#they're pro forced birth and anti women

[unbidden-yidden]

Honestly watching western goyische leftists veer sharply into blatant, violent antisemitism ostensibly due to Palestine inspires a very specific type of rage in me that can only be triggered by ideologically-driven hypocrisy.

It's like watching the anti-abortion people also oppose comprehensive sex education and birth control while lamenting at how many abortions are currently happening. Every single person with more than one functioning brain cell knows that the only way to reduce abortions (not stop them, because that's literally impossible) is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies - something for which there are mountains of evidence demonstrating that comprehensive sex education and birth control can accomplish. But they don't want those things, because they allow childbearing capable people reproductive autonomy and freedom. So they DARVO and move goalposts and in general try to pretend it's about protecting babies when it's literally just about controlling women, girls, and people they're misgendering as such. Because if they truly cared, if they were genuine in their beliefs, they would support whatever method was most effective at reducing unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions.

The antisemitic "pro-Palestine" leftists do the exact same thing by ramping up antisemitism in the diaspora, despite the fact that the main driving force behind Zionism is a desire for Jewish safety. If you make the entire world unsafe for Jews except Israel, and you also want to dissolve Israel, where does that leave Jews? And I get that a lot of people just straight up do not care, genuinely want us dead, but here's the thing: people who are backed into a corner are going to fight for their lives. That is what Israel has done for the last 75 years. They have nowhere else to go, and the more antisemitic you make the diaspora, the more Jews will congregate there out of necessity.

If you don't address the root cause in a humane way, you are never going to make headway and you're literally just spraying water on a grease fire.

#i/p #המצב

[emmashouldbewriting]

Did people always pick apart the wales marriage or did it happen when Meghan and harry got together and started being clingy? I remember seeing something on twitter from their documentary that said 70 percent of the hate tweets were from 83 accounts and I feel like someone needs to do that when it comes to the waleses because how does a tweet taken out of context get thousands of likes automatically?🙄

I really don't know, you'd have to find someone who's been a part of the fandom longer than I have. I ended up here accidentally when I went hunting to find out if I was the only one who had a bad feeling about Meg lol

oho, buckle up ladies. They've been picking apart the Wales marriage since 1pm on April 30, 2011. From 2011 - 2015ish, it was done on certain corners of the internet, like Kaiser's section of Celebitchy, and most people didn't pay any attention to it because it was such a tinhatty conversation.

The game changed in 2016ish, after Charlotte was born.

First, Charles's and Andrew's marriages imploded after the births of their second child with the blame falling on the women. These people basically said that why should Kate be any different and started going after her. There's a period of time after Charlotte was born, in late 2015 or early 2016, when Kate suddenly dropped a ton of weight, which these people interpreted to mean as there were problems in the Cambridge marriage that caused enormous stress for Kate and speculated that she stopped eating/kept working out. This chunk of time also overlaps with a period of time where Kate had some engagements with Ben Ainslie in which they were flirty and friendly with each other.

These bloggers/this section of the internet decided that William had cheated on Kate 2015/2016ish, Kate's overnight weight loss was due to stress from his cheating, and she retaliated by having a brief fling with Ben Ainslie. Elizabeth caught wind of this and forced the Cambridges into marital counseling because the monarchy couldn't survive another divorce. (One of these bloggers who believed and perpetuated this is now rather quite popular and is now considered one of the experts here on royal tumblr. I disagree with her take on this and stopped following her because of it.)

This section of the internet also believes that Kate would only forgive William for his cheating if he gave her another baby, which is how Louis came to be. It's very possible that this is the true origin story of the Rose Rumor since we know that Meghan was paying attention to the royal blogs when she was dating Harry.

Second, the other gamechanger in 2016 was, of course as we know, Meghan. Her fans brought a ton of toxicity to the royal fandom that was kind of a "safer in numbers" mentality where people like Kaiser who openly hated Kate and these other blogs who openly picked on the Cambridge marriage (like the bloggers who speculated about the 2015/2016 years) were enabled to speak out more, and more loudly, about the problems they perceived in the then-Cambridge marriage and Kate as a person.

So the "Kate haters" were now speaking as a louder group, which caused the "Kate defenders" to start speaking up and everything kept escalating to where it soon broke out into a fandom war with everyone choosing sides:

Anti-Kate because they wanted to marry William.

Anti-Meghan because they wanted to marry Harry.

Neutral but they're openly misogynistic and sexist about hating Kate.

Neutral but they really hate Meghan because they're closet racists.

Harry stans

Meghan stans (Sussex Squad)

Pro-William/Cambridge because he's the future king.

Anti-Harkles because they're not William and Kate.

Anti-Cambridges because they're not sharing with Meghan and Harry.

Diana stans

Kate stans (who I think are now called Wales Wailers)

The actual neutral middle who's just here for jewels and clothes.

Formerly "actual neutral middle" blogs who had hinky feelings about Meghan.

People with no interest in the BRF

People with no interest in the Cambridges or Sussexes

To answer anon's question about how a tweet could be wildly taken out of context for thousands of likes -- it's because of the fandom war and all these different sides.

IMO, the fandom war was never really resolved. Everyone mostly keeps to their "side" of royal tumblr now. Every once in a while a couple of them clash but it ends quickly and then everyone goes back to their corners. I think the pandemic, the lockdowns, and the lack of royal content because of lockdowns caused a lot of bloggers to chill out on Wales v Harkles - they either left royal-watching all together or found a new "thing" to focus on instead. (I have a theory about this but it's controversial.)

anon thank you so much for writing this all out! you're a real gem, and please give us your theory!!! i'd love to hear it

(i read it while i was eating dinner which is why i'm posting it so quick after the last ask, i already know what they said lol)

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Wondering if we should kill the word TERF since there's nothing feminist about that idiot that claimed that all lactating persons were just women. She's a pro-forced-birth misogynist tradwife, and I'm noticing a lot of these trans-exclusionists are. They hide behind "protecting women" as an excuse for their transphobia but other than that they're happy to oppress women as well.

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a TERF that was just a standard name brand conservative.

Though horseshoe theory is strong here, a TERF and a conservative misogynist are two different ideologies. TERFs are pro-choice generally speaking. And definitely anti-tradwife since the average TERF believes sex with any man under any circumstances is violence against women.

Not every transphobic women is a TERF. Alt-right women do exist.

[transautismman]

I don't understand how pro-life / anti-abortion activists can actually look at people being forced to care for children and think what they're doing is okay.

They're the same people who get mad at teen parents, at people who put their kids in foster care, at people who keep their kids but raise them in poverty. This is part of the reason abuse rates would go up. Whoever thinks prolife is "pro-women" is lying to themself.

They say things like "Abortion promotes a society that believes: motherhood is a drawback, fertility is a disease, and the pre born are disposable," (real post I saw). They don't actually care about women / people who can give birth.

