Your Life, Your Choice

Just one more from the Women’s March because this is ADORABLE! 

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In the Broadway musical, Cabaret, the main character, Sally Bowles, is a British singer in the Kit Kat Klub (a Berlin nightclub), on the eve of World War II. A sort of free spirit, Sally doesn’t tether herself to anyone, having sex with many different men, according to her. Over the course of the show, she develops a relationship with a man named Clifford Bradshaw, with whom she lives and sleeps with, while sleeping with various other men. Upon discovering that she is pregnant (again), Sally tells Cliff and suggests that she will do “the usual thing,” and get an abortion. Cliff believes she should keep the baby and they could raise it together, but Sally chooses her career, and a continuation of her unbound-to-anyone lifestyle. She needs the money from her job, which barely allows her to support herself, let alone a child. She used her right to choose her own destiny, picking a salary and no family over a man who was ready to raise the child with her, but leaves her because of the abortion. She says she chose this because her and Cliff were already drifting apart and it would be a terrible burden for the poor child to be the one thing holding them together.

The patriarchal society that dominated history for years and years encouraged the man to make the decisions for the family, often overriding the woman’s opinion. However, in this day and age we should hope that this is no longer the case. In many areas, it isn’t, but being fully equal to men requires women to have the “basic right to make decisions for herself and her family.” Endangering women’s right to abortion also threatens the “fundamental equality” of women through taking away her right of choosing “when and with whom to start a family,” while jeopardizing her income and financial stability. This page discusses a woman’s right to abortion with regards to her choices in starting a family, and supports the view that you are entitled to believe what you believe freely, but to also allow others the same courtesy.

As a sixteen year old girl, I’m concerned. I’m concerned that if more people don’t see that women deserve the right to choose how they handle unexpected or unwanted pregnancy, someone I know could get sick/die from an illegal abortion, or end up with a child that they cannot support. That is not good for either parent—provided the father knows—or the child. I recognize that some people believe that a child is a living human being upon conception and should not be knowingly aborted because it is a form of murder in their eyes. Although I do not share this belief, if someone does not believe in abortion as an acceptable way to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, they shouldn’t be forced to have one, but they also should not impose their beliefs on others. I voice my opinion on this for the women who have had abortions, that are silenced by feelings of shame that are inflicted upon them by our opinionated society. I am Pro-Choice because I believe there is a time between conception and the viability of a fetus outside of the womb where it is possible to terminate a pregnancy without taking a life. Women should not be forced to have a baby they do not want. Many of these women cannot support a child or afford to raise a child, and should not have to. I am Pro-Choice because Pro-Life legislation does not stop abortions; it only increases the rate of illegal abortions. I believe that legal abortions should be made available to everyone through insurance or the government, because feeling trapped in a situation without legal and affordable abortion, will only push people closer to an illegal and dangerous abortion. I am actively Pro-Choice because when no one speaks out against Pro-Life campaigns, women will feel more ashamed to get an abortion, when they should really feel as though it is normal, and ok. I care about this I don’t think anyone should be afraid of unwanted pregnancy, but unfortunately, many women have reason to be.