Kindergarten all the way to graduating high school, the education I received maintained something in common, it always came from a Catholic private school. Obviously while attending a school which has its roots coming from religion, the beliefs are imposed on you. When I was in junior high, I remember learning a unit on abortion, except we didn’t really learn much. Instead, we read stories of girls who had abortions, and were then taught that an abortion is when a mother kills her baby before it is born. No logical reasoning was told to why she chose to do so, just that she no longer wanted it. You can get a kid to believe anything without much convincing, so when you tell a classroom of kids stories about mothers choosing to abort their own baby, it results in them being completely against the idea, like I at the time was. Especially when you are only being taught one side to thing, rather than given unbiased education on both views. In high school, it was the same thing, but by this time I had taken it into my own hands to educate myself. In religion class, having debates was a common thing. When it came to debate whether abortion should be illegal or not, the sides written on the board were “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Abortion”, making the what was actually meant to be “pro-choice” side, seem like they received joy out of women getting abortions, which was wrong.
Being pro-choice does not mean I am wishing for all pregnant women to get an abortion, it means that I want women to have complete control over their own bodies and make choices that they view best for their lives.
I do not spend my time convincing women to get abortions, I do not hate children, I do not put aside 10 minutes each night, praying that all babies get aborted. What I do and will continue to do, is stand for women who are making an extremely difficult decision, and fight for them to have the right to do so.
Women who are planning on or having gotten an abortion are shamed beyond belief. They are called a handful of rude things, and are commonly told they are selfish. First of all, it is her life. She is the one currently out and living in the world, the one that is grown up. She has every right to be selfish. If people lived their lives by constantly putting others first, how would they get anything done for them self? But even in that case, it is the baby is who she is thinking of throughout the decision process. In what way is that selfish? When a woman finds out she is pregnant, she does not casually think, “You know what, I’m just going to abort the baby.” The decision is well thought out and puts the woman under an immense amount of stress, pressure, as well as tearful days and nights. Women choose to go under such a tedious procedure to prevent bringing a baby into an unhealthy environment.
If she was raped it’s, “She should’ve been more careful and aware of her surroundings.” Would you tell that to your sister? Mom? Cousin? No. So what gives you the right to say that to a stranger? A baby born from a traumatic event will not be able to experience the love it is meant to receive. It will be a constant reminder of what happened to the mother, and no one deserves that. Then it’s, “Why not consider adoption?” You mean put the baby with the other hundreds of thousands of kids that are sitting in foster care, wondering why no one wants them? Facing the risk to be adopted by abusive parents? Getting kicked out of the system at 18, going blindly into the world with absolutely no support? Where is the right doing in that? “Just keep the baby! Parenting isn’t that hard.” It is actually very difficult, especially when you are not financially prepared to care for another human. Why have a baby be raised in a home where the family cannot afford resources vital to its life? “Don’t have sex then if you aren’t ready for a kid.” Many people do not want to have children, no matter how old they are. And either way, being sexually active should not be limited to only those who are eager to have a kid. Everyone has the right to experiment with their bodies. Pro lifers have managed to come up with many ways to criticize, but still lack knowledge when it comes to providing actual help. It is always belittling.
But that’s not what they want. Why? Because now it’s inconvenient for them. They didn’t ask for this. They aren’t ready for a baby. They already have too many kids. They’re too young to raise a baby. They don’t want to risk getting any health problems that come along with pregnancy. They don’t have the money to support the baby. Sounds a bit familiar. Just like David Gaider said, “Privilege is when you think something is not a problem because it’s not a problem to you personally.”
I also find it interesting how some of the people who preach about being pro-life, are also sexually active while using contraception. It’s the common act of picking and choosing what rules to actually follow from the Bible. Catholic religion states that sex should be saved until after marriage, with the intention solely being to create human life, not to feel pleasure. So while you are taking your birth control pills in the morning, having sex later that night, then the next day proceed to call yourself pro-life, take a second to step back and look in the mirror. Any form of contraception is used to stop life from happening, going completely against what the religion teaches. You know, that same religion belief that you are forcing onto others to follow. That is not very pro life of you.
I am not pro-abortion. I am pro women having options. I am pro women making decisions for themselves. I am pro women having the right to do what they wish with their bodies. I am pro women fighting to stop being shamed for standing up for themselves. I am pro women protesting against men telling them what they can and can’t do. I am pro-choice.
