Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to have had an abortion and feel ZERO shame or regret

1000 replies

GetOrfMoiCase · 26/05/2011 13:00

In AIBU because it is a popular topic. I know I am not being unreasonable.

Thread is in response to a report I heard on the news yesterday which was shamefully presented, regarding abortion access.

There is a thread on MN currently about it www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/1222273-Chipping-away-at-abortion-rights-govt-appoints-Life-as-sexual-health-adviser

Apparently there is a twitter thingummy going around 'I had an abortion' for people to discuss guilt free abortions.

Just thought it would be appropriate to have a thread on here for people put a positive side of abortion.

My story: got pregnant 5 years ago. My dd was 10. I was in a relationship of 6 months duration and had recently started a new job. Condom failure. My partner and I agreed that we didn't want a baby, I booked an abortion and had it without a backward glance. No emotional fall out afterwards. No guilt.

OP posts:
GetOrfMoiCase · 27/05/2011 00:28
Grin

No I don't want star trek music, I want that music which Kate and William left Westminster Abbey to (which sounded like Superman theme tune Grin)

OP posts:
michelleseashell · 27/05/2011 00:34

Ha ha now that I like!

Silver6 · 27/05/2011 00:47

I'm not anti-abortion - it's a woman's right to choose - but I do believe that effective contraception and the morning-after pill if you know it has failed are more responsible. I also think that this is probably not the right forum for what is a serious subject - as someone who has lost 6 hard won pregnancies and gone through much treatment to have my LO, the thought that some women are aborting babies without a backwards glance does upset me.

LadyWellian · 27/05/2011 01:03

Silver6 I completely stand by GOML's decision to post this in AIBU.

I have been pregnant 4 times in all: 2 MCs (1st at 16wks, then 9wks) then DD, then after contraceptive AND morning-after pill failure I had a termination at 7wks.

I don't think anyone here with relevant experience is suggesting they have had an abortion without a backwards glance. Just that society's expectation that we beat ourselves up about it forever is wrong.

I am glad you now have your LO. I understand the pain of pregnancy loss.

Oblomov · 27/05/2011 07:56

"without a backwards glance " ?
No, no, no, no, I never said that. Dh and I pondered, thought, discussed, wondered, weren't sure etc etc. Then we made a decision. And we checked we were both sure about the decision. And we were. So we went , forward, with no regrets, but thats because we were then sure that we were making the right decision.
Maybe we are getting confused here, as to what the actual word REGRET means.

I have very few regrets in life. Most of the time, I think very carefully and ponder, before making decisions. So why would I have regrets ?

caramelgirl · 27/05/2011 08:33

I think it's really important that people do have the freedom to talk about things which are so emotive but also which, I think, are an important part of women's rights.
I've never had an abortion, but I am very scared by the creeping anti choice going on, where no politician or public figure ever seems to stand up for it. It's not a nice or feel good topic, but goodness, after having a baby (and still ttcing for #2, sigh), I don't think anybody should be compelled to go through pregnancy. Equally, no one should feel coerced into one which I also think is horrific, but I don't think that this would be a reason to limit access for all. My mum was an unwanted baby and I think she is still affected a little bit by that now.
Thank you to those of you who are posting about your experiences.
(and sorry if I have msised some of conversation, my laptop is dying so downloading pages is taking time...)

SuchProspects · 27/05/2011 10:05

Without a backward glance does kind of sum up my experience. I don't mean it was a trivial thing, but I didn't spend any time agonising over it. I had no doubts and I haven't ever since.

Years later I had a hard time trying to conceive when we did want children, ended up getting pregnant on our last attempt at IVF. I thought we were going to end up childless and while I was sad about that it didn't change how I felt about the abortion. A child at that time would have been a disaster for me and probably for him or her. My choice to have an abortion then does not change another person's fertility, so while I understand that it is very hard not to be able to conceive when you want to I think that is a terrible reason to expect women to feel bad for conceiving when they don't want to.

changeisgood · 27/05/2011 10:33

I had an abortion six years ago and I mostly don't even think about it now. My main regret is the 350GBP it cost, at the time I just kept thinking that was the price of quite a nice bag.

Silver6 · 27/05/2011 10:43

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying anyone should feel they've made a bad decision or feel huge guilt over an abortion - for me, I know it could be a case of "there but for the grace of God". And there are some situations (rape, being told your child has a condition "not compatible with life" where I wouldn't DARE argue a woman's right).

