Family Law and Policy Speech

Abortion is such a hot topic now-a-day. From hearing the quotes “My body my choice”

and even “It’s not living yet” on the pro-choice side. To “life begins at conception” and

“abortion is murder” on the pro-life side. These are only some of many quotes brought up from

both point of views that I’ve heard frequently in my search for an answer. Well, today I’m here

to talk to you about how abortion has a negative impact on our society.

Did you know that there were around 862,320 (Induced Abortion in the United States

2020) abortions that took place just in the United States alone in 2017? That’s 13.5 (Induced

Abortion in the United States 2020) abortions per 1000 woman! Now, think of all those babies

that would have been born if they weren’t aborted. That, of course, is assuming they were all

viable pregnancies without any risks to mother or baby. That could have been your best friend

growing up, your daughter’s boyfriend, or even a future politician that could have changed the

world.

I had a friend who had a lot of pregnancy complications and it was hard for her to get

pregnant. Because of all her complications she was considered to have “high risk” pregnancies.

She just recently got pregnant and at the appointment her baby was measuring at 6 weeks

gestation and even at this early on, there was a visible as well as audible heartbeat. Just 6 weeks!

There are still a lot of woman that don’t even know they are pregnant at just 6 weeks! To say that

the baby isn’t living is wrong. It’s amazing how giving birth can truly change someone’s life.

These innocent babies who can’t speak up for themselves and have to rely solely on their

parents.

Creating life is such a beautiful thing. To hear a baby’s heartbeat for the first time to

feeling their kicks. Whichever role you play in a baby’s life it’s important to know the risks that
come with having an abortion. Abortions aren’t an easy choice, you don’t just walk into the

clinic pregnant and then walk out not pregnant. Abortion can consume your life with emotional

and psychological issues. These issues can include but are definitely not limited to, “eating

disorders, relationship problems, guilt, depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, and even problems

in future pregnancies” (Risks About Abortion).

Now, let me tell you a story of a young woman who had an abortion. She was newly

married and loved the thought of being an adult yet she didn’t want the responsibility of having

to take care of children. She didn’t use birth control regularly which resulted in not just one un-

planned pregnancy but seven un-planned pregnancies. All of these pregnancies ended in an

abortion. She was young and didn’t think twice about getting an abortion or the consequences

that would follow. Let’s fast forward a bit, she is now much older and has two living children

from planned pregnancies. Over the years she has gotten a tattoo on her back of a butterfly for

every abortion she had when she was younger. She said a day doesn’t go by that she doesn’t

regret her choice to have abortions for each un-planned pregnancy. She wishes so bad that she

could go back and change her mind, walk out of the abortion clinic with her babies still living

but she didn’t and now she has to live with the life eating guilt daily. Her guilt ruined her

marriage and caused her children survivals remorse followed by depression and anxiety.

Now that we have covered this heinous act of abortion and what it is let’s talk about some

laws and policies set forth to help prevent abortions. “The current judicial interpretation of

the U.S. Constitution regarding abortion, [states] that abortion is legal but may be restricted by

the states to varying degrees” (Abortion in the United States 2020). One state in particular that is

pro-life is Arizona. In Arizona, “state laws add multiple hoops for women to jump through

before obtaining an abortion, such as requiring patients seeking an abortion to receive

an ultrasound. Additionally, patients in Arizona must endure a 24-hour waiting period

before receiving an abortion. This means that a patient must go to two appointments no

closer than 24 hours apart” (ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IN ARIZONA). This law is

definitely family focused because it’s not only thinking of the mother but the baby as well. Their

goal is to hopefully give the mother enough to rethink her decision of abortion and if she moves

forward with the abortion, make sure she is certain on her choice. This targets the problem and

helps to hopefully change the outcome of a mother’s choice to keep her baby. This law will help

strengthen families by helping mothers know that there is indeed a living baby growing inside of

her. That this isn’t an easy decision to make of ending an innocent babies’ life.

Therefore, if other states as well as the country implement more educational classes as

well as hoops that need to be jumped through in order for an abortion to take place, I feel it will

really help mother’s see all sides of the choice they are going to make. It’s important to be fully

educated before making a life altering decision such as the termination of a pregnancy. Instead of

just talking about why abortion is bad, let’s educated on why abortion is bad.
 References

Abortion in the United States. (2020, October 27). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States

ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IN ARIZONA. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from

https://www.abortionfundofaz.org/abortion-in-arizona

Abortion. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/abortion?s=t

Induced Abortion in the United States. (2020, May 08). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from

https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states?

gclid=Cj0KCQjwlvT8BRDeARIsAACRFiXmqUkhX6Yq-

st47EphfB5JHkIQSQlWvtfS3vdcRQxtRL3szBjJ3xcaAujOEALw_wcB

Risks About Abortion. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from

https://foundationsoflife.org/facts-about-abortion/risks-about-abortion/