ABORTION. Abortion. Abortion.
The word is almost like a swear. It has gained more similarity with the F-word than it has with the word procedure. It has become a dirty word to many. For the sake of full disclosure: I am pro-choice. I firmly believe in a women’s right to choose what they will do with their own body. The government should not force women to become mothers in my opinion. I believe in full body autonomy.
Because of my very strong feelings towards abortion and the right to choose, I found Hawkin’s article Reproductive Choices: The Ecological Dimension to go against my beliefs. Hawkins discusses the impact of pregnancy and increasing populations on the world. She discusses at great length the sting of poverty, environment degredation, and the importance of limiting population. By making abortion more readily available, we can help limit the population and therefore limit the negative impact over-populus has on our planet and our society.
While I do agree with Hawkins about the impact of population and, I can also firmly advocate for the availability of abortion services, I disagree about her methods. I feel that an article such as this almost invokes guilt in the reader; or at least that was my experience. I have been at the end of both spectrums: abortion and trying to conceive.
It has taken me a few weeks to write this post and, I am incredibly overdue in writing it. I had debated sharing my personal experiences and, I finally feel comfortable in saying the ‘dirty word’: abortion. I had one….
At eighteen years old and in an abusive relationship I had an abortion. My reasons broke my heart but they are as valid now as they were then. At thirty, my husband-to-be and I have already begun fertility services and, are planning when we will try to conceive. Even with the difficulties we face getting pregnant, I still do not regret my choice. It is a choice that no one else could have made for me or even tried to impact my decision.
Reading Hawkins, I almost felt that she went from an informative, socioeconomically fact-driven article to one of persuasion. However, I could be biased in my interpretation for a multitude of the reasons I’ve explained. I think that when making the choice to terminate a pregnancy, the personal decision is burden enough without including the weight of the planet on your shoulders.
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(Image provided by NPR, https://www.npr.org/2019/09/19/759761114/with-abortion-restrictions-on-the-rise-some-women-induce-their-own)