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Paige Castelhano
Ms. Wenick
Honors English Foundations I
April 8th, 2017

Womens Reproductive Rights

A female college student is found unconscious after a fellow student raped her. Several

weeks later, she discovers she is pregnant. As a student in thousands of dollars of debt, she had

no time or money to raise an unintended child. Does this student deserve the right to receive an

abortion, saving her future of an education while taking the life of an innocent child? Womens

reproductive rights have been a controversial topic, often thought to be taboo throughout history.

In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, the main character, Mrs. Mallard, would hold a

perfect example of one perspective on the topic due to her views on freedom and equality. Mrs.

Mallard believes that women deserve reproductive rights no matter what their situation is.

The idea of womens reproductive rights began in the 1910s, when Margaret Sanger

began a movement encouraging the implementation of these rights. She spoke about the basic

human rights that women were being robbed of by not receiving knowledge about reproductive

health and the right to receive medical assistance for such. Sanger also displayed the freedom

women were lacking without access to reproductive information and protection by saying: "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." Sanger lived in

New York her whole life and was one of 11 children in her Irish Catholic family. Her mother had

died at 50, after going through 18 pregnancies (7 of which were miscarriages). Sanger believed

her mothers death was the consequence of these frequent pregnancies. In the late 1800s,
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Margaret Sanger studied nursing and became a maternity nurse where most of her patients were

poor immigrants giving birth and suffering from frequent childbirth, miscarriages, and abortions.

Abortions at this time were mostly carried out illegally at cheap prices or by the woman herself.

Both of these often resulted in the deaths of the child and mother. None of these women had

access to birth control or any knowledge of how to prevent pregnancy (Patton).

It was then that Sanger decided to push for womens reproductive rights; first, she

explained the lack of birth control as a violation of basic human rights rather than reproductive

rights in order to avoid public discomfort when the topic was brought up (Patton). People

eventually began to accept the issue as a medical one to keep women from becoming unhealthy

from the number of children they had. Men also joined this by using condoms which they

learned of overseas during WWI. In the 1960s, birth control pills were finally introduced to

women in America, and women could safely prevent unwanted pregnancies. Religious

institutions and states banned the contraceptive for any woman - married or single - until the

Supreme Court allowed all women in America to use it during the Griswold v. Connecticut case

(Badore). Later, on January 22nd, 1973, the Roe v. Wade supreme court decision legalized

abortions all across the United States of America (Womens). Womens reproductive rights are

still debated today and just as important as they were 100 years ago.

The reproductive rights of women and their limits on what they can and cannot do with

their bodies is often divided into two groups; however, there are many situational perspectives on

the issue. In the US, the supporting side of womens reproductive rights is often thought to be the

democratic political party, and the side against some or all of these rights tends to be people in

the republican party. The supporting side considers themselves pro-choice, and the opposing side
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considers themselves to be pro-life. The pro-choice group follows the belief that having laws

against abortion and birth control contradicts our limited government, allowing the government

to control ones personal issues. As Margaret Sanger wrote in one of her published articles called

The Woman Rebel: A womans body belongs to herself alone It does not belong to the

Church [or] any Government on the face of the earth (Sanger). Another reason why this

group supports womens reproductive rights is the benefits they give women. United States

Representative, Suzanne Bonamici supports reproductive rights because they ...are proven to

reduce health costs for both the individual and the health care system as a whole, as well as

reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions (Bonamici). Contrastingly, many

people have pro-life views on womens reproductive rights.

The pro-life side often supports the fetus more than the mother. Evidence has proven that

a fetus is able to sense pain after 22 weeks of development, and with this knowledge, the US

Government illegalized the ability to have an abortion at that mark in a womans pregnancy.

Following the beliefs of this group, the US Government has instituted the Mexico City policy -

also referred to as the Global Gag rule - multiple times, usually by a Republican president.

Most recently, on January 23rd, 2017, President Donald Trump reinstated and expanded this

policy. This rule states that all foreign organizations will lose funding from the US, including

global health programs and organizations that use money raised to offer abortion services or

referrals, provide information about abortion, and/or try to change abortion laws around the

world. In the past, when a less strict version of this law was implemented, it caused increases in

unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths (Trumps). The opposing sides
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have many logical reasons for their beliefs, and Mrs. Mallard shows us her argument in The

Story of an Hour.

Mrs. Mallard, a young married woman living in the 19th century, is shown throughout

her short story to be a free spirited person and an advocate for all human equality. Chopin, the

author, uses figurative language, dialogue, and actions to portray Mrs. Mallards personality. At

the beginning of The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband was reportedly

killed in a railroad disaster. She immediately weeps, then goes away to her bedroom where she

opens up to the reader. She begins to feel relaxed and warmed as joy overcomes her body,

muttering the words free! Body and soul free! Mrs. Mallard could now see that the coming

years would belong to her absolutely as she welcomes the future. The narrator shows us that

Mrs. Mallard has gained independence: she would live for herself with no powerful will

bending hers. She would have no one to control her in ways with which men and women

believe they have a right to...upon a fellow creature. She sees Mr. Mallards death as an open

window of freedom for herself (Chopin).

Mrs. Mallards personality shows that she would support womens reproductive rights

because they allow women to own their bodies and death can be justified in particular situations.

In the text, she is delighted with the thought of her husbands death because of the free future it

would provide her. Without her husband controlling her, Mrs. Mallard could be herself, and she

has proven to enjoy this freedom. Similarly, she would believe that the government or any

religious group should not be able to restrict women from using contraceptives or receiving

abortions. As she has demonstrated throughout the story, Mr. Mallards supposed death brought

her freedom, peace, and joy; furthermore, in most of their time spent with one another, often she
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did not [love him] (Chopin). Mrs. Mallard would feel the same about the abortion of fetuses that

would cause more injury and health issues to their mother than joy in the end. Therefore, Mrs.

Mallard would support a womans right to choose what her future will hold.

Mrs. Mallard would support the opinion that women deserve reproductive rights because

they control their own body, and justified death is better than sufferable living. She along with

many others believes that choices in ones future should be his or her decision, and this

decision should not be influenced by a government or any outside forces. Now, we should

eliminate those forces who wish to control our lives as they become more powerful. As humans

with independent wills, we deserve freedom and the right to decide what will further improve our

lives.
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MLA Citations

Badore, Angela A. "E Reproductive Rights Movement: 1914-Present." The Cupola: Scholarship

at Gettysburg College. Gettysburg College, 5 May 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Bonamici, Suzanne. "Reproductive Rights." Representative Suzanne Bonamici. N.p., n.d. Web.

23 Mar. 2017.

Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. N.p.: Vogue, 1894. Print.

"In the Debate on Women's Reproductive Rights, Where Are the Women?" Women's Health

Research Institute. Northwestern University, 11 Feb. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

Patton, M. B. "The History of Women's Reproductive Rights." History of the Women's

Reproductive Rights Movement in the US. Five Colleges, 29 Jan. 2005. Web. 22 Mar.

2017.

Patton, M. B. "Margaret Sanger." History of the Women's Reproductive Rights Movement in the

US. Five Colleges, 6 Oct. 2004. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Sanger, Margaret. "Suppression." The Woman Rebel 1.4 (1914): n. pag. The Public Papers of

Margaret Sanger: Web Edition. New York University, 2003. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Trump's New Global Gag Rule Puts Women's Lives at Risk. YouTube. Human Rights Watch, 8

Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

"Women's Reproductive Rights - A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States."

Georgetown Law Library. Georgetown University Law Library, 23 Mar. 2017. Web. 23

Mar. 2017.