Abortion rights
I came across someone recently who was spouting the opinion that women only get abortions because they are forced into it - that left on her own, no informed woman would knowingly choose abortion. I found this attitude incredibly demeaning. To suggest that no woman is ever forced into abortion would be a lie; sometimes women are forced into abortion through pressure from their partners or families. But the vast majority of the time, a woman chooses an abortion because she feels it's the best choice she can make under difficult circumstances. To suggest that women are incapable of such a choice infantilizes them and promotes the view that women do not have perspectives and values of their own, that they can't think independently and need someone else to do their thinking for them.
(I have to wonder if the idea that "women are always forced into abortions" is just a strawman - a way for abortion opponents to make themselves feel better, to feel like they are supporting women by being anti-choice. "No, really, we CARE about the women! Those poor women are having abortions because they're oppressed, and we're trying to get rid of the oppressors!" That way they can see themselves as the allies of a woman facing an unwanted pregnancy, rather than as an opponent to her desperate need to end the pregnancy.)
Having had two abortions myself, I know this on a personal level; nobody forced me into those abortions, I was informed about the procedure and the ramifications of what abortion means, and I felt it was the best choice under the circumstances. I've never felt a moment of shame or guilt or any of the emotions that many anti-choice types seem to believe all women feel after abortion. They were the right choices to make, I'm glad I made them, and I've always been public about the fact that I've had abortions.
Prior to having children myself, I was told by a number of women that after I had children of my own, I'd lose my desire to support abortion rights. They told me that after I had felt a baby moving around inside me, after I had held my own child after his/her birth, that my feelings would change. Years later, I can say with full honesty that having gone through a wanted pregnancy, and having raised that baby to being a child, has not diminished my support for abortion rights. In fact, if it was possible to be more pro-choice than I was before the pregnancy, I would be more pro-choice now. Now that I have experienced pregnancy and birth and childraising for myself, I know how desperately difficult it can be, and how it is not something that should ever be forced on someone who does not want it. Having a child requires you to give more of yourself than you ever believed possible, and if you are a good parent, there are a lot of sacrifices involved. Nobody should be forced to make those sacrifices if they are not ready or do not want to make those sacrifices, period.
Also, after having had my son, I am even more grateful for the fact that I was able to have my abortions when I needed them; without those, I would never have my amazing little boy now, and I could never have been a quarter of the mother then that I am now. Now (okay, by "now" I mean "usually, when I'm not pregnant and therefore exhausted all the time") I am capable of being a functioning, loving, gentle, involved mother. I could not have done that eight or nine years ago. Having access to abortions then means that I am now capable of being the kind of mother that I want to be, and the kind of mother that my child deserves.
This is the reason that, when I was five months pregnant with Moo, I spent forty hours on a bus so I could go to Washington D.C. and march in the March For Women's Lives, wearing a halter top with "Pregnant By Choice" emblazoned across my bare belly. Abortion rights matter. They can be a life-and-death matter to a woman who is facing an unwanted pregnancy. If anyone has forgotten what life was like for women facing unwanted pregnancies before abortion was legalized, feel free to read the links below; the first three links are written by doctors who provide abortions, and many of those doctors were around in the bad old days prior to legalized, safe abortion.
The last link is from a newspaper columnist, who feels similarly to me regarding being pro-choice before and after becoming a mother.
Why I Provide Abortions by Dr William F Harrison
My Moral Choice by docswede
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health: Voices of Choice (various physicians telling of their experiences with illegal and legal abortion)
Abortion: why it's the ultimate motherly act
(I have to wonder if the idea that "women are always forced into abortions" is just a strawman - a way for abortion opponents to make themselves feel better, to feel like they are supporting women by being anti-choice. "No, really, we CARE about the women! Those poor women are having abortions because they're oppressed, and we're trying to get rid of the oppressors!" That way they can see themselves as the allies of a woman facing an unwanted pregnancy, rather than as an opponent to her desperate need to end the pregnancy.)
Having had two abortions myself, I know this on a personal level; nobody forced me into those abortions, I was informed about the procedure and the ramifications of what abortion means, and I felt it was the best choice under the circumstances. I've never felt a moment of shame or guilt or any of the emotions that many anti-choice types seem to believe all women feel after abortion. They were the right choices to make, I'm glad I made them, and I've always been public about the fact that I've had abortions.
Prior to having children myself, I was told by a number of women that after I had children of my own, I'd lose my desire to support abortion rights. They told me that after I had felt a baby moving around inside me, after I had held my own child after his/her birth, that my feelings would change. Years later, I can say with full honesty that having gone through a wanted pregnancy, and having raised that baby to being a child, has not diminished my support for abortion rights. In fact, if it was possible to be more pro-choice than I was before the pregnancy, I would be more pro-choice now. Now that I have experienced pregnancy and birth and childraising for myself, I know how desperately difficult it can be, and how it is not something that should ever be forced on someone who does not want it. Having a child requires you to give more of yourself than you ever believed possible, and if you are a good parent, there are a lot of sacrifices involved. Nobody should be forced to make those sacrifices if they are not ready or do not want to make those sacrifices, period.
Also, after having had my son, I am even more grateful for the fact that I was able to have my abortions when I needed them; without those, I would never have my amazing little boy now, and I could never have been a quarter of the mother then that I am now. Now (okay, by "now" I mean "usually, when I'm not pregnant and therefore exhausted all the time") I am capable of being a functioning, loving, gentle, involved mother. I could not have done that eight or nine years ago. Having access to abortions then means that I am now capable of being the kind of mother that I want to be, and the kind of mother that my child deserves.
This is the reason that, when I was five months pregnant with Moo, I spent forty hours on a bus so I could go to Washington D.C. and march in the March For Women's Lives, wearing a halter top with "Pregnant By Choice" emblazoned across my bare belly. Abortion rights matter. They can be a life-and-death matter to a woman who is facing an unwanted pregnancy. If anyone has forgotten what life was like for women facing unwanted pregnancies before abortion was legalized, feel free to read the links below; the first three links are written by doctors who provide abortions, and many of those doctors were around in the bad old days prior to legalized, safe abortion.
The last link is from a newspaper columnist, who feels similarly to me regarding being pro-choice before and after becoming a mother.
Why I Provide Abortions by Dr William F Harrison
My Moral Choice by docswede
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health: Voices of Choice (various physicians telling of their experiences with illegal and legal abortion)
Abortion: why it's the ultimate motherly act