Hyacinthe

I am going to bring a bit of a unique viewpoint to this and one that some of you will probably not appreciate because thus far from reading this I am the only person who is responding having been in a situation where I was forced to consider having an abortion.

When I was 15 I was a victim of sexual abuse - in blunt terms I was raped. I had not been on birth control prior to the incident as I was not sexually active and those of you that work in medicine or look at the facts know that the morning after pill which is what I was given in the emergency room is not 100% effective.

There is no way in the world I could have carried any child that could have resulted from that to term.

I cried pretty much every day, every time I looked at myself I felt ill thinking that I might have been infested with some parasite that was fathered by those men / boys. That's honestly how I felt about it, to me it wasn't a child it was a parasite, it was the ends of all my hopes for life, if I had been pregnant I would most likely have been kicked out of school (I went to a religiously based school) and I would have major problems going back and doing anything that I had planned for my life with a young child in tow.

If I had been pregnant from that attack every day would be like living the act over again. Would I have gotten an abortion - without a second thought. You can tell me that child has every right to live and that it is just as important as I am and I will admit a big part of me agrees with you but I would have still gone and done it anyway and I still would today.

I know that the situations you're looking at are meant to be in regards to something else other then health and rape related circumstances but put yourself in the shoes of a 14 - 17 yr old girl. In that one positive result you give up a large chunk of your social life (very few people at that age are able to handle that happening to a friend and understanding that no their friend can't go out with them anymore) usually your university or other tertiary study plans for the next few years, perhaps your job and lets not forget the man that you're CERTAIN you're in love with and that you honestly thought loved you - that's with a supportive family to help support the two of you. You're terrified and no matter who else is around you you feel completely alone.

In those circumstances I can see too many yound mothers brining up children that every time they look at they think "there goes my future" and no matter what you say about mothers loving their children it doesn't necessarily happen, just look at the last 6 months in the news. There are enough unloved children in the world without creating more.

After having made that decision and facing a part of me that I don't like very much I find I can't judge anyone else on making a similar decision for their own individual reasons.


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Midnight - Abortion Page 5, 2007

Now this I believe is a key issue - those of you saying that abortion is wrong are imposing your beliefs on others.

Those who are saying abortion should be allowed are not.

Before you jump up and down let me explain those statements:

By denying the right to abortion you are forcing people to have children, abortionists are not saying you must have an abortion they are saying that the option should be there, alot of them partially because they understand that people will get desperate and once again it will go back to the days of coat hangers or bicycle spokes in backyard clinics.

Abortion is not an easy thing to confront and I definitely believe in most situations the father should be consulted, I have friends who have had children they never knew about aborted and only found out after the fact, in every single case the guy in question would have made a wonderful father and now even 10 years onwards in some cases feel that loss keenly.

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On another personal note I am interested to see a topic such as this come up when it should be obvious to anyone that this is one of those fundamental issues that you will never get everyone to agree on. I'd like to offer a big congratulations and thankyou to everyone taking part cause as yet I have not seen a single post that has been purposefully argumentative or offensive or has degenerated into personal attacks.

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"I want to be remembered as the girl who always smiles even when her heart is broken... and the one that could brighten up your day even if she couldnt brighten her own"

"Her emotions were clear waters. You could see the scarring and pockmarks at the bottom of the pool, but it was just a part of her landscape – the consequences of others’ actions in which she claimed no part."