This is the kind of thing I hear more and more of, the more I open my mind and ears enough to be exposed, and that makes me think there is just no way to defend criminalizing abortion.  All my pro-life statements of yore start with “I” - “I felt a strong connection to my unborn…” “I knew my babies were boys or girls immediately…” “I had dreams that made me sure I was sharing my body with another soul…” “I was so moved when Aaron was born, thinking of what I might have done…” “I believe….” Those are all true statements, but they don’t ultimately have anything to do with anybody else’s life, experience or story. I really, really hate it when other people try to get between me and my children at a primal level - through taking away my birth choices or pressuring me towards pregnancy decisions or questioning how I raise them. Really hate it a lot. Really just lose my shit when anybody thinks they know anything about us to judge. This shit runs deep, it is biological and instinctual and has nothing to do with the opinions of any entity. I am so opposed to most CPS intervention and the vast majority of cases of children put in foster care. I can’t support laws that attempt (often unsuccessfully) to force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term or throw her in jail (or whatever the plan is) if she finds a way around the law. I can be sad about it if I want to, I can live my life the way I want to, but… What I often think, is that what sincere and thought out pro-life people want is not the criminalization of abortion - it’s for women to simply not want to have abortions anymore. I get that, but that is not something that can be controlled through laws. As long as there are pregnant women out there who desperately want to not be pregnant - enough to pay hundreds of dollars and undergo a potentially dangerous and/or emotional procedure - I don’t see that the answer is to do everything we can to influence the government to block their way to any sort of safe option for that in an attempt to make them stay pregnant whether they like it or not.  I just think that people - even those who have real poignant, urgent feelings for the lost souls - are coming at this from the wrong angle.

This is the kind of thing I hear more and more of, the more I open my mind and ears enough to be exposed, and that makes me think there is just no way to defend criminalizing abortion. 

All my pro-life statements of yore start with “I” - “I felt a strong connection to my unborn…”

“I knew my babies were boys or girls immediately…”

“I had dreams that made me sure I was sharing my body with another soul…”

“I was so moved when Aaron was born, thinking of what I might have done…”

“I believe….”

Those are all true statements, but they don’t ultimately have anything to do with anybody else’s life, experience or story. I really, really hate it when other people try to get between me and my children at a primal level - through taking away my birth choices or pressuring me towards pregnancy decisions or questioning how I raise them. Really hate it a lot. Really just lose my shit when anybody thinks they know anything about us to judge. This shit runs deep, it is biological and instinctual and has nothing to do with the opinions of any entity. I am so opposed to most CPS intervention and the vast majority of cases of children put in foster care. I can’t support laws that attempt (often unsuccessfully) to force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term or throw her in jail (or whatever the plan is) if she finds a way around the law. I can be sad about it if I want to, I can live my life the way I want to, but…

What I often think, is that what sincere and thought out pro-life people want is not the criminalization of abortion - it’s for women to simply not want to have abortions anymore. I get that, but that is not something that can be controlled through laws. As long as there are pregnant women out there who desperately want to not be pregnant - enough to pay hundreds of dollars and undergo a potentially dangerous and/or emotional procedure - I don’t see that the answer is to do everything we can to influence the government to block their way to any sort of safe option for that in an attempt to make them stay pregnant whether they like it or not. 

I just think that people - even those who have real poignant, urgent feelings for the lost souls - are coming at this from the wrong angle.

(Source: delacroix, via ollitwister)

Tags: abortion partial birth abortion politics motherhood pregnancy women's rights pro life pro choice