Abortion: A Poor Last Resort for Women



by Michaelene Jenkins

After 30 years of legalized abortion in the United States, people have grown tired of the shouting and sloganeering. Catch phrases and political posturing only fuel the stereotypes that cause most people to tune out. Dialogue isn't pursued while each day thousands of women allow themselves to undergo the violence and violation of abortion because they feel there is no other way.

When I was 18 I found myself pregnant. Even though I was pro-choice at the time I considered adoption, but my boyfriend said he would kick me out if I didn't have an abortion. I turned to my employer for advice. She agreed that abortion was the only logical option, so I allowed her to make the appointment.

My experience at the Planned Parenthood clinic was painful and humiliating. The promised solution the only option presented to me wasn't the end of my nightmare, but only the beginning. I felt dirty, I felt guilty, I felt unworthy to live.

I soon found myself in a cycle of self-destructive behavior as I attempted to repress the sense that I had destroyed my child. Desperate for a fresh start, I broke up with my boyfriend, quit my job and moved to another state. Unfortunately my depression and self-hatred only deepened.

The worse I felt, the more I became convinced that pregnant women needed to know that abortion was not an easy “solution.” I also realized that I needed help and was fortunate enough to find other caring women who had experienced abortion to assist me.

During the healing process, I made the decision to publicly share my story &#0151 a story that is repeated and experienced by millions of other women in this country. Planned Parenthood's own statistics tell us that one-out-of-four women of childbearing age have had at least one abortion.

It has been eighteen years since my abortion. Although much has changed in eighteen years, not much has changed for women experiencing an untimely pregnancy. They still face unsupportive partners and employers and are often unaware of the community resources available to them. They undergo abortion not so much out of choice, but out of desperation or as a last resort.

Although some women are able to move on from their abortion, many are left with physical or emotional scars that negatively affect their lives for years and sometimes decades.

In all the noise, women have been forgotten. It is time to stop the noise and start working on meeting the unmet needs of women so that they are no longer pressured into abortion.

Michaelene Jenkins is the executive director of the Life Resource Network in San Diego, California.

(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)

See also:

SENATE VOTES TO PROTECT WOMEN'S HEALTH, BANS PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION

SUSAN B. ANTHONY LIST CELEBRATES LONG OVERDUE PASSAGE OF PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION BAN

ACLJ COMMENDS U.S. SENATE APPROVAL OF BAN ON PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION

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