Women should have control over their own bodies

My body is my temple. Whatever I choose to do with it is my decision. If I decide to get a tattoo, I will have to deal with the swelling and the image imprinted on my body for the rest of my time on earth.\nLast time I checked, I also have complete control over my uterus. Luckily, the Supreme Court assured me through its ruling in Roe v. Wade that I will be the one who gets to decide what will happen to my body; if I choose to have an abortion, I am legally allowed to get one.\nUnfortunately, a large part of society still believes 50 percent of the nation's population should not have control over their bodies. \nSome people equate abortions with murder because they believe life begins at conception. But there is no medical definition of when life begins. That misconception is based on religious beliefs, says the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. In fact, the Bible makes no mention of abortion, according to the RCRC's Web site. The word nephesh in the Hebrew Bible refers to "man." Interestingly enough, nephesh means "to breathe," indicating something is only alive if it is breathing. \nOthers think carrying the fetus to term is a good punishment for a promiscuous woman who didn't prevent a pregnancy. Although the pains of labor might be enough to teach a lesson, I know that for a baby to be conceived, it usually takes two people to do the deed. \nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that most women who get abortions are young single white women getting an abortion for the first time. According to RAINN, a support network for rape and incest victims founded in 1995, child protective service agencies identified 126,000 children who were victims of either substantiated or indicated sexual abuse; of these, 75 percent were girls. \nA pregnancy that results from this kind of abuse is not beneficial for anyone -- child, mother or father. \nBut inbreeding is hardly the worst consequence of a society in which women are not given the right to choose.\nPrior to the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, many women died from infections caused by back alley abortions with unclean instruments or at-home attempts.\nPlanned Parenthood cites a study on its Web site that estimates the annual number of illegal abortions in the 1950s and 1960s ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million. In 1965, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that at least 163 women died from back alley abortions.\nDespite all of this evidence, people still believe the mother should be forced to carry the child to term, regardless of the mother's wishes.\nBut what kind of life would that child have? The September 1999 issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior reports that mothers with unwanted births are more inclined to physically and verbally abuse their children, and spend less leisure time outside the house with them. \n And how would you feel if you found out one day that your mother wanted to get an abortion, but was forced to have you?\n The democracy we live in would never think of passing a law that would ban pierced belly buttons. They would not waste time on legislation that would prohibit tattoo parlors. The American people like to be free to do what they want to do. We are taught from day one that we need to take care of ourselves. \nIf we are truly the advanced democracy we profess to be, then the American government can trust us to make the right decisions about our bodies.