The “Heartbeat” bill is not ok
I am a ninth generation Georgian, this great state has been my home for the entirety of my 26 years, my parents still live here along with majority of my extended family. I was always proud to claim Georgia as my home and share my heritage, but today I am ashamed.
Today governor Kemp singed a bill that says I should have never existed in his eyes. Now you may be thinking how that could be? The bill he signed made it where you couldn’t have abortions after five weeks, so surely he wants everyone to be born, to exist. However if it were not for abortion the events that created me as me would not have transpired.
My mom was young just out of high school and dating the boy next door kids will be kids and my mother fell pregnant. She kept it a secret from her family and told the boy. He wasn’t ready to have a child and broke it off with my mom. By the time my mom went to a clinic she was past five weeks.
If this bill had of existed then her procedure would have been denied. Now we can’t say for certain the details of what would have happened except that the child would have been born in October.
My mother met my father at a Halloween party that October. After two years of dating they were married and two years later had me. My mom admitted to me that making that hard choice was the best one for her as she truly believes her life would be completely different had she not had the procedure.
So as strange as it may sound the person I am with the experiences I have had would not exist. A happy marriage 28 years and counting would not exist. And another life with unique experiences, my little brother, would not exist in the same way.
Now I know we are one little family and that might not matter much to some but the thing of it is it is my family. My great great uncle found gold in the north Georgia mountains, my great grandpa retired from southern bell and was given the last indoor phone booth in Atlanta his wife worked for riches at Lenox and everyone knew her name. This is my heritage. We may not be rich or truly famous but we are a part of this state.
Now I genuinely have to consider bringing a tenth generation into this state and the implications it could have on my children or myself if I stay and possibly face the the same decision my mother faced myself or for my child.
We have all heard jokes about coat hanger abortions what if this joke is a reality I am subjecting my future child to.
I am here. I exist because of safe legal abortion. Without it my life and my experiences would not be present. So please don’t let the heartbeat bill become law in 2020 so that families like mine can exist and girls like my mother have the choice to have a child the same as the next door neighbor boy who walked away.
TL;DR. Gov. Kemp of Georgia signed the heartbeat bill today and my family would not exist if not for abortion
