My Body, My Voice

No longer posting | sideblog cressiesaradfem

[desaturated7-deactivated2021090]

if you don't mind, could you elaborate on why many pro-choice arguments are bad? what made you switch?

most arguments for abortion don't address why people are pro-life or any of the concerns pro-life people have. so they're bad in the sense that they're bad at convincing people, and they're also bad in the sense that they're not sound arguments. u have to understand that the other side views abortion as murder in the same way everyone views drowning someone as murder. so if u say "it's a personal choice" you aren't going to convince anyone anymore than u would if u argued shooting someone was a personal choice. same for saying "abortion will happen anyway, we might as well make it legal so it's safer." those points will never change someone's views bc it's (to them) as ridiculous as saying "robbery will happen anyway, we might as well make it legal so it's safer." in addition to this some pro-choice talking points are flat out wrong. yeah a fetus is a clump of cells but so is literally every human on earth, that's meaningless. a fetus isn't a parasite, a parasite is by definition not a member of your own species. a fetus is human; being a fetus is another stage of human development, just like a toddler and a teenager and an adult. the word fetus literally means 'little one/little person.'

the argument that made me change my mind (and in my view the only argument for abortion) is bodily autonomy. imagine you have an extremely rare blood type and only one person on earth shares it. this person needs a blood transfusion and if you refuse to give blood they will die. should it be legal for the government to tie you down and force u to give blood? of course not! we don't even take organs from corpses without consent, even though corpses can't feel pain and won't know it ever happened. and unlike giving blood, being pregnant is extremely dangerous and detrimental for your health. even in first world countries like america, pregnancy causes death and injury. if you don't think people should be forced by law to give blood, donate organs, or give skin grafts--even when it won't harm the donor, and it will save the life of someone who already has a consciousness, a family, and a community--why should pregnant women be forced to give their entire body, enduring pain and suffering and risking injury and death, for someone who doesn't even have consciousness yet? and that's not even going into how having a child changes the course of your entire life. if the government passed a law saying you must donate your entire body for someone, and then you must support that person financially, emotionally, and physically, or else you would be the same as a murderer, it would be a clear violation of human rights. but that's exactly what we expect of women. there's no doubt in my mind that the only reason we have this exception for bodily autonomy for pregnancy is because society views women as mothers and not people, so abortion is seen as a perversion of the natural order of the world. and that's why i am now pro-choice.

[fredarose]

I’m reading a book about midwifery in New England in the eighteenth century and I’m struck by how pro-woman their treatment of birth was compared to how it’s done today.

Like, it was the norm for labouring women to be surrounded by a midwife and several female friends who all performed some kind of function to aid the woman in delivering her baby safely. Male physicians hated the social tradition and dismissed the gathering of women as facilitating “gossip” and as a hindrance on the rare occasion they attended a birth.

The work of midwives was so valorised that many town maps from this period clearly identify where every midwife was located, and paying the midwife was one of the biggest household expenses alongside taxes.

Midwives developed their own manuscripts full of medicinal remedies for all aspects of reproduction. Birth was managed by women themselves – it was a collective female ritual.

Male obstetricians, motivated in my opinion by a deep-seated envy of women’s reproductive power, began to steal and suppress women’s wisdom around childbirth in the nineteenth century, and by the twentieth century unnecessary medical intervention in childbirth had exploded.

We need to make childbirth woman-centred again.

[seriouslyamerica]

“I have done several abortions on women who have regularly picketed my clinics, including a 16 year old schoolgirl who came back to picket the day after her abortion, about three years ago. During her whole stay at the clinic, we felt that she was not quite right, but there were no real warning bells. She insisted that the abortion was her idea and assured us that all was OK. She went through the procedure very smoothly and was discharged with no problems. A quite routine operation. Next morning she was with her mother and several school mates in front of the clinic with the usual anti posters and chants. It appears that she got the abortion she needed and still displayed the appropriate anti views expected of her by her parents, teachers, and peers.” (Physician, Australia)

“I’ve had several cases over the years in which the anti-abortion patient had rationalized in one way or another that her case was the only exception, but the one that really made an impression was the college senior who was the president of her campus Right-to-Life organization, meaning that she had worked very hard in that organization for several years. As I was completing her procedure, I asked what she planned to do about her high office in the RTL organization. Her response was a wide-eyed, ‘You’re not going to tell them, are you!?’ When assured that I was not, she breathed a sigh of relief, explaining how important that position was to her and how she wouldn’t want this to interfere with it.” (Physician, Texas)

“In 1990, in the Boston area, Operation Rescue and other groups were regularly blockading the clinics, and many of us went every Saturday morning for months to help women and staff get in. As a result, we knew many of the 'antis’ by face. One morning, a woman who had been a regular 'sidewalk counselor’ went into the clinic with a young woman who looked like she was 16-17, and obviously her daughter. When the mother came out about an hour later, I had to go up and ask her if her daughter’s situation had caused her to change her mind. 'I don’t expect you to understand my daughter’s situation!’ she angrily replied. The following Saturday, she was back, pleading with women entering the clinic not to 'murder their babies.’” (Clinic escort, Massachusetts)

“We too have seen our share of anti-choice women, ones the counselors usually grit their teeth over. Just last week a woman announced loudly enough for all to hear in the recovery room, that she thought abortion should be illegal. Amazingly, this was her second abortion within the last few months, having gotten pregnant again within a month of the first abortion. The nurse handled it by talking about all the carnage that went on before abortion was legalized and how fortunate she was to be receiving safe, professional care. However, this young woman continued to insist it was wrong and should be made illegal. Finally the nurse said, 'Well, I guess we won’t be seeing you here again, not that you’re not welcome.’ Later on, another patient who had overheard this exchange thanked the nurse for her remarks.” (Clinic Administrator, Alberta)

“We saw a woman recently who after four attempts and many hours of counseling both at the hospital and our clinic, finally, calmly and uneventfully, had her abortion. Four months later, she called me on Christmas Eve to tell me that she was not and never was pro-choice and that we failed to recognize that she was clinically depressed at the time of her abortion. The purpose of her call was to chastise me for not sending her off to the psych unit instead of the procedure room.” (Clinic Administrator, Alberta)

“Recently, we had a patient who had given a history of being a 'pro-life’ activist, but who had decided to have an abortion. She was pleasant to me and our initial discussion was mutually respectful. Later, she told someone on my staff that she thought abortion is murder, that she is a murderer, and that she is murdering her baby. So before doing her procedure, I asked her if she thought abortion is murder – the answer was yes. I asked her if she thought I am a murderer, and if she thought I would be murdering her baby, and she said yes. But murder is a crime, and murderers are executed. Is this a crime? Well, it should be, she said. At that point, she became angry and hostile, and the summary of the conversation was that she regarded me as an abortion-dispensing machine, and how dare I ask her what she thinks. After explaining to her that I do not perform abortions for people who think I am a murderer or people who are angry at me, I declined to provide her with medical care. I do not know whether she found someone else to do her abortion.” (Physician, Colorado)