- For some, motherhood is a drawback. Take me, for example. I am unemployed, in school, mentally disabled, chronically in pain, trans (i.e being pregnant would give me dysphoria), and can barely care for myself, let alone a child. I have anger issues and am impulsive, occasionally self-destructive. I can't take care of a child. That kid would go to the foster care system the minute it's born. Then pro-lifers would get mad at me for that. "Just practice sex safely," what if I did. What then? Condoms and birth control don't always work

- Nobody is saying fertility is a disease, but again, being trans, even knowing I could get pregnant triggers my dysphoria.

- Yes, "preborns" are disposable. They are literally parasites (plz look up the definition if you want to fight me on this). They have no thoughts, no consciousness. "But they're alive" so is literally every other cell. Get over it, it's smaller than a fish and we kill those everyday. They don't start feeling pain until month 6 of pregnancy. They don't have any developed brain function until week 24 (around 6 months). Most people get abortions well before 24 weeks. They are not killing a person, they are disposing of a parasite.

Don't try to argue with me, you won't change my mind. I’ve looked at both sides, I’ve done research, I’ve looked at statistics and studies, I’ve listened to women and trans people and others who can get pregnant. Nobody has influenced their opinions on me. I literally cannot form opinions without information-

#abortion #abortion rights #pro abortion #pro choice #anti life #womens rights

[mausarchive]

I thought you were somewhat a feminist and now i see you are anti abortion? Fucking really?

i am pro-responsibility, when talking about having sex recreationally; i don't think the first resort of anyone in that context should be abortion, i think it should be being intelligent enough to use common sense, whether that be through your male partner getting a vasectomy or whatever form of contraceptive you are comfortable getting (you're not a child im assuming so i feel no need to list them here). celibacy and abstinence are two things i will never not promote, they are what is ultimately the most effective form of birth control. i am anti hookup culture, i think it is the death of love and commitment and i think one of the wisest things you can do as a woman is be abstinent and keep yourself safe from men interested in nothing more than what you can offer them for 30 seconds. on that same token i think men that are pro-abortion are misogynists; of course they're pro-abortion. they don't value women or the gift of children so they want to have sex without consequence, as much as they want, with as many women as they can. note i said pro-abortion, not pro-choice.

as someone who is heavily involved in the lives of multiple children that i have helped raise from birth, i will never regard a pregnancy as a disease or a child as a "tumor". nobody asks to be born, or conceived. you are responsible for your body, your sex life, your womb. it is wrong to punish a life that never asked to be born. and that is my ultimate opinion. i see them as human beings, not burdens.

when it comes to pregnancy as a result of rape, i obviously would not ever vouch to force a woman to carry a baby that is a product of rape. i think that is the choice of the individual and not one i feel i could ever speak or decide on unless it was in my own case, my own experience. but i do think forcing that is wrong.

in short i promote healthy mindfulness when it comes to sex and reproduction. i wouldn't say im ardently anti-abortion. i think it is important to take things on a case by case basis. but if you are a casual sex having person who gets abortions as freely as someone might pop breath mints, i think you are a misled woman who needs to do some serious self-reflection and thinking on why, exactly, men would promote abortion so strongly, why anyone would, and why they want you to see children as abominable little burdens, and why you also having that point of view directly benefits them.

does this make me anti-feminist? i don't know. do i care? no. i don't identify with that label, i am not your friend, i do not care about you. i am my own person with my own experiences and opinions. if you don't like them, or they even deeply offend you, that's fantastic. do us both a favor and block me if you feel the need to do so.

#txt #ask #thank you for the opportunity to elaborate

[butchviking]

i dont understand how conservative desire for single sex spaces differs from feminist reason. i understand that conservatives typically think of trans people as gay plus, sure, but like. in the actual desire for single sex spaces, what difference does it make

the difference it makes is in the bills they push through and the lack of care or provision for the fallout of those bills. if conservatives were pushing through a bill that said all use of mens/womens bathrooms, shelters, changing rooms, etc should be decided on birth sex alone - what are they putting in place to enable that? birth sex is not something stated on legal documents, bc legal sex can be changed. so how does one prove their sex? what happens to transmen who pass as male? i don't think most women are going to be happy with them coming into female spaces. how do they prove that that's actually where they're legally required to be? and what DOES happen to transwomen who pass as female and are forced to use male spaces? that IS dangerous for them and i understand its not the job of feminism to care about that issue but i personally do. and people can say "well this issue doesn't affect passing trans people bc no-one will ever know" but that only works if the person is completely stealth, which not every passing trans person is. and hell, what about passing butches?? how do THEY prove they're women if we know ID doesnt always reflect birth sex? all these people are just collateral damage to conservatives and i'm not okay w that.

ok. i will level with u. thats me making smthn up on the fly to justify my position. it didnt go very well at first so i gave up, but then i thought on it some more nd went back to it and i think that response does stand on its own now. at first i kind of thought "well, i guess this is the one issue we DO pretty much agree on" but the way conservatives do things is still always going to leave a lot of people caught in the middle and they definitely don't care enough to make sure those people are considered in their lawmaking.

however. u know the real answer? like the instinctive gut answer? because i dont fucking trust them. i dont fucking trust them and i dont trust them bc ive seen OTHER shit theyve pulled in this vein. like the anti-transition bills that have given no consideration to people who are ALREADY transitioning and would suddenly cut off their hrt or blockers if they don't meet the new requirements; like the bill against gender non-conformity in public spaces sold to the public as being about protecting children from predators within drag communities; like the combination of the attempt to reclassify authorising a child to transition as a sexual abuse with the introduction of the death penalty for sexual abuse. i do not fucking trust them and i know they do not have womens or childrens interests at heart i know this all just comes from them finding transgenderism degenerate and i do not think any good can come from supporting them bc they are always trying to slip smthn in under the radar they are always presenting laws to the public as one thing but wording them just right so that they actually have a whole different effect than people expected.

also, as a sort-of sidenote: given that regular ass people don't actually vote on laws, just elect people to do that, what would supporting their bills actually mean? voting for conservatives who will pass anti-gay anti-trans anti-woman pro-gender laws in the hope that they also throw a "oh and womens spaces for women only" in there? promoting the politicians who proposed the bills? i guess there's contacting state representatives and asking them to vote yes or no on a specific bill, but i get the impression most people don't really do that and more just make a public show of support for such-and-such a bill, which also promotes the party and the politician.

#btw their actual REASONING for wanting single-sex spaces is because they want to protect women as private property #any conservative interest in protecting women and children sooner or later comes down to that. #its not about empathy its about keeping their property undamaged for whatever man they belong to. #ask #anonymous #oh my god i have got 2 stop answering asks when im like. on a train with nothing to do. it just gets longer and longer and longer. #this was like one paragraph when i first thought abt posting it.

[lercymoth]

As someone who is pro-choice, I think we need to have an important discussion. You can be pro-choice but also anti-eugenics, and I think a lot of people see abortion as a black and white subject where if you're against any form of abortion. I say this because I've had multiple other pro-choice people get mad at me for questioning this.

