This is my first diary here on Daily Kos. It’s a hard subject, so please bear with me.
Many year ago. I was in a monogamous relationship with a woman who had three children from a previous marriage. We were not financially stable. I had a low paying dead end job and she was just starting college to get a teaching degree. We agreed that we could not reasonably support another child, either financially or emotionally. I had also decided in my teens that I did not feel it was a good world to bring a child into, as there were already too many humans on the planet. So we were very faithful about using a diaphragm for birth control. Things went well for a while, but she got pregnant. We figured the diaphragm must have had a microscopic hole it it. We discussed the options, and thank God, abortion was legal, so we chose that option. We also got a new diaphragm. A few more years, and we didn’t use the diaphragm once because she was on her period. Guess what? Pregnancy again. So we found another abortion provider. This one was very compassionate and treated my significant other with a great deal of respect. She also told us something neither of us knew, and I’m willing to bet a lot of people don’t know. A woman can ovulate during her period. We finished with the procedure and went home. As soon as I possibly could, I got a vasectomy.
The realization, both times, that I would not have a child of my genetics, was not easy to deal with. But I had made up my mind I would not bring a child into the world, and that made the decsion a little less traumatizing. But there was always the nagging thought, “what if?”
I fully support the right of all women to choose how, when, why, and with whom they bear children. I foresee disaster in America if the right to choose is removed. The right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term is the first right the radical right wants to remove. It will go past abortion and contraception and lead to a dystopian medieval phase of life for all citizens.
Thank you for your attention. I just had to get this off my chest.