A couple of thoughts on abortion

[mousme]

This has cropped up a number of times on my flist of late, which isn't all that surprising, considering my friends.

I don't know if it'll surprise many people on here if I say that, fundamentally, I don't believe that abortion is right. Maybe it will surprise people. It won't surprise those who know me well. I am the product of someone's choice not to abort, so I feel rather strongly on the topic, to say the least.

That being said, until there are safe, viable alternatives to abortion, I will remain pro-choice.

When there is a clear and present danger to the mother's health, I am all in favour of terminating a pregnancy in a safe, medical procedure that is authorized by law. Until dangerous pregnancies are a thing of the past, I will remain pro-choice.

Until everyone who doesn't want a child is given access to birth control and other safe-sex products, I will remain pro-choice.

Until little girls are no longer raped, I will remain pro-choice.

Until such a time as women are no longer abused and raped by men they thought they could trust, I will remain pro-choice.

Until such a time as abortion remains the *only* resort for some unhappy, desperate women, I will remain pro-choice.

Until such a time as women are entirely in control of their own fertility, I will remain pro-choice.




I am not anti-life. I am pro-choice. There is a difference.


:::ETA:::

I am leaving comments open for now. Everyone is welcome to their opinion, and to discuss in a sane, rational, and respectful manner. Most of you don't need to be told to remain civilized, but this is a sensitive topic, so if you get upset, keep your hands away from your keyboard. Close friend or online acquaintance, if you insult or otherwise flame someone on this LJ, I will ban your ass faster than you can say "Bob's your mother's brother." Capito?

Comments

[pasley.livejournal.com]

. . . we have a moral imperative to ensure that abortion remains both legal and available. Banning abortion won't end abortion - it'll only end safe, medically monitored abortion.

Hear hear.

[karine.livejournal.com]

I second that agreement.

I've had 4 pregnancies. The first one was an accident -- a skipped month of the pill, got back onto it but got pregnant anyways -- and I honestly felt that I was not in a situation to have a child. I was unemployed, in a bad situation in my relationship, and I just wasn't ready. It would not have been fair for me to bring a child into this world, to have trapped a man (or been trapped with a man?) I did not actually love (or didn't love enough -- it was a rough patch) so I chose to abort.

It counts as one of the most horrible experiences of my life. I was so scared that I was shaking like mad on the table, and clenched so hard they almost couldn't get the procedure done.

I didn't want to think of adoption. I was not going to be able to do it. I'm strong on many things... but not that. Other people here have said the same thing.

Third pregnancy caught us by surprise, but it was a happy surprise... until we learned that the baby had a defect and would not survive. This was an abortion that I chose to have in order to end the foetus' suffering, and not put us through more suffering. Some women who have had the same diagnostic choose to keep the baby because they are against abortion, and they end up with either a miscarriage, or a baby that dies one or two days after it is born. I don't understand why they would want to put themselves through the trauma of carrying a life that is certain to end very quickly and in tragedy. Having had to have the abortion felt like the right thing to do but it was a horrible thing to go through... for completely different reasons.

In the first case, I did not want the child.
In the second, I did not want to lose the child.

There are so many facets to abortion, and while yes, the better educated people are about birth control, the less unwanted pregnancies there will be, accidents still happen to people who DO use birth control, and decisions then have to be made. And frankly... it is up to the person in question to make their own decision, not to the rest of society to decide for them.

and for the record... even if you know in your heart you made the right decision... it's the kind of thing about which you wonder how different your life would be if you'd chosen otherwise.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about the first pregnancy, but I was thinking of you a great deal (and all my friends who've had children and who've lost children one way or another) while I was writing this.

There are never any easy answers, and that's why I will always be pro-choice, even if I don't like the idea of abortion. I have always had tremendous respect for everyone who must make this kind of difficult, life-altering choice.