From an early age, we are taught that children are born when a man and a woman fall in love. The details remain unknown, but two souls come together to create a child they will love and raise together for the next eighteen years of their lives. Our sex education, of course, advances in finer details as we grow up and realize that sexual interactions between a female and a male in which the male's sperm fertilizes the female's egg create pregnancies that lead to the birth of a child. Sex education in high schools focuses on protection and abstinence rather than options for when a mistake occurs. I was never told that I would have to “cough up” seventeen hundred dollars if I needed an abortion or that an ultrasound would be necessary before terminating a pregnancy. Instead, legislators and big money advocates tell us that it is morally wrong to do what I want with my body. Abortions are a controversial topic in America. There are two main spectra used to examine miscarriages. Many liberals are considered pro-choice because they believe a woman can choose to terminate her pregnancy. However, many conservative people are pro-life and believe that if an egg is fertilized, it is destined to be fertilized and that terminating the pregnancy is equivalent to killing a human being. Some people fall in the middle and make light of allowing abortion in extreme circumstances, such as rape, but disbelieve in abortion just for a simple mistake, such as unprotected sex or failure to have birth control. Growing up in a very liberal state and coming from a family that lives, sleeps and breathes CNN and MSNBC, I consider myself pro-choice in every way possible... middle of paper... Premier. Network. March 20, 2014. Growing up and attending an elementary school where most of my peers now have children has made it quite clear that in my city there is an achievement gap between students that becomes a statistic for teenage pregnancies and students who they graduated from high school without having children. Basch's article in the Journal of School Health outlines the prevalence of teen pregnancy among urban minority youth. With many statistics about how many educational opportunities are missed by having a child, this article will work well with my essay. Focusing on abortions between the ages of 18 and 25, where what happens will dramatically change your life. Achievement gaps are very common across socioeconomic backgrounds, and being poor and having a child adds to achievement gaps for generations to come.