Pro-Choice, Anti-Abortion

I find the new "Normalize Abortion" movement, including women wearing shirts that say, "I had an abortion" deeply disturbing. I do NOT think abortion should be normalized. I also don't think we should shame people who have had an abortion, but I do think that having an abortion should be a red flag that you need help either getting access to birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies or that you have been the victim of sexual assault. I know I'll catch a lot of flack from my fellow progressives for feeling this way, but I am strongly pro-choice AND strongly anti-abortion, and I believe that is the only compassionate, ethical stance in areas where there is easy access to affordable birth control methods (in areas where there is not we must improve this immediately). Respect for ALL life calls on us, first and foremost, to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. When an unwanted pregnancy occurs, respect for the monumental impact that pregnancy and childbirth has on the life of the mother and for women's reproductive rights calls on us to allow her to choose for herself how to proceed with the pregnancy occurring in her body; however, granting that, respect for life calls on us to help her prevent future unwanted pregnancies, to help her partner prevent future unwanted pregnancies, to prosecute the man who assaulted her (if applicable) in order to prevent future trauma to others let alone unwanted pregnancies, and to continue to put all of our efforts and energy into providing EASY, AFFORDABLE (ideally free) BIRTH CONTROL TO ALL MEN AND WOMEN THE MOMENT THEY BEGIN PUBERTY.

I don't think abortion should be normalized. Abortion is an extreme, often traumatic medical procedure and, from a biological perspective, the ending of a new life. I am an atheist and a scientist and hold no religious beliefs whatsoever, but I do hold a deep respect for life, especially sentient life, and a devotion to compassion and ethics, including minimizing death and suffering as much as reasonably possible. It is my humble opinion that, in order for us to evolve as a human society, we must make compassion and ethics the bedrock of society and our decision making. In the case of abortion, compassion and ethics call on us to try to make abortion as unnecessary as possible in order to avoid the death of a new life and trauma to the pregnant woman.

Bailey Borchardt, Planned Parenthood of New York City PPGen CUNY Organizer claims, "There are a million reasons why a person might seek out an abortion, and all are valid" (https://ppgnyact.medium.com/lets-finally-normalize-abortion-6fdb05cbb07d) and goes on to list examples. The following is a table of these examples viewed through the compassion lens:

Abortion Story Examples	Compassion Lens Response
One writer shares how close she was to achieving her Ph.D. when she found out she was pregnant, and how her abortion was a necessary step to ensure the completion of her degree, but how she hoped to become pregnant again someday when the time was right.	This person is educated. It is hard to believe that she doesn't know about birth control and very likely that she has easy access to it. Compassion calls on her to feel at least some remorse about creating and then ending a life when this could have been prevented. Compassion also calls on her to use birth control from now on and to encourage her partner and frankly everyone she knows to do the same.
Another writer shares that she was susceptible to societal pressures from her parents and her boyfriend and it took her three months into the pregnancy to decide that she wasn’t ready for a child. She traveled two hours to choose life — her own.	Again, compassion calls on her to feel at least some remorse about creating and then ending a life when this could have been prevented. Compassion also calls on her to use birth control from now on and to encourage her partner and everyone she knows to do the same.
Another person writes that she knew before getting her first period that she didn’t want children. Having an abortion provided her with the freedom to be childless.	Did she also know about birth control? Using birth control, especially long-term birth control methods like an IUD, would have been a much more compassionate, ethical method of choosing to be childless.
One individual writes “Abortion was the first time I chose to support myself.”	I'm glad this person is choosing to support herself, but I hope that she will also choose to be compassionate and ethical by going on birth control and encouraging everyone she knows to do the same.
Networks like Shout Your Abortion have created a safe space for anyone and everyone to share their abortion stories. Some of these stories share how getting an abortion wasn’t even a second thought.	Cutting short a new life is, in my opinion, ultimately the decision of the woman whose body this new life is inhabiting; however, it should never be ended so flippantly as this statement implies. You are choosing to end a life that has just begun. You have no idea who that person would have been, but they were already on their way to becoming it when their life was cut short. Please have some respect for that.

Yes, everyone should have equal access to free, safe abortions, but NO, we should NOT normalize abortion and we should do EVERYTHING in our power to avoid unwanted pregnancies including free, easy access to birth control for ALL. Those who have already had an abortion should not be shamed, but they should be EDUCATED on how to prevent any more unwanted pregnancies and INUNDATED with free methods for doing so.