Let's have the abortion talk here. Right here. This thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boy, this is a tough thing for me to ponder. I had an abortion at 20, when I was old enough to have known better, but it was a condom slipping issue so we were trying to be careful. What I remember most was being flat broke and suspecting I was at my fertile peak - - I called Planned Parenthood to ask about the morning after pill (this was 20 years ago). It was $75 that I didn't have, and there was no getting the fee waived. So I gambled and lost. I ended up pregnant and needing $150 for the abortion. To this day, I really feel like PP does women a disservice in not being more flexible with pricing. After all, the morning after pill is really just 8 bcps taken 12 hours apart within 48 hours of unprotected sex. What does that really cost: $2.00?!?

This is where I get on my soapbox about abortion. The point isn't to argue in favor of abortions. No one WANTS to have an abortion, kwim? We need to educate our kids, our daughters, we need advances in birth control, we need to make Plan B available OTC without age restrictions and in the HS nurse's office. I still think if men were the ones getting pregnant and having their lives derailed, there would be a helluva lot better birth control options. Wouldn't it solve a lot of the moral quandary about abortion ethics if science perfected a fetus retrieval at 11 weeks? One woman is given a baby to carry to term and another is spared telling her parents about the pregnancy (or husband, or whatever the case may be for not wanting to be pregnant).

I know for a fact my life is different due to the abortion. I do have regrets but it's mostly for having gotten pregnant in the first place. If I could go back in time, I would change sleeping with that guy/ erasing that whole relationship and eliminate the need for the abortion, not just regretting the abortion. And, even if I reversed my opinion about whether *I* think abortion is right for me now or not, I would NEVER try to infringe on the rights of some poor teenaged kid who's in a jam or a woman who's leaving a bad situation who finds herself pregnant, and say abortion should be illegal.

I was talking to my son about sex, birth control and ultimately how if a girl gets pregnant it's not his choice what she does with the pregnancy - - as in, he gets NO say in her decision. I think he was surprised to learn I am pro-choice, as I was to learn he is too. It's not a pleasant situation to be faced with and only the people in the middle of it are equipped to know what the right thing for them is.

Oh, and did I say more girls need to know Plan B is simply 4 bcps at once and 4 more at once 12 hours later?!? Cheap, cheap, cheap and every girl needs to have this in her stash at all times. Shame on the drug companies and Planned Parenthood for overcharging.

How old is your son?
What do you say about when to consider having sex?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boy, this is a tough thing for me to ponder. I had an abortion at 20, when I was old enough to have known better, but it was a condom slipping issue so we were trying to be careful. What I remember most was being flat broke and suspecting I was at my fertile peak - - I called Planned Parenthood to ask about the morning after pill (this was 20 years ago). It was $75 that I didn't have, and there was no getting the fee waived. So I gambled and lost. I ended up pregnant and needing $150 for the abortion. To this day, I really feel like PP does women a disservice in not being more flexible with pricing. After all, the morning after pill is really just 8 bcps taken 12 hours apart within 48 hours of unprotected sex. What does that really cost: $2.00?!?
....

so how come you got the $150 but not the $75??????????????????

[Anonymous]

who is talking about religion?

I personally don't think you can have an abortion talk without talking about religion. Maybe I'm wrong!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

who is talking about religion?

I personally don't think you can have an abortion talk without talking about religion. Maybe I'm wrong!

we're talking about it and I didn't see 1 post about religion... so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy, this is a tough thing for me to ponder. I had an abortion at 20, when I was old enough to have known better, but it was a condom slipping issue so we were trying to be careful. What I remember most was being flat broke and suspecting I was at my fertile peak - - I called Planned Parenthood to ask about the morning after pill (this was 20 years ago). It was $75 that I didn't have, and there was no getting the fee waived. So I gambled and lost. I ended up pregnant and needing $150 for the abortion. To this day, I really feel like PP does women a disservice in not being more flexible with pricing. After all, the morning after pill is really just 8 bcps taken 12 hours apart within 48 hours of unprotected sex. What does that really cost: $2.00?!?
....

so how come you got the $150 but not the $75??????????????????

I had about 2 more paychecks by then, thank you. And a bf who coughed up half when pressed. See my point about prevention and getting $2 pills in the hands of young women BEFORE they need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy, this is a tough thing for me to ponder. I had an abortion at 20, when I was old enough to have known better, but it was a condom slipping issue so we were trying to be careful. What I remember most was being flat broke and suspecting I was at my fertile peak - - I called Planned Parenthood to ask about the morning after pill (this was 20 years ago). It was $75 that I didn't have, and there was no getting the fee waived. So I gambled and lost. I ended up pregnant and needing $150 for the abortion. To this day, I really feel like PP does women a disservice in not being more flexible with pricing. After all, the morning after pill is really just 8 bcps taken 12 hours apart within 48 hours of unprotected sex. What does that really cost: $2.00?!?
....

so how come you got the $150 but not the $75??????????????????

I had about 2 more paychecks by then, thank you. And a bf who coughed up half when pressed. See my point about prevention and getting $2 pills in the hands of young women BEFORE they need it.

why not teach them to use condoms and birth control? Plan B doesn't protect you against HPV, HIV, Hep B/C, and all the nasty bugs you can get through unprotected sex.
We're far from have an educated youth. unfortunatelly.

