Joyce let her 11 year old son decide for her whether or not to get an abortion.
“I’ve always been very honest with my son. I set him down one night, and I told him – this was just before his 12th birthday – and I said, “Michael, I’m pregnant, and I really don’t know what to do. Peter wants me to keep the child, and I really don’t think I want to, Michael.” And he said to me, “Mother, I wanted a brother or sister, but by the time the child is old enough to play with me, I will be too old to be able to give the child anything.” And then he said, “And how are you going to support it?” He’s never liked Peter, and even brought that up then, “Do you think Peter’s going to be around?” And I said, “No, he’s not going to be, Michael.” He said, “the best thing you can do, Mother, is have an abortion.”…
It was a tough decision, but one I’ve never regretted.”
But she later said:
“I felt terrible for weeks. A lot of depression. Something has just been torn from your body. You’re going through a lot of hormonal changes. And there’s a lot of depression. There’s a lot of guilt. Especially when you’ve got a man [Peter] who’s telling you: you murdered your child. You’re wondering if you’ve done the right thing.”
Sumi Hoshiko Our Choices: Women’s Personal Decisions about Abortion (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1993) 55, 56
What kind of mother bases her decision on whether to abort on the answer of an 11-year-old child? How will this boy feel when he grows up and learns the truth about abortion, and that he had a role in killing his brother or sister?
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