My period has always been irregular—or as I like to call it, “adorkably quirky”—so I’ve had a lot of pregnancy scares. I’ve taken pregnancy tests while hiding in the stairwell at work because I didn’t have time to go home before an open mic. And in those two minute increments, I’ve thought about what it means that I own my own body.
When I was 18, my first partner was very Christian, controlling, and emotionally manipulative (just my type!). I had a pregnancy scare and he tried to convince me to go through with the pregnancy, even though I was a college freshman with a whole life of reading sci-fi books ahead of me. I am pro choice for many reasons, but primarily because I think women can be trusted to make safe healthcare decisions for our own bodies. Yesterday, Texas governor Rick Perry signed into law one of the strictest anti-abortion bills that our country has ever seen. My least favorite piece of misogyny this week is Texas’s passage of the anti-abortion bill HB 2.
HB 2 bans abortion after 20 weeks, and will shut down most of the state’s abortion facilities. (All but five abortion facilities will be closed—you know, like your legs should… wait, what just happened? Sorry, I was possessed by a demon.) On the bright side, at least those now out-of-work abortionists probably don’t have a lot of babies at home to support.
The bill makes it practically impossible to obtain a legal abortions. Because everything’s bigger in Texas: even infringements on reproductive rights! By making it so difficult to receive safe legal health care, the state encourages the desperate to seek out illegal abortions. Many women get fatally wounded from unsafe abortions. It’s horrible… that these politicians haven’t seen Dirty Dancing.
It has always seemed obvious to me that the decision to become a mother, to change your body’s entire chemistry, to completely redirect your life, is a private decision. I don’t believe that life begins at conception; I feel like there are a few more ingredients to add before I get to stand in a dark, lightening-filled tower bellowing, “It’s alive!” On the other hand, I myself was two months premature, and it’s gotten worse. I don’t believe life begins at conception, but because I popped out early and was sorta alive, I also don’t believe it begins at birth. The beginning of life is kinda like a Jimmy Eat World song. All I know is…um… the middle?
I think every woman should have the choice of what to do in the case of an unintended pregnancy, especially in the case of rape, incest, not being ready, facing pregnancy complications, or being George Zimmerman’s mom. Women are going to get this procedure anyway, so I want them to get it done safely. I want women to feel like our bodies are our own temples, and we get to do whatever we want with the golden monkey totem inside. That has been my least favorite piece of misogyny this week, tune in next week to find out it was Old Man Mcgregor in the goat mask the whole time!
Is it still an “unintended pregnancy” if you haven’t gotten an abortion before at least the first five fucking months?
Thank you Barbara !Great writing as always !
Spindles: You can be an “unintended pregnancy” at any age, you fucking nitwit. You were probably one, I imagine.
The emotional war that utterly destroys you as you wrestle with the decision to continue a pregnancy or not can really take some time, especially if you have a partner (or possibly parents, who knows) with their own opinion and emotions. And even getting access to a clinic that provides these services can be very difficult, depending on your age and location (as Barbara just pointed out in this post; a pregnant teenager in Texas will have a very hard time getting access to an abortion provider).
I hope you never have a girlfriend or wife and have to go through the experience of deciding what to do with your unintended pregnancy.
Spindles: It’s also important to note that a lot of late-term abortions are caused because of a threat to the health of the mother, or the fetus becomes inviable. This guy’s story is a good example of the latter: http://samuel-warde.com/2013/07/a-father-c…
Threats to the health of the mother, or the fetus becomes inviable aside, because duh, there’s no justifiable excuse to wait from now until almost Christmas to decide whether or not to get an abortion.
It would make a horrible Christmas present as well.
Not that this bill isn’t bad enough but the five abortion clinics they’re keeping open are also located in the central/eastern portion of the state if you look into it. People in the western part of Texas are absolutely fucked.
The problem with Spindles comment is that he doesn’t know what he is talking about. If you look at the data on abortions performed after 20 weeks they are all due to health of the mother/child. Like all of them. All.
I can’t wait until all these baby daddies get to pay child support.
You’d think Texas would allow abortions up until the day before birth.
Isn’t everything supposed to be bigger in Texas?