Why are you Pro Choice (not a debate thread)

I believe that abortion is a very sad event, but I feel access to safe, free abortion is crucial because women will abort babies regardless.

Mother nature set things up with inherent inequalities - it's just not possible for each party to have their all their rights upheld without trampling on the rights of another in some way. Men can physically leave their unborn child without it dying, women can't. Men can't (shouldn't?) decide to keep their unborn child alive if a woman chooses not to. Men can't (shouldn't?) force a woman to abort a pregnancy.

When it comes to abortion it is the woman's right to decide the fate of her life against the unborn child's right to life. That's a huge decision for a woman to make, but it is one I trust other women to be able to make for themselves. It's not fair or nice but that's the way it is.

I guess my view is somewhat pragmatic and somewhat spiritual as well. I think the unborn child will get another chance, and will hopefully not suffer too much. I think the mother of the child can best decide.

I don't know that I am pro choice so much as I am pro education and pro availability of FREE borth control. I know many abortions ARE birth control and IMO that's just wrong.

But a woman should have the right to a safe place to go should she choose an abortion, rather than a back alley coat hanger "doctor".

I have done all three choices - had an abortion, put my child up for adoption and have my own daughter. I can honestly say it wasn't until after I had my own daughter that I realized what I had done (aborting) and we all have to live with the decisions we make. As for adoption, it was the same as a death and I grieve for him still - it actually took me six years to even have a normal life after that. So from a purely selfish standpoint, going through an abortion was FAR easier than an adoption.

So this is why I am pro education and BC availability - it's based on my own experiences in life.

Abortion is one of those things that there just isn't a simple answer too and something I really am on the fence about.

Why am I pro-choice?

Because the alternative is just too scary.

Because women have the right to decide what happens to their bodies.

Because the government does not own me.

Because no one can take every possible scenario into consideration when making laws.

Because I was friends with a girl who had male friends hit her in the abdomen to cause a miscarriage when she was pregnant at age 15, since her abusive parents wouldn't have permitted an abortion. (I'm opposed to parental notification laws)

Because I would have killed myself if I had not been allowed to have an abortion.

Because I've known women who would be dead if they were forced to carry pregnancies to term.

Because abortion is preferable to throwing a newborn in the dumpster.

Because illegal abortions are dangerous.

Because no woman should have to experience her own body being used against her.

Because pregnancy and childbirth come with their own risks, and women shouldn't have to accept those risks.

Because IT'S MY BODY so it had better be MY CHOICE!

Here's a poem I wrote about illegal abortion for a college class five years ago:

Endure

She walks to the bedroom,
Holding herself together
With nothing stronger
Than her will and her arms.

Hand on her stomach,
Comforting, calming.
A child within
Lies in wait.

Piggy bank breaks,
Pink shards on the floor,
Dollars and dimes
Come tumbling out.

Laying on the table,
Underwear on the floor,
Dress hiked up
To enlarged breasts.

Dirty, rusty tools
Waiting for blood;
Unshaven man
Stinking of death.

Searing, aching pain,
A brief scream tears loose;
Tears of regret
Stream down her face.

No more child
Laying in wait,
No more womb
For him to wait in.

She staggers to the bedroom,
Holding herself together
With nothing stronger
Than her will and her arms.

Quote:

This is exactly why I am pro-choice. The horrors of illegal abortion, yet women seek them--pay for them!--when legal abortion is not available. Because they are desperate. Sometimes abortion is *necessary--at least from the perspective of the pregnant woman. And, really, who's perspective matters more? IMO, safe and legal abortion is a requirement for a society that values and respects women.

Quote:
I'm going to be lazy and just totally steal this list because in my opinion it is a PERFECT listing of how I feel on the subject.

Because not being prolife means letting government make private decisions, and i've never seen a government decision that didn't involve other people's private politics.

because of what lotusdeb said.

Because nobody respects my daughter's body as much as she does.

Because all babies deserve to be loved.

Because good abortion legislation can be combined with good sex education and birth control availability to make abortions very rare. Like they are here in my country.

Because my daughter deserves to have the same rights as the Republican legislators' mistresses and daughters.

I'm pro-choice because abortion has always existed legal or not and I believe all women should have access to safe , legal abortions.

I am pro-choice because I know first hand what it means to have to choose.

I am pro-choice because I know we live in an imperfect world.

I am pro-choice because being anti-choice means I am okay with women suffering and ultimately children suffering as well.

I am pro-choice because no one should have the right to force a woman to do/or not do anything with her body.

I am pro-choice because I understand the desperation of being pregnant when you know you can't be a mother.

I am pro-choice because the alternative is utterly frightening.

Because no one has the right to decide what I do with my body, except for me!

Because when I was 17, I was naive and dumb.

Because when I was 17 and my boyfriend was sleeping with my best friend (and god knows who else), what was I supposed to do?

Because my parents would have disowned me and asked me to leave their home.

Because I wouldn't have had a chance to be a good mother; the kind of mother that a child deserves

I have no regrets-even though it took years to accept. But I am a better mother now for what I have been through. It was a very personal and hard decision-but I had the option to get a safe and legal abortion without my parents consent. It allowed me to get my life together, get a college degree, get married, buy a nice house and have the financial means to have a baby and be at home to nurture and care for her. Most importantly, I truly believe that my abortion gave me a large capacity for love. I began to see things differently.

I didn't want this to be personal, but it is cathartic.

Some great responses. I have had much oppurtunity at school to really explore the abortion issue. I am VERY Pro-Choice, more so then many of the pro-choice people I have talked to.

I have no problem with a so-called birth control abortion. If abortion is not wrong, then why does the reason matter whatsoever? Sure, from a healthcare standpoint it is important,but I am talking morally here.

I do not judge between one abortion or one hundred. The embryo does not become more of anything no matter how many abortions a given women has.

I also am sick and tired of women being told that they have to feel sad or guilty about an abortion. No they don't, they have not done anything wrong. Every person has a right to sentimentalize things for themselves,but do not put that on others. Too many women, an abortion is a great relief.

That's what I will start with.

I remember reading my mom's "pro-choice" lapel pins when I was very, very little. I can still remember the pins scattered around our kitchen. I was totally stumped as to what the words meant but I knew it was important to my mom. My parents didn't raise us to be "pro-choice" but individual thinkers who respect the privacy of others.

In 1998 or 1999 I accompanied one of my best friends while she had an abortion at a hospital. I promised her that I wouldn't tell anyone but on the eve of the appointment I broke down to my dh (then my boyfriend) with gasping sobs. I was in full support of her decision to have the abortion I was just so sad for the difficult turn her life had taken. To this day I am proud that I was raised to be the kind of friend that could cope with the hardest days in my friend's life.

Fast forward 2002. My dd was born in the same hospital mentioned above. To me it was full circle.