Long story short: My abuelita was a housekeeper for a fairly well-to-do family in the mid-70's. She was close with the oldest daughter (who talked to her about "girl stuff"), and the girl came to her in a panic 'cause she was preggers. She was too afraid to tell the 'rents...so she handled it herself. And, by "handling" it, I mean using the coat hanger AND drain cleaner....

I remember when grams came home...her white shirt was covered in blood...she was so messed up. I'll NEVER forget that...

I am pro-choice because, I would rather there be a legal and medically-safe procedure available for women & girls. If the "pro-lifers" don't want an abortion -- DON'T HAVE ONE! But, I implore you, don't take away the CHOICE from others!!

I am pro-choice first and foremost because I don't think there's anything inherently immoral about abortion any more than sex is inherently immoral.
What is immoral is putting women in impossible, dangerous situations and giving them no way out. Immorality is suppressing information on preventing pregnancy then telling women they should be ashamed for being pregnant, that they must go through the pregnancy as punishment for getting that way in the first place, and giving her no assistance in caring for herself and the baby.

I'm pro-choice because I'm sick of hearing people who will never even be faced with the decision to have an abortion tell me that I can't have one, regardless of the circumstances.

The reasons why I am pro-choice are many. I believe in a woman's right to decide her own future and to decide what is right for her. I believe that if abortion is outlawed, women will be forced to go to back-alley abortion clinics, which does nothing to help society. I believe in my right to choose.

My biggest argument for why keep abortion legal is simple. The government exists to provide fundamental rights to its citizens. It is not there to make judgments or to determine what is "moral" and "immoral". The government has no right to make that judgment. The right to choose is a woman's right. If we lose control over our own body (by losing the right to choose), we lose our freedom. The government exists to preserve that freedom. It needs to protect this freedom and provide a fundamental civil right of women. Whether or not it is morally acceptable or unacceptable is not for the government to decide…leave that to the church and the people…and let them choose for themselves.

I'm pro-choice because sex is a joyful thing, and children are not a punishment for enjoying it. Because only the woman with the pregnancy is in a position to say what she, her family, her body, and her life can handle at that particular time. Because children should be brought into the world with care and love. Because I don't believe that women need baby-sitters, and I do believe that the days of protecting ourselves from ourselves should be long over. I'm pro-choice because the question of a life, whether a woman's or the child she might bring into the world, is too large to be determined by someone who's ruled by either an ancient doctrine or the lobbyists' checkbooks. Lives should be decided by the ones living them.

Here's an experience from when I was a 9th grader that helped me evolve into the feminist that I am today:

I was in a biology class, and we went on a field trip to a pathology museum. It was called a museum, but it was really just a small room in the basement of the medical school. The room was full of jars of various organ specimens and originally served to provide doctors and students with real examples of abnormalities and the like, because color pictures in text books were really expensive to print.

There was one jar in the corner, and it was a cross section (front view) of a woman's uterus with a mass inside. The mass was the placenta and I could barely discern a fetus connected to it. There was also a big orange tube coming through the birth canal into the uterus. I asked the teacher showing us around what that was, and she told me that the woman had tried to give herself an abortion by puncturing the amniotic sac. Instead, she punctured her uterus and died from internal bleeding.

It was a pretty stark thing to see there the symbol of why women should be allowed to have safe, legal abortions. I often think back to that woman's punctured uterus when the abortion issue comes up.

I'm pro-choice because it's unfair that one half of the population is so easily able to walk away from a pregnancy, while the other half has to risk death to try to deal with it.

I am a brazilian feminist, living in Washingotn, DC and I LOVE your blog, it is one of the best I have ever seen :-)

I've posted about abortion today. Because I have been talking so much about how I feel about this issue I decided re-edit a poost I wrote 2 years ago about "abortion in history" and mor than 60 people have been commenting in there, creaating an interesting debate.

Other 3 brazilian bloggers wrote abour abortion today, taking part in this initiative.

Their links are in my post:

http://www.sindromedeestocolmo.com/archives/2007/01/aborto_1.html

It is a shame that it is all in portuguese and you guys cannot rad but I think it is nice to have this multicultural movement :-)

Keep up your great work!

I am pro-choice because I had an abortion, and to deny other women a right I took advantage of makes me ill. I also saw first hand how people became uncomfortable with me- my best friend could barely speak to me and my boyfriend dumped me. Therefore, we as pro-choice men and women need to realize that it is not enough to keep the procedure legal. We also need to be supportive of people that use it, and we need to get rid of the stigma and shame associated with it. No other medical issue is so debated and so reviled. But I am preaching to the choir, I assume.

I am pro-choice for a variety of reasons - many of them already listed above. But first and foremost, if it wasn't for abortion, I might not have my mother. When I was in third grade, my mom got pregnant. While she and my dad were originally pretty psyched about it, when they went to the doc, they found that my mom had an infection in one of her milk ducts and it had infected the fetus. They told her that there was a chance she could carry to term, but there were really high risks to her and the fetus. She couldn't effectively be treated for her infection and the baby would probably be severly deformed, if even alive. She opted to have an abortion. Ironically, before she was to leave for the hospital, she was in a minor car accident and told the few people who knew she was pregnant that she lost the baby in the accident.

I am pro-choice because my mom needed that choice. My dad died three years after that. What if my mom wouldn't have been there? These laws that put the unborn child first have no regard to the family, the children already there or anything. Why would that fetus have more rights than me or my sister? Or my mom - whom we desperately needed? Its just another way to impose ones own personal beliefs on the masses.

