My Body, My Choice!

One of the most quoted quotes these days is my body, my choice. We are hearing it over and over due to the decision our county has taken to overturn Roe vs Wade. If you are not familiar, Roe vs Wade was a Supreme Court ruling stating that the US Constitution protects the liberty for a women to choose to have an abortion. It was Placed on January 22, 1973 but on June 24, 2022 this decision was overturned causing an outrage in our country. 

Now before I continue let me say that I respect everyone’s opinion on the topic. And what I am going to write about is in my personal opinion and experience. Whichever side you stand on I believe that the fact we have the option to choose is the beauty of it all. With the decision to overturn Roe vs Wade it takes away the option and that is what I have a problem with. 

14 years ago, a 20 year old was just starting her career. I went from making minimum wage to having my first real job with benefits and 401K. I was overjoyed. Not to mention I had just signed my first lease and basically I was a newlyweds. Kids were not in the picture, I was just getting started. Because of this we, my husband at the time, decided that it would be best to start birth control. We had always used other forms of protection but decided we needed to be extra careful. After a month of taking my birth control, I started feeling sick. I would wake up nauseous every morning, I was extra tired and craving pickles. I could not understand it. So I went back to the Dr to let him know the birth control was not working for me. It was making me sick. Well after a standard pregnancy test turns out your girl was pregnant. How could this have happened? We were not supposed to get pregnant. We were very clear on the goal to save and purchase our first home within a year. I cried, and cried and cried some more. My Dr gave me some time and then came back to the room with two cards. His exact words were, “ I believe that every woman has a choice. If you choose to keep the baby here is your prenatal prescription but if you choose that this is not the right time here is an abortion clinic that I recemend.” I was shocked because never in life had anyone ever given me a choice. As a Hispanic woman my only opinion I was ever given was to give birth. Why was this not normal? Why had no one ever explained to me that I had options. When I got home and explained to my then husband my options he was so open to me making the choice. Ofcouse he voiced his concern and his choice but he ultimately left the choice up to me. After 20 years on this earth this was the first time I ever had the choice and at that moment I allowed myself to have choices. Choices different from what I was taught. Different from the normal. Now from my previous post you all know that my choice was to give birth to a beautiful little boy that now is a handsome young teenager. 

I also believe we need to change the way we think and raise our younger generation. For centuries we have always focused on teaching our young ladies not to get pregnant, but not allowing them to take the proper steps to get birth control and protect themselves. Yet we encourage our young men to go out and have sex with as many women as they can, because that makes them a “real man”. This, especially in my Hispanic Community, has to change. We need to teach both males and females to be responsible and to Practice safe sex.