Well.
After my cobloggers’ superlative contributions, I’m not sure I really have much to offer. I was brought up to believe in personal sovereignty. My mother has always been horrified by the idea of anyone dictating another woman’s reproductive decisions, even though she would not consider abortion for herself. Forced pregnancy, as far as she is concerned, is as much a violation as rape, and just as repellent. It is abusive to arrogate that control. It is profoundly dangerous. All attempts to do so have resulted in nothing but grief for women and their children. I am pro-choice because I trust women to determine what is safest and best for themselves, and because I cannot trust myself to make that decision for anyone else. I don’t have the right to steal a woman’s joy in her own freedom, or in her decision to become a parent. I don’t have the right to tell my mother that she became less of a person when she became pregnant with me. It’s that simple.