It's just that IMHO, in many cases of abortion there should be a sense of regret - only inasmuch as if I'd had an abortion when in a bad relationship, or too young, I would have regretted that I wasn't in a position to give that baby a chance. It doesn't make it a wrong decision.

While I agree, my inability to conceive & carry a pregnancy to term does not remove another's right to terminate, the 8 years and 6 losses changed my view of early pregancy. I now have frozen embryos I can't use because I have to have a hysterectomy, and the idea of letting them perish upsets me because now I view them as potential siblings for my LO, whereas on previous cycles that worried me less. Just saying.

SpringchickenGoldBrass · 27/05/2011 10:44

WHile it's up to any woman to choose NOT to terminate a pregnancy because of her own feelings and beliefs, people who are obssessed with stopping any woman terminating a pregnancy are people who believe, at bottom, that women are not really people though foetuses are. It's the same mindset behind all those screaming fits about drinking and eating pate while PG - there have been calls to prohibit women of childbearing age from drinking alcohol in case they are pregnant. It's about women being seen as incubators and servants.
The thing is, with early abortion, is that there's no guarantee that pregnancy would have been viable anyway (and there is NO WAY AT ALL of telling BTW so spare me any bullshit anecdotes about terminated foetuses of 7 weeks gestation being 'perfect'). There never is a guarantee that a pregnancy will end in a live birth, after all. It's OK for an actual, living woman to put her own interests ahead of what is only a potential person.

MichaelaS · 27/05/2011 10:57

SGB I think it's just saying that lowering the quality of life for a healthy adult person is not as important as continuing the existance of a life (or potential life depending on when you define a person as starting to live) which has a high probability of becoming a healthy adult given no intervention to stop the pregnancy.

IMHO foetuses are really people too. I can see the arguments that sometimes ending the life of that person could be the best of a set of bad choices. But I still believe it's ending a life. And the same argument could be applied to children after birth, but as a society we seem to think that is a complete no go. A small child is only a potential adult after all. They might not live to adulthood, there are no guarantees.

Sorry I seem to be in the minority here. I'm not against abortion completely, I do think on balance the woman should have the choice, but I also think that the woman's right to choose is in direct opposition to the foetus's right to life after it has been created by that woman (and a man of course).

swallowedAfly · 27/05/2011 11:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SpringchickenGoldBrass · 27/05/2011 11:10

Michalea: I fail to see how you can award a 'right to life' to something that has no independent life and may never have one ie it may not be a viable pregnancy.
Unless you think that women should always put their own needs and wishes last, of course.

cushiebutterfield2 · 27/05/2011 13:06

"Michalea: I fail to see how you can award a 'right to life' to something that has no independent life and may never have one ie it may not be a viable pregnancy."

So what about the born people that have no independant life and may never have one, do they have a right to life?

swallowedAfly · 27/05/2011 13:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

MichaelaS · 27/05/2011 13:11

I guess I do it in the same way as the fact that none of us, as organisms, has an independent life. The oxygen I breathe is produced by plants and the CO2 I exhale is taken in by plants. I eat things. They eat other things or grow based on energy from the sun.

In this case the foetus is dependent mostly on one other organism, the pregnant woman. But I don't see a moral line between dependence on one organism and dependance on many.

I never said the woman should put their own needs and wishes last. They are an important factor, but not the only factor IMHO. It is unacceptable to euthanise a born child because they are detrimental to the mental, physical or financial health of their mother, siblings etc. I agree it is more acceptable to euthanise an unborn child than a born one, particularly in the early stages of gestation where capacity for thought and feeling pain are not yet developed. But I don't think it is acceptable in its own right. Only when held in balance with the needs of the other parties involved - usually the pregnant woman. And that argument could also be made for a born child - if they were a huge drain financially, emotionally, physically, in all ways possible then why would it be wrong to decide the family's needs are more important than the young baby's needs and that overall the right answer is to euthanise the child? I struggle to see a moral difference. Practical difference, yes. Tipping the balance due to the reduced ability of a foetus to feel, think, act, express wishes, and the reduced probability of reaching healthy adulthood, yes. But all these arguments are just saying the foetus's benefit is less weighty than the born child's benefit, not that they don't exist at all.

