C3

My fellow classmates, Mr. Robinson, it’s a pleasure to be speaking in front of you this afternoon. As you all know, the election is upon us. Ideas are circulating as to what our main focus should be as the independent party of this election. My opinion is that we should focus on the issue of women’s rights.

I know that this topic is highly debated in politics today. However, the fact of the matter is that we need to enforce the law as the federal government has already written it, and not as how the states have tried to circumvent it. The law in the United States is that abortions are legal. Thirty-nine years ago in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade the United States Supreme Court ruled that abortions are a fundamental right guaranteed under the US Constitution. However, in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case, these established legal protections were weakened by giving the states the right to enact regulations, as long as they don’t create an “undue burden” for women seeking abortion. Currently thirty-seven states enforce parental notification or consent laws for minors seeking an abortion, fourty-six states allow healthcare providers to refuse to participate in the abortion process, and forty-three states allow institutions to refuse to perform abortions. These sound like undue burdens to me.

Take a moment and think about women. Think about a young woman going through this process. The emotional turmoil involved is anything but slight, and trust me when I say that no woman will take this option lightly. But all women have the fundamental right to be able to choose to have an abortion, and no state should be able to establish policies that strictly undermine the process of this right.

Also, keep in mind that we will not be stripping the states of their rights. The Roe v. Wade decision specifically recognizes state interests in protecting the health of the pregnant woman. So, federal law should ensure that all states are securing this heath. This is accomplished through publicly funded family planning services. In 2006, family planning services like Planned Parenthood helped women avoid 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, which would have led to 860,000 unintended births and 810,000 abortions. All citizens, especially women and men of low income, need access to contraceptives. With contraceptives, less pregnancies occur, and therefore less abortions are needed.

        All in all, I ask you to keep in mind the rights of the American people, and the rights of women, when establishing our party platform.

References:

ttp://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/index.htm#Abortion
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/births_deaths_marriages_divorces/family_planning_abortions.html