“In 1973, after Roe v. Wade, abortion became legal but had to be performed in a hospital. That of course was changed later. For the first 'legal abortion day’ I had scheduled five procedures. While scrubbing between cases, I was accosted by the Chief of the OB/Gyn service. He asked me, 'How many children are you going to kill today?’ My response, out of anger, was a familiar vulgar retort. About three months later, this born-again Christian called me to explain that he was against abortion but his daughter was only a junior in high school and was too young to have a baby and he was also afraid that if she did have a baby she would not want to put it up for adoption. I told him he did not need to explain the situation to me. 'All I need to know’, I said, 'is that SHE wants an abortion.’ Two years later I performed a second abortion on her during her college break. She thanked me and pleaded, 'Please don’t tell my dad, he is still anti-abortion.’” (Physician, Washington State)

“The sister of a Dutch bishop in Limburg once visited the abortion clinic in Beek where I used to work in the seventies. After entering the full waiting room she said to me, 'My dear Lord, what are all those young girls doing here?’ 'Same as you’, I replied. 'Dirty little dames,’ she said.” (Physician, The Netherlands)

“I had a patient about ten years ago who traveled up to New York City from South Carolina for an abortion. I asked her why she went such a long way to get the procedure. Her answer was that she was a member of a church group that didn’t believe in abortion and she didn’t want anyone to know she was having one. She planned to return to the group when she went back to South Carolina.” (Physician, New York)

“I once had a German client who greatly thanked me at the door, leaving after a difficult 22-week abortion. With a gleaming smile, she added: 'Und doch sind Sie ein Mörderer.’ ('And you’re still a murderer.’)” (Physician, The Netherlands)

“My first encounter with this phenomenon came when I was doing a 2-week follow-up at a family planning clinic. The woman’s anti-choice values spoke indirectly through her expression and body language. She told me that she had been offended by the other women in the abortion clinic waiting room because they were using abortion as a form of birth control, but her condom had broken so she had no choice! I had real difficulty not pointing out that she did have a choice, and she had made it! Just like the other women in the waiting room.” (Physician, Ontario)

“A 21 year old woman and her mother drove three hours to come to their appointment for an abortion. They were surprised to find the clinic a 'nice’ place with friendly, personable staff. While going over contraceptive options, they shared that they were Pro-Life and disagreed with abortion, but that the patient could not afford to raise a child right now. Also, she wouldn’t need contraception since she wasn’t going to have sex until she got married, because of her religious beliefs. Rather than argue with them, I saw this as an opportunity for dialogue, and in the end, my hope was that I had planted a 'healing seed’ to help resolve the conflict between their beliefs and their realities.” (Physician, Washington State)

“I had a 37 year old woman just yesterday who was 13 weeks. She said she and her husband had been discussing this pregnancy for 2-3 months. She was strongly opposed to abortion, 'but my husband is forcing me to do it.’ Naturally, I told her that no one could force her into an abortion, and that she had to choose whether the pregnancy or her husband were more important. I told her I only wanted what was best for her, and I would not do the abortion unless she agreed that it was in her best interest. Once she was faced with actually having to voice her own choice, she said 'Well, I made the appointment and I came here, so go ahead and do it. It’s what’s best.’ At last I think she came to grips with the fact that it really was her decision after all.” (Physician, Nevada)

“We have anti-choice women in for abortions all the time. Many of them are just naive and ignorant until they find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. Many of them are not malicious. They just haven’t given it the proper amount of thought until it completely affects them. They can be judgmental about their friends, family, and other women. Then suddenly they become pregnant. Suddenly they see the truth. That it should only be their own choice. Unfortunately, many also think that somehow they are different than everyone else and they deserve to have an abortion, while no one else does.” (Physician, Washington State)

[my-feminism]

In the Netherlands, abortion is freely available on demand. Yet the Netherlands boasts the lowest abortion rate in the world, about 6 abortions per 1000 women per year, and the complication and death rates for abortion are miniscule. How do they do it? First of all, contraception is widely available and free – it’s covered by the national health insurance plan. Holland also carries out extensive public education on contraception, family planning, and sexuality. An ethic of personal responsibility for one’s sexual activity is strongly promoted. Of course, some people say that teaching kids about sex and contraception will only encourage them to have lots of sex. But Dutch teenagers tend to have less frequent sex, starting at an older age, than American teenagers, and the Dutch teenage pregnancy rate is 9 times lower than in the U.S.

[shollymannon-deactivated2019032]

I don't get why radical feminists are always whinging about how 'painful' or 'traumatic' child birth is. Like yeah it's painful, but that's the only way new humans are born. Childbirth is the only way for the species/humanity/society to develop and move forward. And women have been doing it for thousands and thousands of years. Like sorry, but it's necessary. What do you suggest instead?

i…..haven’t seen any radfems complaining about this? childbirth is obviously necessary for the continuation of human life

i think maybe you’re seeing feminists explain that its unreasonable to deny a woman an abortion because she should just give birth and then give the baby up for adoption, because childbirth IS medically traumatic and will put that woman in tens of thousands of dollars of debt. it’s sexist to insist that women tear themselves apart giving birth to children they don’t want, the pain of childbirth itself isn’t the issue and there’s not much that can be done about that, obviously

i dont understand this ask at all tbh it seems like you’re misrepresenting an argument on purpose and im not even sure which one it is

[marbleroots]

A future midwife’s take on this. 

(Also I’ve helped women give birth to their children. As in my hands have helped their children come out from their vaginas.) 

Childbirth can be one of the most traumatic events for a young woman. It is often the most painful experience of their entire lives. Women can be physically and emotionally assaulted and violated during childbirth by their partners, doctors, midwives or nurses, women can be cut from their vaginas, perineums and bellies. Women may be anaesthetised and cut open in a split-second decision to save the baby, women may be forced to push without contractions, women may be slapped awake to keep their consciousness while they are giving birth. Women may end up in such a painful state they will go in shock. Women may faint and women may vomit.

Women also may bleed to death. Women also may lose their child. Women may give birth to a dead baby. Women may have extensive tears in their flesh that need to be sutured up in multiple layers. Women may lose control of their bladder, women may lose control of their bowels, women may develop prolapses. 

Women may end up with breast cancer, women may end up with growths and cancers of their genitalia. Women may end up with vulvodynia, 

Women may get infections, women may end up getting a hysterectomy. There are countless of traumatic events and things that may happen during childbirth. But pain almost always is guaranteed. The pain of having your cervix dilate, of having your baby descend into your bony pelvis, of having your vaginal opening stretch to its absolute limit, to having your insides being stretched and pushed to the edge of torture. That is what childbirth is at its worst. 

