To the Editor:
I have supported abortion rights for as long as I can remember, but nothing cemented my commitment to women’s reproductive freedom like my own very much wanted pregnancy nine years ago.
As I grew increasingly delighted about both my experience of pregnancy and planning for a life with twin babies, I imagined how differently I would feel in other circumstances. What if I were 14 rather than 34? What if my partner and I had as many children as we could handle, or more? What if one or both of us were unemployed?
How might our thrill at the short-term changes in my body and the long-term changes in our lives transform into dread, depression and anxiety?
Moreover, just because expectant parents are able to think of the fetus as a baby does not mean it actually is one, and that abortion is the same as the taking of an actual life, rather than a fantasized one.
Sarah E. Chinn
Brooklyn, Jan. 3, 2011
Note from KBJ: It's all about Sarah.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 