[Anonymous]

Well, lest anyone think birth control is perfect, I would like to say howdy as a woman who was impregnated by a man with a failed vasectomy. Now that was a surprise...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

why not teach them to use condoms and birth control? Plan B doesn't protect you against HPV, HIV, Hep B/C, and all the nasty bugs you can get through unprotected sex.
We're far from have an educated youth. unfortunatelly.

I totally agree. This is what I'm telling my teen: best case is waiting until you're in a committed relationship, and ready for an unplanned pregnancy. Next best is waiting until you're in a committed monogamous relationship with someone you love and you are using condoms AND a back up method (ie, BCP's). Using two is safer and eliminates "accidental now we gotta get married" pregnancy to boot. Less appealing is sex outside a committed relationship, etc but even more important then to use condoms and back up methods for diseases, etc. I'd love for my kids to wait until they're in their 20's and in a loving relationship, but I'm not banking on it. As soon as my daughter is old enough, I'm doing her the favor of putting her on BCP to help her with "acne" so she doesn't have to ask me for it if she's not comfortable doing so. My mom would've never done that for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

who is talking about religion?

I personally don't think you can have an abortion talk without talking about religion. Maybe I'm wrong!

I can discuss abortion without sharing my faith: if it's wrong to terminate a life outside of utero, how is it that we do it before the (completed) birth.
Choice folks seem to get lost in the words to call it. Whatever you call it, it is in the world of science, a life. If it was just a random mass of cells, it would never become a human being.
I am sorry for the abortion guy that was killed. I am also sorry for all the tiny human lives that he terminated. Because he did late-term babies, these were the ones that if removed, intact from the mother, could have lived. Today, babies who are smaller than your foot, can live. Imagine that. Why was this guy so compelled to see to it that these children weren't allowed a chance at life, the way he was?
Which one of us wishes that we were never afforded a chance at life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy, this is a tough thing for me to ponder. I had an abortion at 20, when I was old enough to have known better, but it was a condom slipping issue so we were trying to be careful. What I remember most was being flat broke and suspecting I was at my fertile peak - - I called Planned Parenthood to ask about the morning after pill (this was 20 years ago). It was $75 that I didn't have, and there was no getting the fee waived. So I gambled and lost. I ended up pregnant and needing $150 for the abortion. To this day, I really feel like PP does women a disservice in not being more flexible with pricing. After all, the morning after pill is really just 8 bcps taken 12 hours apart within 48 hours of unprotected sex. What does that really cost: $2.00?!?
....

so how come you got the $150 but not the $75??????????????????

I had about 2 more paychecks by then, thank you. And a bf who coughed up half when pressed. See my point about prevention and getting $2 pills in the hands of young women BEFORE they need it.

why not teach them to use condoms and birth control? Plan B doesn't protect you against HPV, HIV, Hep B/C, and all the nasty bugs you can get through unprotected sex.
We're far from have an educated youth. unfortunatelly.

The PP was clear: the CONDOM SLIPPED! This could happen to everyone. PP thanks for sharing your story.

[Anonymous]

First anyone can be ashamed of anything medical. Roe v Wade was about privacy.
Second, there is growing evidence that this is not just about religion. Women suffer, even if they were not raised to be anti-abortion.
Third, we need to stiffen up child support laws, then talk pro life.
BTW, I am pro life, anti death penalty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First anyone can be ashamed of anything medical. Roe v Wade was about privacy.
Second, there is growing evidence that this is not just about religion. Women suffer, even if they were not raised to be anti-abortion.
Third, we need to stiffen up child support laws, then talk pro life.
BTW, I am pro life, anti death penalty.

Oxymoron, and the fundamental flaw with the anti-abortion movement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First anyone can be ashamed of anything medical. Roe v Wade was about privacy.
Second, there is growing evidence that this is not just about religion. Women suffer, even if they were not raised to be anti-abortion.
Third, we need to stiffen up child support laws, then talk pro life.
BTW, I am pro life, anti death penalty.

Oxymoron, and the fundamental flaw with the anti-abortion movement.

Don't generalize. Ther are many of us that are truly pro life, in all cases.

[Anonymous]

I am a Democrat and I'm generally pro-choice. I am not Christian, not religious. I have never been faced with the decision many women have faced regarding abortion. I do have several friends who had two or three abortions within the space of just a few years because they were not using birth control. Those women were very blithe about their choice, even dismissive of it. These were highly educated, middle class white women who had access to birth control and simply chose not to use it. I find that a little hard to take. It's more common than one might suppose, and I find it troubling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Third, we need to stiffen up child support laws, then talk pro life.
BTW, I am pro life, anti death penalty.

Oxymoron, and the fundamental flaw with the anti-abortion movement.

Don't generalize. Ther are many of us that are truly pro life, in all cases.


I think the oxymoron poster misread. Personally, I have an easier time respecting the pro-life position when someone tells me thay are also against the death penalty. I get that.

FTR, I say this as an adamantly pro-choice person when it comes to legislating this stuff...I have had an abortion, and feel very strongly that it needs to remain legal just about sans exception. And YES! Let's talk about making our society one that supports women and children. I agree that that is a good productive place to start.