The Abortion Debate Continues in a Post-Roe World

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion after almost 50 years. This will lead to all but total bans on the procedure in about half of the states.

Many people have different views on abortion; these are just a few opinions and views from a few different people.

Melanie Delipas, a medical professional and teacher at Sedro-Woolley High School, believes abortion should be fully legal.

“I think the law should have nothing to do with what happens with a person’s body; it is a personal medical decision, not a political decision,” said Delipas.

She thinks it has everything to do with the person’s health and medical views, not a political stance. She believes it is up to the person having the abortion and their medical provider.

“My medical opinion as a provider doesn’t change,” said Delipas. “I’m not somebody that can provide an abortion that’s not in my scope of practice, but again, it’s a medical decision. Regardless of what is happening with that person or outside of that person’s medical world, it should be between the person that is pregnant and the medical provider that is caring for them.”

Carlyn Schmidt, mother of three disagrees and believes abortions should not be fully legal.

She think that that they should look at other options other than abortion.

“I think people should definitely look at other options and what’s best for the baby.” says Schmidt.

Although Schmidt disagrees with abortion, she thinks that if anything else is life threatening or not safe, and that is the only option, she thinks they should go through with it.

She says that if one of her children were to get an abortion, she would support them, but not agree with it.

“I really don’t agree with getting an abortion, but if it is needed for a medical situation then it should happen,” says Schmidt. If it were one of my daughters, I would fully support them and love them either way, but that does not mean I agree.”

Keeley Beardsley, a student at Sedro-Woolley High School is conflicted her opinion on abortion and has a good argument for why she believes in both sides.

Beardsley believes that for our age, it depends on their situation like where and how they live, where they’re at in their life and if it’s safe. “It kinda depends on the situation and what their life is like,” said Beardsley.

She also believes that it’s good to not have an abortion and keep the baby, because sometimes it can be good for the person. “If the person decides to have the baby it can be good because they can have a like bond with the baby and if they don’t want it at first, they can build a bond with the child,” says Beardsley.

As might be anticipated, teens’ levels of religious beliefs and practices affect their views regarding abortion.

According to a poll by Gallup News, those who said they had attended church or synagogue in the last seven days were much more likely than non-churchgoers to not support legalized abortion.

Only 11% of regular churchgoers agreed that abortion should be legal under any circumstances, compared to 28% of those who did not attend church or synagogue in the past seven days.

Many come from families where such an announcement would only exacerbate an already volatile or dysfunctional family situation.