There are many opinions on the topic of abortion- even here at AHS. A recent poll on the matter was sent out to AHS students. Out of the students, 112 responded showing that 44.6% of students were pro-choice, 29.5% were pro-life. The remaining percentage was indifferent, either not having an opinion on the matter or believing it should only happen in some instances.

After the survey, four students at AHS, one pro-life female, one pro-choice female, one pro-life male, one pro-choice male, were interviewed on their opinions. All of those interviewed felt strongly about their views.

An AHS pro-life Junior female made her opinion clear on the matter by stating, “I believe abortion is immoral and shouldn’t be glorified the way it is. It is murder. I also strongly believe men should have a say in what happens. The baby is just as much their’s as it is the mothers. Moms can’t expect child support if they don’t let them make any decisions.” She went on the say that she feels this way because she believes it is taking the life away from an innocent child with no say,” as she says, “Literally ripping a baby into pieces.” She continued saying, it’s a “woman’s right to do whatever she wants because it’s her body” but it was her decision to risk getting pregnant. She believes that if you absolutely cannot take care of a baby, then don’t have sex. Yes, incest and rape are factors in this but it is proven that that’s only 2% of the abortion cases. She believes that women should be protecting the life of the child, not destroying it. 

A pro-choice AHS senior female, Jewelia Taylor, made her opinion clear by stating “I am strongly pro-choice.” She gave examples to why she feels this way by remarking, “ I feel like a lot of pro-lifers don’t acknowledge the circumstances of an unplanned pregnancy’s life after birth. Children living in poverty are more likely to have mental and physical health problems, are more likely to drop out, and unable to focus in school. Unwanted children are more likely to be abused physically and emotionally by parents who do not want them. If a mother dies during delivery, thus leaves a motherless baby and the same amount of death. Rape speaks for itself as a reason. Our foster care system is broken and leaves kids more likely to have anxiety and depression.” She also discussed how many times, contraceptives are used but do not work. Jewelia also remarked that women who have abortions performed are treated very unfairly and judged harshly.

When interviewed, a pro-choice senior male at AHS explained, “I think it should be the mother’s choice because it is her baby.” When questioned why he felt this way, he replied that his choice on this matter is because it saved his mother’s life. 

A pro-life senior male at AHS stated, “I think abortion is wrong. There are few circumstances that may have more of a reasoning behind them such as rape or incest; however, I still think abortion is wrong. People use these awful situations to try to justify abortion as a whole, when there are many situations when people are just not practicing safe sex.” He went on to say that the reason he feels this way is because, in his opinion, abortion is literally killing the baby and he believes this is murder. The senior remarked, “Using my morals, I believe that murder is wrong, so that is why I believe abortion is wrong.” 

Everyone has their own opinion on the matter, and most feel strongly about this opinion and cannot be persuaded to see the other side. Governmental issues on the matter must compromise, and oftentimes people need to be more understanding of both sides rather than bashing each other. The amount of abortions performed in recent years has decreased but this debate is still ongoing and unending as of now.