For women DUers only. Have you had an abortion?

[cali]

[no_hypocrisy]

1. No, I haven't. But I financed two abortions for friends.

[cali]

2. you're a good friend. n/t

[lyonn]

10. Same here...

That of course was years ago and neither of those two have any regrets.

Bottom line is "choice". I've had to explain to a granddaughter how difficult life was before abortion rights. For instance, you couldn't have your tubes tied without approval from lord knows who - I don't remember. I just know that hospitals were involved. Now I know why so many women of my mother's age and mine had hysterectomy's. They seem to find a reason for performing those?? I assumed when I was young that I would probably have one as most in my family had them performed and all the reasons/excuses made sense, pain, etc.. The statistics would be interesting.

Edit: I didn't have a hysterectomy. Had cancer and that ended my productive years. That was the only good thing about getting cancer. That's sick, I know, but birth control pills were difficult for many of us. Three kids were enough. Now tying the tubes is a common occurence. So, Roe v. Wade made a difference in sooo many ways for women.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Carried to term, gave up for adoption

when I was 19. Not because I am opposed to abortion but because in 1966 that option wasn't readily available.

[cali]

4. thanks, blue.

I have a lot of admiration for what you did.

[havocmom]

5. Nope, but spent many Saturday mornings nose to nose with anti-choice radicals

while 'manning the line' around Planned Parenthood Clinics so others could use that legal option, or even just get health care without being attacked by busloads of religious fanatics who won't accept law and order or try to change the law. (They found it much safe to just attack women going into clinics than mount campaigns to change laws and still meet SCOTUS standards. And YES, they were bussed in from various church rally points.) They liked to get right up in our faces, take our pictures and generally try to intimidate us. Never worked. And I know for a fact that a few of them attended mental health care visits under court orders, so there were some criminal convictions in the bunch.

Planned Parenthood, making life safer for America for generations.

[LeftyMom]

6. I had a d&c after a miscarriage.

Same procedure, but the fetus was already dead.

[dana_b]

15. me too - twice

I still think about it even though it was well over 10 years ago.

[mainer]

23. Me too. And I was feverish and required IV antibiotics.

Not only was I miscarrying, but the dead fetus/placenta was infected. Had they NOT done a D & E, I would have died.

From the stories I'm hearing here on DU, it sounds like some doctors wouldn't do a D & E even to save a woman's life. Even when the fetus is already dead.

[JitterbugPerfume]

7. no

but just because it wasn't my choice does not mean that you should not have the option

I could fore see circumstances where it would have been my choice.


The operative word is CHOICE

[RoadRage]

8. Nope..

Unexpected Pregnancy, and I am now enjoying my 3 & 1/2 year old daughter.

But, I'm glad I had the choice - and i'll defend the right for any woman to have it.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Never had an abortion, but know those who have

both relatives, both because they weren't ready for kids at that time. One has some regrets from time to time, the other has none whatsoever.

[ceile]

11. Yes and no regrets. n/t

[LadyHawkAZ]

12. Yes

and also put a child up for adoption. I had a lot of problems finding a birth control that worked on me and tubals are hard to get if you're under 40.

Of the two, I'd say adoption is by far more damaging and has many many more lingering ill effects than abortion on a lot of levels, both physical and emotional. People who arrogantly spout "adoption" as an alternative that have never actually been through it are my number two pet peeve, right behind people who kill/support killing doctors.

[get the red out]

13. No, because I was lucky and used birth control in terror of pregnancy

What the right-wingers are after is to eliminate all contraception and reproductive control. They would create many more abortions then they would ever prevent.

I knew if I ever slipped up on the birth control when I was young I would have to either get an abortion or commit suicide; there was never a thought in my mind that I would have been stable enough to have kept a child or had parents that would have gone along with any wishes to put a child up for adoption. My mom could have forgiven an abortion but she could have never emotionally dealt with the initial pregnancy; catch 22. Puritanical religion brings out the worst in people, even my life-long democratic mother. I believe this kind of religious upbringing does a lot of harm to people's mental health and that gets passed along.

If we institutionalize puritanical thinking in this country, the blood will flow; there will be a lot of women die in back alleys, or babies found in dumpsters. Every time I hear of a baby in a dumpster I wonder what the grandparents' attitudes about sex were in dealing with the babies' mother.

[musette_sf]

33. + 1

same here, practiced birth control assiduously from the moment i became active. and i agree, the terrorists want to eliminate all birth control.

[Raksha]

14. Nope, never had an abortion.

Reproduction is one of the few areas of my life where I can say I've been very fortunate. No abortions and no miscarriages either. Two pregnancies, two beautiful children. My son is about to turn 36 and my daughter is five years younger.

