[shimmeringfaerie]

I am pro-choice. And not pro-choice in the way that people usually mean it, which is just pro-abortion. Personally, I would never get an abortion. But that's because I'm in a situation where my boyfriend and I didn't start having sex until we both accepted the existence of the tiny probability that I might get pregnant despite all the protection we use. Having a child now would not be ideal for us, but we would be able to care for it and I would never be able to live with myself if I had an abortion or gave it away.

However, I would never force those views on someone else. I don't think it's fair for anyone else to say that women shouldn't be allowed to choose for themselves or to judge those women who do choose abortion. Let me give you some scenarios:

1. A woman is raped and falls pregnant. Would you force her to bring that baby to term even though it would be a constant reminder of the trauma she experienced? Would you seriously force her to go through 40 weeks of hell because of something that was forced on to her?

2. A woman falls ill whilst pregnant. Bringing the baby to term would cause serious health risks (possible death) for both mother and child. Would you force her to take that risk?

3. A 12 year old girl falls pregnant. She has been neglected by her family all her life, never properly learnt about sex, and met this seemingly nice guy who took advantage of her. Would you force her to go through that pregnancy on her own, especially with all the health risks for a 12 year old giving birth?

And there are a million other situations like that. I do think that it is wrong for women to have abortions just because they weren't careful enough with their contraception. But there is no way to separate those women from those who should be allowed to have an abortion. And in all of the scenarios I've listed, adoption is not the best option because it's the carrying the baby to term that carries great health and emotional risks. Also the concept that "you shouldn't have sex if you can't handle a child" is irrelevant because these hypothetical women either didn't have the choice/knowledge about intercourse, or other problems arose after conception.

In a perfect world, abortion would be completely unnecessary. But this is the real world and women deserve to have the choice (I think men deserve a say too, but that's a totally different argument).