My Personal Story and Why I Will Always Fight to Keep Abortion Safe and Legal

<p> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Today, January 22, 2013, is the 40^th anniversary of the US Supreme Court's decision Roe v Wade, which made it possible for women to obtain a safe, legal abortion. My mother has been an activist to preserve a woman's right to safe, legal abortion for as long as I can remember however, I did not understand the true implications of a woman's right to to an abortion until I had my son. I want to share my experience, so that others might gain a better understanding of how important it is to preserve this right.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I was a healthy, 26-year-old woman when my ex-husband and I decided to have a baby. My pregnancy was uneventful except for being 10 days overdue. My labor was very long, lasting over 24 hours. Although, I do not remember the actual birth, I remember my ex-husband telling me later that when my son's head appeared the nurse in astonishment stated, “Look at the size of that head!” My son weighed 10 lbs and 7 oz. at birth. Despite having an episiotomy, I tore up my rectum and vagina due to my son's size. I continued to have vaginal pain and eventuallylearned that my pudendal nerve had been damaged during the birthing process. The pudendal nerve is located in the pelvic region and innervates the genitalia , as well as sphincters for the bladder and the rectum. I have lived with pain and problems from this injury for over 23 years.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I want to say that, despite having this injury, I love my son more than I can put into words and can not imagine my life without him. I also want to say that since my experience with child birth my motivation and passion to preserve a woman's choice regarding childbearing or arbortion has grown exponentially. Politicians and people who argue against abortion saying that “a woman can just have a baby and give it up for adoption” without looking at the risks or ramifications of childbirth on a woman's body or her mental status show their ignorance and/or lack of caring about women. Sometimes I wonder if they are under the impression that childbirth is like having a bowel movement.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">It is important that I bring up the issue of health care when discussing the issue of abortion and childbearing. I have had to see a variety of specialists and go to physical therapy over the years due to my injury. This has not always been easy as a result of this country's for-profit health care system. There were times when insurance would not cover a procedure, limited the number of visits or that I lacked insurance coverage as a result of cost and employment. Most of the anti-abortion politicians and activists do not see health care as a human right, but as a privilege to those that can afford it. So not only do they want to force women to give birth in all cases of pregnancy, but they do not even want to ensure proper health care during pregnancy, child birth or after. The US maternal mortality rate has doubled in the past 25 years. The U.S. ranks 50th in the world for maternal mortality, meaning 49 countries were better at keeping new mothers alive.* If abortion were made illegal, looking at the numbers of women going without insurance increasing, the maternal mortality rate would increase dramatically. Not to mention the women, like myself, who sustain injuries during the birthing process that will not be able to obtain the health care they need.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I want to say that, despite having this injury, I love my son more than I can put into words and can not imagine my life without him. I also want to say that since my experience with child birth my motivation and passion to preserve a woman's choice regarding childbearing or arbortion has grown exponentially. Politicians and people who argue against abortion saying that “a woman can just have a baby and give it up for adoption” without looking at the risks or ramifications of childbirth on a woman's body or her mental status show their ignorance and/or lack of caring about women. Sometimes I wonder if they are under the impression that childbirth is like having a bowel movement.<span class="no-js">"</span></p><div dir="LTR" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1358825879305_5876"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">It is important that I bring up the issue of health care when discussing the issue of abortion and childbearing. I have had to see a variety of specialists and go to physical therapy over the years due to my injury. This has not always been easy as a result of this country's for-profit health care system. There were times when insurance would not cover a procedure, limited the number of visits or that I lacked insurance coverage as a result of cost and employment. Most of the anti-abortion politicians and activists do not see health care as a human right, but as a privilege to those that can afford it. So not only do they want to force women to give birth in all cases of pregnancy, but they do not even want to ensure proper health care during pregnancy, child birth or after. <a href="http://www.facethefactsusa.org/facts/more-us-mothers-dying-despite-expensive-care/">The US maternal mortality rate has doubled in the past 25 years. The U.S. ranks 50th in the world for maternal mortality, meaning 49 countries were better at keeping new mothers alive.