Posted on 08/10/2006 4:13:23 PM PDT by Fishtalk
Below is a little missive I ripped out just as soon as I heard about MS. Magazine’s attempts to recruit abortion supporters by asking them to supply their names and their stories.
In a fit, an absolute fit of pique, I typed up my own abortion story. Then I saved it on the hard drive and pondered all week how to deal with my narrative of anger and angst.
I don’t want to put it on my own Blog as frankly-MS. Magazine doesn’t realize this-I am certainly not at all proud of my story.
Yet I wonder if the millions of women (yes, I bet there are that many) who had abortions REALLY told their story, well I wonder if MS. Magazine would be so damn smug with itself on this cause they champion so proudly.
Abortion is NEVER a happy thing, no mind the harpies who brought us this so-called “constitutional right”.
I also pondered the consequences of both identifying myself AND the male player in my sordid tale. I don’t want to get sued.
Still considering and steaming with a message that I desperately want to share, I think of submitting it to one of the online Blogs and punditry sites. But I get concerned. It might not be something they want to post and then I would have gone and identified myself to complete strangers for nothing.
So I decided to post my story in its entirety right here on FreeRepublic. Understand I am scared senseless to do this as I am a right regular poster on this site and really don’t want to be judged harshly.
Then again, when a story sits and boils inside, well it keeps boiling inside.
Below is my own abortion story in response to MS. Magazine’s request. Anyone may link to this post if it is deemed worthy. Someday I might get brave enough to post it on my Blog. If I’m lucky maybe no one will see this story and hey, I still worry about the guy involved in all this. No I didn’t put his name but he’ll know it’s him. Just hope I don’t get sued.
Understand also that this happened to me thirty years ago. Yes indeed, yon ladies and gems, I was a fresh young thing. Roe versus Wade had just been decided. I was bright, happening and intelligent. I was a liberated woman.
Now let MS. Magazine know how a woman feels deep into mid-life when past deeds are re-visited and thought processes change.
Do you think I should send my abortion story to them?
Do You Really Want to Know About My Abortion?
"Ms. Magazine's latest pro-abortion message invites women and girls who have undergone the procedure to submit their names for inclusion in the magazine and sign an online petition stating that "I have had an abortion."The petition targets the recent South Dakota abortion ban, which has been stayed until voters in the state decide on the November ballot whether they want to overturn the ban."
So this missive passes over my Internet-surfing monitor and I pause.
Ms. Magazine. Once upon a time I subscribed to Ms. Magazine. Was a subscriber for over ten years. Once upon a time I was a women's libber of the highest order. Once upon a time I had an abortion and now is the time for me to step right up, be a "manly man" about it, and tell my story.
Ms. Magazine is not going to like it all.
In my pause I ponder publicly identifying myself. For as the article in the link indicates, women are very reluctant to admit beyond girlfriend confidences that they have had an abortion. Although Ms. Magazine and the feminists behind it truly want women to be proud of that which they have managed to gain for the females of this nation: that of abortion on demand. Once upon a time I thought this was a very neat thing. It was 1976, a mere five years after the Supreme Court invented the new abortion right that they somehow saw in our constitution. I was a fresh 25 years of age, divorced and heartbroken after my childhood sweetheart and husband left me. I had a very good job, my own home, was three years into college, night school and it was tough, and not at all unattractive in that manner of 25 year old females. Hey, I was happening, hip, cool and all that the feminists should have adored.
Next I must ponder, seriously, telling my story in any public fashion for fear of identifying the male involved in this abortion. Not that I know if he can do anything about it, like sue me or anything. And not that I've laid eyeballs on him for almost 30 years, but if he should read the story, he will know it is him. Though I won't give his name, I'm not going to be kind to him at all.
So I will identify myself via a link to my Blog. I will not post this to my Blog but I will show some courage because, well Ms. Magazine wants me to and I can't let down Gloria Steinham, who was part and parcel of my own abortion experience.
His name was Gregory (NOT!) and he came into my life when my life had finally settled down after my sad divorce. I had a house, a result of my divorce settlement. Gregory had a job with a government contractor which paid well. We were both college educated, free, monetarily secure and we talked of a future together. We often talked of our future children, which Gregory would refer to as "little Yegory" in a play on his name. I knew what I wanted: a happy marriage, perhaps two children, my college degree and a good job. Gregory knew what I wanted as I often told him. What I wanted was fairly typical of females my age although it was archaic to admit it in that era of raging feminism.
It's no mind how on earth I got pregnant because birth control pills were widely available. I don't know why I didn't use them but I did use some form of birth control. Which didn't work.
Because I was young and had no children as of yet, I wasn't paying attention to such as cycles. At some point the pregnancy advanced beyond the first trimester before even my naïve self got a clue. We didn't have pregnancy tests that could bought in the grocery thus it was a way bigger deal to check a possible pregnancy test than it is today.
There was little time. On Wednesday I found out I was pregnant and on the following Friday I had an abortion.