Oh, and one more thing - I want to send big hugs to everyone who has posted and especially Jen - there are people out here who support you and don't judge you in any way. We need to remember that, to speak up and to be proud!

There are so many reasons to be pro choice. Because we are a free country. Because we have the right to choose.
I believe education is the key. The more we talk to our children about things like sex, stds, and pregnancy the more educated they become and they will make the right decisions to prevent the need for an abortion. We need to educate the public that it is not a bad thing to have an abortion. I don't have any experience with it. I carried my pregnancy to term and now have an almost 2 year old son. But I would never hold it against any woman who chose to have an abortion because of what is going on in her life. Or because the contraception didn't work, or the condom broke or whatever.
Ignorance is one of the most dangerous things out there.

But here is my myspace blog, where I participated in Blogging For choice. I hate it's myspace but it's all I have.

http://blog.myspace.com/mandevilla

I am pro-choice because for me it boils down to "it's none of anybody else's business."

Men have a right to decide what they want to do with their bodies so women should as well and what works for one person doesn't work for all. That's another reason; women need to be seen as indivudials with their individual needs and desires instead of one big group like the Borg.

I'm pro-choice because I believe that when women have control over their bodies, everyone benefits, perhaps most especially the children they do decide to have (and therefore society as a whole). I'm pro-choice because my best friend had to jump the border from Canada to the US to get an abortion at 15 years old because she was too ashamed to go before it was too late here. Then she was made to feel like a shameful whore when she got to the clinic. I'm pro-choice because women's bodies are not just incubators. And I'd like to second the "because I trust women". Thanks for these inspiring comments everyone!

Thought I'd throw in my two cents -

I am pro-choice because the decision whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term is very personal. About a year after I graduated from college, I found myself pregnant. I considered myself 'protected' because I was on the pill, but did not completely understand the effects of antibiotics on my birth control. At the time I wasn't making much money and was barely making ends meet while sharing an apartment with 2 other roommates. The would-be father was unable to help financially as well as emotionally. After the initial freak out I was able to seek advise from the local Planned Parenthood as well as a good friend and after much thought, decided that I was not ready to be a mother. It would not have been a good life for my child.

I am glad the choice was mine to make. I continue to feel that it was the best choice at the time. It makes me unbelievably sad to think that other woman are not given the oppurtunity to make such an important decision about their own life.

I am pro-choice because for me it boils down to "it's none of anybody else's business."

Exactly. When I first became politically aware in high school and realized that abortion was a big issue in politics, my first reaction was "what the heck? why is this even an issue, when it is a totally personal and private thing?" It floored me to realize that it is an issue because it was and is explicitly NOT LEGAL in many, many places, so we have to have explicit laws and court rulings to make it legal to counteract that. I have since then come to understand our society much better in context of its patriarchal roots, but it is still in some ways incomprehensible to me that men have had the power to legislate such a private issue and that it is all over the place in politics.

I am pro-choice for just about all the reasons that others have listed. If a woman does not feel ready or willing to take on the huge responsibility of raising a child, I would much prefer that she be able to choose to have an abortion than be forced to bring an unwanted child into the world. How is this a positive thing for anyone (both directly to the people involved and to society as a whole) to have unwanted children around? Imagine what a happier world (and less overpopulated world) this would be if every child were truly wanted! I do think there is a difference between wanted and planned -- an unplanned pregnancy can result in a wanted child, if the woman decides to keep it. But an unplanned pregnancy can also result in an unwanted child -- and that's when the woman should have the choice of abortion.

But I should not even have to go into such depth to defend it because it shouldn't be an issue to begin with! The politics of abortion frustrate me to no end and it seems so hopeless at times, like we are going to be fighting this battle forever.

I am pro-choice for various reasons, most echo what is already written. But, I want to write about why I am pro-choice, for pro-child/pro-life reasons.

I am pro-choice because unintended pregency is impossible to completely eliminate and forcing women to have children when they do not want them/ are not ready creates problems for everyone involved, including the children.

I am pro-choice because children should not have to grow up unwanted. They should not have to grow up in poverty or economically strained circumstances. They should not have to grow up in violent, abusive or drug/acohol addicted environments. Children should not have to grow up in foster homes. All children should grow up in loving, respectful environments in which all of their basic needs are met.

I'm pro-choice because it's self-evidently right, just as freedom for slaves was right.

But I get more specific here -- http://starwatcher307.livejournal.com/167436.html

I'm pro-choice because it's self-evidently right, just as freedom for slaves was right.

But I get more specific here -- http://starwatcher307.livejournal.com/167436.html

I'm pro-choice for the same reason as Rox Populi:

If I had no right to self-determination, I'd be a slave.

Because I grew up before there was choice (none / 0)

and saw the damage that did.

Two of my friends got pregnant in high school, at 14 and 16 -- both were A students who were forced to drop out of school, marry, and face the world with 9th and 10th grade educations.

Another high school friend was sent to Arizona, supposedly for her asthma, but I now believe to an unwed mothers "home."

All of that so frightening to someone who wanted out of that small town, and the instant housewife life, that I didn't have sex until I was 19.

My former babysitter also got pregnant at 16, dropped out of high school to marry, and when I next saw her, she was missing teeth at age 30.

In college I met the daughters of the rich and upper middle class, who had been flown to Puerto Rico for their abortions pre-Roe -- the only lives destroyed were those of women who weren't lucky enough to have wealthy parents.