Do you think every person living in America has the fundamental right to make decisions for themselves? This can be a tricky question. Let me rephrase: Do you think that every sane human being living in this country deserves the right to make decisions for themselves, their well-being and their bodies?

I am writing to you today because I think that we, as human beings, have a fundamental right to autonomy. Autonomy is the right to make choices for oneself, and to do what we believe with our life given the circumstances we are in.

Last weekend, while hundreds of thousands of women were marching across the country, I was in an abortion advocacy training held by Maine Family Planning. It is ridiculous to me that women’s reproductive rights are still being debated in today’s political climate. What individual thinks they are justified in telling another human what they cannot do with their bodies?

I think that the stigma around abortion needs to end. Did you know that a Guttmacher Institute analysis has found that by age 45, one in four women in the U.S. will have an abortion? That is 25 percent of women in this country. And, why isn’t this talked about? It isn’t talked about because abortion is stigmatized, politicized and considered taboo.

Abortion is a safe health care procedure, when performed by a trained professional. It breaks my heart to think of any woman having to put her life at risk because our government has taken away her rights to a safe health care procedure.

I think that as human beings we can all agree that everyone deserves the right to autonomy, and the right to safe and accessible health care. I call on you to talk with people in your life about abortion in order to end the stigma that it is held captive by.

Breanna Glynn

Westbrook


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