You're the Only One I've Told: The Stories Behind Abortion

by Meera Shah

Abortion and contraception won’t cure poverty.

She’s the kind of mother she always wanted to be. And no matter what, she knows she won’t make her own children feel bad about sex and its outcomes. Only empowered.

I am not insensitive to those who believe that life begins at conception. I don’t, but I think we all have the right to our own beliefs. But, for me, and women in the position I was in, the life that is important is the one that is truly just taking off—that fledgling adult woman getting ready to fly. We need to worry about those who are alive: little children with parents who don’t want them, teenage girls who made a mistake they (and their child) will live with the rest of their lives, women who are raped. These are real lives.

“It’s not about being pro-choice, it’s about being pro-truth.”

“There isn’t a woman in history who had a baby without sperm. So it’s not a ‘women’s health’ issue, it’s a ‘health issue.’ You just handed all the hard stuff to the woman and now you’re going to double down on it by making her feel ashamed and bad about it?”