“Abortion is murder. Abortion is genocide. Abortion can damage a woman’s body for life.”

It is these statements that anti-abortion groups would have people believe in order to have people support their cause. But to the logical thinker and the well-informed one can obviously tell the impacts of abortion to the fetus and mother aren’t nearly as great an impact as these pro-life groups would have you think.

First off, to consider a fetus to be on equal terms with that of a fully-developed or even mostly-developed human being is ridiculous. It takes about two months for the embryo to be the size of a kidney bean, and even at that point, it has neither a heart nor a brain. An abortion at this stage of pregnancy would be no different than a woman’s body expelling an egg during her period or the millions of sperm that die trying to reach the egg.

Secondly, the process of an abortion at this stage is harmless to both the woman and the embryo. The abortion is in the form of a pill, which basically forces a miscarriage. To the woman, it’s basically a strong period, which they would possibly prefer rather than nine months of carrying a child and then the grueling process that is childbirth. Its cost is still much cheaper for a woman that cannot support a child. It saves the woman money in the long run, which is one of the main reasons why a woman would choose to have an abortion.

Lastly, what about those cases where the woman was raped and got pregnant? What if you yourself were raped and got pregnant? There is no need to bring a child into the world under those circumstances, and you would be foolish to think otherwise. Our population is big enough as it is, and although pro-life advocates would argue condoms, birth control and even abstinence are enough, it doesn’t hurt to have a plan B in controlling the population.

At the end of the day, ask yourself this: Does a woman in Texas having an abortion affect your life personally? What about a woman in Michigan? Or maybe somewhere in Alabama? It doesn’t, so just let it happen, and maybe you’ll live your life easier when you’ve stopped worrying about everyone else’s.

Hakeem Hasan is a senior majoring in electrical engineering.