“Did I make the right decision?”
Note: Any time I talk about women suffering after abortion, people assume I’m arguing that their suffering is a reason to outlaw abortion. In fact this isn’t my point. I do think we should outlaw elective abortion–because it kills human beings. But even if we lived in a world where outlawing abortion was impossible, I would still raise the issue of women grieved by abortion. I explain why here: 8 reasons to talk about women who struggle after abortion
The Turnaway Study found that five years after getting an abortion, 99% of women said the abortion was the right decision for them. Abortion advocates point to this finding as evidence that abortion has minimal negative impacts for the woman obtaining one.
[Read more – The Overlooked Findings of the Turnaway Study]
Even if you accept the premise (that nearly all women who abort ultimately say it was the right decision for them), the conclusion (of minimal harm) doesn’t necessarily follow.
[Read more – Please don’t conflate abortion harm with abortion regret]
The story-telling abortion rights advocacy group, Shout Your Abortion (SYA), features many testimonials from women who affirm abortion was right for their circumstances. However a subset of those testimonials reveal complex emotional positions, with the same women who say abortion was right for them expressing deep grief and pain.
(These quotes originate from longer testimonies which you can read at the URL listed on each quote graphic.)
Research suggests nearly 1 in 4 women who abort view their abortions as “unwanted” or “coerced.” There are roughly one million abortions in the United States per year. This would mean roughly 240,000 women per year get abortions they feel pressured or coerced into.
People who defend abortion rights because they value autonomy and choice need to reckon with this complexity. The relationship between autonomy and legal abortion is not so straightforward. For countless women, abortion isn’t empowerment; it’s devastation.
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