I am writing a speech on abortion in my Speech class in school. Many of my classmates are pro-life and the pressure is on, not necessarily to change their minds, but to deliver a speech that will make them stop and think, instead of trying to bite my head off. I was wondering if you could give me any information (statistics, opinions, stories, etc.) that would be useful in my speech (concerning pro-choice). Any help you can give me I would really appreciate. Thank you very much. - Courtney

I'm sorry that you don't have a more supportive environment for giving your speech in. However, it may be more friendly than you realize. In public opinion polls, 80% of all people believe that the choice should be between a woman and her physician. And what you have to remember is that is exactly what you are speaking about....choice. You support their choice not to have an abortion, therefore, you would hope that they would support your choice to have an abortion if that is in fact what you chose to do. You also have to remember that for people that are "pro-life" the issue isn't really life, it's about giving women the power to make decisions about their own bodies--or better yet, not giving women that decision. The majority of those people who are anti-abortion are pro-death penalty, so the issue clearly isn't life alone.

You also might want to point out that those who oppose abortion also oppose sex-education and access to birth control. For them the option is only abstinence. Does that seem fair? So maybe focus your speech on the how we do need more access to the above and we need to keep abortions safe, and legal. Even when they were illegal the same number of women were having them, they were just having them in back alleys, in unhealthy environments....and they were also dying as a result. For more resoources and ideas, you might want to check out our section of Reproductive Rights links. Good luck.

—Amy