Like many women, I grew up dreaming about my future children. What would their names be? What would they look like? But I was given a whole different take on reality when I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). People with PCOS suffer from all kinds of things, from irregular periods and hair growth to trouble conceiving and carrying a baby to full-term.
I always pictured myself as this badass lawyer who would also have a family at home, but PCOS really threw a wrench in those hopes. Now I'm faced with a new reality: if I got pregnant and could not carry to term, would an abortion be accessible? If the worst possible scenario happened to me, would I even have the option?
When people picture someone getting an abortion, I honestly don't know what they actually picture. Very rarely is it people who just don't want a baby right now. More often it's someone with health problems or someone who was raped. If you had a debilitating chronic illness, would you want to reproduce? And if you did and it became unsafe for you AND the baby, would you want to die? If you were raped, would you want to look at a mixture of your rapist and yourself for the rest of your life?
I have always been pro-choice, and I would go as far to say that most of my immediate family is pro-choice as well. There are so many situations where access to safe abortion is a crucial part of a woman's life. And it's none of anybody else's damn business.
What happens inside a woman's body while she's growing a fetus has nothing to do with men sitting in Congress and everything to do with that very woman and her doctor. So I will be pro-choice. I will defend abortion.
I will defend abortion for the women around the world who don't have access to safe ones. I will defend abortion for the women who struggle with diseases that they're ready to end. I will defend abortion for the women who choose to save themselves, even when it means giving up a bloodline. I will defend abortion for the women who want a baby so badly, but their bodies just won't let them because that could be me.
We don't know if I will be able to carry a baby. My fiance and I decided that we don't want to know. But I hope that when I'm done with law school, God will bless us with a healthy mini-me. But I also know that my body is plagued with numerous health conditions that give me poor odds.
I am pro-choice because it's not my right to choose what happens to all other women's bodies. And if the day comes when my body can't carry the baby, my access to a safe abortion is my only blessing.