(Note: This person got banned for this post. Don't support this crap.)

In light of recent events, abortion posts have been popping up more. And that's a good thing! But that being said, there is something we need to address in our movement. I've noticed a lot of people are saying "Women should unconditionally have the right to choose what they do with their bodies.", and that's valid! The state shouldn't have control over people's bodies. But that being said, there's a specific way in which people are supporting that, and we need to talk about it. People have been using abortion to support eugenics, specifically, a lot of people are trying to say it isn't eugenics to abort a fetus solely because the mother sees their traits as undesirable (traits like skin color, genetic condition like autism, etc).

I have seen multiple pro-choice advocates state that since women should have access to an abortion unconditionally, it's okay if the sole purpose that someone gets an abortion is that they were already planning on having the child, but then out of nowhere get their child screened, discover that they might have undesirable genes (being black or autistic), and then decide to get the abortion for that reason.

Not only is this hateful, denying births to a protected minority group because they're part of said minority group is eugenics. This has been practiced by governments before as racial eugenics. It's no different if it's practiced by individuals. The point of it being bad isn't "the government is doing it", the point of it is that eugenics is bad.

I think we need to talk about this because as leftists, we lean towards pro-choice arguments because our goal is social justice. Pro-choice arguments generally talk about situations where the pregnancy was always unwanted, and that's good, but we need to talk about situations where it was wanted from the beginning and then changed because of hate.

Now before anyone says it: No, abortion is not eugenics. Pro-lifers, fuck off. Don't use this to support your beliefs.

Another thing I see a lot of pro-choicers say is that "It isn't eugenics because it isn't being forced by the government / It is not a coordinated attempt by the state to wipe out an entire group"

Eugenics is neither of those things. A coordinated attempt to wipe out a protected class is genocide. Eugenics is an ideology. Think of it like fascism. Just like fascism, it started in Europe. It spread about in the UK and got us posters like these, supporting the idea of not having 'mentally defective' children (it then changed to be about race too).

This did lead to genocidal policies in the United States, where the US forced sterilizations on disabled people and enacted similar policies, but it also had general hateful policies like the Immigration Act of 1924, which barred immigrants based on race. Eventually, Nazi Germany picked it up but even then, it wasn't used to justify killing entire groups until later. At first, it was just about denying births to protected classes because they were deemed flawed, such as preventing births of disabled people and ethnic minorities. (It should also be mentioned that eugenics used to be about superiority and aborting fetuses just because they're 'unfit', but in modern times that is not always the case)

Why am I mentioning this? Because it seems like a lot of people have flawed perceptions on what eugenics is, and that's really bad because it leads to people accidentally supporting eugenics by claiming what they're supporting isn't eugenics.

I have seen a lot of people say this isn't a form of eugenics because it's being done by an individual and not the state. Well, the thing about that is eugenics was advertised as an individual choice, as a self directed thing. This is not to mention eugenics is an ideology, and ideologies can be practiced by anyone.

Lastly, I want to state that this is not about the fetus. This is about eugenics being bad, and that we shouldn't normalize it in leftist circles. We can't say we're fighting for social justice when we're normalizing eugenics talk. This is about minority groups. We can be pro-choice and anti-eugenics at the same time. But I feel like for a lot of people, they refuse to see what has been practiced as eugenics on a state level as eugenics when it's practiced by an individual. And for others, they hold "Women have the right to choose no matter what" so strongly that they're willing to put minority groups in the line of fire just to get that point across.

This is not okay, no matter what. This is not okay. This only goes to make us look bad. I've seen so many pro-lifers using this against us and I am tired of it. Stop giving them ammunition.

#eugenics #abortion #ableism #racism #genocide #tw nazi #tw holocaust #tw eugenics #disability #activism #social justice

[ellaintrigue]

I should have been on the pill when I was 14. You're probably thinking, "14 year olds shouldn't be having sex!!" You are correct. And I had never had sex, I was just laying in my room in my own blood.

The pain from my periods was AGONIZING. It was nonstop bleeding and horrific cramps for days. I would lie on the floor and cry and wish it would stop.

Mom never took me to the doctor for it but when I was 22 I read up about female issues online and it suggested ovarian cysts. So even though I had never had an intimate exam before and I was scared I went to my doctor and said I thought I had cysts. She found some in me and prescribed me birth control. My whole abdomen was bloated and painful and I could hardly function until the pills took effect.

When conservatives hear "birth control" it means sex to them. The HPV shot means sex to them. And now they're trying to ban the abortion pill which means more moral failings to them. They are trying to slut shame and control women even more.

Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life it doesn't matter because it is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. I repeat. WHAT A WOMAN DISCUSSES IN A ROOM WITH HER DOCTOR IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

I got the HPV shot because I have had 2 boyfriends who had it. But people think it's the left encouraging immorality when doctors encourage the jab for children. Like, no. I just simply seriously dated 2 guys who happened to have it. I wasn't sleeping around. Then y'all bitch about HIV medication being shown on TV. So... uh, what, you want people to get AIDS? ...IT ONLY TAKES SLEEPING WITH ONE PERSON TO CONTRACT SOMETHING.

I'm not shaming people who do sleep around but regardless, your children WILL grow up and have sex. Nearly all people have sex in their lifetime. I talked to a conservative from Salisbury, MD a couple of months ago. He was anti-vax. Whatever. He said he never went to the doctor EVER. I said, what about when you need to be tested for STDs? He called me a snowflake. I asked him if he was a virgin. No, but he knew everyone he had slept with, he knew he didn't have anything, he didn't need to get tested for diseases as that was for liberals. I said fair enough, hope you have a nice day. He then started complaining he didn't understand why women rejected him.

I went to the doctor today to renew my birth control that saves my life. I have cysts so aggressive they would stifle my body if I wasn't on the pill. If not for the pill and I got surgery instead I would need to get surgery every year or something. But alongside the abortion pill, some conservatives want birth control options compromised too.

Women go through enough. To stay on the pill I once had to shell out $500 a year for invasive exams. Now they've lessened the exams because they were found to be too violating and meaningless. 1,000s upon 1,000s of young women getting unneeded vaginal exams since the 60s. So on top of being forced to get healthcare we are now getting it forcibly taken away?

Today the only thing I did voluntarily was get 2 vaccines. It's all stupid, especially the eye exam. The nurse was surprised I couldn't read ANY lines without my glasses. I told her I was almost legally blind which is the truth. I have very low vision and partial blindness in one eye. What does that have to do with birth control?

They need to make healthcare easier for women not harder. Conservatives need to focus on fixing the economy and reducing regulations on the working class, not controlling women's bodies.

I am against government control, gun restrictions, and all of that, but because the right demands the government to regulate women's bodies they are hypocritical and they aren't worth voting for. Their mindsets are dangerous and they are hurting women.

I just want to be happy, protected, and free from horrific periods. Don't take that away from me.

#Prochoice #Healthcare #Womens rights #Vaccination #Birth control #Abortion

[militantinremission]

Is Roe vs Wade Just The Beginning?

