I have had an abortion and I refuse to live in shame...

[cynatnite]

In its 1972 debut issue, Ms. magazine ran a bold petition in which 53 well-known U.S. women declared that they had undergone abortions—despite state laws rendering the procedure illegal. These women were following the example of a 1971 manifesto signed by 343 prominent French women, who also declared they had abortions.

Even then, to many it seemed absurd that the government could deny a woman sovereignty over her own body. It is even more absurd in 2006 to learn that an abortion ban has passed into law in South Dakota. The South Dakota ban has been stayed because an initiative to remove this ban has been placed on the state’s November ballot. Whatever happens in South Dakota, 17 states now have trigger laws or pre-Roe bans that will ban abortion if the Supreme Court were to reverse Roe v. Wade.A myriad of restrictions already limit access to abortion in the U.S. for poor women, young women, and women in the military. We know it is time again for women of conscience to stand up and speak truth to power.

At the time of the original Ms. petition, illegal abortions were causing untold suffering in the United States, especially for poor women who had to resort to unsafe self-induced or back-alley abortions. Today, in the developing nations each year, approximately 70,000 women and girls die from botched and unsafe abortions and another 500,000 maternal deaths occur—most of this suffering and loss could be prevented. U.S. international family planning policies contribute to this death toll: first, by conditioning its aid on a global gag rule that prevents medical workers from giving even information on abortion; second, by withholding or providing inadequate funds; and finally, by funding abstinence-only education.

We are now starting a new petition, beginning with the names of some of the original 1972 signers. They signed “to save lives and to spare other women the pain of socially imposed guilt.” Their purpose was “to repeal archaic and inhuman laws.”

http://www.msmagazine.com/radar/2006-07-24-we-had-abortions.asp

I have had an abortion and signed. Please keep this kicked.

[peace13]

1. Brave women.

Thank you for your bravery. Peace, Kim

[hlthe2b]

25. Isn't that the truth... I sincerely hope these brave women...

remain safe and free from RW terror tactics...

This amazes, yet worries me. Be safe, my brave women colleagues... be safe.

[DianeG5385]

2. 1973

Wish I knew more that I did'nt know then. I'm pro choice, but don't ask me to celebrate my choice because I don't.

[cynatnite]

6. I refuse to live in shame...

This is women standing up for their rights and letting the world know we made them. When I had my abortion it wasn't anything to celebrate. It was the hardest decision I ever made.

All I know, is I refuse to live in shame for making a decision that I thought was for the best. I don't regret my decision. I wouldn't have the life I love now. I have no idea what kind of life I would have if I hadn't had an abortion.

It's time these lawmakers who are trying to take our rights away look at the millions of women all across the country who have made this decision in the face.

It's time we quit living in shame.

[DianeG5385]

10. I don't live in shame I live with personal regret

I think some confuse the decision to choose with approval. That is FAR from true. I believe that few if any do. I choose to grieve my decision but I am grateful that at the time I had the choice. Would I choose the same today, no, but that's my choice. THAT'S choice.

[cynatnite]

14. I do agree with you...

I think because this is such a personally intense issue decision it's understandable those raw emotions continue. I still cry sometimes...not so much at the regret, but because of how I felt at the time. I cried when it was over.

I don't have regret. I'd be less than honest with myself if I did. The pain of having to make that decision, even though I had been completely irresponsible at the time, still remains.

The reason I don't regret it is because I know how radically different my life would be. Since that abortion I have gotten married and had two more children. I couldn't imagine not having the wonderful family I have now and I don't want to.

:hug: Either way, it's still the most painful decision a woman can make, IMO.

[jillan]

43. I'm 100% with you

At the time it was right. I was young, I wasn't ready.
Later on when I had kids, I had a heavy heart for my other child.

I am glad I had a choice, and I never, ever want women to lose that choice.

[sutz12]

9. And that's how it should be.

My daughter had the courage to tell me she needed an abortion. She was only 17 at the time. I hated that she had to make that decision, but I could not in good conscience do anything other than hug her and tell her to do what she thought best. She had the procedure, and I'm still not a grand dad, but that's OK. She wasn't ready to have a child.

I never told anyone else in the family, my ex-wife or her sisters or brother. I don't know if she ever told them or not. Not their fucking business anyway. Her mom's a hispanic catholic, so I don't know how she would respond.

Yeah, I'm pro-choice, and I've supported a close family member in making that all too difficult decision. I don't need a church, and especially not a gov't official telling my daughter what to do with her body and her future.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. ...

[ComerPerro]

4. good that you can admit it

[Erika]

5. People need to remember the thalidomide babies

Women were forced to give birth to babies with severe disabilities affecting limbs and digits (the flipper babies).

The rich women flew to Europe for abortions. The poor were forced to give birth here.

[question everything]

13. Wait, wait. Thalidomide never made it to this country

but I agree with the remaining of your post.