It hurts. The pain seems endless. 

You are right in one thing. Most women will pull through. Most women give birth to a baby that they are able to give birth to. It’s nature’s design. But increasingly the pathology of pregnancy is something that makes it very dangerous to give birth for some women. 

So yeah… radical feminists would want to talk about this. Everyone needs to understand the pain and labour that goes into being pregnant and giving birth. Birthing practises are in the hands of the whole of the world when it should be in the hands of women. We should have the absolute control of our bodies and we should dictate the amount of research that should go into developing care that is humane for women. 

I have met so many young women who are 35+ weeks along who are shaking with fear because they know nothing of childbirth, they don’t know what to expect, they have grown up hating their bodies and hating their periods and hating their breasts and lumps and fat. And now their bodies, that they still hate, are about to betray them, and suddenly they’re supposed to trust them and understand that their bodies are supposed to have a function other than being sexually objectified. The amount of first-time mothers I’ve met, in the past month, who are disgusted by even the idea of breastfeeding because they feel it’s somehow wrong and sexual, is appalling to me. 

There is so much that you are simplifying with your “women have given birth for thousands of years”-comment about the culture and era we live in as women. You can not just undo all of the above and more by saying that “radfems are whinging about childbirth”. Childbirth is what makes us female, what makes us women. Do not try to make it into a “meh that thing that women do”. It’s the thing that makes us feminists. 

Now, I’m not saying that a female is defined by her giving birth to a child. Instead, I am saying that only females can give birth and that fact is used to oppress, enslave, kill, maim and torture us. It’s why I’m going to be a midwife.

[shollymannon-deactivated2019032]

don’t be sorry that was perfect

[woman-adulthumanfemale]

Childbirth is horrendously painful. I didn’t have regular contractions and laboured for 35 hours and pushed for 3.5 hours with no pain relief. My hospital “doesn’t believe” in delivering with meds. It turns out my child was being born via the ear and we had to wait for their head to turn before being born. In the end, my child was delivered with a vacuum. Yeah, no one is going to tell me childbirth is simple.

[woman-adulthumanfemale]

I forgot to add that the day after I delivered, I couldn’t walk. I woke up and was partially paralysed in my right leg. It look 14 weeks to regain the use of my foot. I compressed the L5 in my back due to the position I was in, and time I spent pushing.

[2343454254356]

A few weeks ago my mom stapled pages of a story in one of her women’s magazines together and handed it to me. She gave it to me pretty much with the tag lines “for your feminist blog” and “something new to consider.” Indeed it was; she knows me well.

The story is titled “I was forced to be pregnant.” With a title like that, reading it was actually not on the top of my to read list. I thought it was about women not exercising their right to choice. I was very, very wrong on that one.

Have you ever heard of Reproductive coercion? It is a term that was quite recently coined by the advocates against domestic violence to describe a certain type of abuse some women face. It occurs when a man pressures their partner to have kids and/or impregnates them against their will. Reproductive coercion comes in three different types: 1. Emotional pressure that turns into verbal and physical abuse. 2. Sabotaging birth control 3. Marital rape Over 75% of women 19-49 who reported once experiencing domestic violence also endured some type of reproductive control by men. It’s all about control and domination over a woman’s body.

The first story in the magazine is about a woman who got married around 36 years of age. After a few months of dating her boyfriend talked excitedly about having children. After he proposed he began calling her “The Babymaker.” She then confided with him that one of her fallopian tubes was blocked. He in return insisted she see a fertility doctor. She recounts, “I had finally met a great guy who was eager to start a family with me. What woman wouldn’t fall for that?” Soon after her honeymoon he persisted on in an obsessive manner, but his efforts had to be temporarily halted as she had to get emergency back surgery. Alas, 6 months into recovery he was back to pressuring her again. She was in much pain at the time due to her back, but she agreed to In Vitro Fertilization. She then became pregnant, but soon miscarried. In response, her husband grabbed her by the neck, choking her. He apologized, blaming his outburst on his grief and had her sign up for another round of IVF. And then a third round. She tried to put him off with the excuse that she needed to weigh more before she could take treatments, her husband forced her to get on the scale often and filled the fridge with fattening foods. “It hurt that all I was good for was getting pregnant.” She recounts. At the end, he screamed at her, threatening to replace her with a maid if she couldn’t get pregnant and she told him she no longer wanted to have his child. He destroyed bedroom furniture, pushed her down the stairs and threatened her with a gun. She fled to a domestic violence shelter.

The second story was about a woman who faced marital rape. This woman was 40, had a then boyfriend and two children from a previous marriage. After telling her boyfriend she did not want any more children, her boyfriend refused to wear a condom and began to rape her.  She then became pregnant with her third child. Birth control was never an option for her because she couldn’t hide pills anywhere for he went through all of her belongings. Three months after giving birth, he raped her again, impregnating her with twins. She lost the twins in a physical fight with him, but soon became pregnant again. During her recovery she begged her obstetrician to remove her ovaries and devise a lie to tell him; that she had cancer. After a decade of sexual abuse and violence she was able to get a job that kept her out of the house and often times traveling.

One in four callers to the National Domestic Abuse hotline said that their partners had tried to force them to become pregnant. Why? As one woman stated, “Its like he wants to own me from the inside out.”  Having a baby is the perfect tie that binds. These type of abusers want to create a circumstance in which their partner is dependent on him.

WHAT’S THAT HAVE TO DO WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD?

Many voters never consider how defunding these clinics could hurt victims of domestic violence who turn to them for counseling as well as pregnancy prevention. Abused women will turn to health care providers long before they will turn to domestic abuse hotlines and organizations. Many women in abusive relationships rely on life saving, affordable care programs such as Title X. It is critical that such places are open and operation when women and children need them so desperately.

[dosajam]

tw: abuse, rape, domestic violence

[babsissuchafuckinglady-deactiva]

holy fuck im crying.

[cg-is-lying-in-wait-blog]

I know I’ve told this story before, but my abusive ex refused to let me take birth control.  I was on the pill until he found them in my purse. 

I went to the Student Health Center—they were completely unhelpful, choosing to lecture me about the importance of safe sex (recommending condoms) instead of actually listening to my problem.

Then I went to Planned Parenthood. The Nurse Practitioner took one look at my fading bruises and stopped the exam. She called in the doctor. The doctor came in and simply asked me: “Are you ready to leave him?” When I denied that I was being abused, she didn’t argue with me. She just asked me what I needed. I said I need a birth control method that my boyfriend couldn’t detect. She recommended a few options and we decided on Depo. 

