I have been pro choice for as long as I can remember. I found out I was adopted as a young adult, and if anything it solidified my stance as pro choice. As a late discovery adoptee, I do believe my adoption has been used to push the anti abortion narrative, especially by my own family. I should be grateful I wasn’t aborted, had my birth mother had the resources I would not have been born. While I am thankful to be alive, I disagree with this entirely. Had my birth mother had access to safe, affordable healthcare she would have had the choice to break the cycles of abuse her family had enforced for years.
As a teenager, I sought a judicial bypass for my own abortion. My guardian ad litem essentially bragged about how in her 10+ year career she only approved one abortion, which the judge ultimately denied anyway. I was put on a stand, and interrogated like a criminal. I had character witnesses speaking to my capacity to make my own decisions, and why an abortion would benefit me. Ultimately the court denied my abortion. My “partner” had not researched adoption. I had, but he did not, therefore we weren’t informed enough about all of our options. They said that sleeping with an older man made me look bad, and would not help my case. They also stated I was not mature enough to make my own decisions about my body. Yet somehow, I would be mature enough to birth and raise my abusers child. The judge even referenced statutory during my hearing, but told my “partner” at the time that they seemed like a good man, and expressed how he would need to pull it together for his new family. While I was shamed for our age gap, he was reassured. Fortunately my attorney was able to connect me with another attorney in a different state, who helped me receive the care I needed. Without those women I’m sure I wouldn’t be alive today. Or I would be stuck in the same vicious cycle of abuse my biological mother was stuck in until her death.”
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