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Very recently an abortion clinic worker in the US made an appeal on Reddit. She drives home the point that women do not need to state the reasons, even anonymously, for seeking abortion when they are asked to do the paperwork.
As someone who hails from a conservative state, she said that part of her job is to report to the state the reasons that patients give for seeking abortions. But she staunchly believes that it is none of the legislature’s business to know why one wants an abortion. She says that there can be no better reason for the state to ask these questions other than to shame you and make you give a justification of a decision to people who are oblivious to you or your life.
What’s more, she says that if one could simply write: “None of your business,” it would give her great joy to write so in the report. On the less hostile front, she would be ok with one writing: “It’s a personal decision”.
Since the nurses at the clinic keep their patient’s reasons confidential, there was no need for a state-mandated paperwork to give an explanation. Her colleagues and she respect every woman’s right to privacy and believe that it is perfectly valid for women to make a choice to terminate pregnancy irrespective of their reason, she writes.
Read more about the Reddit post here.
As you read the post it may make sense to you. When it comes to something like abortion, it can get intimidating to give an explanation to someone who has got nothing to do with your personal life. In the truest sense, it is an intrusion into your personal space.
The post garnered a positive response from many in less than 24 hours with over 1,350 comments from pro-abortion perspectives.
In recent times there has been a move to shut down abortion clinics in the US, which is likely to deprive women of their right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. With closing down of the clinics, it is likely that women perform abortions on their own or go to inexperienced doctors or someone unqualified in unsanitary conditions.
Should the abortion clinics be shut down, women might not hesitate to travel to another country where it is legal. However, it involves high expenditure.
It is clear that the closure of abortion clinics will not curtail unwanted pregnancies. More and more women are resorting to it even in the conservative countries where premarital sex is a taboo. In respecting the woman’s privacy, you are upholding her dignity as well, especially in scenario where a pregnancy is a result of a rape and the woman does not want to raise a child whose other half has been contributed by someone she didn’t know or seek; or in case wherein a woman will not be able to love her child.
There is no point making premises for unwanted children entering into the world where they cannot be cared for by their own mother. A child cannot be made responsible for bearing the brunt of hatred, dislike or disapproval in the future. In such scenarios, it becomes valid for a woman to seek an abortion with total privacy – true to the word.
However, the anti-abortion activists believe that abortion is murdering one’s baby. Not only is the thought persistent in the eastern countries where cultural stigma is strongly influenced by religion, but also in the west where many genuinely believe that an unborn baby is already a living being by the time its heart begins to beat. A fetus has its heart beating between the 18th and the 25th day. In this light, an abortion can be valid if one chooses to terminate a pregnancy before the 25th day.
So, why not leave the abortion decision to the mother because it she who has to bring up the baby through the years.
