School's Stance on Abortion

My whole entire life I was taught that no one could tell you what you could or could not do with your life or your body. With this being said I believe that people have the choice to do what they want with their body. No school, church, or the government can tell you differently. There are many topics that are extremely controversial and should not be brought up or discussed in certain places such as schools. One issue that I think a school should not take a stance on is abortion. Women have gained so many rights in the past decade and the woman’s movement has come so far. Yet, we cannot even preserve the right for a woman to decide if she is ready to become a mother or even carry a baby in her own body.

In the past month or so I have seen many articles pertaining to abortion and how Northern Illinois University is making budget cuts on the woman’s resource department. After reading many responses of students I have come to the conclusion that NIU is taking a side when it comes to abortion. Surely we have to make some budget cuts and there is really no right place to make these cuts, but woman sources should not be one of the first cut. Northern Illinois University is a public university which means that our money is going to the school through tax’s and we should get a choice in what we are cutting. Sure NIU doesn’t need to support abortion or say it is ok but they should provide every legal choice a woman has when it comes to her body. I’m not saying abortion is necessarily the moral thing to do but the statistics do speak for themselves. According to the center for bio-life reform 52% of woman who are having abortions are under the age of 25 and 64.4% of woman have never been married. These are the average credentials of a college student. So why would any school take something away that could be useful to some college students.

There is no law in Illinois stating that a woman cannot receive an abortion. So why are people all over threatening to take the choice away? Even if there was a law against it I don’t believe it would stop people. If anything it would make woman go about receiving an abortion in hazards ways. If someone wants something done they will find some way of doing it. So why put people in unsafe situations? Cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood for abortion will not help anyone. I’m not saying that NIU should be putting all of their funding for Planned Parenthood toward abortion but people need all the resources they can receive. So either  being abortion, condoms, sex education, testing, or just someone to talk to Planned Parenthood deserve the money they are receiving.

So editor, by cutting a program like Planned Parenthood at NIU or anywhere will do more harm than help. The woman’s resource center at NIU does more than provide information on where to get abortions; they provide breast cancer screenings, body image issues, relationship problems, and birth control. Sure, some of the services provided may clash with some people’s beliefs but no one is forcing them to take part in them. It’s there for the people who need the help  and isn’t hurting anyone. So by cutting the budget at NIU, you are not only cutting healthy resources, you are cutting jobs and pushing the woman’s movement back. Woman should be allowed to do what they want with their own body. 

 pro choice not pro abortion


"No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother." Margaret Sanger