When I told her that my boyfriend read my emails and listened to my phone messages and was known to follow me, she suggested to do the Depo injections at off hours when the clinic was normally closed. She made a note in my chart and instructed the front desk never to leave messages for me—instead, she programmed her personal cell phone number into my phone under the name “Nora”. She told me she would call me to schedule my appointments; she wouldn’t leave a message, but I should call her back when I was able to.

And that was it. No judgment. No lecture. She walked me to the door and told me to call her day or night if I needed anything. That she lived 5 blocks from campus and would come get me. That I wasn’t alone. That she just wanted me to be safe.

I never called her to come to my rescue. But I have no doubt that she would have come if I had called. She kept me on Depo for a year, giving me those monthly injections in secret, helping me prevent a desperately unwanted pregnancy. 

I cannot thank Planned Parenthood enough for the work they do.

[jewlesthemagnificent-deactivate]

If you can read this, and still think there is no situation in which a woman should have access to safe abortions, basically you’re saying that you value women as little as the abusive assholes in these personal, true stories did. That you’d rather have a woman die at the hands of her abuser than terminate a pregnancy, and that you’d rather have numerous children born into a dangerous, damaging, terrifying home than allow a woman to have control over her own body and her own reproductive choices.

[tradfemme-deactivated20190223]

[queerandprochoice]

It’s almost like 2 entirely different situations require different responses.

Abortions done at 24 weeks are rarely done electively, usually done to protect the health of a pregnant person or because the pregnancy is unviable. Most of the time, (but not always, as anti-abortion legislation can prevent people getting their abortions sooner which leads to later term abortions,) either the health of the pregnant person is at risk, or the fetus is dead, dying, or will not survive once born.

[feminismandmedia]

Oh…great…she’s back. /s/

Yeah, wanted, premature pregnancies are sent to the NICU…cool. 

But the rest is complete bullshit. First, let’s get this one out of the way: only 1.3% of all abortions are preformed after 21 weeks gestation.  That said, pretending like this is some horrible, terrible “murder” going on basically 24/7 is just another, pathetic pro-liar scare tactic. This is a RARITY and NOT the norm. This post acts like this happens round the clock, every day and that’s just 100% false. 

But next: we’ve already talked about medical abortion and how “poison” isn’t part of the process. I don’t enjoy repeating myself. 

Medical abortion (the pill) is actually two pills: mifepristone and misoprostol. The first simply stops the hormones that allow pregnancy and the second essentially induces the breakdown of the uterine walls like menstruation. Again, IT IS NOT POISON. Furthermore, it’s not “injected into the fetus’ heart” but taken by the pregnant person either orally or via vaginal insertion. 

But one can also go the surgical abortion route: 

That involves either a vacuum/suction aspiration procedure OR D&E (dilation and evacuation). D&E is what you refer to when you say the fetus is “ripped apart”–which, again is catastrophising and making it seem as bad as you can because that’s what “pro-lifers” do–but…it’s a medical procedure, not a fucking lion ripping apart a zebra. It’s done carefully and responsibly by a liscenced, medical professional. 

Also, consider that “research has shown a fetus does not yet have the capacity to experience pain until at least the third trimester, and unlikely until birth”. “Tearing something apart” should only be concerning if said something can feel it. Doctors “tear apart” (or perhaps “cut apart” is more appropriate) tumours all the time. Tumours also happen to be simply clumps of cells within the body. They’re “living”, of course, because all cells are alive, but you don’t pitch a fit when a person has a life-saving operation to remove a tumour. After 24 weeks, the only reason a pregnant person is legally permitted to have an abortion is because the fetus threatens their life.  But please, continue to preach from your high horse about the bs idea of “potential life” and what “rights” that entails.

As far as the point about injecting directly into the fetus’ system, that happens ONLY after 23 weeks. Regardless, the only reasons it would happen are in the event of partial-birth abortion or just in case the fetus is removed for the most part intact as a result of D&E. And that…makes sense? If a fetus does come out of the womb intact after 23 weeks, it does have the chance of survival outside the womb. Given that it no longer violates the pregnant person’s bodily autonomy, terminating it would be problematic–but then again you have a pregnant person uninterested in becoming a parent. The situation would be problematic for all parties involved–as having the POTENTIAL to be viable doesn’t mean it survives. 

But finally, I’d like to draw attention once more to the fact I stated at the beginning: this is ONLY 1% OF ALL ABORTIONS. You’re focusing on what sounds the scariest as a half-assed attempt to bring people on the fence about their abortion opinions over to your side. The pro-life camp does nothing but lie and fear-monger. It’s disgusting, it’s unethical, and IT NEEDS TO STOP.

-mod Aleksandr 

[throwherinthewater]

[feeli-manning]

This is Susan Robinson, one of the last people in the country who can preform late term abortions after the murder of Dr. George Tiller. This is from an awesome documentary called After Tiller, about the last 4 late-term abortion practitioners in the country.

This documentary is so so powerful and also available on Netflix! I highly recommend it

[medranochav]

it’s also on youtube: https://youtu.be/rvavyqrmbWc

[rasen-shuriken-blog]

abortion that late should 🚫❌

I did not know that in 7 states in America, you can carry out an abortion the day before you give birth (allows abortion at any time). That’s so fucking disgusting. And other states allow abortion up to 28 weeks. That’s not a ball of cells no more, that’s a damn baby. It’s good that abortion is legal but not the fucking late into the pregnancy 😷😷 nasty

[evilterf]

You do know the reason abortion is carried out that late in a pregnancy is because of fetal abnormalities, right? There’s no woman that stays pregnant for 8 months and then decides “Meh, I’m just gonna have an abortion instead.”

These women are not nasty, they are not evil, they are women who were so excited to welcome their little one into this world. They are women who had a nursery set up and baby clothes bought. They are women who excitedly waited for their due date, took belly photos and updated the world on how their pregnancy was coming along. They are the women who woke up one day and felt that their baby wasn’t moving anymore. They are the women that felt in their gut that something was terribly wrong, just to have their worst fears confirmed.

They are the women who went to a regular checkup to find out that their baby is severely deformed and won’t live outside the womb, or will but only for a few days and suffer terribly the whole time. They are the women who have to make a decision to not let their baby suffer.

Women having abortions that late are not women who just decided to get an abortion 8 months into pregnancy. While that is there right to do so, know that isn’t what happens. Know that that isn’t the reality.

[fem-bomb-om-em-deactivated20180]

This is really upsetting to read but it is the truth, more people need to know this.

[appropriately-inappropriate]

Something like 90% of abortions are first trimester, which is so early that the medical terminology vacillates between “zygote” and “fetus”, and whatever the name, the thing’s the size of a pencil eraser and has 0% ability to survive outside of the womb.

The remainder are performed in the 2nd trimester, generally as a result of fetal abnormality or a severe congenital defect.

