Okay, so I am aware that this is a majorly sensitive subject, but it has just come to my attention that a little while ago #ShoutYourAbortion became rather popular on Twitter. The hashtag was designed for women to come forward and share their abortion stories in order to stop the stigma and shaming around abortion. While this is what the hashtag was intended for, of course a bunch of people who think they are Gods gift to creation chirp in and decide that they are perfect enough to tell these women who were bravely coming forward about a difficult time in their life, that they were horrible people. Reading more and more into the debate, it got me considering where i stand on the issue.

I think the pro-life vs pro-choice debate will always have some gray areas. I think it is small minded of people to say that abortion is wrong in all circumstances, or that it is okay in all circumstances because this is never the case in my opinion. With this in mind however, I am definitely more on the side of pro-choice, although I do recognise the problems with this argument too. While I'd love to for pro-life to be a realistic expectation for all of us to live by, it really isn't. For example, if you do not support abortion in any circumstances, where do you stand on a pregnant woman who was a victim of rape ? Would it be wrong for her to abort the child of the man who assaulted her ? What if that person was a minor? It's just one of horrific life problems we have to face head on, and unfortunately in some countries women are not given the choice in this situation. Furthermore, what about a young teenager who was not taught sex education or knew about safe sex? We can punish them sure, but punishing them by forcing them to have a child ? That's a pretty tall order. Many people would argue that this is the reason we have adoption, but carrying the child of your attacker for 9 months? Or going to school pregnant everyday at the age of 15 with people calling you names, forcing for you to be outcast for years to come because nobody wants their child hanging around with "that stupid couple". It's such a harsh reality that people ignore.

However, like I said the pro-choice argument has some faults too. To my knowledge, you can legally get  an abortion up to 24weeks into your pregnancy, or after 24 weeks if there is a danger to the mothers life. This for me is where I feel uncomfortable. At this point you are more than half way through your pregnancy, and while I imagine it certainly is not an easy decision to make or take lightly, every day you spend deliberating is another day that embryo/foetus (is that the right word?) is becoming  more and more like a baby. 24 weeks into the pregnancy seems like and extremely late time to be having the abortion to me. It seems to me that the parents (because I believe the father should have a say to) should have 4 weeks from finding out they're pregnant to make this decision. Obviously, they're are some truly exceptional and awful circumstances that won't apply to this (health risks etc) but as a general rule of thumb it seems much less harsh to me. I say 4 weeks from finding out, and not a definitive point in the pregnancy because some women do not find out they're pregnant until very late on! I've read some stories of women going their whole pregnancy without knowing they were expecting ! Another problem arises when you get people that use abortions as a form of birth control and get abortions frequently, but this is a seperate issue entirely and one that is possibly even more sensitive, so we'll leave that discussion for today shall we ?

Anyway these are just some point to consider before deciding where you stand. I think the most important rule here is that everybody, whether single mother or as a couple made the decision to have their abortion for a reason, and whether that reason makes sense to you or not, it was not an easy decision to make so just consider that and try not to pass judgement.

Be kind to others,

Laura

Xoxo