Stereotypes

by shamanic

Atrios stereotypes too much in this post.

I'm one of the pro-choice, would like abortions to continue reducing crowd. I see no contradiction in this view, nor am I one to pass judgment on people who make the decision to have an abortion.

Here's my thing: No woman who has ever discussed her abortion experience(s) with me has failed to express a great diversity of emotion, which has always included a measure of regret. Perhaps not so much that even in that moment she would have made a different decision, but Jesus Christ, I've had friends who simply couldn't be contacted on the anniversaries of their abortions. They were checked out those days. They were not good days.

So -- as a 30-something lesbian who is also unlikely to ever have to consider whether or not to terminate her pregnancy -- I try to approach the issue with the same diversity of emotion that I have witnessed in my friends over the years. And that tends to land me on the side of, "This isn't a super duper thing about the world."

But if someone needed a ride and a compassionate person with basic medical skillz to keep an eye on them around an abortion, I'm a sterling choice. I don't see the contradiction. I think abortion is desperately sad. It's a sad sad world. But I love the currently living, and I'll always help a friend to a legal resolution to a complicated and troubling situation. Doesn't have to be the one I'd choose, but then again, maybe I would. I don't know. I haven't been there. That, above all else, is why I'm pro-choice.

Don't call me a Saletan.