Let’s talk about the decision the Supreme Court Justices made on June 24, 2022.
Before we continue, though, allow me to set the scene. Imagine the average mother. What’s the first thing you think of? Do you think of a financially stable, middle-aged, female parent? What can this financially stable, middle-aged, female parent do? I’ll give you some examples. She can drive; she can drink, and she can apply for any job that is suitable for her. When people think of the mothers who abort their babies, they usually picture them as someone with these characteristics, when in reality, it’s almost always the opposite.
Now, let’s picture a young girl around my age. What does she look like? Does she look like somebody you know? Perhaps a sister or cousin? A former friend? All of those are reasonable options, but do you know what she doesn’t look like? a mother. Someone with enough emotional stability to be able to handle the responsibility and the pain of carrying and raising another human being while also taking care of herself. Mind you, this so-called “mother” can’t pay bills, can’t drink, can’t drive, and definitely can’t get a good-paying job to pay for the expenses of raising a child. Unfortunately, though, there are girls that are in this exact position where they can’t seek help and are struggling with balancing their responsibilities.
According to the CDC, unmarried women accounted for 86% of all abortions in 2019. That includes adolescents under the age of 15. They alone made up 0.2% of all 2019 abortions, while those aged 15–19 made up 8.5%. That means for every 1,000 live births, 853 abortions were conducted by those under 15, and for those 15–19, about 358 abortions were made for every 1,000 live births. An additional 40% of minors who had abortions reported that neither of their parents knew about theirs. This shows how most of these girls were alone in their pregnancies and that not even their parents knew what they were going through.
What about adoption, though? Adopting a child now has become much harder than it was decades ago. In 2010, Bethany Christian Services, the largest Protestant adoption agency in the U.S., placed more than 700 infants in private adoptions. Last year, it placed less than 300. There are also children who aren’t babies that need families as well, but families tend to look for babies “AYAP,” as young as possible, even when there are over 100,000 children in foster care looking for a home.
With all of this said, America is said to be “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” until that “all” is a person of color, female, queer, disabled, sick, and/or poor. When America’s people needed it to make the right decisions, they refused and turned a blind eye to all the injustices everywhere. But we, as its people, can and should do better to change that and help one another so things like this don’t happen to future generations. For more information on how to help with causes against the abortion ban, check out the National Network of Abortion Funds for donations and support.
Tembet Bogale – Northside College Preparatory High School – DMSF Class of 2026
Image: Wikipedia User Jami430