I'm not saying abortion should be banned or anything like that. The woman's needs ARE important. But just as the woman's needs should not ALWAYS be last, they should also not ALWAYS be first. Perhaps they should have more weight than the needs of the foetus because she is more sentient, more likely to survive to adulthood, dependent on a higher number of other organisms rather than just one. But the foetus's needs should be on the list too. I think the woman is actually the best placed to do this weighing. But she is also a biased party to that decision.

I think its a genuinely thorny moral dilemma, and not at all as clear cut as "my body my choice" (the foetus also has a body) or "anyone who is against abortion is deliberately supressing women in general" (anyone who is for it is deliberately supressing foetusses?).

I am really grateful for this thread though for exposing me to other's points of view and giving me food for thought - it has made me question my opinion and change it in some regards.

Mitzimaybe · 27/05/2011 13:25

GOMC That article is really good.

I wonder how many of the Americans out partying on the streets of Washington etc. celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden also picket abortion clinics?

CRS · 27/05/2011 13:25

I agree with MichaelaS. I did feel terrible guilt and regret and still do really, many years later, and it was years ago. The only way it doesn't eat me up is that I just pretend to myself it didn't happen and choose not to think about it. But that's just me - I don't think anyone else should be "supposed" to feel any way about it, so I think YANBU.

ItsNotUnusual · 27/05/2011 13:35

This thread has been on my mind overnight and I'm glad it's started to address the issue of the 'big decision'. No doubt, many women find the decision to terminate a difficult one, or a life changing one. It was a non decision for me. And I also agree with 'not a backward glance' . If any amount of anguish on my behalf would help another woman's fertility problems, I'd be there like a shot. But all it would really achieve is a negative impact on my mental well being.

I kept my first unplanned pregnancy with no regret or backward glance, and no decision either, as I just KNEW I wanted the baby. I was, then as now, pro-choice. My next unplanned pregnancy was exactly the same, no decision, no regret but no baby. The only thing I have wondered is why I kept having unplanned pregnancies. (yes, I know it was the sex! But why did I 'allow' this to happen to me)

For those of you who have regrets or sadness, I hope you come to terms with your past and wish you well x

cushiebutterfield2 · 27/05/2011 14:02

michaelaS
^"I guess I do it in the same way as the fact that none of us, as organisms, has an independent life. The oxygen I breathe is produced by plants and the CO2 I exhale is taken in by plants. I eat things. They eat other things or grow based on energy from the sun.

In this case the foetus is dependent mostly on one other organism, the pregnant woman. But I don't see a moral line between dependence on one organism and dependance on many."^

A well made point I think.

thumbwitch · 27/05/2011 14:03

The problem with regarding the foetus as more important than the woman bearing it can be seen in Mexico, where abortion is illegal but they have also imprisoned women who have miscarriages in some cases. This takes the pro-life view to its logical conclusion really - a woman losing a baby for whatever reason has failed to keep that baby alive and must therefore be punished. It is appalling to think that women who have miscarried a probably much-wanted baby are then imprisoned for their misfortune.
for one example although there is a huge fight on for reform of this situation. The problem lies in deciding that life begins at conception and legislating with that.

ThisIsANiceCage · 27/05/2011 14:33

Yes I have connections in countries where this is true, thumbwitch.

One who moved to the UK was profoundly relieved to discover, after the miscarriage of a much wanted pregancy, that she wouldn't have to endure a compulsory police interview as in her country of origin.

nethunsreject · 27/05/2011 14:37

yanbu.

never regretted mine, 18 yrs on.

wasn't an easy choice, but the right one

cushiebutterfield2 · 27/05/2011 14:44

thumbwitch
I haven't read that article yet, but that sounds dreadful.
Nonetheless, I can't see where anyone has suggested that the unborn baby ( and fetus is just latin for "baby" by the way) is MORE important than the mother carrying it.
I do think it is logically inconsistent however to be pro choice but anti infanticide.
( one other thought regarding your concern that women who have miscarried may be "accused" of aborting, utterly heinous though that is, we don't suggest keeping murder legal because some people have been wrongly convicted.
I see that as a separate issue.
And as an aside, when abortion was illegal in this country, did anyone go to jail for having-rather than performing- an abortion? I don't know the answer, just wondering)

cushiebutterfield2 · 27/05/2011 14:45

"One who moved to the UK was profoundly relieved to discover, after the miscarriage of a much wanted pregancy, that she wouldn't have to endure a compulsory police interview as in her country of origin."

Wow. Ghastly. Can you say what country this would have happened in?

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is not accepting new messages.
Swipe left for the next trending thread