And this will happen if Roe v Wade is overturned. It will remain for individual states to decide. Thus, rich women from, say, Mississippi will go to New York to have an abortion while the poor one will be stuck with unwanted pregnancy. But, hey, Justice Roberts and his wife won't have to go to Ireland in search of blond white children to adopt.

[Erika]

17. Thalidomide did make it to this country

I saw the results. What are you talking about?

[Erika]

19. It's the womans decision, not a theocratic government law

Period.

[bobbieinok]

26. there was quite a bit of discussion at the time that a woman at the FDA

refused to approve Thalimide for use in the US; it was however approved for use in Europe.

From what I read and heard, Thalimide children born in the US were born to mothers to had access to the pills in Europe.

[donsu]

37. agree

nt

[uppityperson]

24. from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide
...From 1956 to 1962, approximately 10,000 children were born with severe malformities, including phocomelia, because their mothers had taken thalidomide during pregnancy....

clip
...The medication never received approval for sale in the United States, but 2.5 million tablets had been given to more than 1,200 American doctors during Richardson-Merrell's "investigation," and nearly 20,000 patients received thalidomide tablets, including several hundred pregnant women. In the end, 17 American children were born with thalidomide-related deformities.<1> An estimated 40,000 people developed drug-induced peripheral neuropathy. Exact numbers will never be known because the companies and doctors kept incomplete and inaccurate records. Fortunately, no thalidomide victims have passed defects to their children, because thalidomide is not a mutagen....

[question everything]

41. Thank you. I was thinking of the FDA non-approval

and was not aware of the investigative part.

[midnight]

7. This topic has had such a close place in my heart for all my

young adulthood. I have developed to understand the idea of a women having control over her own body. While I cannot support abortion, I can support a women's right to make that choice herself. I hope when my granddaughter is having children, it will be a more loving time than we have now.

[DianeG5385]

12. I believe in choice but regret my own

I still believe you can be pro choice but wish you had chosen differently. I know I do. But I still chose.

[DianeG5385]

8. My story

I was pregnant with my second child (of three) as I stood with the protesters against the clinic blockers. I was so angry that the most devastating decision that a woman makes had been reduced to political fodder.

I was on my way to work, saw the protest and I went crazy. I had two, given up one and these folks were making it a political question. To me it was personal.

I can't tell you how much I want that baby back but at the time that was my CHOICE!!!

[amitten]

22. I'm sorry for your feeling of loss.

:hug:

[EFerrari]

11. I had an abortion in 1982 and I refuse to live in shame.

:kick:

[drmom]

15. If I hadn't had an abortion, I never would have finished med school,

and certainly wouldn't have the life I have today. For me it was an easy choice, although certainly not a celebrated one, as the pregnancy was a result of date rape. Now, twenty years later I have three wonderful kids and I work every day to make sure that young, disadvantaged women have the same access to making a carefully thought-out choice, as well-off women.

[DianeG5385]

18. I am a succesful executive, make the big bucks

I have three kids, I made the choice but I never celebrate it. I know I made the choice to finish school so I could make the big bucks but I never forget to remember what I gave up.

[smtpgirl]

16. I have contemplated abortion

but instead I gave my child up for adoption.

She is 27 now. I don't have any guilt, but I have given the greatest gift of all, a loving family, which I could not do when I was 18.

An adult I might add!!

I am pro choice!!

Is is very hard to know that you have a person that is related to you that you don't know!!

That is what is the most hard!!! Is my daughter living?

From a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat!!

****You have to make the best decision for you, me, at 18, I was not a parent at all!!!

But I still hope my daughter has a good life. I do have dreams of pedophelia, drugs, abuse!!!

That is what is the hardest!!

[DianeG5385]

20. I made the choice when I was 18

I didn't even think about adoption. You gave your child the chance at a great life!

[Tatiana]

21. I don't support abortion, however I would NEVER force my views on others.

I think this is one of the fundamental differences between the republicans and Democrats. Republicans believe that their view, their way, their ideas should be imposed upon others because they envision themselves as modern-day Platonist philosopher-kings. I have my views, I have my beliefs. But I also have NO RIGHT to force them on others, nor do I have any right to judge or cast stones when I live in a glass house.

Abortion is a painful decision for most. I almost made it for myself, but decided, in the end, that it would be a decision I would regret. Everytime I look at my daughter, I'm happy I made the decision not to go through with it. Though things seemed bleak at the time and I may have postponed many of my own personal goals, I've achieved much of what I dreamed of. But I think about someone without the opportunities I had, faced with a hopeless and bleak future and cannot bring myself to feel anything but sympathy for someone who made the choice not to bring a child into a bad or untenable situation.

Republicans are so good at protecting fetuses, but (as Randi Rhodes likes to say), they hate the living, breathing child. If we provided more support for services such as family planning, mental and physical health care, child care, affordable housing, etc., there would likely be fewer abortions necessary.

