1500. (Engstrom)
(4) Poor or needy women especially have difficulty
(a) There was a study done on 630 women who
wanted an abortion (Engstrom)
(i) many are forced to
divert money meant for living
expenses—such as rent (14%), food (16%),
or utilities and other bills (30%)—as they
scrape together the funds to pay for the
procedure. (Engstrom)
(5) Women who aren’t able to obtain an abortion
 (a) It takes a severe toll on them “financial(y),
physical(ly), and psychological(ly)” (Engstrom)
(b) They get very unsafe abortions such as
(i) “Back alley” (Engstrom) abortions
(6) Why is it that women have to sacrifice their way of living
just to have access to something that has to deal with their
own bodily choice? Why do they have to risk their own
lives for something that has to deal with their own choice?
This is why Reproductive Justice is important.
(7) The hyde amendment has everything to do with the fact
that society thinks that they should have a say in
everything a woman does/feelings of entitlement towards a
woman’s body. Especially women who they feel as though
they help out such as women who are on some form of
government assistance.
(8) In this context, society reduces a woman’s worth to how
good of a mother she is, they don’t respect/value/realize a
woman's worth when she decides to be autonomous in a
way that we don’t approve of.
B. Right to have affordable contraceptives/EC or not/Right to not be turned away
1. Contraceptives such as birth control or even an IUD can be expensive
a) “..co-pays for birth control pills typically range between $15 and
$50 per month” (​Planned​).
b) “Other methods, such as IUDs, can cost several hundred dollars,
even with health insurance” (Planned).
c) If some women have very expensive contraceptives and they can’t
afford it, such as birth control, they’ll usually start to take the pill
inconsistently (Planned).
2. Women all around the world all have different situations and different
resources. Having coverage will help
a) Having coverage equals consistency which means no pregnancy
unless its on the womans terms.
b) If someone can’t afford birth control, so they don’t get it. That isn’t
going to make them abstinent. If anything, the risk for pregnancy
goes higher. If they can’t afford birth control, they probably aren’t
going to be able to afford pregnancy.
c) This all circles around women's right to their reproductive health
which goes back to Reproductive Justice!
C. Having the right to not be refused for contraceptives
1. People get refused contraceptives all the time, such as:
a) Pharmacists refusing to give someone an EC or birth control due
to their own moral beliefs (​Joffe​).
b) For example here are some cases:
 (1) Rape victims trying to get EC and being told no (Joffe)
(2) Married women wanting to get their prescription filled and
being told no and given a lecture (Joffe)
(3) Some women having to travel just to get someone to fill
their prescription (Joffe)
(4) Some states are actually for pharmacists refusing
contraceptives because of their own beliefs that are more
than likely similar to the actual pharmacist (Joffe).
(5) When refusing contraceptives
(a) You’re not letting women have control over their
own body based off of your beliefs
(b) Everything is on the refusers terms which is not
how it should be, whether or not you’re ready to
have a family is now on their terms
D. Right to Paid Maternity Leave
1. (To be continued)
III. Conclusion