alwayspro-choice

[alwayspro-choice]

Has any “adoption, not abortion” person ever explained this?:

“There are so many families/people waiting to adopt!”

Simultaneously...

“You can never love an adopted child like your own. You’re raising someone else’s kid. It’s not the same.”

I see... a very big hole there.

Who’s adopting these kids?

[alwayspro-choice]

And the pro-lifers will still claim it's not about controlling women, and all of the US should follow Alabama's example. This is what what they want to happen. 😒

[alwayspro-choice]

WRITTEN BY SUSIE MEISTER

“Always call it a baby. Never call it a fetus.”

“Always refer to the pregnant woman as the ‘mother.’”

“Emphasize the regret and shame they will experience if they terminate the pregnancy.”

These were among the directives I received during my training to volunteer at my local crisis pregnancy center in 2001. I was 21 years old, and I applied for a volunteer position at the center because as a conservative Christian, I wanted to support the pro-life movement. I had just finished filming MTV’s Road Rules and its spinoff, The Challenge, wherein I received attention for my theological point of view, and I felt a responsibility to be an ambassador of the pro-life message.

I had spoken at several churches encouraging young people to hold fast to their values, and saw an opportunity to use my 15 minutes of fame as a reality TV star to influence pregnant women to keep their babies.

Crisis pregnancy centers are nonprofit organizations that act as a pro-life alternative to Planned Parenthood, and are designed both structurally and in marketing to resemble their pro-choice counterparts. But despite any superficial similarities, the centers’ express purpose is to advise pregnant women against abortions.

Unlike women’s reproductive clinics, most crisis pregnancy centers are not medical facilities, and apart from providing free pregnancy tests and possibly limited sonograms, they do not offer medical assistance.

While these centers have paid staff, they rely primarily on volunteers to run day-to-day operations and providecounseling to the pregnant women. They are funded by donations from individuals and often partner with churches that provide financial and staff support.

I had always supported the mission of these centers, and believed them to be heroes in the fight against abortion. My time in the spotlight made me feel like a public representative of the evangelical worldview, and I wanted to put legs to my philosophy. I verbally promoted the pro-life agenda using the same rhetoric that was preached to me about the “sanctity of life” and “personal responsibility,” but it felt hollow. I wanted to walk the walk.

Keep reading

[alwayspro-choice]

I thought birth was the easy part. *shudder*

[alwayspro-choice]

Fuck anyone who says rape culture doesn’t exist. Stories like this make me hate America more and more for treating women and girls with such dehumanization. 

[alwayspro-choice]

So... what do pro-lifers have to say about men who oppose abortion, but don't actually step up to care for the child?

Don't act like this scenario does not happen. Too many times, I have seen and heard men swear up and down they'll do their part, they'll help take care of the baby, to convince their partner not to have an abortion, only to leave all or the majority of childcare on the mother or bail entirely.

I've genuinely never seen any talk about that scenario, so if someone knows what the pro-life side usually says about it, I'm all ears.

[alwayspro-choice]

I hope I don't sound like I'm playing devil's advocate.

One reason I've heard some women oppose "all women should support women" is they believe this must include abusive women. On more occasions than I care to count, I've seen some who claim to be feminists "call out" women who have been abused by other women, either by insisting it can't have happened or that it's still a man's fault it did. No surprise women who've dealt with that want nothing to do with "women supporting women".

Do you believe that women have a moral obligation to support every other female? I’m asking that because I saw a conference with an intersectional feminist who believed that it was an obligation and that women who don’t root for other women deserved to go to hell.

I think women supporting women is important and creates a good atmosphere/support system, but no one is totally obligated to do that—saying someone should go to hell for not doing so is a little extreme to me, but I do think girl love is a great thing that encourages a lot of people.

I think what really matters isn’t so much supporting every woman (although this is definitely preferred; we’re all in this together ladies!), but respecting them and their decisions. For example, some women think sex work is degrading whereas others feel liberated through it. A woman can dislike the sex industry but still respect the women that participate in it. It’s a difference of opinion, and I personally think at least respecting, if not supporting, what women do when it’s their own choice is vital to a community that tells women to pursue whatever they want to pursue. Does that make sense?

In short, I don’t have to support what you’re doing, but I’ll respect your right to choose for yourself and I’ll still respect you as a person (because my opinion shouldn’t affect your decisions). But support if you can. Every bit of positivity helps! (To clarify, the “I” here is generalized. It’s not meant to refer to me specifically.)

[alwayspro-choice]

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[alwayspro-choice]

“If your mother thought like you, you wouldn’t exist!”

And I care because...?

Really, why is not existing the worst thing to the pro-life group?

[alwayspro-choice]

I watched a video of childbirth in both middle school and high school. I’m positive those videos contributed to me being tokophobic.

"listen to this song / watch this video / read this story and you'll be pro-life!" is always amusing to me because never once has that ever influenced me or any pro-choicer I've ever known. look, you can think your pregnancy is a child-gift from god and all that emotional crap, but there's absolutely nothing you can do to convince me that's the case for every pregnancy and thus be pro-life. all your emotional attempts at my heartstrings are futile and your media means nothing to me.

^^^

They keep shoving their propaganda at us, and it does. not. work.

[alwayspro-choice]

One thing I learned about life when my age was still in the single digits is if you do anything, or you are anything, that deviates even slightly from the norm, people will have something to say about it.

One theory I’ve heard is that seeing something different makes people consider or realize they could’ve done something differently in their own lives because they did what was expected of them in life rather than what they wanted. Not sure how much that can apply here, though.

I still don't get why people choose to get personally offended by the choices in my life. The decision to never have kids? The decisions behind either of my abortions? Somehow these are direct attacks on the lives of people I've never even met! I just had one say that I've somehow devalued THEIR marriage because I got married with no intent to produce offspring. How far up their own arse can these people get their heads anyway?!

Ive heard one of them say a person has no right to get married if they’re not planning to have kids.

Like…they’re so far past the point of being reasonable it’s not even funny.

[alwayspro-choice]

Interesting that pro-lifers who use regret as a reason to not have an abortion never bring up it’s possible to regret becoming a parent too.

THE POSSIBILITY OF A PERSON REGRETTING A DECISION IS NOT GROUNDS TO TAKE AWAY THEIR RIGHT TO MAKE THAT DECISION

[alwayspro-choice]

[alwayspro-choice]

reproductive rights issues:

abortion

birth control

also reproductive rights issues:

doctors performing c sections during births without informed consent

eugenics via sterilization requirements for trans people to change documentation

eugenics via forced/nonconsenting sterilization of disabled people

eugenics via forced/nonconsenting sterilization of people of color

eugenics via selective abortion of disabled fetuses (fetuses with Down syndrome especially) (these are abortions sought by people who WANT to be pregnant–but only with non-disabled children, when there’s absolutely no guarantee that a non-disabled child won’t become disabled)

if your reproductive rights activism doesn’t incorporate ALL OF THE ABOVE, i want no part of it.