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Weiwei Shi
Professor Robbins
ENG 123E-D
4 December 2021
Banning abortion will not make society better

At midnight on September 1, the most rigid and most comprehensive anti-abortion law

ever enacted in the United States took effect -- S.B. 8 (Brooks). The law bans abortion after six

weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest. The anti-abortion bill came into force,

meaning that women must have their babies after six weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether

they are assaulted. It also introduced a reward system for reporting abortions and abortion

service providers to receive a $10,000 reward. Opponents of abortion are wedded to the idea that

the fetus has a right to life and that the right to life trumps all other rights. The act does protect

the right to life of the unborn fetus, but it greatly infringes upon women's reproductive freedom,

tramples on women's dignity, and aggravates many existing social contradictions. In the context

of increasing social conflicts, those who oppose abortion still insist on the slogan of safeguarding

the life right of the unborn fetus, firmly oppose abortion, label pregnant women who have an

abortion as immoral, and even think that those who support abortion are supporting racism and

eugenism. The decline in abortion rates has been cited as strong evidence favoring abortion laws.

Still, many women do not choose to have abortions because they do not have enough money,

knowledge, or social security. The solution to abortion-related problems is not simply a means to

curb women's freedoms and rights with harsh laws but to take useful measures based on social

contradictions.

The anti-abortion law in Texas has come into force, meaning that the law has exacerbated

many social conflicts. The economic pressure on low-income families has increased rapidly with
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the law, exacerbating the gap between rich and poor. The maternal mortality rate caused by

illegal abortion has also increased significantly.

Anti-abortion bills exacerbate the gap between rich and poor. The low-income families

would be worse off with a total abortion ban, but the high-income families would not be affected.

High-income families are better educated than the poor and have no financial pressure. These

strict laws put the poor in a difficult position. "When abortion is heavily restricted or banned,

women from poor, rural and marginalized communities suffer most, as they may not be able to

afford to travel to places where abortion is legal or pay what it costs" (Wurth). However, the

high-income families avoided those problems cunningly. The total abortion ban seems to be for

everyone, but the reality is that the right to abortion has become the preserve of the rich. If a

high-income woman has an unplanned pregnancy, she can get an abortion by flying to a state or

country where it is legal (Jones et al.). "Texas residents receiving care at out-of-state facilities

increased from 157 in February 2020 to 947 in April 2020; monthly totals ranged from 107 to

165 in 2017" (White et al.). A total abortion ban seems to make society more equitable, but the

poor have no choice in this situation. The total abortion ban has widened the gap between the

rich and the poor. In addition, for families that do not have access to abortion in the first place,

opposing abortion is an act of economic hardship for low-income families, and the financial

pressure is passed down from generation to generation without end.

Low-income families drop in a vicious cycle of economic transmission from generation

to generation. Often in poorer families, they have low levels of education. According to surveys

in rural areas, the number of low-income women actively using contraception is very low even

though they had received gender education and were aware of more than one method of

contraception (Moreira et al.). Low-income women often want abortions because they can't
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afford to raise a child. Many people believe that government assistance programs are adequate to

provide financial support for children. But surveys show that the government's aid programs are

not enough to support newborn babies and do little to improve the economic situation of low-

income families (Cohen). Also, the studies show that those children born because their parents

were not allowed to have an abortion have worse education resources and employment

environments (Pop‐Eleches). Because of that, these children cannot achieve significant economic

development in the future, and the prohibition of abortion makes them poorer (Cohen). Those

children don't get a good education because their families are poor, those children are forced by

society, and they have to follow in their parents' footsteps. This vicious cycle pass from

generation to generation. In addition, since legal abortion is no longer possible, many pregnant

women will choose illegal methods for clandestine abortion, which increases the risk of

complications and even mortality caused by incorrect abortion.

Anti-abortion has not stopped it from happening but has made it more dangerous. After

legal abortion was banned, women obtained abortions through clandestine, illegal means, such as

unlicensed clinics or drug delivery. These unsafe abortions lead to many maternal deaths.

According to the CDC, "Each year between 4.7% – 13.2% of maternal deaths can be attributed to

unsafe abortion" ("Preventing Unsafe Abortion"). Around the world, nearly 20 million women

with unwanted pregnancies face unsafe abortions, and almost 5 million of them face

complications from unsafe abortions, including drinking chemicals or using sharp objects

inserted into the vagina and cervix. All of these are because women who are accidentally

pregnant have no way to get an abortion through legal channels, and people without professional

knowledge can only choose such a secret abortion. The total ban on abortion increases the

probability of such a tragedy (Haddad). "Such deaths are common in countries where access to
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safe abortion is limited or prohibited entirely, as the majority of women and girls who need an

abortion because of an unwanted pregnancy are not able to legally access one" ("Key Facts On

Abortion"). "All these problems can be solved by reducing restrictive abortion or increasing sex

education" (Haddad). But anti-abortion advocates still cling to rigid anti-abortion arguments to

prevent women from having abortions.

