ON ABORTION: A Calm, Non-Political Discussion of my Stance

            Because why shouldn’t my first post in months and possibly my last post of this simultaneously horrendous and awesome year be about one of the most controversial topics in this hot mess of a country?

            Anyway, before I begin, a few caveats.

            1/2: I apologize for the lack of jokes, sarcasm, or apparently entertaining rage-rants in this post.

            One—I will not be attempting to make an argument or “dive into the debate” with this, though I may brush on a couple of the issues that are hotly debated (late-term abortion, lack of preventative education, the shame surrounding sex,) but I won’t be delving into these in detail. I seriously just want to state my opinion and elaborate on it in a way that will not shut anyone off. I would love it if people who are against abortion read this and gain a new understanding from it. It is not my intention to be insulting or condescending (for once.)

            Two—I will be speaking in absolutes. I’m very tired of constantly, constantly reiterating the obvious fact that all of this is my opinion by peppering my points with phrases like “in my opinion,” “to me,” or “I believe.” This is my blog. The assumption is that everything is my opinion.

            Three—I will not be citing sources. This sounds bad, I know, but the reason I’m not is because I have studied the topics of conception, pregnancy, and abortion for years. I trust in my knowledge at this point, and I don’t want to slow the momentum of my writing this post by digging for online sources confirming facts I absorbed in years of studying. Having said this, PLEASE FACT CHECK ME, ESPECIALLY if I sound wrong. Do not assume I am infallible just because I’m speaking in an authoritative manner or I sound like I have my shit together. This is a good tip for life in general. Question everything, kiddos. That’s how we learn.

Another thing I want to clear up before I start is my personal feeling about the fetus/baby semantics thing. The term fetus is scientifically used to describe the organism (I use this rather cold word so I don’t use fetus or baby) between the 9^th week after conception and birth. Before that, the scientific term for said organism (from conception to 8 weeks) is an embryo. The term fetus is often used as a way of distancing oneself when an abortion is necessary, and the term is also often demonized by those who are against abortion and prefer the term baby, a more humanizing term for the fetus. I do not condemn anyone for using either term, and I do not condone anyone who demonizes anyone else for using either term.

Ladies and gentlemen, the aesthetic paragraph break. Hold your applause.

I do know, however, that when I get pregnant, I will refer to the organism inside of me, from the embryonic stage (if I know it’s there at that time) to birth as baby. I think it’s important to understand why I will use that term. I will use baby in my own pregnancy because in order for me to get pregnant, I have to go to a doctor, schedule another appointment, and have my Nexplanon birth control implant surgically removed from my arm. For me, conception will not be an accident. It will be a strategically planned event that my husband and I want to have happen. Because my pregnancy will be wanted, and I will not need an abortion unless (gods forbid) something dangerous happens, I will consider what is inside of me a baby. I’m sure I will also use the term fetus simply because I have always, always been utterly fascinated with pregnancy and I love me some scientific terminology, but the creature within me will be fully humanized in my mind. Again, I do not fault or demonize a single person who has gotten pregnant unintentionally (you’ll see why as I go along) and finds it necessary to use the term fetus rather than baby to be able to endure the incredibly difficult situation.

All right, let’s get to it.

I fully support abortion.

Woo! That was easy. Seems like a lot of buildup for a short conclusion, but hey, there it is. Later, kids!

Okay, okay, so I’m going to elaborate, because as much as we’d like to make abortion a black and white issue, it isn’t. It’s an incredibly complicated and multi-faceted issue that has a hand in everything from religion to historical institutionalized sexism to simple economics. However, to contradict myself, it is important to take a solid stand on supporting abortion, no matter the cause of conception or the reason for the decision to have an abortion.

To begin—where does life begin?

To say that life begins with a pulse is to have a shaky understanding of our biology. Countless people have survived cardiac arrest for varying lengths of time.  It’s commonplace, in fact. Surgeons and paramedics don’t shrug and say, “Weeelp, he dead.” when a patient flat lines (unless they signed a DNR.) They grab the paddles and do their best to retrieve a pulse. The heart is a muscle, and we need it to live, but it is not the source of life itself any more than our lungs or our livers (sorry for the link, had to.)

We humans put a lot of stock in consciousness, and all of our life-sustaining organs, including the controversial heart, would not function without brain activity. Hence, life as we legally, psychologically, and often philosophically define it, begins with the brain.

