This is going to be really long, and I would appreciate you reading all the way through it as it all pertains to the topic at hand. It contains my personal life, and will probably give you better insight as to the person I am.
Ok. Case in point:
I was 15, and over at my cousin's house around the corner from my home, partying with her and her sister's friends. I was new to the area, even though I had been visiting it my whole life. I was tired after doing shit all day long, and so I went into her room to lie down. I woke up four hours later to a red haired, green eyed 23-year-old man on top of me, covering my mouth with his hand. There was literally nothing I could do at the time, other than to just ignore it as best as possible.
Now my parents gave me every option available in 1992. I could have an abortion, I could keep the baby myself, I could have the baby and let them raise it, I could have the baby and give it to my aunt and uncle who could only have one child and love children, or I could give it up for adoption outside of the family. Regardless of what the situation was, I was the one given the options, as it was my body. Let me tell you how much I respect the fucking hell out of my folks for that!
I made my choice. Xane is turning 13 this May. He is the best child anyone could have ever asked for. I kept him because I felt as though it was my own stupidity going to the cousins' house knowing what goes on there. I didn't do squat to the guy who helped create the life, because had I brought charges against him, his name would have been on the birth certificate...and I didn't feel he had the right to be there...and the courts agreed with me. (I have friends in high places...and we'll leave it at that.)
I have no regrets at all. I'm not someone who ever really harped on the fact that I had been raped. It wasn't my fault, but rather a character flaw in the individual who performed the act. Besides, look what I acquired from this! I could go on and on about my child...well, really about all of them...
Fast forward through Justice's birth in 1994 with my first husband, who by the way, cheated on me a few months before I gave birth...and to after I kicked that loser to the curb for my birthday in March of 1995. That was my eighteenth birthday gift to myself...my personal freedom.
Now I've never been hard up for cash. I've always had money (won a settlement at six that I can't speak of in public, but can do so in private if it is so desired), but I wanted to do something for myself. I wanted to be in a position where I could be more dominant and could control every aspect of everything...so I stripped for three months and paid off my tuition in full to Baylor. (That's right...mother of two little boys took off the clothes. lol) This was something major for me...because I had only worked in the family businesses up until that point.
Anyway...I met my future husband during this time. He was my bodyguard (yeah, I needed one), and he and his best friend moved into my home to keep an eye on me. I had issues with my ex at the time, and a couple people who were stalking me on his behalf, as well. Things went well for us, and we finally started our relationship a few months in. I decided I wanted another child...and I became pregnant. I had to have an abortion, though, because I became terribly ill, and it was at a point where it was either the baby or me. I couldn't make the decision for myself, so he made it for me...and I never blamed him or myself. I figured shit happens, and it was just my day to be in front of the fan.
A few months later, I became pregnant again and had the absolute easiest pregnancy I had ever had...the delivery of Liberty was a cinch, too. I was told I wouldn't be able to carry her, but I did. *smiles*
After she was born, the condom broke, and once again, I found myself pregnant...while I was taking care of my dying father, trying to go through mid-terms and working clinicals in cancer centers. I'm thinking that Darian's extreme emotional attachments have a lot to do with what I went through with my pregnancy for her. Again, they said I wouldn't carry her, and we almost lost her when she was stuck in the birth canal for eight hours (while the doctor dozed in the rocking chair watching Wheel of Fortune, mind you).
After Darian, we figured we'd have a baby...but not for ourselves. We wanted to give a life to my aunt and uncle that I spoke of earlier. They deserved to have another child, after all, and we knew they would be very loving parents. It didn't ever come to that, though. I had two miscarriages, and another forced miscarriage (that's a fancy term for abortion) due to how ill I became throughout. I finally had my uterus removed in 2002 due to cancerous cells starting to form.
Now had I been able to bring myself to have an abortion in the beginning, I wouldn't be where I am today. I would have finished med school to become a physician, and would be living in a third world country, helping the children there who need it so badly. But the point that I had the choices was something that still is very important to me. When people take away those liberties of choosing what to do with your own body, it is like they are taking away your ability to use an extra square of toilet tissue, should you wish. It isn't so much the thought that it can be used as a form of birth control for people (as it is sometimes abused), but that it is the last form of hope that you have to give your own self time to grow and heal and become more mature before you have the responsibility of another person.
When people take away the right to terminate a life that isn't capable of living outside the womb, they take away the mother's life. They take her ability to do something that will benefit her and the future children she may have. I simply do not agree with anyone taking away those rights.
And while I understand the issues people have concerns and personal attachments to fetuses which will eventually become children...but why disallow the abortions to take place if the fetus is not viable in the world without the assistance of a carrier? We put animals down every day...why are we not as attached to their children, which ARE viable outside the womb? I understand peta has a problem with it, but why should it be any different? We can put them down, but not our own...it just doesn't make sense.
On another note, is it state or federal that mandates such? I would think it is state, since this is about a particular state taking away rights...but if it is federal, then they're kinda bound to keep them legal, are they not?
