Pregnant by Choice | The Feronia Project

Three years ago, I stood on the corner of a busy intersection, 7 months pregnant, proudly holding a sign that boasted, “Pregnant by Choice.” It was the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and I wanted to remind people that choice means more than abortion. My mother’s pregnancy with me was unplanned, but not unwanted. It was 1979 and she had the choice to abort, but didn’t. Her boyfriend at the time wanted her to terminate the pregnancy, but she didn’t and left him instead. Take THAT for choice!

Two years ago, I stood on the same corner holding my 10-month-old in one arm and a sign in the other: “Pro-Privacy, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice.” Some young man walked past, pointed to my baby and said, “Wouldn’t she be dead?” He missed the point completely. Having a choice doesn’t mean having an abortion. Having a choice means that a woman has the right to decide what happens: parenting, adoption, abortion. Having a choice means that a woman has access to medical care, birth control, and community resources. It’s not a choice when a woman has to choose between paying for birth control and paying for her rent. Birth control should be free to all men and women who want to use it. Greater access to birth control, education, and medical care means fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer abortions – it’s pretty simple.

This year, I again stood on that corner, reproductive justice sign in one hand, 13-week-old fetus in my uterus. I was standing next to an older feminist who actually knew what it was like to live in a time when abortion wasn’t legal and we were commenting to one another how there were so many more honks of support than in years past. I believe that the attempts to outlaw abortion (personhood, TRAP laws, etc) are helping people form their opinions about abortion AND helping them find their voice to speak up in support of the Roe vs. Wade decision. Most Americans are in support of the Supreme Court decision; many of them are just too afraid to speak up.

Before I drove down to the corner to rally, I dropped off some HIV tests at the Health Center. It just happened to be the day many abortion patients were scheduled. As I stood there on the corner looking at the few thumbs down/negative comments coming from the cars, I couldn’t help but think that these people looked just like the ones sitting in the waiting room. I know plenty of people who have had abortions, real women with jobs, families, degrees, and not one of them carries shame around with them. And you know some too – you just might not know it. After all, 1 in 3 women will have an abortion by the time they reach 45.

Comment Policy

All comments are moderated by The Feronia Project before they are posted. By registering with our site you agree to keep your comments within our posting guidelines. Ultimately all comments are approved at the discretion of the moderators at The Feronia Project. We’ve borrowed the six guiding principles below from Greenpeace because they really got it right (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?)

1. The Feronia Project welcomes all users to join our community and to comment and treats all members of the community equally.

2. We want The Feronia Project to be home to open, transparent conversations in which people connect, discuss, share ideas, and debate the issues. Site your source if you are contradicting a statement made by the author.

3. We are also committed to maintaining a non-toxic atmosphere. We do not allow profanity, hate speech, nor do we allow speech that advocates or supports hatred or unlawful violence. Likewise, threats of violence or threats to anyone or any group's personal safety are not acceptable. We also do not allow false claims or misleading implications that any individual or group perpetuates hate or unlawful violence.

4. In order to preserve a functional and civil conversation, we do not allow trolls, trollish behavior, or stalking. We do not allow speech that is solely intended to provoke other users, to cause disorder or confusion, or to inhibit regular, on-topic conversation. In this area especially, we defer to the flags left by our users in the context of our growing community reputation system.

5. Be respectful of the blog author and community members by staying on topic with your comments.

6. Members of The Feronia Project deserve to be free from spam, and we do not allow posting the same comment multiple times within one thread or on multiple threads. We also flag and delete all comments containing business solicitations or other advertising of personal interests, blogs, or websites.

Comment Policy

Leave a Reply Cancel reply