I believe that if a woman wants to legally and safely get an abortion in the USA, she should have that right without protesters, pressure, or feeling ashamed for any reason. But upon researching some of the statistics on abortion I was a little shocked at the statistics.
Some of the stats are as follows (and my info was obtained from: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html):
"Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion.
Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.
Forty percent of pregnancies among white women, 69% among blacks and 54% among Hispanics are unintended.
In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred.
Each year, two percent of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; half have had at least one previous abortion.
At least half of American women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45, and, at current rates, about one-third will have had an abortion.
Eighteen percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are teenagers; those aged 15-17 obtain 6% of all abortions, teens aged 18-19 obtain 11%, and teens under age 15 obtain 0.4%.
Women in their twenties account for more than half of all abortions; women aged 20–24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and women aged 25-29 obtain 24%.
Thirty percent of abortions occur to non-Hispanic black women, 36% to non-Hispanic white women, 25% to Hispanic women and 9% to women of other races.
Thirty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions identify as Protestant and 28% as Catholic.
Women who have never married and are not cohabiting account for 45% of all abortions.
About 61% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.
Forty-two percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children). Twenty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes between 100-199% of the federal poverty level. (Poverty guidelines are updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 USC 9902(2)).
The reasons women give for having an abortion underscore their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. Three-fourths of women cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals; three-fourths say they cannot afford a child; three-fourths say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and half say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner."
Now my biggest thing is why isn't there more accessible treatments, therapy (if needed), care, etc., for the women who are going for abortions, some of which don't have the money for an abortion, for what ever reason. And if it is accessible why isn't it better known that it is AT LEAST there? I think if we ALL took a good hard look at some of these numbers and facts, and try to put ourselves in the shoes of a woman who is facing this/planning to do this, maybe we all wouldn't be so close minded about the subject, and try to be a little more understanding towards it. Now I'm not saying fully accept it depending on who you are and what your beliefs/values are, but at least try to understand a little more.