Anti-abortion supporters believe that abortion deprives the unborn of the right to life, but

they ignore the fact that the unborn child and the mother are one. Others argue that abortion is

immoral but that it is wrong to tie the law to morality. The law represents justice and fairness,

not morality from subjective judgment. Even more, those who support abortion believe that they

endorse racism and eugenics.

Anti-abortion supporters argue that anti-abortion laws protect the lives of unborn

children. Abortion shows people's unequal treatment of life. However, an unborn fetus cannot be

treated as a separate entity. Greg Abbott argued that the anti-abortion policy would save the lives

of unborn children who die each year because of abortions (Najmabadi). According to Quast, the

overall abortion rate in Texas fell by nearly a third between 2004 and 2014, and the number of

clinics offering abortion services fell by about two-thirds. The anti-abortion bill protects the lives

of many unborn children every year from being killed (Quast et al.). Those who oppose abortion

believe that the unborn lives are unfairly killed by abortion and that women who choose abortion

choose to deprive those who cannot speak for their own lives to protect their rights. However, the

term is misleading because the embryo does not have a heart at that stage (Najmabadi). Only

using a heartbeat to define a believer is not rigorous thinking. It turns out that the heart is not

fully developed at this point, and the beating of the heart can indeed be detected by week 6, but

it's not even fully developed at that stage. It's not fully developed until about 20 weeks
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(Medicinenet). When this argument does not hold water, some voices say abortion is an immoral

act.

For nearly a decade, Texas has been awash with claims that abortion is immoral. Many

anti-abortion people believe that opposing abortion is a Christian duty. So God created man in

his own image. In the image of God, he created us. He created man and woman "(ESV, Genesis

1:27). They believed that life was built in the image of God and possessed inherent dignity.

Therefore, whether life is born or not, it should have the same rights and values. However, the

law is not always moral. Law is used to regulate people's behavior and maintain the stability of

the whole society. Law and morality are two different levels. Taking morality as a legal standard

is a deviation from the meaning of the law. If a teenage girl is raped, more than six weeks later,

the rape survivor finds herself pregnant. But she committed suicide because of the strict anti-

abortion law and society's wrong interpretation of morality, while the truly immoral rapist is at

large. Laws made solely on the basis of morality completely deviate from the meaning of the

existence of law. Laws based solely on morality will disturb the social order. Some extreme anti-

abortion activists say that abortion supports racism and eugenics.

Looking back at Texas's history, there are many who believe that abortion supports

racism and eugenics. And this is entirely deliberately ignoring the nature of social problems to

achieve their own purposes and distort the facts. Many support anti-abortion policies by noting

that it is easier to find abortion clinics in areas of color. However, they are ignoring the impact of

unfair educational opportunities caused by racism on the problem. Pro-life people think that "The

impact of abortion on Black communities is unequal and disproportionate. Despite constituting

only 13% of the female population, Black women represent 36% of all abortions, and Black

women are five times more likely than white women to receive an abortion. In some cities, like
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New York, more Black children are aborted every year than are born alive" ("Planned

Parenthood's Racism Must End — Sign The Letter In Agreement"). They think the colored area,

mainly black, can be seen everywhere in the facilities or abortion clinic from the side reflects the

deep-rooted racism society. However, CDPH shows that the pregnancy rate of colored youth is

3.8 times higher than that of white children. The high pregnancy rate of these young women is

usually because their mothers are poorly educated (Martínez-García et al.). As a result, the

daughters of these mothers remain ignorant about sex and how to use proper contraception when

having sex with others. They don't even know they are pregnant when they get pregnant, which

leads to their pregnancy rate becoming so high and the consequent increase in the demand for

abortions. One way to address the high abortion rate among people of color is to increase access

to education for people of color rather than an ill-advised legal policy.

By looking at what's happening now and looking back at the historical reasons for

opposition to abortion. The social implications are clear. Abortion has been a thorny issue for

centuries, but there are ways to improve it. Governments should invest more in family planning

instead of focusing on banning abortion and passing laws that deprive women of their freedom

and rights. On the issue of abortion, the problem of sex education is particularly significant. It is

essential to improve sex education for minors, reducing the number of teenage mothers. And

Texas should be a hunter for rapists, not for aborted women.

Placing government-distributed family planning products in public places is a good way.

It can help lower the pregnancy rate for low-income families and thus lower the abortion rate.