[DianeG5385]

23. I respect your strength and agree with you totally

No one is pro abortion. If there's an alternative great but it should always be available anonymously to those who find themselves in difficult circumstances.

[tblue]

27. That's the difference between you and the unevolved

[roody]

28. I had a safe, legal, early abortion

29 years ago. The overwhelming emotion has always been relief. I have a great life without children, though I teach first grade. I am single and have enjoyed a life of complete personal freedom. It is wonderful. The other life would have been wonderful too, but I really like this one. If that little glob of cells had a soul, the soul quickly soared to another body.
Legalizing abortion sucked the life out of the women's self help movement. Do we really need a group of men judges or legislators to tell us what we can and cannot do with our bodies?

[NMMNG]

29. Kick

:kick:

And to lurking Freepers:

"I am not ashamed" does not mean the same thing as "I am proud". No woman ever walked into an abortion clinic thrilled at the idea of having an abortion.

[eridani]

30. I never had one, but am alive because abortion was made legal--

--before having three miscarriages. In the bad old days (at least in the small town Midwest), no doctor would touch you until he was sure that fetal tissue had been expelled. Otherwise he might be accused of performing an abortion, and possibly serve time.

[BoneDaddy]

31. I have counseled

many women on whether or not to have an abortion and none of them ever took the decision lightly. Some chose abortion and some chose to carry to term. Either decision takes courage.

[pecwae]

32. At 17 I flew to NYC

to an abortion clinic. The procedure wasn't legal in my state. I went alone although I'd never flown or been outside my town by myself. For years my mother harped on the money I owed her for it until I got her paid back.

My feelings have fluctuated over the years, but I have come out knowing I made the right decision.

[cynatnite]

33. kick for the morning crowd

:kick:

[ccinamon]

34. 1975 - I was 17, a senior in high school

and months away from graduation when I had my abortion. I regret that my parents never talked to be about sex, safe sex, or the results of sex. Being in small town Texas, the schools did not teach sex ed. If I had had that knowledge, the abortion decision would not have had to be made. I blame and have anger towards those adults and parents (and the "christians") who stick their head in the sand and won't allow sex education to be taught in school and who refuse to teach it at home. SOMEONE HAST TO TEACH THE KIDS ABOUT SEX!!

I'm glad I had the option of a legal abortion, though I would have had an illegal one if I had to. My parents were in the middle of a very ugly divorce and I was not mature enough, not emotionally stable enough, to handle being pregnant and in school or for being a parent myself.

I raised and taught my kids differently...I don't think (but do not know for sure), if my daughter ever had an abortion, or if my son caused a pregnancy. My husband and I always tried to be honest and upfront about the sexual urges of teen-agers and talked to ours frequently about birth control and STDs.

This is a choice left up to the pregnant woman -- not to politicians, not to men, not to other women...it's a personal decision and no one else has a right to judge that decision.

I had an abortion and I proudly signed the Ms. magazine petition.

[ThomCat]

35. I have a lot of respect for the women who have had to

make the choice, whatever decision they chose to make. I have a lot of respect for women who fight to keep that choice available.

We guys tend to take for granted that we have control over our bodies. Women don't have that privilage.

That's why I participate in that fight. I volunteered for years as a pro-choice escort. I wish I still could. Now I just give money and lend moral support when I can.

This fight is going to continue to be brutal. It's ugly and it's going to stay that way. But control over your own body is too important to loose.

[donsu]

38. hugs and kisses to you for your support

nt

[Control-Z]

36. I am still never sure

when or if to to tell my story but I know it fits into the conversation here somehow. Lately, it is beginning to feel like my obligation to share it whenever possible.

In 1973 Ms Magazine used my mother's crime scene photo after her death from a self induced abortion to speak out for legalized abortion.

With sincere thanks to the women who have spoken up, my special understanding to the women who are afraid, my respect for those who choose privacy, and as a wake up call to the anti-choice camp, I offer my story again:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1384115&mesg_id=1384115

[Tatiana]

40. Words fail me....

:grouphug:

[riderinthestorm]

44. I hope you know how much your mother's photo

changed our world. She died a brutal death (I know that picture and that story, and won't go into her name or other details for privacy's sake) but her sacrifice, and you and your family's decision to allow that photo to be published, has literally changed. our. world.

:hug: (for your story) :cry: (for your loss)

[Control-Z]

45. Thank you

I don't know if my mother's photo changed the world. (That was very nice of you to say.) I know it changed my world and I know this discussion should not be happening in America 2006. That it is makes me angry and sad and very frightened for generations of women to come.

There is no shame in having an abortion. There is great shame in allowing women to die from abortion.

(I try not to use my mother's name (to evade google-bots) but I know how important it is to share her story. Thank you. It's difficult sometimes. There is much to say... I hope to, someday.)

[Solly Mack]

39. I salute all women and the choice they made

Don't be silenced - for silence kills.

[roamer65]

42. Your body, your choice. Simple as that.