The vanishingly rare 3rd trimester abortions are generally for one of two reasons:

1) the life of the mother is in serious danger 2) the fetus is either dead or dying

So no. Women aren’t just bouncing on coat-hangers at 37 weeks for a giggle, they’re undertaking a serious medical procedure for a heartbreaking reason.

But nice try, jerk.

[taraljc]

THISSSSS.

[kailyndavillier]

FOR EVERYONE THAT MIGHT BE CONFUSED READ THIS

[lauraannegilman]

Banning a D&C at later points also forces a woman to carry a dead fetus within her, full term. Even if it endangers her life (or, possibly, the life of a still-developing twin).  Because some men think human woman are the same as pigs and cows, and should behave accordingly.

[radwitchescauldron]

I’ve known someone in the position of carrying a dead fetus in her body. The kid had a name and a crib and handmade blankets and a mountain of toys. There were baby showers and a little plastic bath thing and those toys that are supposed to make baby smart. There was even a special backpack for taking the kid hiking.

If the first doctor she saw had listened to her, all that stuff might even have gotten used. But instead, the kid died that night. Her mother carried a corpse in her uterus for 3 days, running a horrible fever and coming close to organ failure.

So go fuck yourself if you think she should have died with the kid. Pro life, my big round ass.

[getoffmyastroturf]

These fucks know nothing. They don’t understand that late abortions are 100% unwanted and break the mother’s heart.

They’re so self-righteous and self-absorbed they are incapable of putting themselves in the woman’s shoes.

[officialweatherwax]

It’s part of the propaganda war against abortion. The “selfish slut who can’t be bothered to be pregnant and doesn’t care about the baby she’s killing” is easy to demonize and people have no problem denying her an abortion. The fact that she doesn’t exist is incidental.

[midoriko-sama]

A woman I know recently had to carry a baby to term, because my Mediterranean, highly Catholic bullshit country has illegal abortion still. Her baby was developing without any brain tissue, and she found this out during her second trimester. She had to carry an essentially brain dead child for five more months, growing larger and larger like nothing was wrong, smiling and fielding questions from those not in the know about gender, due date, all the congratulations that must have hurt so much. She gave birth, and the baby died minutes later. They didn’t even babtise it on time, so now it’s buried in unconsecrated soil, too. Because she obviously didn’t suffer enough.

Now she’s on suicide watch. I hope that makes you feel REAL.good. that no abortion took place.

[toooldforthissh--stuff]

When I was a practicing OR nurse in the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s there were places I worked that had “religious” differences with legal abortions and sterilizations. These were mainly Catholic hospitals. One of the ways around the ban on sterilizations (tubal ligation) was to “document” a retroverted uterus and go into  tack up the uterus by shortening the ligaments that keep it in place. But, we would take the fallopian tubes instead and run a suture through the abdominal wall facia to keep the uterus in place and in reality tie the tubes. 

When it came to abortions, even in hospitals that allowed them, people could “opt out” of scrubbing or circulating on those. We usually had at least a few who would participate. We were called the “Angels of Death” 

There was a place where women who were carrying a malformed fetus who would not live outside the womb had to wait until the child died in utero or reached her due date to have a c-section. I can’t imagine how hard it was for her and her family, but I can tell you what a toll it took on the folks who had to deliver the baby and know before hand that it would arrive dead. The feeling of the flacid, still warm little one in your hands and know there was nothing you could do to revive them was heart breaking. We angels of death arranged among ourselves a rotation so that we almost never had to do more than one a month. 

Perhaps because I am a woman who has never experienced the joy of carrying a child to term, but have known the joy of having an adopted son, I am not one to judge. I do think that I can never condemn a woman who choses to terminate a pregnancy for whatever reason and that we must strive to keep abortion and birth control legal. We MUST keep a woman’s choices about her reproduction in HER hands and NO ONE elses.

[cressiesprochoice]

[life-advocate-feminist]

I thought pro choicers said clinics that do abortion also offer help continuing the pregnancy 🤔

[cressiesprochoice]

That is literally what Dr. Wicklund was trying to do. 

The particular clinic Dr. Wicklund ran (Mountain Country Women's Clinic in Bozeman, Montana) is a small location, however, so she contacted a local facility whose entire purpose was to help people like her and they didn’t. That’s the point of this.

[duchessofostergotlands]

You knew darn well what I was askong you. Is it okay for me to kill you because you're tissue? Why is murder even illegal then? Also do you thonk a 6-9 month old fetus (someone failed latin cause that means offspring) is okay to abort? Because seems like you apply no limitations.

My six years of Latin straight As would beg to differ. The word lunatic has a Latin root in the word for moon but it doesn’t mean crazy people are moons. Etymology is not the same as a definition.

Firstly “do you thonk a 6-9 month old fetus…is okay to abort?” Personally, for me, yes. Not everyone agrees with me on that and that’s fine but if it’s necessary, it should be allowed. If you think it’s a a sentient human being- from the minute it’s conceived then you should believe that any form of abortion is murder even if it’s the result of rape or incest, or if the mother is 13. 

The thing you seem not to realise is that the majority of people who are pro choice couldn’t give a shit about when life begins. There is no medical or scientific consensus. The reason we’re pro choice is because we live in reality. Abortion has existed since the beginning of time. It’s centuries older than the religion which has led you to believe abortion is wrong. Women will get abortions as long as we continue to ignore the root causes (again, the fault of pro lifers) so we have two options: legalise it so we can regulate and make it safe or ban it and lead to the deaths of millions of people- deaths which will happen in back rooms of illegal abortion clinics with women bleeding slowly to death while the rest of the world turns a blind eye. Now before you say “BUT MURDER IS OLDER THAN CHRISTIANITY AND WE STILL BAN THAT” I’d say that’s true. But legalising murder doesn’t reduce murder, whereas legalising abortion does consistently reduce rates. And we do legalise the premeditated death of others all the time: in combat situations. If it’s ok to take away the life of another human being- someone with family and friends and thoughts and beliefs and memories- in a war zone, then we are explicitly saying that stopping a life is ok as long as it benefits the person with the most power. 

The other main point is the fact that if you say that a fetus is a human being then you give it all of the basic human rights a person has by law. Let’s look at the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The fetus would have a right to a name so everyone has to name a baby the moment they find out they’re pregnant. They have the right to a nationality, even though you can’t be a citizen of places like the United States unless you’re born there. They have the right to privacy (I’m sure you can see the issues with that when they live inside their mother).  I read an article the other day that pointed out that if we force a woman to go through with a pregnancy she doesn’t want then we’d be violating the fetus’s right to be free from arbitrary detention! And even if we all decided to give the fetus the inalienable right to life, that doesn’t give them the right to their mother’s oxygen or her blood supply. They can have the right to life if you want but only if we grow them in labs. You can’t hand out rights to someone who isn’t born. It is just completely irrational. 

