We are all constantly consumed with responsibilities, individual and sometimes extremely personal. Every night, I am responsible for taking a birth control pill. Every month, I am responsible for buying tampons. Every day, I am responsible for making choices for my body, choices no one else makes but me. So why is abortion the exception to my ability, along with every other woman’s ability, to be responsible for my own body?

Some argue that giving birth is the only responsible option for a pregnant woman. That argument is simply an opinion. Very possibly, the responsible course of action for a woman to take would be to give birth, but that is not the case for everyone.

Just because a woman can physically be a mother does not mean she should be or should have to be. The argument that a woman’s responsibility is to have a child if she chooses to have sex is outdated. We are past the age when women need to start a family to fit in with society, whether or not it’s the best decision for them personally. Not every man is having sex with the intention of becoming a father. That behavior seems to be socially accepted. However, some say that for a woman to have a lot of sex and not eventually become a mother is taboo.

Someone who opposes all abortions would also have to agree that even when a woman uses contraception correctly and it fails (which is possible; no contraception is 100 percent effective), then it is still the responsibility of the woman to give birth. This belief sheds light on the foundation of anti-abortion arguments, that it has more to do with how we judge a woman’s responsibilities than it does with the actual value of life itself.

Anti-abortion supporters believe in the value of life, but the real question is: Whose life? It’s not the woman’s life. If they valued the woman’s, they would allow her to make her own choices, especially when these choices would affect her for the rest of her life. They want to save all of the lives of the embryos inside the woman that don’t have a voice for themselves. I can understand this. But if they believe that, then they can make absolutely no exceptions; otherwise their entire foundation for their belief crumbles because, to them, no matter the circumstance, all life matters.

One exception sometimes made is in the case of rape. If someone thinks that women who are raped can be allowed to have an abortion, then he or she is saying that the life inside a woman who was raped doesn’t matter.

I am not arguing that the embryo inside of the mother does not matter. However, the right to life that anti-abortion supporters believe in disregards some major circumstances that come along with that right. The right to life doesn’t encompass the fact that this embryo is fully reliant on someone else’s body to live, sometimes putting that body in life-threatening situations. Anti-abortion supporters do not want somebody else’s will imposed on the embryo inside the mother, but what about the will being imposed on the mother?

Many will argue that if the woman always uses protection, then she most likely won’t get pregnant in the first place, and the choice wouldn’t even have to be made. However, many women across the globe do not have access to affordable contraception or even the proper education on safe sex. To think that everyone has equal access when it comes to the health of their bodies is naive, especially when resources like Planned Parenthood are defunded or even shut down. These are the places that about 2.5 million people rely on for trusted health care services and information.

Often, an abortion is what stands between a woman and poverty. Giving birth can be expensive. Hospital charges alone can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $37,000. Women of low income are often forced to risk their lives giving birth without certain medical aids because they cannot afford the costs. Giving birth can be dangerous. A pregnancy complication is the sixth most common cause of death for women in the U.S. between the ages of 20 and 34. And that is just childbirth itself, after the woman gives birth no one who told her she couldn’t have an abortion is helping her raise this child.

No anti-abortion politician is helping her emotionally, physically, mentally or financially. It is unfair to force all women, especially those who are disadvantaged and don’t have the same opportunities, to have a child but then do nothing to help afterwards. Politicians cannot take away the choice to have an abortion but then make no effort to change the institutions that could support a woman through childbirth and beyond or even prevent an unplanned pregnancy in the first place.

The decision to abort is not taken lightly. Many women who make that incredibly hard choice are often judged because some think they are just using abortion as their primary form of birth control in a reckless manner. However, an argument such as that is nonsensical. Where are these women who are constantly choosing abortion, when contraceptives are cheaper, easier, more available, and less emotionally and physically draining? However, women who have to make the tough decision for their own bodies do not deserve to be publically shamed and seen as terrible people. They are making a choice. A choice that affects them. It does not affect the government yet it is the government who ironically has the most effect on the woman.

That being said, while a law can prevent legal abortions, it cannot prevent all abortions. They still happen, and instead of allowing a medical professional to safely perform the procedure, they are dangerously taking matters into their own hands. An estimated 68,000 women die every year, worldwide, from complications during unsafe induced abortions. This is a problem, a problem that is a direct effect of prohibiting legal abortions and prohibiting a right to choose.

Everyone has responsibilities. Everyone has to make choices that can greatly affect the rest of their lives. But it is their life. It is their choice. It is their responsibility.

Sam Miner can be reached at mine0034@stthomas.edu.

The views contained herein are those of the author, not of TommieMedia or the University of St. Thomas.