</a>* If abortion were made illegal, looking at the numbers of women going without insurance increasing, the maternal mortality rate would increase dramatically. Not to mention the women, like myself, who sustain injuries during the birthing process that will not be able to obtain the health care they need.</p></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The anti-abortion advocates continuously claim how dangerous abortions are. The truth is that the risks of child birth are much greater to a woman than an abortion. In a Reuters article that pertained to a study in the journal Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-abortion-idUSTRE80M2BS20120123">women were 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth than to die from complications of an abortion. The study found that between 1998 and 2005, one woman died during childbirth for every 11,000 or so babies born. In comparison, just one woman of every 167,000 died from receiving a legal abortion.</a> Many more women sustain injuries, as I described from personal experience, as well as mental health issues through the birthing process.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I would like to quote the second section of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. The fact that the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified and that I am not a strict constructionist, some might conclude I am taking liberties in including women in this phrase. The fact is that denying women the right to an abortion or birth control would definitely take away these unalienable Rights. First, the government making laws that force pregnant women into child bearing, would take away their unalienable right to “life”, by increasing their chances of mortality. It would take away their liberty eliminating their ability to make their own life choices regarding what is best for them and possibly their family when it comes to childbirth vs abortion and would impede their potential happiness by its effect on their education, economics and health status.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Before I had my son, I was an avid cyclist, worked out regularly and led an active life. After, the injury I sustained in the birthing process, I could no longer cycle, in fact, I had an increase in pain if I sat or walked for any length of time and still do. No woman should be put in the position of possible death or injury because laws are created based on lawmakers' religious beliefs or lawmakers continuing this country's long history of the oppression of women. With this in mind, I will continue to fight and hopefully you will be next to me to ensure that all women have access to contraception and safe legal abortions now and forever.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">&nbsp;</p>

<p>Today, January 22, 2013, is the 40th anniversary of the US Supreme Court's decision Roe v Wade, which made it possible for women to obtain a safe, legal abortion. My mother has been an activist to preserve a woman's right to safe, legal abortion for as long as I can remember however, I did not understand the true implications of a woman's right to to an abortion until I had my son. I want to share my experience, so that others might gain a better understanding of how important it is to preserve this right.</p> <p>I was a healthy, 26-year-old woman when my ex-husband and I decided to have a baby. My pregnancy was uneventful except for being 10 days overdue. My labor was very long, lasting over 24 hours. Although, I do not remember the actual birth, I remember my ex-husband telling me later that when my son's head appeared the nurse in astonishment stated, “Look at the size of that head!” My son weighed 10 lbs and 7 oz. at birth. Despite having an episiotomy, I tore up my rectum and vagina due to my son's size. I continued to have vaginal pain and eventuallylearned that my pudendal nerve had been damaged during the birthing process. The pudendal nerve is located in the pelvic region and innervates the genitalia , as well as sphincters for the bladder and the rectum. I have lived with pain and problems from this injury for over 23 years.</p> <p>I want to say that, despite having this injury, I love my son more than I can put into words and can not imagine my life without him. I also want to say that since my experience with child birth my motivation and passion to preserve a woman's choice regarding childbearing or arbortion has grown exponentially. Politicians and people who argue against abortion saying that “a woman can just have a baby and give it up for adoption” without looking at the risks or ramifications of childbirth on a woman's body or her mental status show their ignorance and/or lack of caring about women. Sometimes I wonder if they are under the impression that childbirth is like having a bowel movement.