Pro lifers like to play on the emotions of people and that’s not what it’s about for pro choice people. Emotion is irrelevant for policy decisions. What’s relevant is logic and realism. Being anti-choice is neither logical or realistic. 

[anamericangirl]

Some quotes from the the article:

“This embarrassing scene happened two years ago and the episode is just one of the many challenges we have faced since Stephen, our second child, was born with Down’s Syndrome. So difficult has it been that I can honestly say I wish he hadn’t been born.“

“I know this will shock many: this is my son, whom I’ve loved, nurtured and defended for nearly half a century, but if I could go back in time, I would abort him in an instant.”

“Perhaps you’d expect me to say that, over time, I grew to accept my son’s disability. That now, looking back on that day 47 years later, none of us could imagine life without him, and that I’m grateful I was never given the option to abort. However, you’d be wrong. Because, while I do love my son, and am fiercely protective of him, I know our lives would have been happier and far less complicated if he had never been born. I do wish I’d had an abortion. I wish it every day. If he had not been born, I’d have probably gone on to have another baby, we would have had a normal family life and Andrew would have the comfort, rather than the responsibility, of a sibling, after we’re gone.”

“Instead, Stephen - who struggles to speak and function in the modern world - has brought a great deal of stress and heartache into our lives. That is why I want to speak in support of the 92 per cent of women who choose to abort their babies after discovering they have Down’s Syndrome.”

“For my own part, however, I don’t think I will ever come to terms with Stephen’s disability.”

“One day, Stephen’s doctor sat us down and told us that Stephen needed an operation to remove his spleen. Without it, he said, he would ‘go to sleep and never wake up’. Those were his exact words. Looking back, I believe the doctor was guiding us towards allowing our son to pass away naturally, but we were not much more than children ourselves, in our mid-20s, and didn’t understand then what he was trying to do for us. I wish we had - it would have spared us all a great deal of pain.”

“Years ago, I was so worried about history repeating itself that Andrew, Roy and I went for genetic counselling at Guy’s Hospital in London and found Stephen was just ‘bad luck’. I say ‘bad luck’, but that’s the greatest understatement that anyone can imagine.”

I know this was written in 2014, but it’s so, so awful. Yeah, it’s challenging to raise children with disabilities and yes, it will make your life harder, but the fact that she wishes she could go back in time and kill her son and have never had him, never known him, doesn’t really come across as love to me.

When you love someone, you don’t wish they had never been born because it would make your life easier. I feel so bad for her son, Stephen. Hopefully, he doesn’t know his mother feels this way. No child will think they are loved if they hear “I love you but I wish you had never been born. If I could go back in time, I would never have had you. If I could go back, I would take advantages of the opportunities I had to kill you because you make my life harder.“

This is incredibly sad. Hopefully Stephen has people in his life who really do love him and don’t wish he had never been born.

Aborting babies just because they have down syndrome is a horrible thing to do and wishing you could go back in time and kill your adult son before he was born just because it would make your life easier is not love. It’s horrific. People who struggle with disabilities aren’t less valuable than “normal” people. Shame on this woman and anyone who agrees with her.

[s0wingseas0n]

Its not wrong of her to express how she feels. I fully support women that choose to have an abortion after finding out that the fetus has a severe disability because not everyone can emotionally, mentally, or physically handle it. I myself, wouldn’t be able to raise a child with down syndrome or any other disability as I’ve seen first hand the toll it takes on a family and the child. Leave this poor woman alone and let her express how she feels in peace. It is possible to love someone and also think about how different or how much better would have been without that person.

[anamericangirl]

You don’t have to kill someone if they have a disability. If you can’t raise them then you can put them up for adoption because there are others who would happily raise them.

It’s really not possible to love someone and wish every day that you could go back in time and keep them from being born and wish they weren’t part of your life.

[s0wingseas0n]

Abortion doesn’t kill anything. It prevents a life from happening. Why would anyone go through with a pregnancy if they don’t want to be pregnant? Thats just stupid lol. Do you know how many children are waiting to be adopted? Why add to that number? Why put a child with a severe disability through that?

[parliamentaryinquiry]

@livinglifeontheright women die from pregnancy and childbirth.  adoption is an alternative to raising a child, not to being pregnancy and giving birth.  why do you think it’s right to force a woman to risk her life for another?  if i need a kidney transplant, can i force you to give me your kidney?  what about your heart?

[anamericangirl]

Women do not regularly die from pregnancy and childbirth. Those are rare occurances and it’s a fallacy to use a minority of cases to argue for the whole. When women get pregnant, we congratulate them, not fear for their lives. But children die from abortion. That is the goal of abortion.

Not getting pregnant in the first place is a good alternative to pregnancy and childbirth. I don’t think you should be able to kill someone just because you don’t want to be pregnant. Pregnancy isn’t a permanent condition.

I’m not forcing anyone to risk their lives for another. Why do you think it’s okay to kill an unwanted child?

The organ argument really has nothing to do with abortion because they aren’t the same thing. No, you can’t force me to give you an organ. But here’s the thing, if I decide not to give you an organ, I can’t then actively and intentionally end your life. If I decide to give you an organ, I can’t decide after the transplant has been done and you have the organ that I want it back. Organ donation and pregnancy are not the same thing and don’t have the same rules.

[parliamentaryinquiry]

In the past year, I’ve personally removed a woman’s uterus so she didn’t bleed to death and I’ve personally held a woman’s hand as she died from her pregnancy  They were both 28.  I work in a low-risk hospital that only does 400 births a year.  

In 2013, the most recent year for which data were available, four women were identified to have died as a result of complications from legal induced abortion, out of 652,639.  That’s .6 deaths per 100,000 abortions. (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/ss/ss6624a1.htm?s_cid=ss6624a1_w)

In that same year, the pregnancy-related death rate was 18 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies. (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance-system.htm)

Women are thirty times more likely to die from pregnancy than from abortion

But please, continue telling me how safe pregnancy is, particularly compared to the other option (no pregnancy).

Also please come tell the women I know who chose safe and reliable forms of contraception that failed how they should be punished for that failure - for instance, a woman whose contraceptive implant was surgically removed from her arm by her abusive partner after he drugged her into a coma.  Also please tell your church and your political representatives to cover birth control, of a variety of forms, on insurance plans.

You are forcing women to risk their lives for another.  Pregnancy kills people.  If you’d climb off your ivory tower of judgement of other women, you’d see this.

[the-enchanted-story-of-us-deact]

This breaks my heart. Please reblog.

[provoice]

False.

This^ is what you look like at 12 weeks in the womb. This photo will not “save a life” - it only shames women who have had an abortion. And that’s not cool, bro.

