Credit: National Women's History Project
During Women’s History Month I am proud to be a woman, just like I am every month. I am most of all proud to be a woman because I cannot wait for the experience to conceive a child with whoever my future husband may be, and to then carry and give birth to that child. I love babies. Whether born or not yet born, they just are so cute and so full of potential. And I eagerly wait for getting to have and raise children of my own.
As we celebrate women this month, I think it is especially important that we acknowledge that women are the ones who carry and bear our children, and what such a gift providing life is. Some women are not up for this responsibility and joy. They may never be. But that does not mean that women who become pregnant without meaning to should ever feel the need to turn to abortion. Such should never be the option in the name of “empowering” women.
When people actually take the time to talk to women who have had abortions, they find that many of those women aren’t happy about it, and they don’t feel much empowered. While the other side may call themselves pro-choice, young women who are alone and scared really turn to abortion not so much because they feel like it’s the empowering choice for them; they turn to abortion because they feel like it’s the only choice for them. It sadly turns out that college age women are the demographic of those getting the most abortions, which would make sense with how much Planned Parenthood targets them. Most college-age women do not want to get an abortion, but they don’t know what else to do if they wish to continue their education. America, is this really how we are to empower women?
What’s even less empowering, and tragic, is that many of these women are even coerced into getting an abortion. When I read up on it, I discovered that states actually have to pass laws to prevent such abortions, with Michigan being the latest one to do so. If they’re passing laws against it, it unfortunately is happening. This means that women are actually being pressured by their partners, parents, friends, and employers, and withheld things like housing or salary, if they don’t succumb to the pressure to get an abortion. Again, does this sound very empowering? I think not.
But even without pointing out such facts and statistics, does abortion itself sound very empowering? You no longer have to carry that so-called burden in your uterus, but keep in mind that this is a permanent decision – perhaps the most permanent decision of a woman’s life. Once a woman has entered an abortion clinic, she is there mostly for the money she will be paying to get an abortion, and any information she is provided is unfortunately often skewed or even a complete lie. What Planned Parenthood doesn’t want you to know is that many women face health and mental health risks as a result of abortions. New studies come out frequently on this, despite what the other side wants you to believe when it sells abortion. It’s also unfortunately a decision that many women regret. You don’t need to look very far to read about a woman who has regretted an abortion. Abort73.com has a section of testimonies. And let’s not forget that there is a whole organization devoted to women sharing stories of how they have aborted and regretted their decision.
Why should we tell a woman that such a thing is empowering when it is likely that she’ll regret it for the rest of her life? To do so when women are desperate and confused is very much a crime – not only against the children they are carrying, but against these poor women themselves during a time when they may be easily exploited.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, let’s truly celebrate women, then. Let’s work hard to remind them that they do have better, more empowering options than abortion. Women do have choices, and abortion need not be one of them. And that is why I am pro-life: because I love babies and women.
