Reproductive Rights & Inequality

I think one of the most baffling arguments in our political system is the abortion issue. As someone who is adamantly pro-choice, I have a hard time understanding the other side of the argument. Forcing women to have babies that they don't want or can't care for or don't want to pass a health problem to is an issue of reproductive rights. Women's bodies are no longer theirs when they are told what to do and not do with them. It seems absurd to me that the government is able to pass laws that force women to remain pregnant. In the article by Gillespie, she reflects these ideas that I have wrestled with. I especially like the opening sentence in her article which states, "Choice is the essence of freedom." All I can say is EXACTLY. Our country prides itself on its freedoms and constitutional rights. How, in any situation, can our bodies be excluded from that?

The abortion issue is a good segway into the main idea of Gillespie's article, which is global and social inequality. Many women do not have rights over their own bodies because of the inequalities they are subject to. Women all over the country are forced to have children that they cannot care for because they cannot afford to end the pregnancies. Not only does this contribute to continued poverty and over population, it is also a robbing of rights. According to Lopez's article, many Latina women also face problems with their reproductive freedom, and many choose to sterilize themselves. This form of having "control" over their bodies is actually not a choice at all, but these women feel as thought it is their only option. This global inequality reflects that lack of freedom that women face in regards to their reproductive health.

Another serious issue of reproductive freedom on a global scale was demonstrated in the article about brothels in Thailand. Girls are sold by their parents to pimps and forced to be prostitutes. Even for many women and girls in the U.S. protitution is not a choice, but something that they . They may not have been sold by their parents, but if they are homeless and alone, they may feel that prostitution is one of their only options.

The unfortunate social inequalities that plague our world are the cause of many women's loss of reproductive rights. All women should have a choice of what happens to their body, who touches it and whether or not they want to birth children. Gillespie had it right when she said that people who claim to be pro-life "aren't moved to help the living." There are women suffering from loss of their right to their own physical body and choices should be left up to individuals.