Policy Area: Abortion, Childhood Planning, and Women’s Health
Abortions constitute an essential element of women’s health and family planning, and still, this theme is highly controversial. For most of human history, officials banned abortions due to people’s religious and moral views; in addition, there were no safe instruments to terminate the pregnancy (Potter, 2018). Abortion opponents argue that abortions are similar to killing, no matter whether the fetus is sentient or not, despite the lack of scientific proof (Symons, 2018). They also claim that abortions are immoral and lead to social problems, which, as one can see on the infographics, is not valid.
Problem Definition: Why Accessible Abortions Are Necessary?
There are many various views on abortions: from unrestricted abortion rights and support for all women to a total abortion ban. Based on scientific research and data, which are presented here, we can see that abortion restrictions only create problems and do not solve any of them (Brown et al., 2020). Children’s well-being is not improving, while maternal mortality and adverse birth rates are increasing (Medoff, 2013; Redd, Hall, et al., 2021; Redd, Rice, et al., 2021; Vilda et al., 2021). Last but not least, people of color, low-income families, and other underserved populations suffer most from restrictive policies.
Position Statement
As abortion restrictions highly impair women’s health, while no child well-being or social improvements are present, we can conclude that restrictions are harmful and undesirable. While opponents oppose this opinion, data presented here show that people’s well-being and women’s health are decreasing due to restrictive policies. In addition, the Medicaid system is limited in the field of abortion and women’s health, which means that abortions are often highly expensive for families. We argue that restricting the states’ rights to ban abortions and expanding Medicaid is critical, as it would improve the quality of life for women in the country.
Recommendations
Based on all factors mentioned above, our position is that states should not limit abortions unless the term is more than 24-28 weeks, when a fetus can be considered conscious, according to modern science. First, states should not be able to restrict abortions locally, excluding the mentioned reason: such a policy would improve women’s health and ensure that they have freedom of choice. Second, the Medicaid family planning program should be expanded on a federal level to help women obtain a high-quality abortion when needed.
References
Brown, B. P., Hebert, L. E., Gilliam, M., & Kaestner, R. (2020). Association of highly restrictive state abortion policies with abortion rates, 2000-2014. JAMA Network Open, 3(11), e2024610.
Medoff, M. (2013). Pro-Choice versus pro-life: The relationship between state abortion policy and child well-being in the United States. Health Care for Women International, 37(2), 158–169.
Potter, R. Β. (2018). The Abortion Debate. Reaction to the Modern Women’s Movement, 1963 to the Present, 13–26.
Redd, S. K., Hall, K. S., Aswani, M. S., Sen, B., Wingate, M., & Rice, W. S. (2021). Variation in restrictive abortion policies and adverse birth outcomes in the United States from 2005 to 2015. Women’s Health Issues, 32(2).
Redd, S. K., Rice, W. S., Aswani, M. S., Blake, S., Julian, Z., Sen, B., Wingate, M., & Hall, K. S. (2021). Racial/ethnic and educational inequities in restrictive abortion policy variation and adverse birth outcomes in the United States. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1).
Symons, X. (2018). Ethically speaking, is a fetus a person? O&G Magazine.
Vilda, D., Wallace, M. E., Daniel, C., Evans, M. G., Stoecker, C., & Theall, K. P. (2021). State abortion policies and maternal death in the United States, 2015‒2018. American Journal of Public Health, 111(9), 1696–1704.