The pro-choice pro-life debate has been a heavy discussion held for centuries, only momentarily subdued by the introduction of Roe v Wade, which settled the issue legally for nearly 50 years. To be Pro-Choice is to stand for the right a person has to abortion and birth control. Historically, Pro-Life has stood against the right to choose on the basis of protecting the life of an unborn child. Recently, however, the arguments have become hyper-aggressive and oftentimes baseless unfair attacks by the pro-life movement, which can be interpreted as people in positions of privilege who want to exercise control over a disadvantaged group. 

Pro-life groups have made it their mission to seek out every single avenue a woman has to autonomy, and have taken to the courts to make it impossible for a woman to decide to terminate a pregnancy, a right that women had in this country for the past 50 years before the rise of Trump and the ultra-right politicians who are on this witch hunt. Through methodical and pervasive efforts to find every law and loophole they can, they are taking away a woman’s right to choose.

We all know that the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization in June 2022 overturned the Roe v Wade decision, but did you know that there is still a push for criminalizing abortion? Dobbs v. Jackson was the modern landmark Supreme Court case that failed to argue that Mississippi's Gestational Age Act, which prohibits an abortion after 15 weeks into the pregnancy unless of a medical emergency, was a violation of the protections provided by Roe v. Wade. The act was protected with the argument that Roe v. Wade itself was unconstitutional, thus the overturn was the final decision. This overturn has caused a series of trigger laws to become enacted and discussed once more in multiple states.

Recently in Alabama, the Supreme Court ruled to grant legal personhood to frozen embryos, meaning that if the embryo were to die before its birth, those responsible for the death could face criminal charges under the HB 454 bill. The ruling was a result of a lawsuit in which three families whose embryos were accidentally destroyed by an unsupervised patient, chose to seek legal action under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. In the process of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), the embryo will likely pass away before birth which is why multiple embryos are implanted in the uterus at a time. Within the United States, there is a 55.1% birth rate on the first round of IVF treatment, and that rate declines with age. This now has legislators scrambling to create legislation that would protect medical practitioners from facing lawsuits. The state of Alabama already carries highly restrictive laws regarding abortion along with the third-highest birth mortality rate in the country. Criminalizing the accidental death of an unborn fetus in the already risky process of pregnancy serves no purpose but to make Alabama an even more dangerous and undesired place to live.

Alongside Alabama is Arizona, which just a few days prior had plans to bring back a civil-war era law (nearly two hundred years ago, if your history is a little rusty), in which it would become illegal to administer any medicine that would cause a miscarriage to anyone pregnant. William Thompson Howell wrote 500 pages of provisions that would govern the new territory of Arizona, including provisions on dueling, accidental homicide, the age of consent (which he outrageously set to 10 years old), and of course the criminalization of abortion. Most bans like these don't even take into consideration the medical complications a woman might face during pregnancy or childbirth. Not only did the ban incriminate those who performed the abortion but it also dared deny abortion access to those in the case of rape and incest which is a testament to how disgusting and cruel these bans can be. 

Laws that put bans on a person’s right to an abortion not only affect their right to choose over their body but increase the risk of dangerous abortion methods and mortality rates during birth. To be in a position of power over others means that the best interest is to allow them to choose and provide them safety but it seems that these principles are the least of the concerns held by some members of our current government.