Primitive nerve cells begin to develop only 22 days after conception. 8 to 9 weeks in, a still-forming brain mass begins to send nerve impulses to developing organs and limbs. At 10 weeks, when it has officially passed the embryonic stage, there are brain cells. But it isn’t until around 23-26 weeks of gestation that a fetus’s/baby’s brain is formed enough to possibly feel sensations like pain. However, due to the very nature of the environment the womb creates, it is very difficult to nail down when consciousness might begin. For my money, 23 weeks is where the brain is developed enough to begin “life” as we define it.

Ultimately, though, abortion isn’t a scientific decision, which is why I tend to shun when does life begin? as a factor in my support of abortion. So have no fear, the science babble portion of my post likely ends here.

Abortion is, when you strip away ethical discussion, a medical procedure. It is often medically elective, and it is often medically necessary. Abortion is medically necessary in many, many situations: ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilized egg implants somewhere other than in the uterus, such as in a fallopian tube or on an ovary, or even sometimes outside of that area altogether, like a bowel. In a word, ouch. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable, even though there may not be anything wrong with the embryo itself. In rare cases, the embryo can be removed and placed in the uterus, but far more often, it’s medically necessary to terminate, because neither the embryo nor the mother are likely to survive a full term ectopic pregnancy. Other situations wherein abortion is medically necessary is when something goes horribly wrong with the fetus/baby or with the mother’s body, and the fetus/baby cannot survive or the mother’s life is in danger if the pregnancy continues. These are causes for the vast majority of the controversial and extremely rare late-term abortions, and the vast majority of these pregnancies are wanted, making the decision to terminate heartbreaking and traumatic.

The fact that abortion is a medical procedure and is very often a medically necessary one is one of the main reasons I support abortion. Restrictions on late-term abortions are dangerous and steeped in misinformation and misunderstanding. Pregnant people have died due to the restrictions imposed upon abortion, even when the abortion is medically necessary. At the very least, a tragic end to a wanted pregnancy is so often made so much worse due to the restrictions placed upon late-term abortion. It must not be legal to shame, traumatize, and physically endanger people who are in these situations.

Medically elective abortions make up the vast majority of abortions themselves, as most pregnancies in this country are terminated as early as possible, normally before 10 weeks. These abortions are medically elective, but are necessary in other ways: rape and incest on the most extreme end, and economic, psychological, and emotional ways on the more common end. The decision to abort most commonly comes from a combination of many factors, and are not an easy decision to make for everyone who must make it. Pregnancy is a monumental hormonal/biological/physical, emotional, economical, psychological life change. It is a change that affects nearly every facet of a pregnant person’s existence, and they must have the legal right to decide what is best for their existence. This right is embedded into our Constitution and our very DNA as human beings; the right to ownership of your own body is our most fundamental right, and it must not be violated.

Prevention of unwanted pregnancy is the single most important factor in preventing abortion itself. Abstinence teachings, shaming for sexual activity (largely exclusive to shaming women alone, and yes, I will fight you on that, but not in this post,) and refusal to educate adolescent youth about prevention methods are ineffective and counterproductive. Education on the biological and psychological/emotional logistics of sexual activity is paramount, and must begin at as early an age as possible, starting with learning body autonomy in toddlerhood. Birth control must be widely available to adolescent youth. To wit, when I have a child, I will supply them with the most effective birth control available the moment they feel ready for sexual activity. Understanding, love, and education are the only ways to prevent abortion. Legal legislation only leads to problems, be they emotional, psychological, institutional, social, physical, and everything in between. It is ineffective and dangerous. 

I could elaborate further, but then I would be delving into a deeper discussion of why people oppose abortion, which can range from shame of (again, female, and I will fight you) sexual activity, to false information made to appeal to emotion alone, to everything under the freaking sun that we all already know too much about anyway. This effectively illustrates my stance, and why I have it. I have to say, it was really, really hard not saying “Statistics show…” or “In my opinion,” but I wrote this bitch in an hour rather than a few days, so that was totally worth it.

If any of you would like to have a calm and civil discussion about my opinions stated in this post, feel free to hit me up. I’m more than happy to elaborate or answer any questions. But be warned, I’m not always this nice when things get heated. I have this opinion of abortion not because I think every idiot teenager who talked his girlfriend out of a condom should get a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card, but because for every aforementioned idiot teenager, there are fifty people who had to make an agonizing decision to save their own lives (literally or metaphorically), and nobody, nobody should be forced to endure the physical peril and monumental life change that is pregnancy.

See you in 2017, my lovelies.