This might seem counter-intuitive, but now that I've experienced pregnancy, I have so much more empathy and understanding for women who decide to terminate their pregnancies.
I just can't imagine enduring this process without being committed to it. I wanted a child, I have a supportive husband, supportive friends, family, and coworkers, I have insurance and a great OBGYN's office-- and you know what? Being pregnant is still hard. It's hard physically and emotionally and mentally. I can't imagine not wanting to be a mother, not having a good support system in place, not having the financial resources in place and then having to suffer through all of the problems and uncertainties of pregnancy.
When my morning sickness was really bad, I literally thought to myself at one point, "this baby is going to kill me." Granted, I had thrown up so much that I was a little bit loopy and not making much sense (to Husband's shock and dismay). But I can see where, under different circumstances, that experience might have been a breaking point for me.
I've always been pro-choice and I support Roe v Wade as it stands today (no elective abortions past the point of viability and all that), and of course I believe that there should always be exceptions for medical necessity to any prohibitions on abortion. But that was all an intellectual excersize before. I believed in those rights without fully understanding what they meant.
I love Elise so much and I'm so happy that she's grown healthy and strong inside of me. I'll endure whatever it takes to bring her into this world.
But not every pregnant woman feels the way I do about their pregnancy. And I understand better now why that's the case.
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