In 2022 we are turning our backs on women and changing laws protecting us. In a year that’s supposed to transpire new change and growth, this is not who we are. 

On March 4, Florida State legislatures passed a new bill that prohibits abortions after just 15 weeks pregnant. Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis, has formally echoed the recent Mississippi and Texas abortion bills. 

As of April 12, Oklahoma signed the most recent bill, nearly banning abortions for women across the entire state. 

On May 5, Louisiana Republicans in the House advanced a bill that would make abortion considered a homicide.

With the bill being extremely strict and straightforward, the only exceptions are to save the pregnant woman’s life or to avoid serious risk of physical impairment to the woman, which could be irreversible. 

As a woman, I feel my rights are being violated.

In 1973, Roe v. Wade was passed, legalizing abortions in the United States. The decision was put into law to protect Women’s rights to govern their own body. 

With new state legislative bills, women’s rights are clearly under attack. No one should have a say in what women all over the world choose to do with their bodies.

In 2020, protesters vocalized certain opinions like, “My body, my choice,” about the controversial mask mandates. Yet the same demonstrators continue to complain, even though abortion rights fall under the same category as ‘My body, my choice.’

However, some men and women feel that they have a right to determine the future of other women’s lives. This country has always been debating between pro-choice and pro-life, shouldn’t this be a women’s personal decision?

“I can pick and choose what I want to do with my body and if there’s something in my body that I don’t want, I feel like I should be able to get it out,” Reagan Warner, junior, said. 

The bill states if a doctor were to perform an abortion over the 15-week ban, they could face up to five years in prison and a third-degree felony charge. A person who rapes another faces fewer charges than a woman having an illegal abortion. How is this lawful?

Unsafe abortions lack the needed skills and medical standards to make them safe for women. According to the World Health Organization, unsafe abortions have resulted in the deaths of 47,000 women every year and leave millions temporarily or permanently disabled. 

“I think not only is it unconstitutional, but it’s stripping away women’s rights,” Marina Jenkins, junior, said. “It causes more problems than it solves, and it doesn’t prevent abortions. It causes more unsafe [abortions].” 

Women all across Florida continue to challenge the bill for their right to their own bodies. Petitions are floating around calling on Desantis to veto this bill.

“This bill is just going to add to more women being hospitalized, because of unprofessional abortions. Overall it’s going to cause a lot of problems,” Jenkins said. 

TikTok has become a big platform for people to express their opinions on various issues, abortion being one of them. 

One TikTok user, a policewoman, brought up her personal experience relating to abortion when a child had cried to her about rape. She further emphasizes the severity of the situation in her video by pointing out the little girl’s innocence and unfamiliarity with sex at all. 

The concept of religion has also been brought up. 

Many Pro-lifers contest that abortions are unethical because a child is born at conception, however, religion doesn’t have anything to do with every woman in America. 

“So you’re a Christain and wouldn’t have an abortion? Me too, but not everyone shares our beliefs, you know that right. Keep our beliefs of their bodies,” another TikTok user said. 

As women fight for their rights they express this as an attack on women. What happens to the 15-year-old girl who got raped and becomes pregnant Is she forced to conceive a baby with the constant knowledge of what happened to her?

What about a woman who finds out her baby has fatal defects? Is she forced to put her body through the strain with a baby who won’t live? 

The abortion laws don’t solve problems and don’t make people follow pro-life decisions. It just leads to more unsafe abortions and more women becoming hurt in the process.