[the-enchanted-story-of-us-deact]

Actually, that second picture an baby at 8 weeks not at 12 weeks. What I had posted is a baby at 12 weeks. For the record, I didn’t post that to make people feel “ashamed” for having an abortion, I posted it so others can see that it’s a little living human being they could be killing. Hopefully changing their mind about having an abortion. I never said anything mean about people who believe in abortion so all of you need to back off. I’m not an “idiot.” This picture isn’t saying its a real baby. It says this is what we look like. So stop telling me its a sculpture of a real life one. It doesn’t matter. Real or not real, thats still what we look like. If someone thinks they can’t take care of their baby, then i personally think they should give it up for adoption so it has a chance to live instead of killing it. What if your best friend was a baby that was aborted? How would you feel if you knew they probably wouldn’t have been in your life right now because of that decision their mom made?

[bambooastronaut]

Nope. You’re an idiot and liar. That’s not a fetus at 12 weeks. My father is an OB/GYN and I assure you, he has shown me actual pictures of fetuses at every stage. What you posted isn’t even a fetus, it’s a statue of a tiny, fully developed baby.

At 12 weeks, a fetus is not even near viable. Its brain isn’t close to being fully developed, its skin is thinner than paper and a dozen times more fragile. Organs are at minimal operations; its liver and pancreas have only just begun to function and are not yet capable of sustaining life. The fetus at 12 weeks is between 2 and 3 inches long. Its ears are just starting to shift to the side of its head and it can’t really hear yet, as the parts of its body necessary for hearing don’t fully exist.

If the purpose of your post wasn’t to make people feel guilty, then what was the purpose? To lie to people about the state of fetal growth at 12 weeks? To demonstrate your lack of understanding about human pregnancy? Because you did those things too.

At 12 weeks, the fetus is not a human being. At 12 weeks, the fetus is a parasite inside of a womb that has the potential to become a human. The problem with people like you is that you care more about a baby being born than being taken care of. You’re privileged and uninformed and it doesn’t occur to you that maybe that baby would not be wanted but the mother would be forced to keep it and it would live a horrible life. Or maybe it would be put up for adoption but because its not a pretty white baby, it would spend its life bouncing from foster home to foster home, unloved and unwanted.

Is that the life you want for your “best friend”? Do you know what the adoption system is like for the babies that aren’t healthy and pretty? No, you don’t, because you’re a spoiled brat with no real concept of the world around you. Until the day comes when there are NO children in need of a real home, that argument does not apply, not at all. There are a fuckton of kids that deserve to be adopted and they never will be because people only want pretty white babies.

Additionally, your ridiculous argument is a moot point, because if my best friend had been aborted, then I would never have met them and they wouldn’t be my best friend and I’d never have known anything otherwise.

Adoption is an alternative to parenting. Abortion is an alternative to pregnancy.

Those sculptures are made by assholes like you to say “this is a baby at 12 weeks! you’re a monster if you get an abortion!” So it actually does matter whether or not it’s a sculpture. I saw the exact same one in a presentation made by an anti-abortion group. I held it in my hand and told the presenter that the sculpture was inaccurate and I provided her with legitimate sources given to me by my dad. She had nothing to say after that.

You should be ashamed of yourself. Your picture is an incorrectly sized statue of a fully developed baby, NOT a fetus. You are wrong and your reasoning is terrible and you need to go sit in a corner and think about your horrendous life choices.

[erinsmomma]

How can someone stand behind abortion, when you have a life inside of you that God created for you? How can you say that this life isn’t worth it? If you can’t take care of the baby for whatever circumstances than there is always adoption available to couples who can’t conceive, but still want the joy of being parents. OPEN YOUR EYES! God has bigger plans for us all that we don’t even realize the picture.

[autumn-and-eve-deactivated20120]

Excuse me but it appears your baby is actually upside down Did you take Sex Ed freshman year because babies come out headfirst

[sonneillonv-deactivated20220218]

Hi, OP!  As someone who was given up for adoption, allow me to call bullshit on your little post there!  You see, when I was adopted, I was a white-skinned, healthy, neurotypical infant, which basically put me at the top of the list, right underneath white-skinned, healthy, neurotypical MALE infants!  There’s only one kind of infant people wanted to adopt more than me!  I was SOOO lucky!  But if you actually bothered to look at the information readily available on the interwebs, you would be aware that the majority of people who are forced to rely on abortion for family planning are poor people and people of color.  Of course, those two demographics intersect, thanks to the institutionalized racism of our society!  Neat huh?!

Of course, even babies of color are not in high demand with couples looking to adopt.  Many who do want to adopt outside their race choose to go outside the country, where laws are less strict and the process is often less expensive.  Of course, most of the infants adopted this way are obtained in unscrupulous fashion, but who cares about that when you’re saving a little Korean or African baby from the horrible fate of growing up in Korea or Africa???  And all those children who have birth defects, are born with diseases or disabilities, or have other issues… WELL.  Who wants to invest that kind of expense and time?  Why would you adopt someone broken, LOLOL?!

Granted, there are some wonderful people who understand the system a little better, and make it a point to try and give POC and disabled children a good home.  But they make up a very small fraction of potential adopters!  This difference in supply and demand leaves a lot of children stuck in the foster system, where their chances of being adopted diminish with every passing year, and their chances of being physically or sexually abused INCREASE!  Isn’t that wonderful?

And of course, we haven’t even talked about the person who is giving birth to the baby!  I know you probably think pregnancy is a wonderful, happy time, and for some people it is, but it is also one of the greatest health risks a person can take. I love my son very much, and from the day I found out I was pregnant with him, I wanted him!  But I also nearly died giving birth to him.  You see, I had pre-eclampsia, the most commonly fatal birth complication in the world.  My blood pressure was 180 over 130!  At twenty-two years old, I was actually headed for a stroke, hah hah!  How funny is that?  And all it took was missing a single pre-natal appointment during which my blood pressure rose to dangerous levels and my body tried to kill both me and my son.  Those seizures sure were fun, as was the emergency c-section performed without anesthetic!  And being chained down while the operation was performed, because I was delirious and wouldn’t stop trying to fight off the doctors, that was a BLAST!  It was great for my husband too, since he almost lost his wife and child in just forty-five minutes.  You can imagine how thrilled he is at the prospect of me ever getting pregnant again.  Babies are certainly cute, but pregnancy can have massive health complications, and I know it’s such a bummer, but they are PERMANENT.  :(  My abdominal muscles never recovered from being hacked through with a scalpel, and the flood of hormones caused by late pregnancy have changed things from heartburn (never used to have it, now, all the time!) to my emotional reactions (I cry when I see pictures of kittens now.  I used to be tough).  These are changes I did not ask for, cannot control, and cannot fix!  And many people go through worse!  I know, right?  Unbelievable, but go look up the word ‘episiotomy’ and then look up 'birth rape’ and I’m afraid you’ll find some stuff that just isn’t very shiny.  Plus, the studies actually show that people who carry a baby to term, give birth, then give it up for adoption suffer HIGHER rates of post-pregnancy complications like post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis, general depression, and other mental health issues.  Adoption actually isn’t good for the person giving birth at all!

