‘What about my life?’: Girl, 12, makes impassioned speech in defense of abortion in front of West Virginia legislature saying ‘if a man does unspeakable things to me am I to birth another child?’

A 12-year-old gave a speech at the West Virginia House of Delegates on Wednesday in opposition to new legislation outlawing abortion in the state.

She spoke as the House passed a bill to ban abortion in the state, where it's currently legal up to 20 weeks, allowing for limited exemptions for medical emergencies and complications but not for rape or incest.

'I play for varsity volleyball and I run track. My education is very important to me, and I plan on doing great things in life,' Buffalo Middle School student Addison Gardner told lawmakers during a special session.

'If a man decides that I’m an object, and does unspeakable, tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to carry and birth another child?'

She added: 'Am I to put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy? Am I to suffer the mental implications, a child who had no say in what was being done with my body?' she added, according to The Independent.

'Some here say they are pro-life. What about my life? Does my life not matter to you?'

Gardner was one of about 90 people who spoke in the public hearing, sharing their personal stories about abortion or women's rights ahead of the chamber passing a law to ban it.

The session became heated, with security escorting out many female members speaking at the hearing.

No..that's not what I'm saying at all. These cretins that have been throwing fits about 'abortion', including running ads 24/7 regarding 'letting' a woman choose', act like they will just get pregnant walking out the front door of a house for crying out loud. And they're implying that no matter what, they are being forced to have babies. And they're always using the 'rape' card which constitutes a very tiny percentage of abortion cases. It's disgusting.

And this little 12 year old tool, where is her mother? What kind of brainwashing has she done to this child? The left is so demented they stoop to using children even their own, for whatever cause, but this one, abortion, is especially despicable. The mother should be declared unfit.

Thanks for your response. The question was not meant to be personal but reflect on the effect of abortion and birth control. I was not aware that it prevented ovulation and not abortive. All should have the gift of life from God.

However, I do not support birth control or abortion as it is against natural law and may cause future medical and emotional problems.

A further discussion from Catholic answers:

It is opposed to the natural dictates of morality. It is obvious, for example, that the accompanying pleasure in eating and drinking is secondary and in view of the primary end, that the individual life may be preserved by due nourishment. We have supreme contempt for the glutton who does not eat to live, but rather lives to eat. No decent man eats merely for the sake of eating, even prepared to vomit in order to be able to eat again! And as appetite for food is an instinct ordained to the preservation of the individual life, so sex appetite is ordained to the preservation of the life of the race. The pleasure attached to the indulgence of sensual passion is but secondary, and in view of the primary purpose, the production of children. The birth controller satisfies passion for the sake of passion, and violates the moral order established by God. The use of marital privileges together with the deliberate frustration of the justifying purpose is but reciprocal vice. It leads, too, to many sins of injustice, being often practiced without the consent of one party. It is destructive of marriage, for it often leads to the divorce court when those who have based their marriage on sensuality have tired of each other. And violated nature exacts a penalty sooner or later. When birth-control is practiced in early married life, it leads to sterility and the impossibility of having children when they are wanted later on. The health of women is often gravely affected, neurosis, fibroid tumors, and other evils resulting. The health of women is undoubtedly better where there is a higher birth rate than where there is an artifically low one. Finally it logically leads to the destruction of the human race by implying that one may indulge in the act of procreation for pleasure and yet frustrate the purpose of God in permitting that act.

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