Gregory, sweet thing, had arranged the whole thing. As I recall, earlier that week Gregory told me to please don't call him at work with the pregnancy test results and I told him I wouldn't. It would "upset" him. As I recall, when I got the results from the doctor I called Gregory right up and told him because why should only I know? Goes to Gregory's character.
My company-paid health insurance covered the abortion but there was a $200 deductible. Which Gregory paid out his own pocket, driving over fifty miles to the hospital that would be doing the abortion because they wouldn't even schedule a room until the deductible was paid. Goodness Gregory even spent the night at my house the night before the abortion (no, we didn't live together) as he was "concerned" for me.
Come the Friday, Gregory helped me to the car and drove steadily and purposefully to the abortion clinic.
Why did Gregory and I choose to have an abortion? Frankly, I have no idea. I do know that when something so monumental happens and there is only a space of two days to make a decision, common sense and morality sometimes goes out the window. I also know that Gregory suggested the abortion because he wasn't "ready" and as my young self saw it, I didn't want to have a baby with a man of age 35 who wasn't "ready". Had I more time to think about it, had Gregory not jumped through every hoop on the planet to facilitate all this, had the abortion clinic not been in such a hurry for as it was they were pushing the limit with my abortion then well beyond the first trimester, had any or all of these things changed in terms of the timing, I don't think I would have had that abortion.
Which does not matter, frankly, because Gregory and I are both murderers and it isn't easy admitting you're a murderer. To add to the intrigue, Gregory was a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative, was even a member of the John Birch society. He regularly ranted about politics, liberals and the coming domination of the Communists. I was, a sweet, young and dewy-eyed thing, a liberal. This was during the era of Richard Nixon. I brazenly put a bumper sticker on my car that read "Don't Blame Me, I Didn't Vote For Him". Gregory ripped the bumper sticker off of my car, my car! Right in my own driveway in front of my own house!
We fought about politics all the time-I the liberal, he the "manly man" conservative. I urge anyone reading this to visit my Blog as this is not meant as a slam against male conservatives. I am much older now, and much wiser. Gregory was no manly-man and now I truly understand the definition of the term.
The man killed his own child.
Gloria Steinham and Ms Magazine aren't going to like this at all.
After the abortion, which was so painful that I suffered physically for almost a month afterward, Gregory and I continued to see each other but not for long. I threw Gregory over the bow just as soon as I could because, hey, he was a creep and a hypocrite. At some point we've all been there and done that.
I am quite sure that Gregory has never been married because, well that was the whole problem as any discerning reader, especially female readers, could see way up in this missive. To his "credit", I suppose, Gregory did have quite the mental breakdown after that abortion and begged me to forgive him. While I, in the meantime, waited until an appropriate amount of time then I dumped him. He threatened to kill himself. He called my co-workers and begged them to put me on the phone. Finally I had to call his parents and ask them to please go over there and deal with Gregory. I was nice about it and everything but Gregory was out of my life and it was my legal right to decide this.
As for me, I went on to get married and I did have a daughter. A daughter who would not be here if it were not for that abortion. Had I not had that abortion I would have been giving birth to Gregory's baby around the time my daughter was conceived. I've often justified that abortion by rationalizing that one child was lost but another child was born that wouldn't have been.
What a crock.
Hey, Ms. Magazine...that's my abortion story. If you really cared about the females you purportedly represent, you'd have ensured that pregnant women considering an abortion would have a required length of time before actually undergoing the procedure. If you really cared about the females you represent, you would have set term limits and prevented women like me from aborting a child that might well have survived outside the womb. If you really cared about the females you represent, you'd have demanded counseling and care for women like me who have Gregorys behind the scenes and pulling the strings. Gregory likes Ms. Magazine, however.
I changed fate, God's plan, and murdered a baby. While I might be tough on Gregory, I admit my part in the crime. I can't change it and for sure I will pay some eternal price for it after my death. Not to mention the hurt and pain I suffer when I ponder what that little life would have been had it not had two of the most selfish parents on the planet.
It's not nice. Not nice at all.
That's my abortion story.
As is every man who proclaims his concern for "a woman's right to her own body" when what he really cares about is his ability to use women's bodies without consequence.
Thanks for your story, and God bless you.
I've said in a couple of Freepmails but let me state right out loud right here....there is NOTHING more demeaning to a woman than to be carted around like so much garbage, manipulated and cajoled and pressured, into killing an unborn baby.
I wanted to be loved and cherished. I wanted this man who I did love once upon a time, on some level, to hold me and promise to take care of me.
Paying the deductible on the health insurance and making all the arrangements, even that night spent with me out of so-called loving "concern", hey, it was a degrading experience I shall never forget.
These NAGS need to sit down and shut up. All they've done is promote the further sexual objectification of women, something that had been their mantra and rallying cry for so many years.
For how much of a sex object is a female when her body is used for male pleasure but discarded, stapled and folded when that same body does what it was designed to do: to bring forth life?
They make me so damn sick. Hey, if MS and Gloria would just keep their stupid mouths shut I might not be so mad. But to want women to stand up tall and say they are PROUD, PROUD I tell you, to have been so used by a male in their life that they loved enough to be initimate with....hey, I gotta shut up now I get so mad.
