What is equality? People think they know what it is, yet people are still discriminated against or have their rights taken from them. It is the 21^st century, and women as a whole are still having decisions made for them. Will there be a day where women can finally be able to say that they are completely equal to men and have control of their own bodies? Myself, along with women everywhere, will continue to stand up for ourselves until we see that day.

Let’s start with the fact that the government thinks it has complete control over a woman’s body. Recently the Heartbeat Bill was passed in Ohio, and here’s why I think it is unconstitutional. By passing this law, you are telling women what to do with their bodies. You are taking away our right to make decisions for ourselves. This particular law bans abortions after 6 weeks. In case you didn’t know, women don’t find out that they are pregnant until 4 to 6 weeks or after they miss their second period. This gives little to no time for a woman to make a decision that will greatly affect herself.

Every woman that makes the decision to have an abortion has a reason to do so. They may not have the means to take care of a child. They may be very young and not have the support to raise a child. They may have something going on in their life personally and find that they cannot give that child a good life. They don’t want to go through the pain of continuing the pregnancy and giving up their child for adoption. In certain situations, a pregnancy could also be life-threatening for either the mother or the baby. In these instances, continuing an unwanted pregnancy can lead to a poor quality of life for both the mother and the child. Another argument against this would be that women shouldn’t be putting themselves in situations like this if it leads to abortion. But people need to understand that sex is a natural part of life, and mistakes can happen.

You have no right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her life and body. On this particular topic of abortions, women deserve to feel that they have the ultimate decision and that there is always a good reason for that decision. What if a woman was a victim of rape or incest? Do you realize how hard it would be to carry a child conceived through such a traumatizing experience? You may think that adoption is always an option for a situation like this, and again if a woman wants to go through the pregnancy and make that decision, she has every right to do so. But we have to understand that traumatizing situations like this should be taken into consideration when allowing women to have control of their own bodies.

Women should have every right to make decisions about what they do to their bodies. They deserve safe methods of doing the things they want. You’re probably hearing this rant everywhere, but it’s time to take a stand. Equality is nonexistent if the body of a woman is left in the hands of a man or the government.