{"id":228526,"date":"2010-01-25T10:46:33","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T15:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rhrealitycheck.org\/blog\/2010\/01\/25\/my-choice-story"},"modified":"2010-01-25T11:08:24","modified_gmt":"2010-01-25T16:08:24","slug":"my-choice-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/228526","title":{"rendered":"My Choice Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n\tThis post is part of our "What Does Choice Mean to You?" series<\/a> commemorating the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade<\/em>.\n\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nI was raised pro-choice. I was raised to
\nbelieve in reproductive freedom. There are a lot of reasons for that but it
\nmostly has to do with my parents.\n<\/p>\n

\nI am the product of an interracial
\nmarriage. People never know what I am, and they are always curious to know. Is
\nthat because they’ll know how to treat me after? Does it make them feel better
\nbecause they’ve had experiences with some of my "people?"\n<\/p>\n

\nAs a multiracial woman growing up, it just
\ndidn’t make sense to be a bigot. It didn’t make sense to be supporting
\nsomething that barred individual liberty and ignored the elements of diverse
\nsocial and ethnic realities. Seeing the ostracism my own parents experienced
\nbeing together, I never wanted any part of anything right wing or narrow-minded.
\nAnd that’s exactly what the anti-choice movement represents to me, since I’ve
\nseen the same people who show up protesting at clinics yell homophobic slurs at
\nmy gay friends or serve me last at a restaurant.\n<\/p>\n

\nI remember being about 10 years old and
\ncoming home from my Catholic school asking my mom if abortion was wrong.\n<\/p>\n

\n"They said it’s like grinding babies." I
\nrepeated to my mother.\n<\/p>\n

\n"Jessica, I’m going to tell you something.
\nAbortion isn’t wrong. Making a personal decision for someone else is wrong.
\nPretending you know what it’s like to be in their shoes is wrong."\n<\/p>\n

\n"But they said that God won’t love you if
\nyou get an abortion!" I continued.\n<\/p>\n

\n"I’ve had two. Do you think the Creator
\ndoesn’t love me?" my mother replied.\n<\/p>\n

\nWhoa. Well that shut me up. Because now my
\nown mother was one of "those" people. People who have had abortions.\n<\/p>\n

\nMy mother would then recount to me her
\nstory about being 15 then 16, living in a small community, her parents barely
\nbeing able to put food on the table, and the series of abusive relationships
\nshe would go in and out of. It was strange for me to picture my mother back
\nthen, given how different our lives were at that moment.\n<\/p>\n

\n"Well how were you able to have me and
\nJennifer? Why’d you pick us?" I asked.\n<\/p>\n

\n"Because it was the right time" my mother
\ntold me. "Because I was old enough, mature enough, able to actually give you
\nthe life you deserved. Your spirits have been with me all along. It wouldn’t
\nhave been fair otherwise. Listen, having kids is a big deal and it should never
\nbe taken lightly. Those pro-life people are really are missing the point of
\ngiving life in reality."\n<\/p>\n

\nSo that’s why I’m here.\n<\/p>\n

\nFighting for reproductive justice that is
\ninclusive and encompassing for everyone. Trying to make sure we can all make the
\nbest decision for our own lives.\n<\/p>\n

\nBecause I know the Creator still loves my mom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of our "What Does Choice Mean to You?" series commemorating the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I was raised pro-choice. I was raised to believe in reproductive freedom. There are a lot of reasons for that but it mostly has to do with my parents. I am the product of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4576,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4576"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}