Hi guys, I didn't want to see this buried in the debate thread, but that is where I'm coming from with this post. I am personally very fond of "adoption is an option". I love that. I love the idea of matching babies to loving families. (Also, I love being pregnant, and if my health were better, I would gladly be a surrogate mother, and not for money.)

A lot of anti-abortion people throw adoption out as an argument to ban abortion. Sounds good, but... I have been pregnant twice. The first time, I could have died in delivery. Noone knew I would have a retained placenta. But after about an hour of hemorrhaging, I was saved - yey. The second time, both me and the baby could have died from hemorrhage (a partially detached placenta). Were I to go into labor, anytime, unless really close to the hopital, I would have probably bled to death. The baby could not be born at all without a C-section - so no delivery in the ambulance or taxi or wherever. The baby would go with me. I aborted that second pregnancy - not an easy decision - and pretty late, too. None of this came up, and could not have been found out, until late in my fifth month.

Before my sad experience, a friend of mine, carrying twins, started bleeding for no reason, and lost 3 quarts of blood in 45 minutes. The doctors saved her and both babies with multiple transfusions. A couple of months after my ordeal, a friend of a friend actually died in delivery - hemorrhage again. There was nothing to predict her death. (In my case, the doctors could at least see that it was a possibility.)

So what's the point? Many people forget how big of a risk just being pregnant and delivering is. In less developed parts of the world, women die from pregnancies (mostly in childbirth) all the time. Worst case is Tibet, where 1 in 40 women will die due to pregnancy. I know, in Tibet (no medical care) I would be one of them. Very sobering. (BTW, the US is way behind Europe on that, I don't know why.) I talked about life and death matters, but there are also health issues - diabetes, blood clots (I've had that too, very lethal), eclampsia (also life-threatening) not to mention post-partum mental health issues (hello?). None of these are very rare, but are managed by doctors, for the most part successfully.

I want to say this again: pregnancy is NOT a trivial issue for a woman. Biologically, women are NOT designed to pop out babies SAFELY. There are reasons for that, but that's a different thread. Right now, I am married, we use two forms of birth control, and I know there is still a small risk of getting pregnant. I want to see abortion legal, as a backup option to protect my life and health. I don't want to be 20 weeks pregnant with a pulmonary embolism before my health is deemed in danger.

So, I told you my story, and expressed why I want to see abortion legal. Other people on the other thread have told of their story as an incest survivor, and would like to have abortion legal in such a case. There are doublessly others who were victims of rape, and want protection for rape victims. There are a lot of us here who are medically unable to care for themselves, let alone for a child with severe disabilities - it is much harder to find a loving, caring family to adopt a severely disabled child (I mean more severely disabled than having Down syndrome).

Everybody has a different story. I can not decide now what the answer to some future moral equation is going to be, and I don't trust anybody else to do it. That's why I believe the choice (one way or the other) should NOT be written in stone (law). Only those involved can solve their personal moral equation - they are the only ones responsible for it anyway, to the big guy above.

I am not posting this to change many minds, most people have them made up, and that's not going to change. But some of you, I know this for sure, some of you were not aware of how big of a health risk simply going through delivery is (or even just being pregnant) - even for healthy mothers. It is very small, but it is there. I want you to acknowledge this perspective, and then go on with your convictions, changed or not. My life was turned upside down, and I have a very personal experience that I need to share.

Bottom line:
Noone should be forced to go through delivery without their consent.