Reproductive Choice

As a Christian living in the United States, women’s reproductive choice is greatly affected by the government, men, and religion. I will use contraceptives and abortion as prime examples. Although the US has a history of anti-abortion laws since at least 1900, the court cases of 1973 and 1992 established the abortion right based on a certain trimester (Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey). This affects me in the fact that legally, I can get an abortion in my first trimester if I so wished. Although this would be legal, I would be seen as “Against God” if I were to ever even consider an abortion. A Christian is “Pro-Life” NOT “Pro-Choice”, therefore they believe life starts at conception. This means they believe abortion is murder and is not allowed in this religion. In terms of contraceptives, the United States believes women have a right to these, therefore women are allowed to obtain them very easily. In a Christian religion, however, they believe in sex as only in terms of procreation and only after marriage, so they do not support any kind of contraceptives. Men affect these two things because men usually tell women what kind of contraception they will use (condom, birth control, etc.). Also, men run most of our government, who decides whether or not women are allowed or not legally allowed to obtain an abortion.

Because the United States does allow abortion, they are different from some countries. One country they are different from is Africa most definitely. While a women in the United States can get an abortion legally on request, most countries in Africa will not legalize an abortion for no reason. This includes not even for cases of rape, maternal death, mental health, socioeconomic favors, and/or fetal defects. Most African countries also have no access to any kind of family planning like Planned Parenthood in the United States, thus resulting in little knowledge of womanly health and less access, if at all, to contraceptives.