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Opinion

A child's right to life trumps a woman's right to choose

Ariner Graham
Opinion Columnist

On Friday, South Dakota's legislature approved a ban on all abortions unless keeping the baby is harmful to the woman's health. The bill will be law beginning July 1. 

If a doctor performs an abortion after July, he or she could face up to five years in prison. There is only one abortion clinic in South Dakota and is operated by Planned Parenthood; they do around 800 abortions a year.

Abortion is a touchy subject for everyone; whenever there is a debate about it, things become heated because there are many factors to take into consideration such as rape, the right to choose, adoption and whether abortion ends an innocent child's life.

I am pro-life; I believe that all abortions should be illegal. When deciding to speak out on this, choosing a side was difficult because of the issue of rape. If a woman is raped and becomes pregnant, I believe she should still carry the baby to term and then put it up for adoption. The unborn child has done nothing wrong and deserves the chance to live. The woman has suffered through a traumatic event, but the child should not be killed because of it. 

There is also an argument about choice. Some say a woman should be able to choose whether or not she wants to keep her baby, but to me, the choice was already made when she decided to lie on her back. Before making that decision, she knows there is a chance the condom could break or what could happen if her and her partner decided not to use one ? right then and there, she made the choice to keep the baby if she got pregnant.

When partners make the decision, they should be able to own up to their responsibility and take care of the child instead of taking away a life just so they can have an easy out. By outlawing abortions, people would think more carefully and be safer about sex.

I recognize there is also a horrible downside to outlawing all abortions. The only other option available would be adoption, which could still leave many children to grow up without parents. It would be naive of me to think putting a child up for adoption means they will be placed in a good home or even placed into foster care at all. 

Also, some women may feel they would have no choice if impregnated but to find a way to get an illegal abortion, which would probably be more harmful to them. More babies would probably be abandoned, but that still happens today even though women still do have the right to have an abortion.

To me, it is better to give the unborn child a chance than just to take away its life when he or she has done nothing wrong.

Graham, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at vatasha27@sbcglobal.net.