Thread by @IsTrumpCareDead

The asshats screaming about late term abortions are completely infuriating me.

Rant thread forthcoming.

Abortion a very personal issue.

We were offered the option to terminate when Savannah was diagnosed prenatally with so many devastating health issues. We said no. We were never pushed or forced after we firmly made our decision.

The option was just presented in the scope of medical options available.

We, personally, believed in giving her a chance. We have made IMMENSE sacrifices because of it. I can no longer work. We have had $3,000,000 in medical bills. Financially, we are extremely strained because of her medical needs.

Someone in a situation less stable than ours, but with the same diagnosis, probably would have already gone bankrupt. They probably wouldn’t have been able to travel across the country & pay for the best surgeon in the world to do open heart surgery to give their child a chance.

Their child would honestly have likely died already. I can see why they would feel inclined to choose an abortion in the mindset of saving their child from suffering and basically a slower death and potentially putting the parent in a financial situation they cannot recover from.

I can see why they would not choose the life I now have. I’ve been miserable most of the last 5 1/2 yrs. I haven’t had proper sleep since she was born. I don’t get enough support from friends or family, including many who swore they’d support us through the worst of our journey.

I have not left the house for anything non-medical since October. It’s driven wedges between us and other people because they don’t understand the life we live now and how our decisions often have to go against what we would prefer to keep Savannah healthy and safe.

I have almost no “self care” or “girls night” or even Starbucks runs. And my every day is solely focused on my kid, her therapies, her doctors, and her medicine. I no longer exist as a person. I am just a caretaker and medical assistant.

I love my daughter and I think she is worth it. Absolutely NONE of this is her fault. But that doesn’t make it easy or fun. This kind of sacrifice also just isn't possible for some families.

I never understood the other side until it was me in the office with the list of things wrong with my baby that would likely kill her. And if they didn’t kill her, they would sign her up for a lifetime of suffering and painful medical procedures.

It’s daunting and painful to choose EITHER option. There is no easy answer.

EVERY TIME Savannah has to go through a painful procedure or horrific surgery or even a lab draw, I have to live with knowing that it was my decision to put her through all of this. I chose to make her embark on this fight.

I chose to give her a chance, yes, but I also chose to make her suffer and go through truly awful pain.

This life is not easy. I’m not saying I personally would ever CHOOSE abortion. But I can very clearly understand why people would make that choice and I wouldn’t judge them for it.

There’s no adequate help for families like mine. Not enough (paid) time off work for appointments prenatally, especially if your baby is diagnosed with medical issues. Not enough time off to recover from giving birth OR to stay bedside with your critically ill infant.

Not enough time off for appointments. Inadequate access to completely affordable and robus healthcare. No way to make up the income you lose or an affordable way to get childcare for a kid “too risky” for a regular babysitter or day care.

You’re not pro-life if you’re only pro-birth. You’re not pro-life if you don’t support mothers and babies after birth. You’re not pro-life if you don’t believe everyone deserves completely affordable and accessible health care.

So stop using pregnant people as your scapegoat.

And STOP trying to condemn mothers and families to a situation they may never be able to recover from, that they may not even survive.
I CHOSE not to terminate. I was woefully unprepared for what this life would look like. I don’t regret it. But no one should be forced into this.

(I am completely aware that her body, her choice is an adequate enough argument for abortion rights. This comes from a different place of a late-term catastrophic diagnosis. There’s no allowance for this in these new bans.)

/end rant. Maybe. I’m still mad.