I started to feel this weird metallic tingling and taste in my mouth. Something felt different. I don't know why I thought I was pregnant right away – I had never been pregnant before, I never knew a metallic taste was common. My life was in chaos. I had left my family because of abuse and refusal to acknowledge the abuse. I had met this man who was wonderful – artist, connected firmly in the world, a few years, but not that much older than me. We were living together, but after we moved in things went south. He was slowly isolating me and I didn't realize until it was too late. I was alone – without friends in a realationship that had moved to violence. And I had just cashed out my 401K to pay rent because my mental health had deteriorated to the point where I was struggling to get to work regularly as a 1099 employee and my workplace was abusive. The boss would be yelling and screaming and micromanaging. We were 1099 when we should have been W-2, I was young I didn't understand a lot about the world yet, except that it was a cruel place.
and then I was pregnant. I was in no shape mentally or emotionally to have a child. My finances were a mess, my life was a mess, I was now isolated from all of my former friends and my family and I knew that one of the most likely times for an abuser to kill you is during pregnancy. Here I was a young woman, alone, afraid, poor as shit, in a job that was abusive. I went to planned parenthood and he came with me. And he left me there – and when I was ready to be picked up and called him he didn't answer. He played games. Letting his phone go to voicemail 8 times before he picked up and acted annoyed with me for being impatient and interrupting his meal.
Parental rights are such that if I had birthed that child – that in no way could I give to adoption because I could not deal with that emotional loss – the cruel person would have been in my life forever. In my child's life. I would be worrying every moment about his behavior toward the child and towards me, regardless if we were together or not. And I would be drowning in poverty on a level I would emotionally crumble.
Abortion is about punishing women for their loose legs. It's about starving people based on the holier than thou mentality. It is about saddling people with debt for their “mistakes”. It is about control. It is about socioeconomic subjugation and control. That is my story. Without the right to choose – I maybe dead by now from domestic violence, or had my child taken away due to abject poverty or be in a shelter long term, or been on the street with a child. I would not have a master's degree and a job that pays me a living wage now. I would not have kind husband who loves me and would fight a bear to keep me safe (except not spiders. he is afraid of spiders). I would not have the beautiful life I have now. And I wouldn't be here helping others to have a better life and help them learn how to organize.
Edit: I also want to hear from men – men also have solid partnerships or marriage where the better option at the time is abortion and men also have stories about being with an incompatible or abusive person and thanking the universe that the woman was able to get an abortion when they realize things were not gonna work. MEN benefit from abortion as well.
Edit: 25% of the people who read this post are downvoting it. And I just got a message: “Aborting your children so you can work harder for capitalism daddy is very pro-work.” We have so many horrifying corporate shills on this page. Please if you come across these guys, especially if you are a man, please say something and defend the right to plan our futures. You and our futures. Men and women are in this together. We need the right to choose.
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