It's finally happened. A woman has blogged her abortion. Some will call it crazy. Some will call it pathetic. Some will call it ... wait, I don't care what they'll call it. Because I'm going to call it brave. I'm going to call it important.
The anonymous woman behind This Is My Abortion has just four simple photographs atop the sole post on her site. They're the only photos she needs. Because not one looks like the photos of fully formed babies with fingers, legs, eyelashes that you'll see held high by anti-choicers outside of any abortion clinic.
These photos are shocking and even a little gross, but they have on their side what the anti-choice crowd does not.
Truth.
The glass beakers with frothy red liquid at the base show what really comes out of a woman when she's 6 weeks pregnant and decides she does not wish to remain that way.
This woman, who tells us in an op-ed about the abortion blog for The Guardian that she is a photographer by trade, did nothing more than share what was. It's not what the anti-choice crowd wants to see. But it is what is.
I drive by a billboard often that features a drawing that looks like my daughter did when she came out of me. It's not a beaker of blood. It's a fully formed fetus.
It tells me I should be "glad" that my mother chose "life." Ironic. She also chose to "get pregnant." Abortion was never on the table for her to begin with. But the billboards don't make that distinction, do they? It's standard practice for the anti-choicers to peddle in half-truths.
A woman can choose "life," they say. A woman who gets an abortion "kills" a baby. And yet, look inside the glass beakers on This Is My Abortion. There's no baby there. You do not see anything like that fully formed fetus on that billboard. In fact, what is in those beakers is less than what comes out of the uterus on the standard day for a lady who tends to have heavy periods.
This Is My Abortion is important because it's the truth. It's not a big, flashy billboard. It doesn't have a pithy saying. It doesn't stand outside a clinic screaming and making women feel guilty for their choice.
It doesn't have to.
Because it's truth. The photos do as the cliche says -- speak a thousand words. Among them: Simple. Powerful. Brave.
Just take a look ...
What do you make of "Jane's" powerful blog?
Image via AlexandraLee/Flickr
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Comments 378
And just so you know, pro-life, anti-choice, pro-choice, baby murders, wherever you stand on this one, YOU need to know the truth:
Abortion is legal up to a later point in some states. Some abortions DO look like that. I know, because my mother shortly worked in a health clinic where she sometimes had to assist in abortions. She quit the job when she saw the first BABY aborted. Not zygote, not cells, a baby. One with fingers, toes, and eyes.
Don't delude yourself, IT HAPPENS. Not all abortions are at 6 weeks, just like not all abortions are at 4 months. Not all abortions are the same, and you make yourself look like a fool when you act like a 6-10 week abortion is the only kind being performed.
shes not brave, shes a stupid whore who cant even post her real name, if she didnt want to get pregnant then she should have used protection, abortion is not birth control...condoms, pills, contraception gel, diaphrams, ALL ways to PREVENT a pregnancy........but I guess its "brave" to kill a baby because you were to irresponsible to prevent a pregnancy you didnt want
But I also believe in doctors forcing patients to make a completely informed decision. Making it sound like all zygotes are babies, or vice-versa, to further their own agenda and push their own morals on their patients is irresponsible. Just like this blog is irresponsible for trying to push its pro-abortion agenda by acting like abortions are not performed on anything other than zygotes.
She posted anonymously, so I don't know why anyone would consider that brave. Really want to be brave and proud (or whatever)? Give us your name. That's brave. And since she's chosen to hide her identity, I see no reason to believe her claim about the pictures - there's no way what's really in there. I don't see how this is any more reliable than Pro-Life pictures that are slammed as 'half-truths'.
Because there aren't enough children in the world already who need to be taken care of? We should take away a womans right to choose whether or not she goes through a pregnancy and has a child? Who is responsible for that child? Is it all these people who are against abortion or is it the mother who has the child? You judge people who are on welfare because they had children before they could effectively care for them, yet still judge the ones who choose NOT to become welfare dependant mothers, women who know they are not capable of being mothers at that time in their lives. To those saying "prevent it" some women get pregnant while one birth control, what should they do? Accept it and give birth anyway? When every unadopted, abused, neglected, or unloved child in this world has a loving and safe home I will be against abortion.
Most abortions are not done out of selfishness, MOST women have them because they know that they cannot give that child a good life. Yes more women need to be on birth control I do not disagree with that but that is not an excuse to sit on a high horse and judge others for making a choice in their lives.
Remember when you point a finger there are 3 more pointing back to you.
The problem that exists is one that seems perpetuated in this blog and in the overarching "Pro-Choice" movement - that abortions are as safe as a condom, should be as normal, and should just be accepted as part of life.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Absolutely not. That's the way anti-choicers choose to see it. I have no doubt there are some who think that but nobody I know does. I am pro-choice and I do not think it should be "normal" or "accepted as a part of life". I wish abortions were reserved only for situations in which the mother's life is in danger or in the cases of rape or incest but I don't believe in making it illegal no matter what as so many anti-choicers want. I believe in keeping abortion legal AND teaching girls (in public school as well as from their parents) about their cycles and sexual health and treating abortion as the serious situation that it is.
The problem for you guys is you seem to think everyone who is pro-choice thinks it's some ladeeda thing that holds no weight.