Freak Show Minus Tent

I think this blog is absolutely inspirational. I have never considered myself a feminist, but I have always been pro-choice.
At age 15 I became pregnant. I felt alienated and terrified. I couldn’t speak to my parents about it because I knew they were fairly conservative as far as sex goes, and I couldn’t talk to my friends about it because of fear that I would be judged to be a ‘slut’. I simply didn’t have the money to seek medical help, even though most of the money could have been claimed back at a later date. I felt absolutely trapped.
In the end, I took matters into my own hands. I took a very large dose of pain killers and attempted to abort the foetus myself. I was successful, but I became extremely ill in the aftermath. I bled profusely for days, and I felt extremely emotionally unstable. It was a mentally scarring experience. I feel that I will never, ever recover from it.
I learned a lot from it though. I learned that no other person, regardless of gender, has the right to judge me for what I do with my body. What I do /consensually/ has nothing to do with them. I should not be afraid to express myself, sexually or otherwise. And if they do judge and ridicule me, I should pay no mind, because they are bigots and ignorant, and I want nothing to do with people like that. I came to understand that the people who would have had me keep the baby were often the same people who had no hesitation in labelling me a whore, a welfare-leech and any child of mine a bastard.
I also realised that legal abortions are one of the most important advances made in our society (well I live in Australia, but I speak of western culture in general), because they give women a safe environment in which to conduct abortions, with trained professionals. This is not only important for their physical health, but also mentally. I know now that I had that option open to me, but I was too afraid of social backlash to take it. In retrospect, it would have been better to deal with the issue properly, and spare myself the depression and physical pain I suffered for years afterwards.
I made the wrong choice in not going to a clinic. What I can’t imagine is not having the choice at all. I can’t imagine all those women out there who are FORCED by apparent ‘pro-lifers’ to seek illegal, unsafe methods of aborting their foetuses. Methods which may not only result in death and illness, but are highly traumatic for those people who do survive.
Not all women die from illegal abortions, but all women suffer.
I have a few question for all those pro-lifers out there. How many of you have adopted children? How many of you have taken in the same children you force out into the overcrowded foster system? And why is it that the life of the foetus is so much more sacred than the life of the mother?

http://rabbleprochoice.tumblr.com/post/852609297/i-recieved-this-in-my-ask-box