According to the CDC, half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended (CDC, 2021),

and young women and low-income women are the two groups most at risk of unintended

pregnancy (Michele Troutman). Higher unintended pregnancy leads to higher rates of abortion
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among low-income or poorly educated families, often because they do not have the financial

means to buy birth control pills or condoms. When a family has no money to buy food, no one

will spend the money to survive on family planning products. Data from Colorado show that

from 2009 to 2017, when the government offered birth control to society, the state's teen birth

rate fell 54 percent, and teen abortion rates dropped 64 percent. Because there are fewer teenage

mothers, all expenditures related to childbearing are reduced (Handler). Providing free birth

control is a more humane decision than banning abortion. It still preserves women's right to

make their own decisions about their bodies. She supports women's right to make their own

choices and access contraception if they do not want to get pregnant. And laws that ban abortion

deny women the right to make their own reproductive decisions. However, Texas proposed

cutting nearly $3.8 million in contraceptives and other women's health programs for low-income

residents. But at the same time, it gives ample funding to preserve an organization that

encourages women to prevent abortions (Walters and Walters). Such a move would undoubtedly

increase the chance of unwanted pregnancies and would do nothing to help reduce abortion rates.

If Texas wants to solve the abortion problem, it must focus more on providing more

contraception to its people.

Improving sex education and expanding its scope will help reduce the abortion rate.

According to the CDC, Texas has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country (CDC).

According to Khodakarami, "The finding shows the odds of abortion among those who have had

premarital sex, more frequent sex before marriage, and been the victim of rape. They are higher

than those who have not experienced any of these incidents "the output identified Similarly, with

one unit increasing in pre-marriage sex, the log-odds of abortion increases by 0.47. It shows by

one unit increase in the frequency of sex, the log-odds of abortion increases by 0.39
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"(Khodakarami). For many young people who do not have enough knowledge of sex, first

having sex will be earlier. And in the process of sex, they would not use contraceptive measures,

this will increase teens' pregnancy rate, and for these young people, they are not ready to be a

mother.

In many cases, they can only choose abortion. However, state law in Texas does not

require schools to provide sex education to students, and if schools decide to do so, state law

requires them to make abstinence a preferred behavior in sex education (Waller). Sex education

should not be a matter of shame for the state of Texas. It is an essential subject for the study of

humanity, and it is necessary knowledge. Timely transmission of correct sexual knowledge to

teenagers can help them better understand their bodies, know how to respond to sexual behavior,

and make the right choices. With enough knowledge about sex, they will also know what to

protect themselves in dangerous situations. Texas's decision not to offer sex education to

students does not provide teenagers with an excellent way to learn about sex or contraception.

The high rate of teenage abortion is a matter of great concern to the government, and providing

appropriate sex education for teenagers can help reduce the incidence of adolescent abortion.

Increased punishment for rapists will also help reduce the abortion rate, as punishment

has a deterrent effect on crimes (Friehe and Miceli). Forcible rape cases Reported by Texas

Forcible Rape cases reported in the United States in 2020 In 2020, Texas has reported a total of

13509 Cases of Rape, "U.S. Forcible Rape Cases By the State | Statista"). That's a considerable

number, and each case will put one or more female victims at risk of becoming pregnant.

However, Texas's current situation is that the punishment for abortion is more severe than that

for rape. Anyone who reports a woman's abortion will receive a $10,000 reward, while those

convicted of felony rape will be fined up to $10,000. No compensation will be given to those
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who report rapists. All eyes will be on the women, and for a $10,000 prize, the eyes will be on

the women around them, monitoring their bodies and everything they do. Strengthen the control

of social security, change the wrong concept of victims in society so that injured women dare to

speak up for themselves and seek appropriate legal aid. Rather than further victimizing the

victim while the perpetrator walks around with no accountability for his actions. To solve the

abortion problem, Texas should not go further and further down the wrong road of banning

abortion. Instead, it should strengthen the control and punishment of rapists, such as increasing

the time of sentence, increasing the number of fines, and wearing electronic ankle cuffs after

being released from prison.

Those who advocate a total ban on abortion continue to aggravate social tensions in the

name of improving society. In fact, abortion should be regulated, and the government could

address the abortion mess by increasing regulation of abortion clinics and scrutiny of the reasons

for abortions. An outright ban on abortion would not make the world a better place. When an

umbilical cord connects a pregnant woman to her unborn child, the two lives destined to be

connected split into two distinct individuals. They are protecting the unborn on a moral level

while ignoring the mother's life, who already has a life of her own, a social life, an emotional

life. Instead of solving the problem of inadequate educational resources for people of color, it

worsens their lives under the pretext of eliminating racism. Reducing abortion rates requires

capturing the essence of the problem and addressing it at its root. Abortion is the right of every

woman, and women's reproductive rights should not be restricted by any law. The high abortion

rate reflects reduced government financial spending on family planning, inadequate access to sex

knowledge and education, and a lack of punishment for rapists. Texas needs to address these

issues, not control women's reproductive rights in the name of religion.

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Works Cited

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