How My Infertility Made Me Pro-Choice

While it is important to express the pain that can come along with infertility, it should never be directed towards taking away another person's freedoms.
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Ever since finding out that I couldn't conceive when I was very young, I've never really had a moment where the fact that I would never give birth bothered me.

If anything, the only upsetting part of this revelation was that I had the choice of whether or not I would have a biological child stolen from me.

The lack of options I have in how I become a parent gets my blood boiling to this very day.

So imagine my anger when I see lawmakers and politicians try to take away reproductive options from those who can conceive.

I knew then and there that I was irrevocably, unapologetically, 100% pro-choice.

A question I often see asked by those opposed to the notion of reproductive freedom is "If you don't want the baby, why not put it up for adoption? There are lots of people who can't have kids but want them!"

My answer to this is: people who can get pregnant do not owe us children, and it is unfair to push hurtful legislation on them in order to fulfill our wants.

Yes, children are wonderful, and I would love a great deal to be a mother someday. But I also know that it is not another person's responsibility to provide me with a child to bring up.

It is not fair for me to make someone go through a pregnancy against their will. And if I do become a mother, I will make sure my child holds this same deep respect for other people's bodily autonomy.

Yes, learning that you will not be able to have a child that looks like you can be incredibly painful. It is a wound that can take a very long time to heal, and for some it never does.

But why should we take our pain out on those who can have children and deny them the freedom to use their own bodies as they see fit? They are not the cause of our pain, so why treat them as if they have wronged us?

While it is important to express the pain that can come along with infertility, it should never be directed towards taking away another person's freedoms.

I knew that the best way to deal with my frustration over the limiting of reproductive options that come with infertility would be to make sure that other people who can conceive didn't have to face the same frustrations that I have, sometimes to a much greater detriment.

Nobody should be denied access to birth control because of my circumstances.

Nobody should be forced to go through a mentally and physically exhausting pregnancy because of my circumstances.

Nobody should have to die from a back-alley abortion due to lack of access to safe and legal clinics because of my circumstances.

My pain should not dictate what another person is or is not free to do with their body.

And that is why as someone with infertility, I am completely, unquestionably, 100% pro-choice.

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