Katelyn Hummel
Staff Writer

Women who become pregnant get to make a choice today that was illegal in most states about 40 years ago: abortion or life of a baby. Whether this “freedom” is a good thing is debatable.

Many women argue that they should have the freedom to do what they want with their bodies and not be expected to go through the horrible pains of childbirth only to birth a child that they may not be prepared for.

They do have the freedom to do as they wish with their bodies. This includes sex, which then may create the baby. If one is not financially prepared or willing to take care of a baby, then it isn’t illegal to use a condom or to abstain until such time that the woman feels prepared.

Many women who are the victims of rape say that they did not have the choice to say no, and therefore should not be expected to carry the baby of their attacker.

There are sadly a great number of these women who become victims of rape. The women who were victimized in such a way did not have the freedom to do what they wished of their own bodies, but neither does the unborn child decide who their mother is going to be. Under what circumstance they were conceived the baby doesn’t have the choice to live.

Children are a brightness of this world and that unborn baby could have been a protector of others from such an attack. But without that life there isn’t that chance to scrub out the black with the life of innocence.

An argument is often made that the fetus is not considered a baby until a certain amount of months therefore there is no elimination of life.

If it is true that at that point there is no “living being” being aborted, there is still the elimination of a person who could have come into existence. Also, many women feel guilty after they abort their baby, despite all the rationalizations from Planned Parenthood, because they feel like they really did kill their child. For many, it haunts them for years to come and eventually seek therapy.

A large portion of aborters are often impregnated teens. Feeling over their heads and scared of societal and parental disapproval, teens often seek abortion to escape what they are very afraid and unsure of.

Being a parent is indeed a scary journey. But there are options. First, there is the option to be a parent, to keep the child. There are many resources for young or single parents, especially teen moms.

Second, there is adoption. Many parents want children who either can’t have any of their own, or wish to expand their family with an adopted child. These people are screened to make sure that they are capable and secure so the child will definitely be safe.

However, for these young teens it is better to keep the child. First of all, the ridicule that is commonly feared is not worse than the ridicule if it was found out that an abortion occurred. Society, despite what television says, does actually look down on abortion more than is perceived.  Second, the one decision is not worth a lifetime of regret over not knowing what could have been if the child was born.

Third, nothing could prepare one for the feeling of seeing one’s own child after they are born. It is amazing, and worth every bit of trouble the world has to offer.