I wanted to watch the effect of SCOTUS' reversal of Roe vs Wade before adding My 2 Cents to the Pool of Thought. For The Record, I FULLY SUPPORT a Woman's Right of Expression. The 14th Amendment guarantees the Right to Life, Liberty, & Due Process- protecting the Right to Privacy for ALL American Citizens. Last time I checked, that includes Women. I personally believe that overturning Roe vs Wade is a 4th Dimensional Chess Move, more than a watershed moment in Conservative Politics. The reverberation is too multifaceted.

Mainstream Media is running w/ the narrative of SCOTUS infringing on the Right of Women to choose what is best for them individually. 14 States have already moved forward w/ a Ban on All Abortions. People are pointing to a 10Yr Rape Victim in Ohio, that was forced to travel to Indiana for an Abortion. 10 is NOT a childbearing age, so why would States like Ohio force young girls to carry potentially dangerous pregnancies to Term? Meanwhile, Women have taken to The Streets Nationwide in protest of SCOTUS' decision.

As bad as the overturn of Roe vs Wade is, the LGBTQ... Community is concerned about Justice Clarence Thomas' comments; they're waiting for The Other Shoe to drop... Joe Biden's Executive Order should counter Justice Thomas' thoughts about 'Abortion Pills' & the legality of sending them across State Lines, but the subject of Gay Marriage may be revisited. I find myself pondering what else will be jeopardized by the overturn of Roe vs Wade? Right now, it feels like this was just the 1st domino.

As an Indigenous Black American, I have issues w/ Abortion. While I understand & support a Woman's Right to Choose what's best for her, I also understand that Abortion is a Weapon of Genocide in My Community. 'Planned Parenthood's' connection to Margaret Sanger CANNOT be ignored. This Woman was a staunch Anti- Black Racist & Eugenicist, that inspired Nazi Germany. For some reason, Planned Parenthood locations are more plentiful in Black Communities than White Communities; despite the Black Population being roughly 25% of the White Population Nationwide.

For the sake of convenience, I use the term 'Planned Parenthood' generically to represent Abortion Clinics in general. The Truth is, any OB-GYN can perform an abortion, & many of these 'doctors' have done cruel & irreparable harm to Black Women over the decades. I have heard my share of Horror Stories over the Years, about Black Women going in for an Abortion, & coming out Sterile, or worse. This is not to say that Women of other ethnicities don't have similar experiences; i'm just pointing out that No Other Group has been targeted to the degree that Black Women have.

When looking @ the History of Western Society, Abortion has been a tool of empowerment for Western Women. Before Roe vs Wade, Pregnancy for Women in America was a life changing experience. Many were required to give up their professional dreams, in exchange for Motherhood. More than a few of Us have Mothers that went back to School later in life; some joined their children in College. Legalized Abortion gave Women choices. Men that weren't responsible enough to use contraceptives don't really have a say in what a Woman feels, or thinks is best for her when she gets pregnant.

The whole issue of Abortion is something of a 'Grey Area' for me. I can understand & support a Woman's decision to abort. Some may not be in a position to bring a Child into The World. Some may be victims of Rape, Incest, or Molestation. The (Pro Life) notion of Adoption or Foster Care doesn't resonate as much as it did in The Past. We live in Dangerous Times, & a pregnant Woman still has The Right to decide if She wants to blindly give her Child away to a Stranger. On the flip side of this argument, Abortion IS NOT Birth Control. If Young Men & Women want to be sexually active, or even promiscuous, they should also be responsible.

Abortion should be a Health Care issue between a Woman, the potential Father, & her Doctor. The Politics of Abortion can be somewhat confusing; Pro Lifers made their choice, why can't these Women have a Right to Choose?. What is gained from harassing Women outside Clinics on possibly the Worse Day of their lives? Isn't this a form of Bullyism? During their Confirmation Hearings, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, & Amy Coney Barrett ALL said that They respect Roe vs Wade as Legal Precedent or The Law of The Land. These same 3 Justices were the deciding votes in the overturn of Roe vs Wade- were all 3 Justices lying in front of The Committee?

The overturn of Roe vs Wade feels like the beginning of a bigger narrative. America is moving more & more towards Authoritarianism. Voter Restriction/ Gerrymandering, Bail Reform, Gun Control, & now Abortion, are all Hot Button Issues. The Masses are Angry, & taking to The Streets. Is this by design? It all feels like a convenient excuse for Authorities to double down on (current) Policing Protocols, as They prepare for those 'Angry Mobs'... It's pretty surreal to think that Government (Federal, State, & Local) believe that They can scare The Masses into choosing Security over Freedom of Expression. I assume that They're looking for support outside of 'The Hood'.

Even more absurd, is the Talking Point being pushed by Democratic Operatives. The notion that the only way to fight for Abortion, is to Vote Democrat in the next Election. Really? The Democratic Party is sitting in the 'Catbird Seat', & has only achieved moderate success. There are issues like Voter Repression, that can be easily handled by pointing out the language of the Voting Rights Law, but Dems have been silent. Why should we expect anything different if more Democrats were put into Office? Black America is collectively losing faith in the Democratic Party. Abortion Rights aren't enough to secure The Black Vote. We have more interest in Reparations, than Abortion.

From a Black Perspective, Abortion is not as big a deal in Our Community, as it is in White Communities. I do find it curious how (Indigenous) Black Women are depicted as 'Welfare Recipients' that make babies for a larger check; but @ the same time, Black Babies represent the largest proportion of aborted pregnancies. In fact, of the roughly 44 Million Legal Abortions performed between 1973- 2022, over 19 Million were Black Babies... This looks like genocide to me.

When We turn back The Clock to the 1970s & 1980s, We see the effect of Benign Neglect on Our Community. In the past, pregnant Black Women had Family support. By the 1980s, Black Communities were transformed into Ghettos & Slums, where Families struggled to provide for their Own Children. Abortion became an option. Planned Parenthood locations literally popped up in Black Communities, just in time for The Crack Experiment. Our Community hasn't been the same since.

Along w/ Benign Neglect & Crack Cocaine came the images of Black Women as 'Playthings'- to be used, abused, & discarded. Record Executives like Jerry Heller, Lyor Cohen, & Jimmy Iovine produced & promoted music & videos that were disrespectful of Black Womanhood & Femininity. White Television & Movie Producers depicted Black Women as unsophisticated, materialistic, & promiscuous. It started w/ referring to Black Women as 'Bitches', but overall, the language used towards Black Women warped into the THOT Culture that We see today. It didn't happen overnight. It may also explain how a traditionally conservative group, like (Indigenous) Black American Women can be associated w/ a 43% Abortion Rate.

Abortion, from a White Supremacist perspective, is a deadly serious matter. The European Population is shrinking. White Genetic Survival, is the Prime Motivation of any White Supremacist. From that angle, overturning Roe vs Wade makes sense. White Supremacists thrive on oppressing Soft Targets, & White Women have been the nearest, easiest, & softest Target for them to oppress. Overturning Abortion Rights offers these sadistic Men the opportunity to force their Women to carry pregnancies to birth; whether they want to, or not... They get to live like their Grandfathers.

