My husband and I are pro-choice BECAUSE of our faith
My husband and I had an abortion in February of last year. I was 29, we had been together for 10 years, married, stable income. There were factors that wouldn’t have been ideal (his job is 2-hour round trip commute, we were living in an apartment, etc) but the biggest factor in our decision was I had also just been diagnosed with severe depression upon finding out we were accidentally pregnant, and was suspected of having a mood disorder (likely MDD.) I was suicidal and in severe pain and suffering; we were both worried at time I might not make it, I certainly didn’t feel like I could… and I couldn’t stand the thought of having to make our child suffer through the coping mechanisms I was using to stay alive / fight the depression, which ranged from THC to antipsychotic use – none of which are recommend during pregnancy. It didn’t feel like a choice. It felt like the only humane option – for all of us.
We grieve and continue to grieve, mainly at the hands of fellow Christians who claim “pro-life” rhetoric is the only correct option for people of faith. My husband and I are pro-choice BECAUSE of our faith though, not in spite of it: we believe parenthood is a sacred calling that should be joyfully and willfully entered into it. And we were not going to be able to be those things because of my illness.
I have been able to find amazing organizations like the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Catholics for Choice, Rabbis for Repro, etc. that are starting to shift the conversation with people of faith away from judgment and shame and towards love and acceptance. They were just in DC and were directly responsible for converting some of the people that supported the Women’s Health Protection Act just last week. I truly believe it’s going to take non-faith organizations pairing with faith/pro-choice organizations to shift the needle even further in america about abortion equity and justice. Right now, the extreme right’s grasp is too tight.
Ed: Learn more about faith-based pro-abortion organizations here.