</p> <p>It is important that I bring up the issue of health care when discussing the issue of abortion and childbearing. I have had to see a variety of specialists and go to physical therapy over the years due to my injury. This has not always been easy as a result of this country's for-profit health care system. There were times when insurance would not cover a procedure, limited the number of visits or that I lacked insurance coverage as a result of cost and employment. Most of the anti-abortion politicians and activists do not see health care as a human right, but as a privilege to those that can afford it. So not only do they want to force women to give birth in all cases of pregnancy, but they do not even want to ensure proper health care during pregnancy, child birth or after. The US maternal mortality rate has doubled in the past 25 years. The U.S. ranks 50th in the world for maternal mortality, meaning 49 countries were better at keeping new mothers alive.* If abortion were made illegal, looking at the numbers of women going without insurance increasing, the maternal mortality rate would increase dramatically. Not to mention the women, like myself, who sustain injuries during the birthing process that will not be able to obtain the health care they need.</p> <p>I want to say that, despite having this injury, I love my son more than I can put into words and can not imagine my life without him. I also want to say that since my experience with child birth my motivation and passion to preserve a woman's choice regarding childbearing or arbortion has grown exponentially. Politicians and people who argue against abortion saying that “a woman can just have a baby and give it up for adoption” without looking at the risks or ramifications of childbirth on a woman's body or her mental status show their ignorance and/or lack of caring about women. Sometimes I wonder if they are under the impression that childbirth is like having a bowel movement."</p> <div dir="LTR" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1358825879305_5876"> <p>It is important that I bring up the issue of health care when discussing the issue of abortion and childbearing. I have had to see a variety of specialists and go to physical therapy over the years due to my injury. This has not always been easy as a result of this country's for-profit health care system. There were times when insurance would not cover a procedure, limited the number of visits or that I lacked insurance coverage as a result of cost and employment. Most of the anti-abortion politicians and activists do not see health care as a human right, but as a privilege to those that can afford it. So not only do they want to force women to give birth in all cases of pregnancy, but they do not even want to ensure proper health care during pregnancy, child birth or after. <a href="http://www.facethefactsusa.org/facts/more-us-mothers-dying-despite-expensive-care/">The US maternal mortality rate has doubled in the past 25 years. The U.S. ranks 50th in the world for maternal mortality, meaning 49 countries were better at keeping new mothers alive.</a>* If abortion were made illegal, looking at the numbers of women going without insurance increasing, the maternal mortality rate would increase dramatically. Not to mention the women, like myself, who sustain injuries during the birthing process that will not be able to obtain the health care they need.</p> </div> <p> </p> <p>The anti-abortion advocates continuously claim how dangerous abortions are. The truth is that the risks of child birth are much greater to a woman than an abortion. In a Reuters article that pertained to a study in the journal Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-abortion-idUSTRE80M2BS20120123">women were 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth than to die from complications of an abortion. The study found that between 1998 and 2005, one woman died during childbirth for every 11,000 or so babies born. In comparison, just one woman of every 167,000 died from receiving a legal abortion.</a> Many more women sustain injuries, as I described from personal experience, as well as mental health issues through the birthing process.</p> <p>I would like to quote the second section of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. The fact that the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified and that I am not a strict constructionist, some might conclude I am taking liberties in including women in this phrase. The fact is that denying women the right to an abortion or birth control would definitely take away these unalienable Rights. First, the government making laws that force pregnant women into child bearing, would take away their unalienable right to “life”, by increasing their chances of mortality. It would take away their liberty eliminating their ability to make their own life choices regarding what is best for them and possibly their family when it comes to childbirth vs abortion and would impede their potential happiness by its effect on their education, economics and health status.</p> <p>Before I had my son, I was an avid cyclist, worked out regularly and led an active life. After, the injury I sustained in the birthing process, I could no longer cycle, in fact, I had an increase in pain if I sat or walked for any length of time and still do. No woman should be put in the position of possible death or injury because laws are created based on lawmakers' religious beliefs or lawmakers continuing this country's long history of the oppression of women. With this in mind, I will continue to fight and hopefully you will be next to me to ensure that all women have access to contraception and safe legal abortions now and forever.</p> <p> </p>