Imagine this, you’re a sixteen year old girl and you just found out you are pregnant. This pregnancy came from an older man who took advantage of you. You are confused and overwhelmed at the fact that you’re carrying a child that you don’t know how to raise. Your family is very tight on money, and barely making enough to pay all the bills. What is your move?

This is just an imagination for you, but is a petrifying reality for women. The CDC reported that around 45% of all pregnancies are unwanted and only 4% of those babies are given up for adoption. When the woman isn’t able to abort the fetus, they are giving birth and raising a child that was unplanned and isn’t 100% supported. Some laws have been passed to make abotions illegal in some states, leaving these women with a lifelong problem on their hands. These laws make it nearly impossible for anyone to find any loophole to help their situation.

 Some laws in certain states still allow abortions, but at a catch. You have to terminate the fetus before it reaches a certain age, or else it will be considered breaking the law. For example, California still allows a woman to terminate her fetus up until it reaches 6 months of age. That makes it hard for families that have financial problems or no form of transportation fast enough to get the procedure done in time. According to Nina Bai, a publisher for health and science articles from University of San Fancisco, California and a graduate from Yale University and John Hopkins University, “Lots of women won't know that they're pregnant in time to get an abortion. As a result, women with enough money will travel out of state. Young women and women who are poor will probably end up carrying pregnancies to term that they preferred to terminate.” In most scenarios, whether the woman would like to terminate or carry the fetus, they don't usually have a choice but to carry. Taking care of a child is expensive and draining, so if financially wealthy people struggle sometimes, imagine what it would be like for a small family in debt or struggling. 

The laws made are not in favor of the women who, in some cases, require the procedure. There are numerous reasons why a woman in today’s society would want to get this procedure done. She could have financial instability, physical or mental problems, or the biggest one, she is not ready to raise a child. There are so many possible reasons why a woman of any age may not want a child. Those children will most likely end up neglected, in foster care, or with health problems. Not only aborting the fetus be saving the woman from an unexpected life, but would not be contributing to the constantly growing numbers of foster children and poverty. 

NBC supported the fact of studies being show that being in financial troubles could make everything harder, “The study found that people who were denied an abortion had almost four times greater odds of being below the federal poverty level.” Statistics show that in some situations, having and raising a child could cause and even contribute to financial problems. 

No matter the situation, women should have the right to their body and what is being done to it. There are numerous reasons why the woman would want to get the procedure done but regardless, she should be able to make the decision and not have to fight for her basic right.