The New York Times Openly Discusses Abortion In A Prominent Wedding Announcement

[alp227]

On Friday, the New York Times published a wedding announcement for Udonis Haslem, a basketball player with the Miami Heat, and his partner Faith Rein. The article traces the couple’s 14-year relationship from the time they first met at the University of Florida, to the beginnings of their powerful careers, to the birth of their son, to Haslem’s proposal in Italy.

It also includes several paragraphs about Rein’s decision to have an abortion after the couple had been dating for about a year — an experience which brought them closer:

Their first challenge took place the following spring when she became pregnant. It was her junior and his senior year, and he had begun training for the N.B.A. draft. Despite the pregnancy, she was busy with track meets and helping him complete homework. The timing was bad.

“I am not a huge fan of abortion, but we both had sports careers, plus we could not financially handle a baby,” said Mr. Haslem, noting how he struggled with supporting Kedonis, the son he had in high school, who is now 14 and who lives with his mother.

“Udonis appreciated that I was willing to have an abortion,” Ms. Rein said. “I found him caring, supportive, nurturing and all over me to be sure I was O.K. I saw another side of him during that difficult time and fell deeply in love. He had a big heart and was the whole package.”

The New York Times’ decision to include those details in a column in its prominent wedding section is a small step toward dispelling the persistent abortion stigma that’s deeply ingrained in our society. Despite the fact that terminating a pregnancy is a very common aspect of reproductive health care — one in three U.S. women will have had an abortion by the time she is 45 years old — many of those women feel like they’re not allowed to talk openly about it.

Shame-based messages around abortion care have reinforced the idea that it’s always morally wrong, and the women who opt for having one always end up regretting it later. In fact, research has consistently shown that when women choose to have an abortion, it’s because it’s the right choice for them — just like it was the right choice for Rein and Haslem in the early stages of their relationship — and they don’t actually regret it. When women who have had abortions are asked about their experiences, 90 percent of them say they primarily felt relief.

full: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/03/2561801/times-wedding-abortion/

See also this Addicting Info article "People Who Call Themselves 'Pro-Life' Are Lying, Here Are 10 More Accurate Descriptions".

[Blue_Tires]

1. The NYT wedding announcements are getting noticibly TMI in recent years...

Like the one a couple years back where high-profile, successful married neighbors from an affluent neighborhood had a casual fling that turned into love, so they dropped their current spouses and school-age children like hot rocks....(and they had the nerve to wonder why everyone wasn't happy for them or why there were 3000+ comments on the NYT site)

[Chemisse]

2. Good. It's about time abortions were talked about again.

In the last few decades, abortions have become socially taboo. Of course women still have them - but they sure can't talk about it.

[MADem]

3. Wow. I think it's fine to talk about these issues, I don't really know if the Wedding announcement

page is the best place, though. I agree w/Blue Tires on the whole TMI thing.

I guess every page is a gossip page, these days, though--people love to get deep into other folks' personal lives. And the facebook generation loves to share those little details.

Different world.