Womens Issues
An Open Letter to All Those Who Call Themselves Pro-Life
…including my best friend.
I can easily point out the day, date and time when I started calling myself a feminist. Two years ago I read a newspaper article about how a fourteen-year-old girl had been raped and then denied an abortion. This story angered me, it gave me shivers to know that I live in a world where people so casually deny women the right to their own bodies. It was at that moment that I decided I was a feminist, and that I hated people who wanted to take away my rights and give it to a fetus who was using my body to survive without my consent.
From that point on, I lived under a canopy of my staunch belief that people who are anti-choice do not deserve my respect. It is so easy to fold your arms across your chest and pass judgement in your mind, dividing people into two groups: for/love and against/hate. The people who do not agree with something you passionately believe in go on the side of people you detest and the ones who agree with you become your new best friends.
Then something unexpected happened. I found out that my best friend was against abortions.
She was against women having bodily autonomy and having a right to decide what they wish to do with their own bodies. This news both vexed and confused me. This was the person who always stood by me, even when I made terrible mistakes. The person who was my very first friend on my first day of elementary school. The person who would commiserate with me after each bad date.
We now stood on the opposite side of one my biggest battlegrounds. How could I simply drop this person into one of the well-divided sides in my mind? I couldn’t.
She called herself ‘pro-life’ for a reason. She was against abortion for a reason. And I hadn’t realized that everyone had a life experience, beyond what I could superficially see, that created the path to their current beliefs. When my best friend’s mother had a miscarriage, she lost her unborn sister, whom she had already started to love. I have never gone through anything like this, but I can see how it could change a person’s opinion about things.
I am feverishly against people dictating what I should do with my life. So how can I expect someone else to do what I want them to and to believe in what I think is right?
We can learn something priceless from everyone if we’re open to it. Because of my best friend’s story, I learned the power of acceptance and respect. I learned to respect the people who held beliefs that did a poor job of aligning with mine — as long as their views aren’t based on fear or hatred. I learned to ask, and learn from, the question: why?
It is because of the existence of contrasting people that the world can paint beautiful, abstract images of life. I know it’s a cliché, but life is truly lived in the gray. I do not want a world where symmetry is the only route to a good life, I do not want a world like Paris under Napoleon III. I want a world where we all can have our opinions heard, and where we all can paint the pictures of our choice.
So here are a few words to my best friend, and all those who call themselves pro-life: I respect your belief and I hope you respect mine too.
Ada Bates
Sinceramente, estoy totalmente a favor del derecho a decidir. El gobierno no debería regular los cuerpos de las mujeres.
Mona Barker
¡El aborto está mal! Las mujeres tienen derecho a hacer lo que quieran con su cuerpo, no con el cuerpo de un niño inocente. Y esa es mi opinión y no puedes odiarme por eso, así como yo no te odio sólo porque eres pro-vida.
Anne Nudos
La gente necesita ocuparse de sus propios asuntos. Si quieres abortar, hazlo. Si no quieres abortar, no lo hagas. Sencillo, problema resuelto.
Isabel González
Creo que las mujeres deberían tener la libertad de interrumpir un embarazo no deseado. El impacto que un recién nacido tiene en la vida de una mujer que no está preparada para ser madre es tan importante que literalmente puede destruir su vida, su carrera y ofrecer muy pocas posibilidades de vida al bebé.
Connie Schmidt
Tanto las personas, ya sea que crean en favor del derecho a decidir o en contra del derecho a decidir, tienen sus opiniones y creencias y no tenemos derecho a juzgarlos ni a odiarlos por ello.
Esther Devine
¿Por qué nos odiamos por tener opciones diferentes? La capacidad de una mujer para elegir tener un hijo o no no debería depender de la opinión de la mayoría. ¡No es asunto de nadie más! Es su cuerpo. Si no es tuyo, entonces no tienes voz en la decisión.
Bretaña Oeste
Nosotros, como partidarios anti-provida, deberíamos enseñar a las mujeres cómo prevenir embarazos sin fecha en lugar de gritar "no mates a un ser vivo", y lo equivocado y vergonzoso que es. Avergonzar a la gente por sus decisiones no ayudará a nadie.
Diana Woods
QEPD a los pequeños humanos inocentes de los que nuestra sociedad nunca escuchará las opiniones.
Gulie
Me lo pensaría dos veces antes de incorporar a otro ser humano a la “sociedad” actual.
hueva feliz
Estoy de acuerdo en que el aborto es inmoral, es devastador que los futuros humanos tengan que ser asesinados antes de nacer, pero estoy a favor del derecho a decidir. Como hemos visto con las drogas, ilegalizarlas no las detiene, simplemente las hace más peligrosas. Al igual que los drogadictos sufren una sobredosis y mueren porque no pueden obtener ayuda sin correr el riesgo de ser arrestados. Las mujeres embarazadas que no pueden permitirse tener un hijo, no pueden continuar con el embarazo y no quieren someterlo al sistema de adopción, aun así encontrarán la manera de conseguir una adopción. He oído historias de mujeres a las que les rasparon el útero con una percha rota. Muchas mujeres morían antes de que se legalizara el aborto seguro. Simplemente no vale la pena arriesgar la vida de mujeres que ya han nacido, por la vida de alguna célula que se convierte en feto.
genio mackenzie
We are all pro-choice. you have 4 fucking choices. Abstinence, prevention, , and motherhood. The fact that someone came and said “if you pay me I’ll kill that life growing inside of you” and it became okay is fucking disgusting!!
M
Rape victims don’t get the luxury of those choices. They should be forced to suffer a pregnancy to term? You’re thinking that it’s a mere contrivance, but it’s a real issue. Not to mention that people who use contraception still have unexpected pregnancies.
Hachi Komatsu
There is no point in hating people that are anti-pro-life, everybody has their own set of believes just like you have yours. And there is nothing you can do about it.