I had an abortion at age 24ish and have never regretted it. I was working full time, going to college at night almost full time, and had no time or inclination to endure a pregnancy and raise a child (or endure a pregnancy and give a child up for adoption). For whatever reason -- who cares at this point? -- birth control was either not present or didn't work. Women shouldn't need a so-called "valid" reason for terminating an unwanted pregnancy (e.g., rape, incest, potential harm to the mother, etc.). I'm grateful the option was easily available to me in Illinois, and will continue to support organizations and politicians who will fight for a woman's right to choose.
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White female choice like white female feminism and white female suffrage is all and only about the separate and superior powerful privilege of white females over and above black males and females in every phase of civil secular plural egalitarian constitutional republic American life.
Indeed, black African American women are doubly bedeviled by their gender due to misogyny and patriarchy and their color aka race aka ethnicity aka national origin.
3
Abortion is the taking of innocent human life in the womb. Why is this so difficult for the pro abortion folks to understand this? It is evil at all stages of development and should not be taken lightly.
3
Still trying to normalize abortion after four decades.
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I have just sent a large donation to a pro life group. They have made great strides but apparently much work is still needed to be done when articles such as this are written. We must get out the word that abortion takes the life of an innocent baby. Unfortunately, they have no say in the matter.
3
It is a fact that most abortions are performed on women who terminate a healthy baby. I will not condemn such a woman but neither will I condone such a sad act. This breaks my heart and I will continue to speak out for those who are voiceless. It must be done to stop the killing of little ones.
3
I was a very young nurse when ultrasound was still in its infancy. I still remember a patient, explaining to me, over and over and over again, that she had been exposed to German measles and needed to have an abortion. I was appalled that she felt the need to explain herself to a snot nosed 20 year old, newly graduated nurse (me) who really had no feelings about her abortion one way or another. Her abortion was medically approved, done in a hospital and under the heartbreak and guilt that was the political mandate of the time. I am grateful that my granddaughter would need to speak to her family, those that love her or no one at all to justify a decision that is hers and hers alone to make. May it ever be so.
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I have suggested to my daughters and even to my sons who wish to know more about the time before "the pill" to search for the movie with Michael Caine called "Alfie"
Vividly depicted is the kind of men I have met in my life. Watch what Alfie learns about
knocking someone up. He gets to arrange
an abortion for an older woman whom he
had casual relations with. You can discuss your theories about when a fetus is a human or has a soul or is far too developed to ever destroy via abortion.
This whole determination should come first.
Between the sex partners. If the life of a child is considered first it might bring some very
sober thinking into to arena.
1
If some people don't want to hear these stories because it makes them uncomfortable or it offends them then vote for pro-choice candidates. Then it can remain the private decision between a doctor and a patient the way it should be.
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The most arresting line to me in Aronowitz's piece is, "I didn't mention that [my abortion] was some of the worst pain of my life, or that I was violently sick afterward, or that it provoked complicated feelings, even thought I didn't regret it.” Why did she choose not to share those feelings rather than going with “a matter of fact approach,” and thinking that just being open about having had an abortion would allow it to be treated "like the private medical procedure that it is?" Why not share the pain and acknowledge that choosing to have an abortion is not just a medical procedure to end a pregnancy, but a decision to end a living entity, whether you believe that entity has all the rights of a human being or is a collection of non-sentient cells? This is not 1969--ultra sound technology and medical advances enabling viable fetuses at much earlier stages of gestation than they were 50 years ago have impacted attitudes about abortion. Publicly acknowledging the profoundness of abortion on both the woman and on the other living being involved may promote an honest dialogue between abortion rights supporters and those opponents who recognize that criminalizing abortion is wrong, unfeasible, and counter-productive. The result might be finding more common ground between the two sides than there appears to be at the moment.
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@CMGruen, I do not have any common ground with anyone who would seek to interfere with, and advocate for the elimination of, the sacred human, civil, and Constitutional rights of a fellow citizen.
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#MeToo and #RealConsent help to underscore that many pregnancies are not consensual nor desired. Data firmly shows that there are more abortions where or when abortion is outlawed and illegal ... which often goes hand-in-hand with philosophies which make contraception less accessible and also where science-based sexual education is barred or discouraged.
These observations are true world wide. The anti-choice foes would deny women the freedom to decide their own life courses.
I was pleased to see the reference to Susan Brownmiller, whose book "Against Our Will" should be read by all.
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Before the law was written, I had abortions (yes, more than one.) And so did several of my friends. We had them on kitchen tables in someone's grungy Greenwich Village apartment; in a clinic in San Juan; in a thriving practice near Allentown, PA., and in our own clean, comforting beds.
As someone who still cannot live a day without calling up the images of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that made so many grownups around me cheer, I do not care about a clump of cells in my uterus. As someone who saw the photos of corpses strewn like garbage in the WWII concentration camps, and heard the huge silence and watched the shrugging of shoulders from all over America, I refuse to listen to you when you call me a murderer because I do what I want with my own body.
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Rea Tarr,
A fetus is more than just a clump of cells. A sonogram has proven that the life inside a womb is a developing baby who if allowed to grow will become a living, breathing human being. Technology has changed many hearts and minds of women who were considering aborting their babies. Once they saw the life growing inside them they could not ever considering killing this precious infant.
3
Regardless of the First Amendment and the clear intent of the framers to remove religion from the business of government , the Republican party , at about the time of Roe v. Wade , discovered that votes could be had by catering to a fanatical religious right that regards women as inferior and submissive beings.
The religions that espouse these medieval beliefs are mainly the Catholics and Evangelicals.
Our Supreme Court is composed of five Catholic males in the conservative majority. All of whom appear to believe that religious freedom includes the infestation of our Constitution with misogynistic nonsense relegating women to the status of barnyard animals and considering them both morally and intellectually incapable of managing their personal reproductive issues.
On the Evangelical side , it is manifestly clear that there is strong support for a President on this issue alone without considering that said President has no moral foundation whatsoever , is the most decadent , racist , and scandal ridden occupant of the Oval Office in our history.
Speaking of moral foundations , the Catholic Church is up to its neck in pedophilia and the abuse of women and children and is no position to be offering moral advice. Nor are the Evangelical crowd with its own pedophilia and sexual abuse baggage.
Reproductive health issues are personal matters that have no place in government or politics.
Yet we have a President and a Senate intent upon denying women citizenship rights. ??
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@Laurence Voss
if they could they would take away our right to vote
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I attended a rally/lecture a while ago where women got up in front of a large pro life gathering and talked about their regret of having an abortion. This certainly was not an easy thing for these women to do and it took a lot of courage. There was not a dry eye in the room.
Not all women are celebrating an abortion and sometimes it can have an adverse affect years later. These women are now some of the most ardent pro life women we have seen. Who better to speak to girls and women about pro life issues than a woman who has had an abortion. They certainly seem willing to listen; and they take notice that once they abort, the decision can never be reversed. It is final.
10
@KMW. When one’s frame of reference about women’s abortion experiences comes from anti-abortion meetings or rallies, it is no surprise that you hear only about regret. The larger frame of reference and studies consistently show that the large majority of women, approximately 95%, do not regret abortion. Perhaps talk with someone like a young woman I know who terminated her much wanted pregnancy at 23 weeks after a routine 20-week scan showed the fetus was missing a stomach, kidneys, neurological features incompatible with life due to what was found to be a lethal genetic anomaly. My friend was also in danger from pre-eclampsia. She and her husband were heartbroken, but were thankful that they lived in a jurisdiction where they, with advice from their own doctors and within their own faith, had the right to make their own decision.
I am sure the commenter likely knows women who have had abortions, given that 1 in 4 American women do, but they would never tell her due to her anti-abortion stance. Rather than impose a religiously-based “Big Brother” prohibition on abortion, how about free and accessible reliable contraception for all and scientifically based, accurate sex education? Abortion rates plummet when contraception and knowledge are freely accessible.
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@KMW
In some circles the only way a woman will disclose she terminated a pregnancy is if she expresses sorrow, regret, 'struggled' to make an 'agonizing' decision. It's taboo to say anything else.
It's also taboo to say you regret having had children. Only recently has the decision to NOT have children been considered acceptable, and only in certain circles.
20
I think the title should have read "The first time women celebrated their abortions." Isn't this really what these women are doing. They seem to be advertising the fact that they had abortions and are proud of the fact. Taking an innocent human life in the womb is not something to be joyous about.
There are women who regretfully have told me they are sorry they had an abortion. I am a pro life woman and in my volunteer work have encountered them from time to time. I have listened to their stories but have never once cast judgement on them. I feel their pain and sorrow. These are some of the women who have come into the pro life movement and are extremely devoted to the cause. Who better to convince a woman without force to have her baby and spare a life of regret.
The shout your abortion movement seemed to be a celebrate your abortion cause. This is so unbelievable and I cannot believe anyone would be happy to terminate a life. We have sunk to a new low level in our society when we are not aghast at this happening. I am more than appalled I am disgusted.
6
@KMW
They can be whatever they want. I am neither appalled, nor disgusted, in contrast to you.
It is not the taking of any innocent (or non-innocent) human life. And not everyone lives a "life of regret." Why should your view decide what others do? Why should you assume your feelings are what others feel?
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@KMW - The article explains very clearly why these women spoke out, and even explains clearly that no matter what tone they take, some people will accuse them of "celebrating." They're doing no such thing. They're telling personal, painful stories to help others understand the situations that lead someone to seek an abortion, and the difficulties and dangers they experience in obtaining one.
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@KMW
I am disgusted how some people think they have any right to impose their own beliefs on others.
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Deciding to remain free, to end the process and restore autonomy must be everywoman’s option. The religious superstitions that have in the past compelled women to accept as inevitable a change in their bodies and their lives must be rejected and laws that enforce male supremacist religions must be repealed. Abortion is birth control. This who believe otherwise have no right to ram it down our throats . Life begins before conception and after it too. A woman’s life is far more valuable than any fetus. Fetuses are not what should ever force a woman to risk pregnancy and force the commitment of motherhood on women. Having a baby should be decided by one person, a woman who wants a baby and is prepared to provide for it. Enjoying sex does not come at a price. Sex is everyone’s right and not burdened with a lifetime of guilt. Religions that would crush us with guilt and oppress women are backward and unhealthy.
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@Joseph Huben - Too many people think of that unwanted child as fitting punishment for the woman for having sex without the intent to procreate. Sadly, "punishment children" don't fare well in this society.
I might have some respect for the forced birthers if they spent a single second worrying about the fate of that unwanted, unaffordable child. We know from statistics that about 1/3 of unwanted children end up spending much of their adult lives incarcerated.
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