-But today's Women aren't their Grandmothers.

#AWomansRight #LifeInBizarroLand #RiseOfAuthoritarianism

[moodboardsbysarah]

honestly I am anti contraception. Like, I'm not gonna go on a campaign to ban it but it has undeniably had negative impacts on society.

Thanks to birth control there's way more people having sex willy-nilly because they can get away with it. This is leading to a rise in toxic and unstable relationships that often result in children anyway.

Promiscuous one-night stands aren't great, but they're also the least of my concerns. Relationships where people have sex before establishing commitment are much more concerning. I believe these sorts of relationships are the reason for the rise in single early parenthood (I'm making "early parenthood" clear because I don't care about seperated couples with older kids). imo such relationships didn't occur as frequently in a world before contraception, where every sexual encounter felt like an existential risk. On the rare occasions when such unstable relationships did occur... Well... a baby would be born and those people would be forced to either get their act together and marry, or split up. The dynamic of having sex on the third date wasn't normalised and encouraged like it is today.

The contraception lovers argue, "birth control gave women more freedom!" And yeah, I guess it did. It gave women more freedom to...

a) poison our bodies with artificial hormones and IUD complications

b) have sex with random strangers and men who want to use us for sex

c) get more strongly pressured into sex than we already are by boyfriends and dates, because muh condoms will solve everything

d) get pregnant to said men anyway because no form of birth control is 100% reliable

The only benefit I see to contraception is the Plan B pill allowing women who are raped to get protected from pregnancy. And the regular birth control pill is useful for treating some health problems, but there's no reason why this pill couldn't have been marketed as an endometriosis treatment or a period stopper. Instead they called it "birth control" and gave it to any woman who wanted to have more pregnancy-less sex with men. they also prescribe it for acne and depression and literally any hormonal problem a woman has, which is medical malpractice best discussed in another post.

Contraception lovers also argue, "but without birth control, so many more unwanted children would be born!" And I'm like er... That's not what I'm seeing at all. I'm seeing more unwanted children being born than ever before, more single motherhood, more of all that stuff in a pro-contraception world. Contraception is not 100% effective and as I went through, it is causing the formation of unstable relationships because people are having sex way too quickly. People in these unstable relationships might start out using contraception then choose to have unprotected sex and have kids.

The worst thing contraception has done is it has made people start to see sex as a human right and a necessity, when really it's something you should only do when you're lucky enough to have a deep loyal connection with someone. "Sex isn't that big of a deal!" Men cry nowadays because they have contraception "protecting" women from the consequences of sex. Men are acting more entitled to sex than ever. Now that they have condoms, women they're dating don't have as valid of an excuse to say no anymore. Before contraception you only had sex with men you felt comfortable getting pregnant and this was basic common sense. After contraception... Well this logic doesn't hold up anymore. if you don't feel fully comfortable with this guy, well suck it up girlie because he can just wear a condom, it's not like you might get pregnant or anything! Sex isn't a big deal! And if he hates condoms, then you're expected to mutilate your body with IUDs or birth control pills to cater to his needs. If you don't, some other girl will. So yeah, I don't see at all how contraception empowers women in relationships with men. All I see is it gives us less sexual bargaining power and more pressure to "put out" against our will.

And this isn't to say I want contraception banned, because we do need Plan B pills available in case women are raped. but I want the narrative that contraception is empowering and freeing to fucking stop.

If you are heterosexual... then don't have sex with people who you aren't willing to raise children with. End of story, point blank, period. I don't care if you used all the contraception or birth control in the world. If you lie down with the opposite sex and you or your partner gets pregnant, that's on you guys. Consenting to heterosex means consenting to pregnancy.

[latimessblogeditlist]

I wanted a child more than anything. I spent ten years of my life chasing this pursuit.

I'm not a woman who suffered from infertility, I was very fertile. Yet, I have a medical condition that statistically results in harm to the mother's life in many cases, pre-eclampsia or late term miscarriage. Yet, I wanted this intrinsically and nothing would stop me.

Against the advice of every doctor, specialists in Reproductive Endocrinology, OB/GYN'S and Fertility Specialists, and I saw many, I was determined to be the exception and prove them wrong, and fulfill what I wanted. For myself

As ethics dictated, none of them would perform IVF on me, so I tried myself. As a single woman and the fact I was 39, I was dead set and time was of the essence. And so I had a friend who was happy to donate sperm, and we tried once.

Within the 10 days before I could take an early pregnancy test, he and I saw an attorney as he and I both were on the same page: he wanted to relinquish any parental rights or obligations. I paid $5000 to hire the attorney and do everything right.

As I was about to sign the contract, the pen wouldn’t work. I grabbed another pen. It also didn’t work.

Then and there, I finally accepted that by trying to do anything possible to fulfill my own desire, that by creating that life, I'd risk or maybe even lose mine.

As statistically, the risk that I’d take would endanger me, the fetus and so doing so put me at risk where I’d miss out the opportunity of parenting, experience grief and loss that was greater than the absence I felt of something essential to my happines.

But, the obvious conclusion was it was wrong to create a life I wouldn’t be there to care for. Who would suffer then?

On the 9th day, I decided to take the RU486 pill. As I timed insemination meticulously, had the FSH of a 28 year old, I easily could’ve gotten pregnant. If I had, I would be devastated. Eventually.

While pro choice, for myself I always thought I’d never ever get an abortion if I were healthy enough to carry a child under any circumstance. Even rape. I wanted what I did and was convinced I would get it. And that I'd be overjoyed to have that experience.

I had wanted to pursued adoption, but wasn’t a good candidate and I didn’t want a child taken from me as a foster to adopt situation would allow. I'd have to wait a year to adopt a baby I'd bonded with if the both mother regained the right or desire to take that child back, which was possible and not uncommon. I’d known people who’d gone through it after 11 months of caring for a child.

So I know I’m missing out on what I wanted most in life. But, if I’m not there to protect what I’d created who benefits? Who would place that burden on anyone?

So l if I had accepted the reality of my situation at 4 months of pregnancy, and I couldn’t save my own life by continuing that pregnancy, ask yourself is that Pro-Life? For who?

Or is it forced birth? It’s the latter.

Does an unborn child’s eventual life have more value than mine?

Does one of your kid's life have more value than the other kid's life?

She said but if you’re pro choice, that gives you all the freedom to go around killing babies but you wouldn’t kill an infant as soon as it was birthed!!!

I said pro choice is not anti life. It’s forced birth. The choice to terminate is traumatic and out of the best interest of mother and eventual child in most situations, it’s not a casual decision for anyone who has a conscience, sure there’s some women who’ve had more than one accident or see it as a form of birth control, sure. That's unfortunate. And they're often addicts, not that there aren't just as many who are who choose to not abort.

