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The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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Reasons women need a choice on abortion

If we had a better system, abortion would become a thing of the past.

No other medical procedure has received more hype and accusations than abortion has. Here is why you should make sure it stays safe and legal:

1. We do not have adequate sex education or access to contraception right now. The pro-choice community, in no way, condones irresponsible or illegal sexual behavior. The first step in preventing abortion is preventing the pregnancy. This requires thorough sex education and free access to contraception.

2. Adoption is not always an option. The majority of people waiting to adopt are waiting for healthy white or Asian infants. Not many people are jumping to adopt black, Hispanic or disabled children. There are orphanages full of children all over the world, so obviously not all children available for adoption are being adopted. If all abortions were prevented in this country there would be a few extra million children born every year. Where do they go?

3. Making it illegal does not prevent it. Even if abortion were outlawed here, some would find a way around it. Those who have enough money could go to Canada. Those desperate enough would try to miscarry or have an unsafe “back ally” abortion, putting their lives at risk. Anti-abortion laws would mostly hurt low-income families who probably do not have the resources to care for a child anyway.

4. We do not take care of children who are already here. Places with poor health care, high poverty rates and poor education systems tend to have the highest rates of abortion, regardless of legality. In Latin America, where poverty is vast and abortion is illegal almost everywhere, abortion rates are very high because women know that if they have a child, there will be few resources helping them. Before we talk about saving the unborn, we should really save the children who already exist. That is what would really be pro-life. In this country, I see a push toward less sex education and contraception, less money for schools and early childhood programs and higher health care costs, all of which increase the chances that a woman will have an abortion. If we had a system that made sure every child was wanted and well taken care of, abortion would become a thing of this past.

Andrea Loubert is a University student. Please send comments to [email protected].

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