A Show of Support

My dear friend Willow had a new blog on her list, and because I'm an incredibly nosy person, I clicked it.


http://www.iamemilyx.blogspot.com/


These women amaze me.

I am pro-choice, and have taken a lot of grief in my life for being that way. I believe that it is a woman's body, and she had the right to make whatever choice she wants with it. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I ADVOCATE STUPID CHOICES! I disapprove of people who choose abortion as a means of birth control AT ALL. I however, think that a woman should be allowed to terminate life if it is for the good of the child, or for the good of the mother. If you can't care for it, please, give it up for adoption. If you don't want it, or you are a single parent without means for a child, give it up for adoption. If it will kill you to have the baby, choose whatever is best for you. If the child will be born to a short, painfilled life, do whatever you think is best. If your child is caused by incest or sexual assault, it's your choice.

At the age of 18, in my freshman year of college, I was held hostage, raped, assualted, beaten, and sodomized. After he was arrested, I skipped my next period. A Planned Parenthood Clinic had me blood-tested for STD's, had a Pap Smear done to determine any damage, treated me for a UTI, and gave me a pregnancy test. I was sick with worry.

I was not capable of raising a child. I had no income, no family support, no friends, no education, no nothing. I knew I wouldn't be able to give the child up for adoption, knowing that one day it would come back to me and want to know why. I also wouldn't be able to keep it, knowing that I would spend the rest of my life going through custody battles, knowing that my rapist would use our child to spend the rest of my life torturing me. What if it had his personality? Would I see him every time I looked into it's face?

I could discuss this with my nurses, with my doctor. They listened without judgement, and told me that it would be my choice, and they would support whatever I chose. Thank Goddess I never had to make that decision. The nurse almost cried with relief when she told me I wasn't pregnant.

These are the women that are accosted every day. These women are the support system for education, for choices, for life. For women they've never met, they are everything for as long as they can.

Since I can't afford to donate to them, I'll offer them what I can. I offer support. And thanks.

Thank you, Emily X. Thank you each and every person at Planned Parenthood, for what you do for women. Thank you.