My mother had an abortion. It would have been her third child. I don't know the details, but she was taken advantage of by my father. I don't know the details, I won't call my father a rapist - but I'm pretty sure that's what happened. They were getting a divorce, but my dad had not moved out and knocked up my mom in what I assume was an attempt to weigh her down with another child in an effort to keep her with him. She told me this last year, I'm 21. She is not "pro-choice", but she was a 27 year old, working-class woman with two boys about to undergo a messy divorce.
She always looks back, thinking she could have given it up for adoption - but in my opinion, why the fuck should she have to carry a painful reminder that she was raped - for nine months? Because society says she should suck it up? She's suffered from anxiety and depression for the majority of her life. Having an abortion may have scared her for life - but I can only imagine the wounds it would re-open if she didn't have the abortion and she ever saw that child today. My mother disagrees, but she made the right decision. She spared herself 9 months of pregnancy as the result of rape. She made sure she was able to get out from under my father's thumb and managed to still be a loving, nurturing parent to her now two twenty-something sons.
I don't care what Jesus says, I don't care what pro-lifers say. My mother is not a murderer. She is a goddamn saint who did what had to be done to make sure the two boys that were ALREADY ALIVE AND BORN were not going to grow up in a home where dad rapes mom for control. Had she kept that baby, the four of us would have grown up in poverty or she would have had no choice but to stay with my father for financial support. If she carried it to term and adopted it, due to pre-existing depression and anxiety, I'm sure she'd have lost her mind, me and my brother.
Abortion is not "right" in all instances. I don't think it's an alternative to birth control, but it's not black and white. But I'll be damned if anyone implies that my mother is a murderer or is an unfit mother because she had an abortion. She still believes she made a mistake terminating the pregnancy, but speaking as her own offspring, I don't care if it was "alive" or just a fetus. If my mother was not depressive, an adoption would be a fine idea. My mom isn't "crazy" nor bordering on suicide. She's just not able to emotionally handle the impact of giving birth to a child that was not born out of love or even lust, but born out of hatred and control. Even if she doesnt have to keep it.