Hello. to begin my speech I would like you to -ignore your gender for a moment – and imagine that today you find out that you are pregnant. I know gentlemen that it is not something you ever imagined for yourself, but you are going to have a baby. Immediately you start to think: I am too young. I have so many things that I wanted to do, accomplish, achieve. I cant raise a child, I am not even organised enough to remember to do my homework! From there the panic sets in, and the darkness descends. When you tell your parents they are disappointed and a little horrified, but mostly sad that you will never get to live the life that they had imagined for you. You feel cold, and ashamed and trapped. You don’t even consider the amazing person growing inside of you, but feel as though it is just a time bomb, growing larger and hurting you more with each second, minute, hour, month.                                                                                                                                           It is here that I believe that you should be given a choice: 1) You could have the baby, and drop out of school, or feel guilty for burdening one of your parents who had to quit their job for a while to look after your mistake or, of course, give it up for adoption.  The other option is to abort the baby while it is small. This isn’t murder. The fetus does not know life – it will go from darkness to darkness. Now you can go back to school, you can get a job, the trapped feeling will ease.. and you can move on.

There is only one problem…. there is no abortion option. You do not get that choice. You are having this baby, wether you want it or not..and there is no way out.

Now you may return to reality.

Preventing abortions is not fixing a problem, but creating a population of women who – for whatever reason- are not ready to have a baby with no way out, and creating millions of babies born to mothers who never wanted them.  When talking about abortions you have to consider both perspectives, the mothers and the babies. Mothers deserve a choice, options, and the baby does not deserve to be born to a woman who never wanted them.

I have already had you imagine the mothers perspective, so now for the babies: The majority of the kind of people who want to abort their baby are those who are too young or poor, or not ready for the commitment and compassion that a child needs. These people deserve a way out. And not even for their own good, for the babies. If the parent is not willing to invest themselves completely in raising their child they should not be allowed to have a baby, let alone forced to keep theirs, as their neglectful, possibly abusive behaviour will affect the child in ways that will last their whole life. ^^^^I know that everyone thinks that they are their own person, all independent and making their own decisions… but let me tell you: almost everything that you are or believe is formed by your parents, and the way that you were brought up, so, in other words .. parents matter ^^^^^My family has come from a long line of abuse, each generation seeing the flaws and cracks in their parents.. vowing to be different. And with each generation it gets better. However,  the behaviour stays, as there are some things or actions that you can’t control, things that you had done to you very young that stuck. They come out in anger, or in stress, reflecting the way that you were raised and infect the generation after you. ^^^^^ Now, I told you this because I believe that the majority of the type of people who want to abort are not going to make good parents. The teenager will hold bitterness towards their baby for ‘ruining their lives’. The partier will leave their four year old at home while they get drunk, and the poor will watch sadly as their sixteen year old has to work every evening with them, only to fail out of school, without any hope of a better life. We look up to our parents, and, more often than not follow in their footsteps. However, there are some people that should not be followed, should not have a young, impressionable person in their care. ^^It is these people who should be able to abort, for the sake of their baby.

There are so many good parents out there, however, there are also mothers  that are not ready emotionally, mentally or financially to have a baby. There are women who should not be parents, and who, by some mistake of their own, or an unlucky coincidence are going to have a baby, and are forced to keep it.

So what do you believe? That women don’t deserve a choice? That babies deserve to be born into a world where their mother never wanted them?

Most of the pregnant women that want or need abortions are young and/or unfit to raise a child. These trapped women should be alowed to abort if they do not have the means or dedication to raise their babies.  I believe this because, a life ended before it has begun is better than a life lived in abuse, homelessness and neglect. Having children is a commitment, the parents must be dedicated and willing to sacrifice themselves. If they are not they should be allowed to opt out before they ruin their babies life.

Preventing abortions is not fixing a problem, but creating a population of women who – for whatever reason- are not ready to have a baby with no way out, and creating millions of babies born to mothers who never wanted them.  When talking about abortions you have to consider both perspectives, the mothers and the babies. Mothers deserve a choice, options, and the baby does not deserve to be born to a woman who never wanted them.

The children of teen parents also suffer higher rates of abuse and neglect than would occur if their mothers had delayed childbearing.36

Research demonstrates that childbearing during the teen years is both a result and cause of poverty.1

52% of all mothers on public assistance had their first child as a teenager.24

Children of teen mothers are more likely to be unemployed and to become teenage parents themselves than those born to women who delay childbearing.32