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Braeden Greenberg
Professor Batty
English 28
14 December 2016
Why are My Rights Less Important Then Yours?
How would you feel, if one of your basic rights was on the line of being taken away at
any minute? In the book The Immortal Life Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot the main
character Henrietta had her body manipulated without her full consent. While Henrietta was on
her deathbed doctors began to run experiments on her body and cells without her consent or
knowledge. Just like Henrietta many women have their basic human right to have a say in what
happens with their body taken away. Women deserve complete reproductive rights over their
bodies, this includes the right to abortions and the right to obtain birth control easily. Many states
in the south make it virtually impossible to obtain an abortion.
Many religious groups feel that abortion is not morally correct. They feel that the woman
is a murderer because the unborn baby has its own rights therefor its not fair to kill the baby. In
the eyes of religious groups the baby is a human being at the moment of conception. Another key
argument many people have against abortion is that this unborn child can affect the world. They
feel that this child could have the potential to cure cancer or make an amazing contribution to
society. One of the other concerns anti-abortion activists have is the safety of the woman getting
an abortion. As stated in Eggs and Abortion most abortions are performed by mid-level
clinicians who have merely completed a training course and have not reached the level of
education or experience of medical doctors therefor would logically involve greater
risk(Jesudason 265). In some sense it is understandable that getting an abortion by some

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untrained professional can be very dangerous for a woman. This untrained professional has the
life of a women in their hands, so one wrong movement can easily kill a her.
At the end of the day getting an abortion can save a woman life either literally or just
metaphorically. Before Roe vs. Wade, abortion was illegal so many women in the 1940s died.
These women would go to faulty clinics in Mexico to get an abortion or try to preform one at
home using a wire coat hanger causing them to bleed out. Though abortion is accepted
nowadays, many young girls still feel too ashamed to get one. Then they end up having a baby
when they do not want one. Many young girls are forced to drop out of school which inhibits a
womens ability to become a productive member of society. Some young mothers are forced to
go on welfare just to try and make ends meet for her new expenses thus causing the taxpayers
money.
Reproductive rights also include the right to obtain birth control easily. Though there are
many different forms of contraceptive a woman can take, many are expensive and not fully
reliable. The article De-constructing choice the author Kara Granzow writes about how a
woman isn't in full control of her body until she can choose whether or not she wants a child.
The potential for subverting womens reproduction would be developed by the invention of a
universal and woman-centred contraceptive (Granzow 46-47). Though women now have the
ability to get a birth control pill and get some control over their reproductive rights, getting the
pill is still very expensive and time consuming. Women have to pay for a gynecologist
appointment, then go to pay for the actual prescription. Once a woman gets her prescription she
still has go through a trial and error process until she finds the birth control that works for her.
Still when a girl goes on birth control there can be many bad effects such as weight gain and
mood swings. This can cause a women to become very self-conscious. For women who don't

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want to take the pill, condoms are another option. Buying condoms becomes very expensive due
to the fact on average one condom costs $1.33. Though condoms are made for men, some men
feel that it is not their job to buy them. Some feel that if a girl gets pregnant it will be her
problem and her fault.
Though women have had the ability to make great advances toward having full
reproductive rights. They still live everyday day with the fear that their basic right to have
control over their body has a very large chance of being taken away. For example now that
Donald Trump is president, he is threshing to take away a womans ability to get an abortion.
Though it is said that abortion laws will be state by state many women who live in more
conservative states will not be able to get the help they need to maintain control over their
bodies. If a women is raped and is forced to have a baby, just because some conservative groups
feel that she would be murdering a perfectly fine baby, she will have resentment toward her
child. Then if she were to put the child up for adoption, this child will not live the life they
deserve as there are so many children that are put up for adoption everyday. In my opinion this
child would have been much better not being born.
Everyday womens reproductive rights are on the verge of being taken away. Getting an
abortion is punishment enough for any women, so making women feel ashamed for something
that they will have to live with the rest of their lives is just disgusting. Even though a woman gets
an abortion to save her own life many religious groups, still feel that abortion is murder. People
should just let women have control over their own bodies instead of forcing many women to
spend thousands of dollars and be judged for it.

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Works Cited
Jesudason, Sujatha, and Tracy Weitz. "Eggs And Abortion: Women-Protective' Language Used
By Opponents In Legislative Debates Over Reproductive Health."Journal Of Law,
Medicine & Ethics 43.2 (2015): 259-269. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 10
Nov.

2016.

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Kara, Granzow. "De-Constructing 'Choice': The Social Imperative and Women's Use of the Birth
Control Pill." Culture, Health & Sexuality 2007: 43. JSTOR Journals. Web. 10 Nov.
2016.
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print.