I’m afraid the picture you chose to use there is also pretty disingenuous.  I know, I know, it seems like nitpicking.  I’m not trying to be mean!  :(  But that picture shows a fully developed, viable infant, and most abortions are performed when the fetus isn’t even a fetus - it’s a blastocyst.  That’s just a clump of cells.  Seriously! You can totally find pictures on the interwebs and they’re not even gross, LOLOL!  Later-term abortions are usually performed because of health complications, though some of our intrepid state legislators are trying to change all that!  They care so much about people who are pregnant, you see, that they want to force them to carry dead or dying fetuses inside them until their body either becomes infected while it rots in their tummies (this is called sepsis, and it makes people very sick, and can even kill them!), or forces it out naturally in a gush of blood and fluids!  Isn’t that so caring of them?  I’m so glad they’re around to make those decisions for me!  And if a pregnant person is not allowed to terminate an unviable fetus, in some states, they have to carry the child to term, give birth to it, and then watch it die in their arms because its lungs weren’t developed, or its brain formed outside its skull, or any of a million possible birth defects that will kill you just as quick as lickity-split!  Isn’t that wild?!  Of course, these people go through terrible grief, and as I mentioned, some of them may get sick and die from not being able to abort dead or dying fetuses.  But I guess that’s just A-okay with you, huh?

Basically, I think before you suggest adoption as a universal alternative, you should actually go do some research on adoption.  And before you condemn abortion, you should do some research on abortions - not the stuff your church is giving you, the stuff the real doctors are saying.  Go to Planned Parenthood (if they haven’t all been closed down, ROFLMAO!) and request whatever information they have on the process, the statistics of who has abortions and why… and actually, all of that is on the interwebs!  Isn’t technology AMAZING?

And in closing, since I’ve been asked this question many times and I know it’s coming?  Yes, I realize I am here talking to you because I was not aborted.  But the thing is, if my mother had chosen abortion, I wouldn’t know the difference, so it wouldn’t matter to me.  And if she decided that choice was best for her, then that choice would have been best for her, and I would never want to take that choice away from her.  As it is, since I was given up for adoption, and since I have seen the statistics on how badly people who give their children up for adoption suffer, I have spent much of my adult life worrying about her, whether she’s healthy, whether she’s okay, and feeling that if she did suffer from any of the common post-birth symptoms, it is at least partially my fault, even though she made that decision on her own.  Which is silly, I know, but at some point, all children have to stare down the consequences of their parents’ having them.  For some, that’s poverty.  For others, a life-time of their parents struggling to treat and care for a severe illness or disability.  For others, it’s wondering if their mother ever got over giving them away, and wishing you could reach out and assure her that it’s okay, she doesn’t have to be haunted.

May your birth control never fail!

[bebinn]

Want to go to Planned Parenthood in D.C.? You’ll have to run the anti-choice gauntlet first.

This is what it looks like when clinics don’t have buffer zones.

[pro-choice-and-pro-voice-deacti]

They’re sidewalk harassers, sidewalk bullies, whatever else, but they are no where near counsellors. Counsellors are non-judgmental, non-biased, empathetic listeners, that is NOT what those people are. - Paige

[eviltessmacher]

If the clinic employees begin exercising their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms and carried AR-15’s or AK-47’s along with them, on public streets, that would present an interesting conundrum to the gun loving right wing, would it not? I bet it would stop all the harassment cold too.

[bebinn]

There are some abortion providers that do carry guns at all times, wear bulletproof vests to work, hire bodyguards, wear masks into the clinic so protestors can’t identify them, go in the back door, change up their driving routes every day, check under their cars daily for bombs, etc. That’s how serious this is, and that’s why it’s dangerous to take the protestors at face value, even if they seem peaceful. You don’t know who they’re hiding in the crowd.

[personhoodusa]

http://ift.tt/1dTRasb

[dippingstickssunshine-deactivat]

Which reason would you like?

1) The images are of medical procedures. It is socially inappropriate to publicly display photographs of medical procedures because frankly, they are unsettling. This is the same reason it is not socially acceptable to publicly display photographs of heart bypassses, lung transplants, tonsilectomies, or any other surgery because many people are made uncomfortable or ill by the sight of blood and tissue. Even cable television programs that show medical procedures (real or staged) are prefaced with a warning for viewer discretion.

2) The images are often photoshopped, mislabeled, or both. Some of the most common “pro-life” pictures of aborted fetuses originated when a group of “pro-life” activists trespassed on clinic property and went dumpster diving in medical waste. Because these “activists” were not doctors and had no biological training, they labeled their photographs with whatever gestational age they felt like, and these labels persist today. Another common tactic is taking a picture of an advanced fetus and photoshopping a small size reference, such as a quarter, to make it appear that early embryos are very developed and babylike.

3) The images are often not of abortions. “Pro-life” photographs of very, very late-term fetuses are virtually never the result of elective abortion. These pictures are often taken from case studies of rare and horrific fetal abnormalities published in medical journals. The parents of these children have lost very wanted pregnancies, and only gave their consent for the photographs to be used in medical journals for scientific purposes, hopefully so their child’s condition could be studied and remedied in future families. There are also cases of stillbirth photos being stolen from family blogs and medical websites for appropriation in the “pro-life” movement. Another common misappropriation is a photo of a whole embryo in its gestational sac, which was the result of a hysterectomy due to cancer.

4) The images are used in lieu of an actual discussion about medical rights. “Pro-life” organizations like Abolish Human Abortion and the Genocide Awareness Project claim they use these photographs to “start a discussion,” but what they are really attempting to do is disgust the viewer into agreeing with them without even thinking about what abortion is and why people might choose it. When a neutral viewer is overwhelmed with thoughts of “ew, blood,” it is difficult to consider the fact that a fetus does not have the right to use a woman’s body without her consent, or that all medical procedures are pretty gross and therefore irrelevant to the issue at hand.

That’s why I’m still pro-choice.

[refinery29]

This is what a real, qualified OBGYN will tell you about what women feel when they get an abortion

Dr. Willie Parker, who is trained as a gynecologist and OBGYN, is a hero for the pro-choice movement because he’s honest about the undiscussed aspects of getting (or not getting) an abortion. Watch how he gives a consultation.

[afunnyfeminist]

That last statement about regret is so important, because so many people don’t understand what it is or what causes it. Anti-choicers exploit this by manipulating pregnant people and creating doubt, which only increases the likelihood of regret, no matter what decision the pregnant person makes. You know what is best for you, even if it takes some time to figure it out.