Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/02/18/norma-mccorvey-jane-roe.html
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I’ve had an abortion. I’ve seen what fetuses look like. But there is no way, to me, that another human life should be brought into this world that cannot be well-provided for with love, food, shelter, and all the other things it takes to nurture a human. I couldn’t do that for what would’ve been my second baby. Not after being sober from alcohol for only a few months. It would’ve driven me back, I’m sure, since my marriage was disintegrating, as well (two alkies do not a pleasant union make).
But that’s just me.
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Thanks for sharing this with us. The more people talk about abortions and why they have them, the better that misunderstandings about the procedure (and women who make the choice to have it) will be put to rest. There is no better corrective for ignorance than knowledge and empathy.
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I’ve been there. I stupidly became pregnant at the age of 17, and if there’d been a legal abortion clinic available to my then-boyfriend and me, we would have postponed parenthood a little longer. Even now, a bit more than 45 years later, I cannot say something as prosaic as “it worked out for the best.” I love the child which came to be, but what might have been otherwise? I will never know. At least one thing I am glad about: then-boyfriend is still Now-husband, and our 3 children (1 boy, 2 girls) seem to have turned out well (and we love our 5 grandchildren wildly).
I made sure my girls knew exactly how pregnancy happens, and I am proud to say they trusted me enough to ask questions. The eldest requested birth control pills at 16, and even though I cringed inside, I made her PP appointment. She told me later (many years later!) she never used that first prescription, nor did she ever refill it. She just wanted to make sure I would do what I told them I would. And should a too-soon pregnancy have happened, I would also have made sure they knew ALL their options, and abided by their decision. They knew this. I wish my own mother had done the same for me.
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Yeah, this still makes me angry - how anti-choice “Christians” made it a special project to love-bomb McCorvey and Cano, convert them to their faith, then brainwash them into becoming spokescreatures against choice.
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Sounds like you made the best decision for yourself and your family. I hope things are better for you now.
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Thank you.
Well, that was almost 29 years ago. I’m still sober, but I have less money, LOL!
And not being a person who was brought up to think that such a thing was a sin, it’s something I don’t regret.
Animals who can reabsorb their fetuses have it so much better than humans in this department.
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A huge swath of the so-called pro-life people lose all credibility with me if they do not spend time and energy making sure that people have access to health care and birth control no matter their economic status. If someone is against abortion, they CANNOT be against birth control. It flies in the face of both their own morality and common sense. They also have to support pro-child policies like Head Start, school lunch programs, family leave and day care programs.
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If they believe that the only acceptable reason for sex is procreation within a stable, monogamous, heterosexual marriage, they absolutely can. If they believe that all other instances of sex are immoral, and that there must be “consequences” for sinful behavior, then their attitudes are consistent.
Unfortunately, these pleasure-hating god-botherers shout loudly enough that politicians kowtow to them.
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Yet they often are… because their actual goal is not really no abortions, but controlling women and their bodies.
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But they can’t claim that their reason is because they are “pro-life”.
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They do, though. They just define “pro-life” as bringing as many adorable little babies as possible into the world. Because the babies are innocent, unlike their wicked and licentious parents. What happens after that is entirely the responsibility of the parents and the babies themselves.
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Yeah, I guess “claim” isn’t the right way to put it. They can’t HONORABLY or LEGITIMATELY claim they’re pro-life…how’s that?
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The key word here is “acceptable.” Who says I need you to accept me?
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If people want to describe themselves as “pro-life”, I would also expect them to oppose capital punishment, war, euthanasia, police brutality, etc. You know, the really obvious life taking stuff. Being a total pacifist wouldn’t hurt their case.
I’ve met some anarchist feminist folks who were trying to do the holistic pro-life thing, rather than just being anti-abortion. Can’t say I agree with their whole platform, but they seemed like decent folks who were making an effort to live their beliefs.
If you’re an old white dude politician who is against abortion, you’re probably not taking a coherent principled stand about shit.
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They absolutely can be against birth control, and it’s a perfectly logically consistent worldview to be against both provided one believes all sex should have a non-trivial possibility of resulting in procreation.
That’s a really scary worldview for me to contemplate, but it isn’t hypocritical.
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Babies for thems that wants 'em, everyone can fuck off and go rock climbing.
Until we optionally and fully liberate a portion of the species from the biological requirement to perpetuate it, there is no real solution.
Get on it, Science People!
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I understand that sentiment behind what you mean, but many of us do not consider it a burden to bear children and I sort of resent that fact that if I don’t think it’s a burden, than I’m somehow “being oppressed” and in need of rescue by (presumably male) scientists. It’s hard work, but many of us see it as a privilege. But childbearing not highly valued for itself, in the same way that much of the work that has historically been women’s work (family care, nursing, educating young children, house work, etc) has not been valued or respected.
The problem isn’t and never was biology - that is what it is - it was and remains men wishing to control women and not valuing whatever it is we bring to the table. Our societal structures need to catch up with the notion that women wish to be considered full citizens and that we need social structures that reflect that.
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Exactly. There’s also the factor that a lot of women seeking abortions already have children, or go on in the future to have children. It’s not that they don’t want pregnancy – it’s that they don’t want the specific pregnancy they’re seeking an abortion for.
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You watched “Logan’s Run” recently, you scamp you!
Maybe because it’s actually healthier for those who want 'em to carry the baby they conceived in their wombs because of that very physical connection?
You ever been pregnant? It’s powerful stuff, dude.
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