Abortion, a crucial human right: why women must have the freedom to choose
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Abortion, a crucial human right: why women must have the freedom to choose
Joanna Tsiviki
Opinionist
9/09/2025
Society & Culture
Abortion is known as the term of ending pregnancy by removing or expelling the embryo or fetus. The ability to make decisions regarding one's own body is central to personal freedom, however millions of women worldwide are denied this basic right because of social, legal and economical limitations. Abortion must be recognized as a fundamental human right in order to empower women to make decisions that affect their lives, families and futures and that should never be influenced by shame, social pressure or the law.
According to International human rights law, every human should have the right to decide for their bodies. By banning abortion, we take away that right from women who have every right to make autonomous decisions for their own bodies and we restrict their freedom by forcing them to carry a baby and later raise it. In addition, by banning abortion we are not limiting the risk to human lives, many people are against abortion because they call it a form of murder, since this ban could lead to the usage of unsafe methods leading to serious medical problems like infections, bleeding or even death for the woman. Approximately, 13 percent of maternal deaths worldwide are attributable to unsafe abortion, between 68.000 to 78.000 deaths annually. In addition, abortion should remain legal because the government should not have control over someone’s body. By banning abortion the state is forcing women to continue pregnancies despite their will and take away their freedom to decide what is best for themselves.
Another serious case where abortion should not be permitted is in the case of rape. When a woman becomes pregnant because of rape and is not allowed to have access to abortion she is forced to live with the ongoing trauma that both the assault and the pregnancy created. Rape takes control over a person’s own body and by forcing a woman to continue her pregnancy in such cases we take over her body a second time making the victim endure the remider of the assault. Forcing someone to give birth after rape completely agnores their suffering and strips their right to think and decide about their future. Also there are some cases in which based on different health issues the woman’s life can be at risk when giving birth or even both. In such cases, by banning abortion we are risking women’s lives and the chances of the child not having its mother. In cases where the father is absent the child will probably end up in an adoption center. Denying abortion in such cases you are making the woman decide about her health or life or her child's life.
Unlike women, who are often caught in cycles of poverty or dependence as a result of unwanted or forced pregnancies, men are not subject to the same restrictions. Since women's lives are determined by uncontrollable circumstances, banning abortion creates an unequal playing field. Women should have the same ability to make decisions for their lives, future and their bodies as men and that can happen by not permitting the use of abortion. I would like to add that being in a health concern, it is also a matter of justice because women cannot be really equal if they are not given the autonomy to decide whether and when to become mothers.
In conclusion, abortion should be considered a woman’s right that should not be taken from her since it is a personal decision and women need privacy and dignity when making it. The government and strangers should not get to decide whether a woman should end her pregnancy since this is a very emotional and difficult decision that she has every right to make.
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