A young pro-life mom posts her powerful statement of support for Planned Parenthood on Reddit.
As House Republicans use a hoax abortion video to mount their deranged assault on our nation’s leading women’s reproductive health care provider, appalled Americans are starting to realize: This is not about Jesus or the “sanctity of life.”
It’s about punishing low income women — especially women of color — for having non-procreative sex,
even when that sex is forced on them.
No wonder a young mother came forward on Reddit Wednesday morning with a powerful statement of support titled, “I didn’t have an abortion eight years ago, and I thank Planned Parenthood for that.”
“When I was a fifteen-year-old rape survivor with no money who had just found out I was pregnant, I naturally believed abortion was the only option. The counseling Planned Parenthood gave me is the reason I didn’t have an abortion, which is a decision I know I would have regretted.”
“They didn’t lie to me”
UPDATE: Since this article was written, u/alwaysgoldtome deleted her account on reddit and the original post is archived.
And unlike those bogus “pregnancy crisis centers” run by anti-choice “Christians” who pressure desperate teens and young women to keep their babies (or put them up for adoption), the professionals at PP laid out her options truthfully and with no pressure, guilt or shame.
“They didn’t lie to me, the way crisis pregnancy centers lie to vulnerable young women– they didn’t talk about God’s wrath or ‘post abortive syndrome’ or made-up cancer statistics. They just told me the truth. We talked about options, free of any religious baggage or moralistic agenda. There was no guilt or shame. No one at PP ever tried to talk me into it OR out of it.”
Not only did they not try to pressure this former teenage girl into getting an abortion, the
staff did everything possible to give her the care and connect her with the resources she and her baby
needed. As the young mom explained,
“And we were able to come up with a plan that would make carrying to term a viable option, because that’s what I really wanted to do. I got all my prenatal care there, and it was a great experience. I even got hooked up with some free parenting classes in my area that were geared toward younger moms.”
She doesn’t believe in abortion, but would never impose that on others
The young mom (still only 24) went on to make clear that — like the so-called “pro-life” Republicans in Congress — she doesn’t believe in abortion. But unlike them, she would never impose her beliefs on others.
“I personally do not believe in abortion for any reason other than the life of the mother being in imminent danger. That is only my personal belief, and I do not presume to have the right to impose that on other people via the legal system or other means– I’m not in their situation, and I can’t make their choices for them. It may be the right choice for someone else, and that’s not my place to decide. I can only speak for myself and my own situation.”
In her final paragraph, u/alwaysgoldtome explains in a nutshell that Planned Parenthood isn’t about abortion: It’s about women making informed choices about their health and their family planning.
“Abortion was not the right choice for me eight years ago, and PP helped me see that there were alternatives in my case, and helped to make those alternatives possible.”
A solid majority of us support PP
This young mom is certainly not alone in her support for Planned Parenthood. Three recent polls find a solid majority of Americans (53-60 percent) are not on board with the GOP’s shenanigans. The organization states abortion accounts for just three percent of the health care services they provide. Furthermore, just $553.7 million in funding comes from Medicaid, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal programs. That’s 43 percent of their $1.29 billion in revenue for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. The rest comes from donations (27 percent) and patient fees (24 percent), according to USA Facts, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization focused on government data. Defunding Planned Parenthood would be an utter disaster for the many women who depend on their clinics for their healthcare and access to affordable birth control.
Featured image: Photo Public Domain by Jonathan Borba via Pexels.
This article originally ran in Reverb Press, a now defunct news and politics blog. It received 87,244 shares and over 500,000 views.
