My Choice by Yomaris

My Choice by Yomaris - September 2021 Scholarship Essay

Freshman year Cape Coral High School, all was new to me. I have always been the youngest one in my class because of my birthday. I was 14 years old and already in high school. New classrooms, new teachers, new schedule. It was a gloomy fall morning when Ms. Smith decided we were going to mock a debate on Abortion laws – this was English class! I have always been very outspoken with my ideas. I am a firm believer I should never change my thoughts, who I am or where I come from to “fit in”. Ms. Smith knew that about me.

I was called.
My heart stopped. My hands were sweating
“Yomaris are you pro-life or pro-choice and why” she asked
I fixed my glasses, placed my hands behind my back and started to respond:
“Ms. Smith I am pro-choice because a woman, a girl like me should have the legal right to an elective abortion”

I was interrupted and verbally attacked by one of my male classmates that did not share my same opinion. But this was this was… a debate, right?

There was a lot of whispers behind our backs, I felt the blood on my face, my cheeks, and ears where on fire. I started to choke up on the words I wanted to say in that moment and felt humiliated, not embarrassed because these are my thoughts, my feeling and who I am
I remember my mother always told me “don’t ever put your head down if you’re right”
So, I lifted my head and over spoke the whispers, and the chatter… “So, classmate, do you think its okay for your sister to get raped by your father, grandfather, uncle, cousin to go ahead and carry that child. How do you think your sister’s life will be like for there on out? Her physical and emotional rights will be violated for the rest of her life and she will have to live with that. I am not asking you to agree with me, I am asking you to listen and not judge. A person very close to me was abused and must live with that the rest of her life. So, I have seen the pain and anguish firsthand”

We should respect the real-life decisions families face every day. This decision should be made by the pregnant woman with counseling and family, their faith and medical provider. Politicians should not be involved in any woman’s personal medical decision about their reproductive health.
In summary, this was one of the most challenging moments in my high school life. I gained a lot of friends and lost a lot of friends too. But I learned to always keep my head high and hold on tight to my beliefs. After this experience, I also took into consideration that maybe this was not the best setting in voicing my opinions about the subject as I could easily become a target myself by doing so from a person / boy that doesn’t share my views.