mia-cooper:

This post may make me unpopular. That’s OK.

I applaud you, Celeste Wohl. Nobody can tell your story better than you can so I’m not going to say anything else about your circumstances except that you have my utmost respect and sympathy.

I just want to express my dismay that a post like this one is even needed in this day and age. The idea of anyone being forced to run the gauntlet of aggressive protestors, to be forced to act in subterfuge as though she’s doing something shameful, when she is going through the emotionally traumatic process of an abortion – something she’s tormented herself about, judged herself over and will probably still wonder about until her dying day, because make no mistake, the woman who blithely uses abortion as birth control is probably one in a gazillion – it’s just repellent to me.

No woman should ever be forced to justify to ANYONE BUT HERSELF why she decides to have an abortion. EVER.

Personal confession time:

I had an abortion 15 years ago. No, I wasn’t underage. No, the pregnancy wasn’t the result of sexual assault. No, my life wasn’t in danger. No, I wasn’t even single. My choice was made for reasons that are nobody’s business but mine (and my partner’s, since he was a key element of the decision making process). Since then I’ve had two children. I’ve also had a miscarriage. And yes, I still grieve over that miscarried child. Yes, it did make me re-evaluate the decision I made years earlier, especially as the miscarriage came before the healthy pregnancies.

I still believe – I still KNOW – I made the right decision.

You might disagree. That’s OK – you’re entitled to your opinion. But you’re not me. You will never know who I was then or what I went through to make that decision. All you need to know is that it was my right to make it.

And I am so, so grateful that my termination was carried out safely, legally, in a secure and non-judgemental medical environment, into which I walked in the light of day without having to walk through a picket line. Everybody – no matter their circumstances – should have the right to that.