More often than not, they're going to cause harm to a fetus, let alone a child as they're unfit to parent, don't want to or children themselves. They aren't bad people, they are people who do lack consciousness of the implications of sex, which is complex and exempt from blame. However, for 99%, it's a painful decision or the most responsible choice.

So, it's not birth control, mistakes are made though, a solution to correct one's mistakes or any violation they suffered through whatever situation should be the choice of the woman regardless.

Would you encourage your 12 year old daughter to have a baby if she were violated and it was a risk to her life to try and carry a fetus to term? Would you diminish the life of a child to have a child?

Then she started marching with us.

[fleurdulys]

i am done arguing with pro forced birthers whether a fetus is a person or not. i just ask them if they agree with being forced to donate blood in order to save lives and then watch them either deflect or just stop the conversation entirely

#abortion #feminism #i also refuse to call them pro life #they're pro forced birth and anti women #that's all #idgaf if a fetus is a whole person or two persons or jesus christ himself

[frogsandfries]

Wow I do some dumb stuff sometimes

Good thing it's Saturday night going into Sunday morning because I just don't know how not to put my nose where it's going to get burned.

Tw for pro-choice, anti-anti abortion, Texas, Texas abortion ban, and such. You have been duly warned.

I've been hearing about Texas' abortion ban for a few weeks now, and you know how Texas is just going to be. But an article kept popping up in my feed and I was finally like, oh how bad could it be!

It just feels pretty fucking awful. Crushing. Devastating. And then I saw this photo:

You know, it's pretty infuriating to see a bunch of men grinning or being smug over an abortion ban or veto or restriction. But.......... to see a bunch of women supporting this???

I feel like something I'm never going to get across people who are irrationally attached to their anti-abortion stance and refuse to concede to a pro-choice stance, is that pro-choice:

Treats women like we are adults. We generally know about as well as men where we want our lives to go and we want the freedom to do our best to get there.

Men get to whine and wheedle their ways out of using condoms or forcing women to be unwilling participants in the man's own satisfaction, or worse. We don't force men to take reproductive responsibility.

We also don't give a shit about what happens to those dumb slut-whores who were too much of greedy sluts to just keep their whore legs closed. They deserve it. Y'see, pregnancy is a consequence, and babies are the sentence. Women who choose to be intimate deserve to have their bodies ruined and their lives in/voluntarily turned completely fucking upside down.

Did you use birth control and foolishly thought you didn't need condoms? Life sentence.

Did your spouse/partner promise they'd take care of you, only to high-tail the fuck outta dodge when they realized they'd gotten you pregnant? Life sentence.

Is your baby not developing correctly? Life. Fucking. Sentence. Baby doesn't have a brain? Heart outside of its body? No heart at all? Other severe, life-changing disability??

Life. Fucking. Sentence.

Oh but, doncha know, you can just give the baby up for adoption! It's not like the baby won't eventually find out they're adopted and fucking wonder why they weren't good enough for you to keep and find out you kept, or later had, other children.

Or fucking worse. Our present system of providing kids with homes is fucked. Foster parents who don't give a shit about the kid and just want a free fucking paycheck. Foster parents who are outright abusive monsters who do heinous shit to vulnerable children who either don't have parents at all or maybe have parents who just don't care or know.

What about the women who resent the children they've been forced to bring into the world, the women who were working toward better lives for themselves first. The women who were barely making it work for themselves, and don't stand a chance of making it work for a second, highly dependant, life project.

You'll notice a pattern--or maybe I'm wrong and causation≠correlation: The women who don't care about this shit mostly appear to be women for whom it would be no thing at all to take a week off work to drive to another state and get daddy or husband to pay for it. Women who are above the law.

And worse, this new legislation in Texas discourages women from talking about the rainbow of reasons they terminated a pregnancy. It discourages them from mourning. It sends them, effectively, back to shadowy alleys and coat hangers.

Men can just plug their ears, cover their eyes, make it more trouble than it's worth to make them take responsibility.

Don't you goddamn dare think women won't take this into their own hands.

If there is one opinion you will have to step over my cold dead body for, that opinion is pro-choice. One of my partner's internet friends apparently just had an abortion after struggling with hyperemesis for about twenty weeks. She'd lost a severe amount of weight and was having trouble even staying hydrated.

Myself, if I can't get my blood pressure under control, even with medication, pregnancy could literally kill me. Until I see a cardiologist, I don't fucking know if I'll be able to use blood pressure medication while pregnant, or if I'll be able to use the strength of medication I need to keep me safe.

I know I don't live in Texas, but I could just see the tiktok lemmings seeing this and rallying everybody to stuff the ballot boxes to give away their rights to their own goddamn bodies.

As long as women are the only segment of the population being punished for having sex, I just can't see a world where anti-abortion isn't archaic, punitive, and dragging us down. Other developed countries discuss sex fully, openly, accepting it as fully part of life. Other developed countries offer abortions liberally, and yet the services are proportionally scarcely necessary. Could you imagine the enormous step forward our own culture could take just by discussing sex openly, as the part of life it is, instead of making it this weird half-a-taboo. Sex isn't a crime. It is part of life.

Maybe if I had had a nice childhood full of tennis and violin and tutors. Maybe if my childhood had been full of ample resources. Maybe if the woman who gave birth to me didn't constantly scream at me, and my siblings, that she should have killed us, that we ruined her life, that she would have left us in foster care.

Maybe. I could take a less pro-choice stance. My childhood was destroyed by somebody who made a choice. I was set on the most dysfunctional, rotted path into adulthood possible. If my partner decided to bug out the second I got pregnant, or if he died unexpectedly and I didn't think I could afford, mentally or financially, to support a baby...... even though I've already agreed with myself that I'm at least keeping the first one I bring to term, if I can help it.......... I wouldn't want to ruin my life and my chances of giving my child the best life possible.

Not every woman is meant to be a mother.

Not every woman is ready to be a mother out of unexpected circumstances.

Not every women thinks an abortion is the solution. I doubt many women skip their way to their abortion whistling cheerfully, or that they even would of we weren't such a horrible culture when it comes to deciding what's best for their bodies, their lives, and their reproductive obligation.

We should assume that women who are old enough to get pregnant are old enough to know for themselves what they want from life. Women who can get pregnant are capable of making decisions.

Even if the child hasn't fully developed enough to live outside of my body, I'm still their parent, and in the end, no one can decide what's best for my body, my physical and mental health. In the end, no one can decide which direction is best for my life. In the end, no one can tell me what is best for my child.

Okay, I promise I'm basically done ranting, but before I go:

If you aren't trying to get pregnant, and in fact, if you're doing everything in your power to avoid pregnancy,

Six weeks. Is. Not. Fucking. Enough. Most women are not perfect clocks running on perfect twenty-eight day cycles.

If you don't have a uterus, you do not fucking get to tell me otherwise.

If you have a uterus and you rolled your eyes at this, you probably don't have many female friends. No wonder you support this nonsense.

