More than 35 million American women have had abortions in the past three decades, yet few have talked about it publicly. Too often, abortion has been a woman's private experience, and the silence has hurt the public's understanding that millions of women have faced unplanned pregancies. Even more, the public debate often forgets that 61% of women who have had abortions have also had children.
I feel lucky to have never faced this decision in my own personal life. But, I have many friends and congregants who have -- women who were too young, women who didn't have the financial resources, women whose contraceptive failed, women who were forced to have sex, women whose wanted pregnancies could not be continued because of their dire health problems or the medical problems of the fetus.
MS is asking those of us who have had abortion to sign a petition that they will make public of women who have had an abortion in their lifetime. You can sign the petition at https://msmagazine.com/donations/ms/womenspetition_c3_091906.asp
Public dialog about AIDS changed when people with the disease came forward. Public dialog about gay and lesbian people changed when people who were gay and lesbian came forward. The MS foundation hopes that by sharing the stories of real women who had abortions the public dialog can change too. I hope you'll consider it and pass it on.
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