This is a post that is difficult for me… I understand that some people feel for faith-based reasons that abortion is a form of murder…. I don’t agree, but I cannot force people to change those beliefs simply because I KNOW from personal experience the true cost to women of safe, legal abortion is not available.
In 1980, the aptly named Hyde Amendment took effect and cut off poor women from abortion access because federal funds were no longer allowed to be used to fund abortion care — carving that access OUT of Medicaid coverage. That same coverage is the ONLY way that many women are able to get medical insurance — the same way MY FAMILY is able to get medical insurance.
I haven’t made this generally known, but I was a VICTIM of the Hyde Amendment in conjunction with being in an abusive relationship with a sexual predator who had groomed me when I was in high school.
My abuser did not use contraception, and I was not able to readily access contraception. So, I conceived from the relationship. My abuser did not want me to be pregnant, did not want me to carry to term — and also did not want to be financially responsible for helping me pay for an abortion. So, because I was under his mental sway, I performed what is known as a “knitting needle” abortion on myself and I nearly died.
Yes, the Moirai deemed that it was not the time for my thread to be cut, but it still caused me extreme anguish through the years — and not because I would have chosen a safe abortion had I had that option, but that I was told that because of the severe infection which did terminate my pregnancy that I would likely never be able to conceive going forward….
Now, I have a pre-teen daughter who has just started having menstruation, and this decision robs her of the ability to control her reproductive health. I pray that Athena, Hestia Politia, Themis, Nomos, and Queen Hera guide our legislators to enshrine abortion protection in Federal law, not just “abortion islands” in the various states.
greekrevivalistmommy 