[thoughts-from-a-chaotic-mind]

Women Shall Rise

As women begin to rise

Many will fall to their demise

We will not be told that our bodies are just incubators for birth

Because the ones that say they're pro life

Are really just pro birth

What a sick and twisted way to say

My life is nothing if it doesn't suit your ways

What about the women who are raped

Now forced to carry a reminder of that traumatic day

Going into debt to feed a child

They had zero intentions of having

Giving up their dreams because a man lied saying he couldn't have any

Now he disappears with zero guilt

She's left alone without money for bills

Or the children now forced to carry to term

Unable to take care of themselves as it is

A child raising a child, when it wasn't their fault to begin with

Theres consequences to actions YES

but what about the victims that are now forced to face them

Forced to face their own hell as men go around wreaking havoc

They can have sex with whoever with no consequences for THEIR faults

No one holding THEM accountable

What a sick and twisted world in which we live

Adam and Eve thats what i was taught

But sometimes I'll get lost in thought

And i wonder, was Lilith real

Because if she was im starting to feel

Like she was the example for the strongest women still

She's the one that refused to obey

Because why should we be the ones following mens ways

When in reality women are smarter

We think way harder

We are magic, elegance and beauty

We produce life and treated like property

And i know God made us different for a reason

He made women delicate yet powerful

Life givers and caring lovers

So why are we the ones being mistreated

Why are we living in a mans world when WE hold the power that's needed

The power of life

Shouldn't they be scared of us

Not the other way around?

As we lay on the ground

Crying out "do you hear me now?!"

What about the women carrying a dead fetus

Now forced to risk their lives to birth when no heart is beating

Forced to be treated like witches and evil beings

Over something we can not control

Even if we miscarry we get ridiculed and are told its our fault

How cruel and cold people must be to have those thoughts

God gave us free will and free will to ALL

So for you to tell me what i can do with MY body?

What kind of God do you truly serve and call

Because my God said to not judge yet i see every "Christian" forcing their morals into law

Onto others, they push and snarl

They're cruel and mean, this is what I've seen

And it's sad because that's just not God to me

Because for me, God said love others as yourself and love Me.

No hate, no judgement, no condescending accusations

Its one thing to hold your fellow believers accountable

But to force your beliefs and morals onto others is unfathomable

Im speechless and appalled

At the nasty ways people now are

These fake followers claiming God not seeing how harmful they are

All they are doing is destroying God's kingdom

They are not true witnesses or followers

They're crusaders, hypocrites and liars

They point a finger at others instead of looking in the mirror

Focus on your own relationship with God

Stop judging others!

This is why so many reject God because they see His "followers" actions and say ENOUGH

Because if it was the other way around you know damn well you too would be fed up

So to disrespect women and strip us of our rights

Is so disrespectful i cant even think right

My energy is drained but i lean on my Savior

Because He alone knows that this is not in His favor

I'm not saying God love abortions but I'm saying there's more to it than people realize

They only see it as a quick fix they hyperfocus on this one side

They don't think of others whatsoever

Or the children already here struggling

If you're so pro life then volunteer!

What about the children already here!

They're everywhere neglected and treated poorly left to a vicious system

Left to fend for themselves before they're even old enough to see they are victims

Im sad and disappointed in this state of mine

But what more can i expect from a racist state that sugarcoats lies

MAGA this, MAGA that, yall treat him like a God

It's disgusting I'll tell you now because the King of Kings is not surprised.

Remember God was a servant, some of you seem to forget

He gave to the poor and helped the needy

He cared even after they'd reject

But no one that follows trump is a caring or loving soul

Because if they were they'd see through the fur, he's a wolf in sheeps clothes

I wouldn't be shocked if he were the anti christ

I would've called it from the start

There's always been something off with him, starting with his cold dead heart

♡KelseyonFire♡

11•5•2020

Prepare yourselves....the red coats are coming🥀

#deep thinking #deep thoughts #god #faith #poetry #womens rights #a call for an uprising #red coats #abortion rights #revolution

[thejazz97-blog]

So I'm not inclined to believe this will happen, given Québec's stances on civil rights, but

- Conservatives currently control Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Québec*, while New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have minority Progressive Conservative governments.

- As of the past couple months, due to the SNC-Lavalin scandal, "Canada's Conservatives", or whatever they're calling themselves now, have a solid chance to take a majority in October.

- Andrew Scheer, the leader of the Conservatives (CPC), has professed to be incredibly pro-life, and is proud to be a hardline forced-birther. For what it's worth, Justin Trudeau has also put himself on the record as personally anti-abortion, but has and will remain staunchly pro-choice when it comes to implementing federal policy.

- I asterisked Québec earlier, as their government is technically not as conservative as some would have you believe - conservative for Québec's standards, but centrist and socially progressive (on non-religious issues) for the rest of Canada. That being said, the group of six (AB, SK, MB, ON, NB, PEI) needs only one more province out of BC, QC, NS, and NL to sign on and uproot Canada's current abortion laws.

- The fact that Sam Oosterhoff, Ontario PC MPP (and probably my twin if I'd remained homeschooled), can get away with being at a forced-birth rally, swearing to make it unthinkable in Canada, without being reprimanded or having his view on women's rights disavowed by any of the federal or provincial Conservative parties should scare people who are already concerned about women's rights. Multiple federal CPC MPs attended the rally as well, and Scheer, being a forced-birther, will obviously do nothing here.

If women's rights are of great concern to you, as are the rights of poc, indigenous, and LGBT+ people, the Conservatives appear to have little to no policy in place protecting these groups of people.

#cdnpoli #abortion #politics #onpoli #ableg #skpoli #womens rights #canada #abortion rights

[theapplesweremonitored]

Hi there! I had a question. So, I'm on the fence about pro-life/pro-choice. Women's bodies are their own and they should have a say in what happens to them. But...At the same time, they're pregnant with a to-be baby. And I'd really like to see know someone else's view. Like, I said. I'm on the fence and I just want someone else's opinion on the matter. That's, if you don't mind talking about it.

That’s cool, I don’t mind at all! In fact, here’s a few other posts that may be of interest to you and have really shaped my own perceptions.

Tbh, I’m not the most unbiased or, uh, sensitive of people to ask about this, but I suppose that’s the point and I’ll do my best to answer in a way that doesn’t devolve into ranting. (Edit: this got very long and kind of rambling, but hopefully it doesn’t come off as mean.)

First off we need to establish that I’m asexual, aromantic, at times agender, and have less than zero desire to be a part of any stage of the human reproductive process. In all honesty, pregnancy is a very special kind of body-horror to me, and that likely factors into my reaction to the self-styled “pro-life” side. Because, when you get right down to it, much of the “pro-life” side isn’t pro-life, it’s pro-fetus.

You’d think if a person was pro-life, they’d care about, say: the homeless epidemic, or how America likes to march into foreign countries and murder a shit-ton of people, or all the queer/lgbt+ people who are victims of hate crimes. They’d care about people of color who are murdered by the police every day, or the thousands of kids abused by a system meant to protect them, or women (and, of course, others) who are victims of domestic violence or rape culture. But the thing is, a lot of them aren’t.

