| abstract | - Women too frequently have abortions not because they do not want to give birth but because in their situation having a baby is not a practical option. Being truly Pro-choice means giving women who want a baby the chance to continue their pregnancy without it devastating their lives in other ways. The vast majority of women named interference with job or school, or being unable to afford a baby, as a reason for choosing abortion. These reasons are far from trivial -- in fact, most women do not choose abortion for reasons of 'convenience', regardless of popular opinion. Most women choose abortion because they feel they have no other option. Our society punishes women for becoming mothers. A woman with a child has special needs -- needs that the educational and working worlds are unwilling to meet. Childcare is inadequate, and ridiculously expensive. Few jobs offer the sort of flexible scheduling that a new mother needs. The academic world makes few exceptions for a woman trying to be a student and a mother. For a woman working a job that barely pays the bills, a job that she knows she will lose if she must be continually taking time off to care for a child, a job that could never pay for day-care, what choice is there but abortion? For a college student halfway through her education, with thousands of dollars of debt from loans and no way to pay them back unless she finishes that education, and little chance of finishing that education as a mother -- is there really any 'choice' involved? Clearly, in today's world, motherhood is simply not an option for some women. A woman today frequently cannot have a successful career, and care properly for her children. Abortion isn't really a choice, for a woman on the verge of poverty, but a necessity. Our society too frequently forces a woman to choose between her economic survival and continuing a pregnancy. True feminism calls for reform. A true feminist demands that women have the tools they need to succeed financially and socially and be mothers as well -- inexpensive, readily available childcare, a workplace or school that acknowledges the needs of mothers, including flexible scheduling and maternity leave, and welfare that actually works towards re-intergrating a woman into the workforce. If all this were accomplished -- if women were truly respected, and had true equality – women who want a child would not be forced to have abortions. We should be demanding that women be respected, rather than punished, for being mothers.
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