(Save the Storks) “The abortion clinic only offered me one choice: Abortion. They never asked what I needed, how I was feeling, or if I even wanted an abortion. They wouldn’t even talk with me about another option.”
“My baby was 5 ½ weeks old in the womb, and the nurse told me it just a “clump of cells” and “not a baby yet.””
“My parents, my boyfriend, and my boyfriend’s parents were all pressuring me to get an abortion.”
These were just some of the stories I heard last week when I went to interview women in southern California. And they were enough.
It should be enough for us to know that many women feel at least some pressure to have an abortion when they get pregnant unexpectedly.
And if any woman feels pressure to make such a life-altering decision, as a culture we should do what we can to alleviate that pressure. Women should never be forced into such an important and critical decision.
Sadly, that’s not our culture. We’re told that abortion is good for women, that it’s empowering and allows them to continue their lives uninterrupted by a child who came along at the wrong time.
We’re told careers are more important and abortion will solve the current “problem.”
But the reality is, when women don’t feel empowered by abortion, when they want to keep their child but need support, and when they’re pressured by the people closest to them to have an abortion, they’re not actually free to choose. The external pressures during a vulnerable time in their lives proves to be too much and they don’t actually have another option.
Jamie experienced this firsthand, and her story is chilling.
“When I went to the abortion clinic, we were herded like animals. They put us all in hospital robes and we sat, silently, in the waiting room to be herded again into the back.
To the people at the abortion clinic, we were just numbers, units to be moved as quickly as possible from the waiting room and then operating room and then recovery room.”
But no one at Planned Parenthood ever offered to actually help her. No one ever offered a solution for her homelessness, drug addiction, and history of abusive relationships.
They just took her money and herded her.
She shares her story now in the hopes that others won’t walk into the same trap she did.
Because the reality is, she didn’t need an abortion. She didn’t need the six abortions Planned Parenthood sold her.
She needed someone in her life who could help change her way of living, someone who would walk beside her in relationship, who would lead her out of drugs and homelessness and bad relationships and into life.
Someone who wouldn’t just offer her a quick fix but a longterm solution.
Planned Parenthood may argue that Jamie’s story is unique. An outlier. A misunderstanding. That this isn’t how all of their clinics are. They might even call her a liar.
They can claim to be above this kind of [sic] as an organization and as a brand. But to do so convincingly, they must denounce such clinics and revoke their affiliation.
The sad reality, though, is they don’t really care about women, or they would have already done so. They would have recognized that the tactics they employ actually make women feel pressured to have abortions, and they would have stopped.
If they truly cared about women, they would speak out about this type of abuse within the abortion industry and step in as a leader to try to stop it. They would develop programs designed to help women in these situations turn their lives around and get help.
Instead, they’ve covered up sexual crimes, helped pimps get birth control and abortions for their girls, and have refused to report rape and other illegalities. They’ve done all this in the name of abortion and under the guise of sexual liberty.
The result is women who’ve been kept in a cycle of abuse, drugs, alcohol, and pressure from family members, partners, and friends. They’ve sacrificed women’s lives and happiness so they can financially profit from abortion.
And we say, enough. It’s time to end the pressure that makes women feel like abortion is their only option. It’s time to end the pressure women feel from abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood. It’s time to end the pressure that leaves women feeling hopeless and abandoned. It’s time for a different answer because women deserve better than being pressured to abort….
Editor’s Note: This article was published at Save the Storks and is reprinted here with permission. Click here for information regarding Planned Parenthood’s sexual abuse and trafficking cover-ups, and more.
