I found this story and my stomach began to churn. In Texas a 14-year-old girl has placed a Temporary Restraining Order against any member of her family, after they attempted to force her to get an abortion. From what I have read into the situation, it came to the point of physical violence against the pregnant teen in attempt to persuade her to terminating her pregnancy. At present she is under the protection of the Texas Center for Defense of Life, where no member of her family is able to contact her in any form. According to what I read, the unborn baby’s father and his mother are both in support of seeing the pregnancy to term. I am definitely glad to hear she isn’t completely alone in this matter. (article)
What really gets me about this case is not the legal stance of it all, but the young girls rights over her body and her pregnancy. Yes, her having a baby at a young age will affect her entire family to some degree; however they are not the one that is carrying this child. It is not directly their future child or their body!
I am proudly pro-choice. However, in my opinion, pro-choice to me means that you have complete freedom over your options. That could mean you have the right terminate the pregnancy, keeping your child or even adoption. I truly believe that the final decision is your own and no one else’s. It makes me really sad that this decision was removed from the pregnant teen. I understand she is underage, however she is still old enough to know what she wants and does not want to happen with her body. If this young woman was raped you would completely consider this her body. however because she engaged (in what I am assuming is) consensual sex and consequently ended up pregnant, it is no longer her body or her decision. That doesn’t seem right to me. Under all circumstances it is and should be her body. Whether it was forced or consensual that doesn’t change that is her body and thereby her decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment