Abortion with NO Apologies

Difficult decision?  Dilemma?  Agonizing choice? Painful decision? Grief?  Guilt?...and the list goes on and on…

Even those who call themselves pro choice, are unwittingly colluding with the antis to make the abortion decision sound like a traumatic experience when in fact for up to 90% of women it is straight forward decision. The antis are capitalizing on some women’s ambiguity and websites on the so called abortion grief, trauma, and shock abound.  The fact that after abortion “grief” is a myth does not matter; their aim is to inflict as much guilt on women as possible. Some of the “advice” on their websites revolves around religion: pray to God for forgiveness, Jesus will heal you and so on.

It is true that a small number of women may feel guilty after abortion, if they have been pressured to abort a wanted pregnancy by their partner or parents, others may feel guilty, if they had held strong religious beliefs against abortion and non procreative sex. Anti-abortionist groups are trying to capitalize on the experience of a small minority and a number of women have been prey to post abortion “counselling” where unresolved emotional issues which are unrelated to the abortion were used to convince the woman that her sadness or depression is the result of the abortion, this is similar to the cases of false memories planted in patients by some unscrupulous psychiatrists with devastating results for the patients and their families. http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm

The fact is that early abortion is a very straight forward procedure. It takes about 10 minutes under local anesthetic with some period-like cramps after. I have had an abortion at 7 weeks, at that stage; the embryo is about the size of the letter e in the word embryo.  That was nearly 20 years ago; I do not feel guilty or sorry and have not regretted my decision. I acted responsibly given my circumstances at the time and I will have an abortion again if my contraception were to fail, as I do not want any more children.

Most of the tissue extracted from the uterus is made up of the uterine lining – which sheds itself every month when a woman has her period – and the gestational sac. The embryo at that stage resembles embryos of other animals and has no consciousness whatsoever. Consciousness arrives at around 22-24 weeks about the time of viability.

Even though the vast majority of abortions occur during the first trimester there are cases where abortion is necessary late in the pregnancy, when tests reveal serious fetal abnormality or when a woman develops a medical condition and the pregnancy poses a risk to her life and health. These situations are very different to mine, the pregnancy is planned/wanted and the fetus is at a stage where it is well developed and sentient. For these women/couples, it is a difficult, unpleasant, traumatic and heart wrenching decision and I have sympathy and support for their decision.  Pro lifers would have people believe that these women are callous, cruel, selfish and are having late abortions at a whim. This is nothing but propaganda, the last thing these women need is harassment and intimidation. http://www.aheartbreakingchoice.com

Needless to say, that all women have the right to decide how many children they will bear, I do not regard abortion as a method of contraception, but as a back up, if contraception fails. Even though reliable contraception can go a long way in preventing unwanted pregnancy, it is still necessary for safe abortion to be available. Sometimes the pill can be made ineffective if a woman has a bout of diarrhea, vomiting or if she takes antibiotics. Some women cannot take the pill due to medical problems and some men refuse to wear condoms or have a vasectomy.

Some argue that if women have support there would be no need for abortion; this may be the case with some women but not most. Even if I lived in a mansion with a housekeeper, a cook and nanny I still would not want to be popping out a baby every year. Pro lifers can stick their “support”; I’d rather have bodily integrity.

If a woman  finds herself pregnant and does not want to be because she wants to finish her studies, go back to work, already has two children and does not want any more or does not want any children at all, there is nothing wrong with choosing abortion, it is a perfectly moral choice. What I find immoral is the anti abortion lobby’s tactics to intimidate women and make them feel guilty. We already have enough neglected and abused children, who, as they get older become a problem for society. Pro-life organizations are also opposed to contraception and would like to have it banned.

“I'm supposed to kowtow and claim they [the abortions] were each the hardest decision I ever made, that I think about them every day, that I fall into violent pits of depression because I feel such intense agony over the fact I'm such a heartless, baby-killer. Bollocks to that. I feel no shame regarding either of them…Women have got to stop feeling like they owe the world a truckload of guilt simply because they exercised their legal right to govern their own reproduction.” Clementine Ford SUNDAY MAIL