The utter arrogance of it makes me want to spit.
"Speaking truth to power", hey it's a huge liberal mantra.
So I speak truth to the power of those NAGS who have grown so darn powerful they've completely lost touch with the women they represent.
They don't have one damn clue.
Then you should not be surprised if people get personal and accusatory with you.
I assume you would not advocate making the murder of say, grandmothers by their granddaughters legal. Now imagine someone shows up in here and says: "A long time ago I hired a gangster to kill my grandmother. It was very traumatic for me. It should be very difficult to hire gangsters for that purpose, but it should be legal". What would your personal reaction to that person be?
Absolutely one of the most ridiculous things I've read at FR...and that says ALOT.
link to it
Do you imply that it is not to be re-posted FR style elsewhere? I want to post it on LibertyForum; it would get better readership if I post it in total. Of course, there will be an attribution to Pat Fish and FreeRepublic.
LibertyForum is a libertarian site in concept, and has no restriction of what is posted there. Some language can be bad and some content inacceptable in most other places.
I'll abide by your instruction.
I think the distinction between those who had committed an abortion and are now pro-life and those who remain pro-abortion is very important here. It is un-Christian in the extreme to hurl invective at a murderer who repented of her act. It is important to convict an unrepentant murderer morally, especially since we cannot convict them juridically.
I told my tale and I stand by it. I have been even more heartened by the many stories of other women who feel just as I do about their experiences. This is what bugs the hell out of me. The NAGS have it all wrong.
I don't care how the missive is shared is what I'm saying here. God I'd love for the feminazis to get clued into it.
Did I tell you they make me want to spit? But hey, am I bitter?
What did you find amusing?
Thank you very much. Shortly I will. I will post a link here.
If they should be legal, why should they be difficult to get?
Moral Hazard, unless ther more details that you didn't make available to us, your "near the end of pregnancy" brother was an almost fully-developed viable baby, and the doctor would be ethically obliged to try to save both of them (your mother and your brother.) At that point, anemia or no anemia, there's no "advantage" in abortion over childbirth, Except you guarantee a dead baby.
I'm glad you're here, but there's no way you can say with confidence that you wouldn't have been, no matter what the other child's fate.
After all you've been through, I'm surprized to see this.
Why would you support this "choice"? So that others might suffer as you did?
Having said that, I still offer my support and pray for your mind to be comforted.
Nothing makes murder "OK". But the difference between repentance and defiance is the difference between blessing and abomination.
Warning: rough language in the thread, which probably will get worse. I have quite a way with words over there myself, with apologies to the Gentle Freeper.
Let me use this opportunity to invite pro-lifers to LibertyForum, where more than a few important battles rage.
Abortions will cease whem women refuse to submit.
(Several layers of meaning there.)
It was very brave of you to tell your story. Thank you for sharing.
Everyone's subjective story is different ---but the moral foulness of abortion is objectively the same.
Wanna see how your story would appear in Ms. Magazine?
His name was Gregory (NOT!) and he came into my life when my life had finally settled down after my sad divorce. I had a house, a result of my divorce settlement. Gregory had a job with a government contractor which paid well. We were both college educated, free, monetarily secure and we talked of a future together.
It's no mind how on earth I got pregnant because birth control pills were widely available. I don't know why I didn't use them but I did use some form of birth control. Which didn't work.
Because I was young and had no children as of yet, I wasn't paying attention to such as cycles. At some point the pregnancy advanced beyond the first trimester before even my naïve self got a clue. We didn't have pregnancy tests that could bought in the grocery thus it was a way bigger deal to check a possible pregnancy test than it is today. When I got the results [of my pregancy test] from the doctor I called Gregory right up and told him because why should only I know?
There was little time. On Wednesday I found out I was pregnant and on the following Friday I had an abortion. Gregory, sweet thing, had arranged the whole thing.
My company-paid health insurance covered the abortion but there was a $200 deductible. Which Gregory paid out his own pocket, driving over fifty miles to the hospital that would be doing the abortion because they wouldn't even schedule a room until the deductible was paid. Goodness Gregory even spent the night at my house the night before the abortion (no, we didn't live together) as he was "concerned" for me.
Why did Gregory and I choose to have an abortion? Frankly, I have no idea. We fought about politics all the time-I the liberal, he the "manly man" conservative. After the abortion, I threw Gregory over the bow just as soon as I could because, hey, he was a creep and a hypocrite.
As for me, I went on to get married and I did have a daughter. A daughter who would not be here if it were not for that abortion. Had I not had that abortion I would have been giving birth to Gregory's baby around the time my daughter was conceived. I've often justified that abortion by rationalizing that one child was lost but another child was born that wouldn't have been.
End.
Guaranteed it'll be edited like that, or something close. So, if you truly are opposed to abortion (as I believe you are), then I'd take this post into consideration before deciding to share your story. Because believe me, the leftists in the media use the "we reserve the right to edit letters for content and brevity" clause to their maximal benefit.
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