Month: December 2012

A woman who had an abortion before due to lack of support from her mother and her boyfriend said the following:

“So it was back to the Manhattan abortion clinic. What else was I going to do? Who could I turn to? The minister who didn’t have the time of day for me? Somebody at my school? There’s nobody. So my mom takes me to the clinic. When it’s time for me to sign the form I whispered to the nurse, “I don’t want to have the abortion – my mother’s making me, she somewhere in the building, but please don’t make me have the abortion.” The nurse just said, “Look, there are people waiting. Do you want to do it or don’t you? Make a decision or get out.” The thoughts were flying through my head: where would I live? Who would pay the doctor? Who could I turn to?

I couldn’t think of any answers. So I said, “Okay. I’ll have the abortion.” And I did”

Marion Syverson, name used by choice

Frederica Mathews-Green. Real Choices: Offering Practical, Life-Affirming Alternatives to Abortion (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books, 1994) 203 – 204

Many women have abortions due to lack of support from the people in their lives. Often, the male partner coerces them into it, other times, it is the parents when the woman is a teenager. Read more about coerced abortions here. 

A woman named Sally tells her story:

“It wasn’t a hard decision, but it was a horrible decision. I felt like I had to do it to survive; I thought my parents would never talk to me again if they found out I was pregnant. I even imagined grandparents in heaven hating me. I tried to involve the guy. I was wishing he would marry me, and I could see no other way to continue the pregnancy. But he was such a jerk. He took me to the clinic, but I paid the whole thing; afterwards he took me to his house and ignored me while I lay there in pain and bleeding. Instead, he went out and bought a kid’s racecar set, set it up on the living room rug, and invited his friends over to play!…

I can’t believe that I stood for that kind of disrespect….. At the clinic they were so cold; the doctor didn’t even tell me his name, but I thought, “This is what I deserve.” I just felt so boxed in, like I had no other choice. Every step I took, I took to function, to survive. So after that I shut down for 10 years, except for anniversary reactions… And I refused to hold a baby.”

Frederica Mathews-Green. Real Choices: Offering Practical, Life-Affirming Alternatives to Abortion (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books, 1994) 89 to 90