But I haven't walked a mile in every other woman's moccasins, and I'm well aware that not all are that fortunate. For me personally, about the only reason I would ever consider an abortion is if I were facing the prospect of giving birth to a severely deformed child. I know I could never have handled that burden, and no other woman should have to either. No woman should EVER have such a burden forced on her in the name of somebody else's religious dogma, even if the deformity is discovered late in the pregnancy. Which is why Dr. Tiller's murder is such a tragedy.

[kiranon]

16. No but I adopted 2 special needs children whose moms chose not to have an abortion.

Any prolifer who talks with me better have adopted a child or had an embryo implanted or work tirelessly for children who need help after they are born or I consider their position hypocritical when they talk about saving the preborn. In adopting, one of my two children was turned down by a fundie who wanted a "perfect baby" and not one with special needs. Pro life my foot! They are pro themselves as far as I am concerned.

[OneGrassRoot]

24. Bravo, kiranon!!!

Thanks for sharing that. :)

[Beacool]

30. You are a special woman!!!

The best to you and your children.

:applause:

[zippy890]

17. Yes , no regrets and never think about it n/t

[lamp_shade]

18. Yes... about 40 years ago. No regrets at all.

[csziggy]

19. Contraceptive failure - so I got rid of it and got my tubes tied

I never planned on having children. I grew up watching an aunt suffer through nine or ten very difficult pregnancies. She had six living children, at least three miscarriages and a commitment to a "nursing home" when she found out about the tenth pregnancy. Watching all of that just reinforced my lack of desire for children.

I couldn't have stayed on the contraceptives much longer anyway - the contraceptives of the mid-seventies jacked up my blood pressure and caused other health problems. So when I found out they didn't even work for me, I went doctor shopping until I found one that would help me. At that time there were more doctors that were willing to do the abortion than to tie the tubes of a 25 year old unmarried woman with no children.

More than one doctor refused since they thought I would change my mind about having kids eventually. The doctor that helped me actually listened and did not question my decision. The day of the surgery he did ask me, "Are you sure?" and that was it.

I have never regretted my decision, never had bad feelings, worried about what the child might have been. I did everything I could to prevent that child from happening and made sure it did not happen again.

In the thirty plus years since the only time I have been worried was when reports came out that some women who had tubal ligations were experiencing spontaneous reconnections of the tubes and unexpected pregnancies in their late forties. For a couple of years I was terrified it could happen to me, even after all my efforts. I wonder now if that worry contributed to the dysmenorrhoea that worsened as I got closer to menopause and induced me to get a complete hyterectomy.

[Lyric]

20. One planned pregnancy, no abortions, no miscarriages.

At least not that I know of.

If I had known the my son's father would abandon us like he did, I don't know if I would have ended the pregnancy. I probably wouldn't have, because I really *wanted* the baby, but who knows?

Either way, I am 100% supportive of women being the sole decision-makers about their reproduction and health. Her body, her choice, period.

[Reterr]

21. Yes and no regrets.eom

[La Lioness Priyanka]

22. no. though i paid for two.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

25. Just Goes To Show How Unrepresentative Of Real Life The DU Community Is.

Because let's be honest here... 50% of women on average haven't had an abortion. That number's just a weeeee too high.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

26. its just inaccurate polling and has much less to do with the representativeness of du

most women who havent had an abortion, i bet have also not clicked on this thread

[VelmaD]

27. actually it's only a wee bit high

The last number I saw was something like 35% of US women will have an abortion in their lifetime.

[LeftyMom]

31. And that may be low.

A lot of women who are older or in immigrant communities have taken herbal or pharmaceutical concoctions to "bring on a late period" or with full intention of aborting but might not own up to it due to stigma or differing language to describe their experience or just fear of the legal or social consequences of doing so.

Ergot derivatives that were prescribed for headaches were commonly used off-label to end pregnancies prior to Roe, as a prescribed ulcer medication (cytotec) is now.

[Adelante]

28. I had an illegal abortion done by a nurse

A respectable housewife in my neighborhood arranged it and that's when I found out how very many women turned to this reproductive option, although illegal, risking terribly dangerous infections to do it. Making abortion illegal again would not change that.

[Beacool]

29. No, never had one.

I doubt that I would ever get one either if I had an unwanted pregnancy (with the exception of rape); but will fight for any woman to have a right to choose what's best for her.

:-)

[lies and propaganda]

32. Yes, but not a typical one..

or at least now how PP explained it to me..

I was 20, had just been discharged from teh AF for some shit i was still not over. It wasnt the time, it wasnt the guy.

I knew immediately.. called my mom states away and she told me to go to PP. they tested me and I was pregnant, but not by much.

I took the a pill, Misoprostol, one orally and one vaginally. It causes my uterus to basically miscarry and it was over about as soon as it started.


Not a regret ever. Would have had a lot more bringing up a kid I couldn't afford to do well.

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. kick for more voting

[TorchTheWitch]

35. no, but there's never been any question that I would if

I found myself to be pregnant despite using birth control. I've always felt my overies were unwanted extras I would have been much happier to do without.