I have a broad conception of pro-choice in that I view it as encompassing not only supporting what is commonly referred to as a "woman's right to choose" (i.e. whether or not to have an abortion) but also the right of all persons to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in general. I say 'informed choices' because I think people have the right to be provided with accurate and relevant information about their SRH, which plays an important role in the decisions people make about their health. For example, information about how to protect oneself and one's sexual partners against sexual transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. It often confuses me when pro-life/anti-choice groups oppose sex education in schools and, the real extremists, who oppose the use of contraception. It only makes sense that if you want to reduce abortions that you would support the use of contraception to prevent unintended and unwanted pregnancies that could result in abortions.
All of this said, my MAIN reason for supporting pro-choice, in the sense that particularly emphasizes the right of a woman to freely choose to have an abortion (or not), can be boiled down to the following key points: 1) whether or not abortion is legal, it will still occur; 2) when abortion is illegal, many women die or suffer premanent damage to their health because of unsafe abortions; 3) by contrast, when abortions are legal and women have access to safe abortions, they survive and rarely suffer complications; 4) access to safe, legal abortions saves women's lives. I don't have a stat on hand to prove it but I even suspect that the number of women that die and suffer severe health consequences every year due to unsafe abortions outnumbers the number of safe, legal abortions that occur every year. Anyhow, for me it comes down to saving women's lives. I don't think so-called pro-life supporters truly understand that.
All of this said, my MAIN reason for supporting pro-choice, in the sense that particularly emphasizes the right of a woman to freely choose to have an abortion (or not), can be boiled down to the following key points: 1) whether or not abortion is legal, it will still occur; 2) when abortion is illegal, many women die or suffer premanent damage to their health because of unsafe abortions; 3) by contrast, when abortions are legal and women have access to safe abortions, they survive and rarely suffer complications; 4) access to safe, legal abortions saves women's lives. I don't have a stat on hand to prove it but I even suspect that the number of women that die and suffer severe health consequences every year due to unsafe abortions outnumbers the number of safe, legal abortions that occur every year. Anyhow, for me it comes down to saving women's lives. I don't think so-called pro-life supporters truly understand that.
Until next time ...
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