AbortionInfo - a fascinating read

I stumbled across this LiveJournal community while checking out searches that brought people to my blog. Where else did it bring folks? I came in on their "recommended clinics" page. But I was drawn to Multiple abortions. Here's a sampling:

so I've got records for 3 of my abortions. one place agreed to fax them to my doctor, too- this accounts for five procedures. [whew]

one place I went to twice has closed down since I went there. I have no idea how to get those records!

I'm hoping to try to get all of them; I want ammo for my appointment, I'm about fed up trying to get the tubes tied.

This has been a very familiar theme in talking to prochoice women who have had multiple abortions. They are -- I think justifiably -- angry that they can't simply get their tubes tied, that there are so many obstacles.

Now don't get me wrong -- I think that vasectomies and tubal ligations are mutilating healthy bodies. I guess you could say I'm "personally opposed" to vasectomies and tubal ligations. But they're a wrong you choose to do to yourself. Unlike abortion, vasectomy and tubal ligation really are just a matter of what you do to your own body. Why is it so much harder for a woman who knows she doesn't want children to get a tubal ligation? Yeah, it's (usually) irreversible mutilation of a healthy body. But abortion is utterly irreversible destruction of a healthy body. Why should it be easier to take action to kill somebody else in order to prevent yourself from parenting than it is to do something to your own body to prevent yourself from parenting?

Here's a puzzler -- why aren't the "prochoice" lobbying groups screaming bloody murder about barriers to tubal ligation? They say they're all about women making choices about their own bodies. They vehemently oppose informed consent and waiting periods for abortions. But they don't have equal outrage about virtually insurmountable barriers to tubal ligations. Shouldn't they be beating this drum? Because women might later regret their tubal ligations? That can't carry much weight -- women often later regret their abortions to the point where there's a culture of post-abortion support and counseling. I don't see any similar thing for tubal-ligation regret.

Something very fishy there.

I've had more than 10 abortions. I'm 36.

I had my first when I was 16, and my most recent just two weeks ago. I've had two 2nd trimester abortions, one at 19 weeks, and the most recent one was at 18.3 weeks. all the rest were fairly early first trimester. (i can't remember all the specifics and don't want to make this post too too long.)

....

I've been pregnant twice while using the pill, once on the patch. I wasn't forgetting anything or doing anything wrong, apparently hormonal methods don't work very well for me. with one of these I was taking antibiotics and wasn't told it'd interfere with my birth control. thanks doc!

I've gotten pregnant once on the shot- I forgot my appt date and went in a week late for my third installment...bingo.

I've gotten pregnant using condoms (every single time I've been pregnant!) and once with an IUD!

....

I am apparently a baby machine...except I have never wanted children. I have tried several times to get a tubal, and been refused because I'm childfree and single...and "might change my mind". also, the cost...it's more than I usually have available. (ive been without insurance for fifteen years.)

....

I don't regret any of my abortions. I have never, and still don't, want children.
I do get mad that I was unable to prevent pregnancy even by trying many different methods, and I get angry at the patronizing tone I've gotten from gyn.s when I've asked for more reliable birth control (sterilization)

1. So much for the idea that throwing contraceptives at people will prevent abortions. Would this woman have been as sexually adventuresome if she'd internalized that any act of intercourse could result in a pregnancy? Especially if it could result in a pregnancy she couldn't just pop down the street and get scraped out?

2. So much for the idea that nobody aborts cavalierly.

3. Here again we visit the theme, "Where are the 'choice' people screaming bloody murder when women who want tubal ligations can't get them?" This woman chose more than ten times to end somebody else's life -- with no barriers to that choice whatsoever -- largely because the "choice" lobby isn't as averse to barriers to sterilization as they are to "barriers" to abortion.

There was no broken condom or bad vasectomy; I got pregnant because I was an idiot with a strong sex drive. I was having a lot of sex with a dear friend of mine, and we usually used condoms. One night, we were having a really, extraordinarily wild time out on the couch, far from the nightstand with the condoms in it. He stopped just before pushing himself inside me and said, "wait, is this ok?"

I lied.

"Yes," I whispered; "I can't get pregnant right now." In truth, I had no idea where I was in my cycle or even what day of the month it was; what I wanted was for him to fuck me until we both screamed. I didn't want to stop the momentum to get up, go into the bedroom and laboriously put on the loathsome condom. Also, the man in question had only one testicle; how fertile could he be?

The sex was amazing.

I got knocked up.

No comment.

Well, I have to leave for work now.