Because, like I said, a lot of them only care about the fetus, and care nothing for the woman* who’s carrying it. Once that baby is born, they cease giving a fuck because obviously if it’s been born, then their job is done, and they don’t care what happens next. They don’t care if those women carrying the fetus was raped, or got drunk and didn’t use protection, or did absolutely everything “right” and still got pregnant. They don’t care that those women don’t want to be pregnant; those women don’t want to give up forty weeks of their life to what (when you think about it clinically) amounts to a parasite; those women don’t want to give birth; those women don’t want to be responsible for raising a child, and often don’t have the means to do it right.

A frighteningly large amount of “pro-lifers” are white Christians who refuse to acknowledge the complexities of pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing. They argue that “life begins at conception” but say nothing about the life or lives that may be ruined by that conception (and subsequent birth). They use the Bible to justify forcing women to carry an unwanted fetus to term, and then also use it to justify hate crimes against queer/LGBT+ people, discriminatory treatment of PoC, and the general subjugation of women. Oh, and we can’t ever forget the Islamophobia and general air of xenophobia that usually accompanies them as well.

In essence, a more accurate description of the pro-life side is anti-choice, because that’s what it comes down to.

Listen, I don’t mean to be a dick about this.

I get that you haven’t made up your mind and that the idea of terminating a potential human being (and I stress this word because like 90% of abortions take place during the first trimester, when it is more accurate to call it an embryo) probably squicks you out.

I totally understand that.

But it’s important to be aware that for a lot of people on the anti-choice side, their little crusade is just another way to express their bigotry and their hatred of women, often queer/LGBT+ women and women of color.

Story time:

My grandmother on my mom’s side got pregnant out of wedlock when she was sixteen. That became my Aunt Dawn (for whom I was named) and she’s the sweetest, most well-meaning woman… maybe not in the world, but that I’ve ever met, certainly. But guess what? Grandma Kathy didn’t want her. She was sixteen, she made a dumbass decision, and didn’t want to have a kid. But you know what her parents did? They told her they were taking her to get an abortion, bundled her up in the car, drove several states away, and dropped her at a “home for fallen women.” They didn’t tell her where they were leaving her, or for how long, or anything. Just that she could come back “home” later. “Later” meaning after she gave birth to my Aunt Dawn.

Listen, I love my Aunt Dawn. Out of literally all of my family, and hoo-boy there’s a lot of them on either side, she’s basically the only one that I even like, let alone love. But my grandma didn’t want my Aunt Dawn and she shouldn’t have been forced to have her. She shouldn’t have been lied to and abandoned and blackmailed into having and raising a child. And it took a toll on her, let me assure you.

Okay, I like my grandma well enough, okay? But she isn’t exactly the healthiest person, she doesn’t have the healthiest relationships, and doesn’t make the healthiest decisions. She’s had five daughters and two sons by several different men, she’s poor and unemployed, and I’m pretty sure she’s had some issues with drinking.

If I were able to go back in time and help her get an abortion, I fucking would. Even knowing that it would mean that me and my sisters and my nephew and my mom and my Aunt Dawn wouldn’t exist, I would still do it. (It sounds terrible, but I don’t care much about my uncles and cousins. They’re all a bunch of fucked up assholes.)

And now let’s talk about my sisters. I have a lot. I have one who got pregnant in her senior year of high school and had to drop out; my nephew is going to be four now in a few months and she’s only just gotten a job that pays a living wage.

I have another who’s currently pregnant and with the guy who knocked her up even though he’s and idiot and an asshole and makes her cry; I fear for the future of both her and the kid that’s on the way because those futures are not gonna be fuckin pretty.

I have two (adopted) sisters who are actually sisters themselves; only half, though, because their dad is a piece of shit who couldn’t keep it in his damn pants and didn’t even try. He’s in prison now and blames his parents for everything that’s gone wrong in his life, up to and including the fact that he isn’t fit to take care of his kids. (I know this because he’s my step-dad’s kid and sent a long series of texts to that effect to my mom a few months ago.) My new little sisters’ moms are both drug addicts who couldn’t be trusted with their daughters. And, of course, my sisters have another sister by another woman (who’d also had drug problems but is now clean and takes care of her daughter) and a brother that I don’t know much about.

And then, of course, there’s my other sisters on the other side of things, who are desperate to have children. I have one who’s been trying with her husband for a couple of years now, who’s had fertility treatments and has visited multiple doctors to try to figure out what’s up with her junk, because we know it’s something but don’t know what. She’s slated for some kind of surgery soon.

I’ve also got another sister, my oldest, who wants kids. She just got married to an old friend of hers who I had never even heard of until I was invited to the wedding. She stayed in a relationship with an abusive ex-Navy Seal for years because he kept dangling the possibility of having kids with her like a fucking carrot. They had physical fights, she had to take all kinds of medication for anxiety and shit, and liked to combine them with alcohol because being in a relationship with him was such a fucking trial on her psyche.

My immediate family alone pretty much runs the gamut of reproductive experiences, barring (to my knowledge) sexual assault and the fact that (to my knowledge) they’re all cis.

What I’m saying is: there’s a lot of shit out there. A lot. There’s girls who got pregnant on accident, and never even consider abortion. There’s girls who got pregnant on accident, and never got access to abortion. There’s girls who want to get pregnant but can’t because of medical reasons. There’s girls who want to get pregnant and men use that to abuse and manipulate them.

I support all of them. I support those that never consider abortions; I support those that want abortions; I support those that want to carry to term; I support those that are desperate to get pregnant in the first place. I support each and every one of them, for all that I am completely unable to empathize with those that want kids in the first place.

I support them because, even though I have no idea what any of that must feel like, it’s their choice and I respect that. Anti-choicers, pro-lifers, whatever you wanna call them, they don’t respect that. They treat pregnancy like it’s the be-all and end-all of human existence and experience. They treat women who get pregnant and want to abort as if they’re stupid, irresponsible, the devil himself, etc.

Now, if you’ve made it all this way, then I’d like to apologize for all the detours and digressions and also congratulate you on getting through them all. As you may have noticed, I’ve got some thoughts on the subject in general as well as some tangentially-personal experience. What it all boils down to is this: while it may affect us, while it may impact the course of our lives, unless it is us who is the one who is pregnant, it’s not our decision. We can have opinions; we can offer advice; we can counsel the one who is pregnant. But, when it comes right down to it, the only one who gets to make the decision of whether to carry to term or abort, is the one who is pregnant.

And, to me, that’s all there is to it.

*not everyone who becomes pregnant is a woman and may be instead nonbinary/genderqueer or a man who was assigned female at birth. However, I very much doubt that someone who cares very little or (more likely) absolutely nothing for a person’s body autonomy will care anything for respecting their gender identity.

#slice of life #anon asks #answered asks #reproductive rights