Deb

I would like to have my photo taken because as a young, indo-caribbean woman, I am a less common face of wimmin who have/access abortions, in my community. While there are in fact, many Brown wimmin who have them, this may not be seen in my own or in white communities. As a woman who had an abortion at 24 years old, (I am 29 now), it is important to see that not only teenagers “should” be having abortions- wimmin of all ages can still choose whether or not they want to take the role on of being a mother.

I had the support of my friends but my partner and mother were very unsupportive, even on the day of the abortion. I experienced a lot of crap from them and of course pressure to have the child. It was hard to hear that from my mother and partner. I will never forgive them for that. They wanted me to make a choice that I knew was going to be the wrong one for me. The impact of them acting and saying such things really affected our relationships. Abortion is not openly discussed because society wants to control our bodies and what we do with them, so when and if wimmin are brave enough to speak out about it, they get chastised for it and disrespected for making a decision that concerns themselves first, not the “unborn child”. I feel sad for myself and for wimmin. I am lucky to be in environments that allow me to talk about my experiences without shame or guilt. Wimmin are told that if they don’t feel guilt or shame, then they are cold or callous to their decision. Or they must feel like they lost something, as oppose to having gained something else for having made that decision.