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    UrbanAchieverJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:49pm

    When Roe vs Wade led to the legalization of abortion, I remember my mom - a relatively apolitical woman - practically weeping with joy. She’d had me very young, and I’m sure she toyed with the idea of abortion - but it was illegal and dangerous. How dangerous? As a high school student, she’d driven a girlfriend across the border for a Tijuana back alley abortion. Her friend almost bled to death in my mom’s car on the way home.

    It’s nice to know that the old timey values in some states mean going back to the abortion practices and dangers of 60 years ago.

    ETA: And when will the statistics come out as to how many women have died as a result of botched abortions. Because you know they’re out there, whether they’re calling them that or not.

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      LOREM IPSUMUrbanAchiever
      11/17/15 1:53pm

      Just look up the photograph of Gerri Santoro and read her story. That is what they want to bring us back to. If I had it all to do over again, I’d go to med school, become a gynecological surgeon, and perform abortions. In my next life, maybe. This is a service that women NEED.

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      accordingtoUrbanAchiever
      11/17/15 1:56pm

      I can honestly say, if my mom had felt the need to abort me, I would understand and be OK with it. I know anti-choice activists like to snakily ask that “Well what if your mom had an abortion?” and my thought it, if she’d needed to, and did, fine, because I love her and would have wanted her to do what was best for her situation.

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    ArchitectQueenBitchJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:45pm

    Who are these vacant eyed women who have no empathy for their sisters and friends? I just still can’t wrap my head around who they are out in the wild.

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      Calls From the PublicArchitectQueenBitch
      11/17/15 1:59pm

      Maybe they were pulled from Mitt Romney’s binders of women? (Political throwback, what what)

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      lunchcomaArchitectQueenBitch
      11/17/15 2:03pm

      I have some compassion for them, because look at how young they are. I’m thinking that at least some of them haven’t actually had a lot of experience, even second-hand, with unplanned pregnancy yet, and that perhaps they may develop some perspective with time.

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    autumnrhythmJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:39pm

    This really goes to show that you’re either pro-choice, or you’re pro-illegal/unsafe abortion. I read that somewhere (possibly from another Jezebel commenter) and it has stuck with me ever since.

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      Oddacctautumnrhythm
      11/17/15 1:47pm

      They do, they want women to suffer, by any means necessary.

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      LOREM IPSUMautumnrhythm
      11/17/15 1:52pm

      That’s about the size of it. Abortions won’t stop just because clinics close. They will just become incredibly unsafe, and women will die or be maimed as they attempt to terminate these unwanted pregnancies. The well-to-do will always be able to get their D&Cs, but the poor and desperate are the ones who will suffer.

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    Unfrozen Caveman LawyerJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:52pm

    I remember girls in college having all kinds of tips and tricks to “induce your period” (i.e. early abortion) if they thought they may have been pregnant. I never knew anyone to be actually confirmed pregnant aborting their pregnancies, but I remember girls taking a week’s worth of birth control pills, a shit ton of vitamin C, and other idiotic things (please don’t do either of these things) when they wre in the midst of a “scare.” It’s way more common than we think.

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      lunchcomaUnfrozen Caveman Lawyer
      11/17/15 1:59pm

      Taking multiple birth control pills isn’t an abortion method, but taking a couple of birth control pills did used to be the less accurate equivalent of the morning after pill. Medical professionals would even recommend it. Obviously people shouldn’t do it anymore because there’s the actual morning after pill, which is more effective.

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      Cocopop!Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
      11/17/15 2:06pm

      Herbs. I remember hearing about herbs you could take to induce an abortion. Pennyroyal. Black Cohosh. Folks, I don’t suggest you try this, but if you are going to do it, please do your research.

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    iElvis is Now Funded by Peter ThielJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:36pm

    Imagine if Texas treated abortions the same as firearms.

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      iElvis is Now Funded by Peter ThieliElvis is Now Funded by Peter Thiel
      11/17/15 1:38pm

      Or dildos, even.

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      Bears for PresidentiElvis is Now Funded by Peter Thiel
      11/17/15 1:39pm

      You’d be allowed to have them at Starbucks?

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    geotekk aka "Caustic Soda"Joanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:39pm

    False.

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      GlitterPeacockgeotekk aka "Caustic Soda"
      11/17/15 1:48pm

      I have an ex-friend who used to say ‘a baby is always a good thing’ - I never understood how she could think that (along with many other conservative ideas she had, hence she’s an ex-friend).

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      KK4Bamageotekk aka "Caustic Soda"
      11/17/15 2:02pm

      Except for Hitler! ;)

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    accordingtoJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:36pm

    And again, if you want to help keep abortion safe and legal in Texas:

    www.plannedparenthoodaction.org

    www.latinainstitute.org

    www.aclu.org

    Every. Dollar. Counts.

    Every. Signature. Counts.

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      youngscholaraccordingto
      11/17/15 1:39pm

      And a great Texas organization that helps women fund abortions: https://www.lilithfund.org

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      lochnessmobstaaccordingto
      11/17/15 9:46pm

      I'm Canadian but want to support all you American ladies fighting for the right to make your own decisions. Can Canadians sign Th petitions? I send money to PP but wanna sign shit if I can.

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    bagoflettersJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:59pm

    Why do other people get to decide what is best for my life? I just. What is the reasoning here? Maybe, MAYBE I could see it if each person who is prolife was willing to adopt the child, but they aren’t. I know this argument has been hashed out before but for the life of me I cannot understand it, why doesn’t a living woman have the right to body autonomy when a corpse does? Why is there an asterisk over certain prolife stances *unless conceived in rape *except in cases of incest *unless its my life. Why cant there just be the statement, it is your body it is your choice, It’s not like we have a shirking population problem, its not like the opponents are willing to take the unwanted children in. Who is this stranger that wants to tell me what I can and cant do with my own body, who tells me that even the possibility of a child carried to term is worth more than my life, but in the same breath refuses to give any sort of help to the child forced into this world. Who are these people to rob me of choice for my own body?

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      nopenotathingbagofletters
      11/17/15 2:14pm

      Actually, a significant number of these anti-choicers aren’t just willing to adopt – they want to adopt new-born babies and that’s part of their motivation. There aren’t as many newborn babies up for full adoption as there are people who want to adopt but won’t accept a foster child, a toddler, an older child or a sibling group. It’s horrifying, but there really are sickos out there who want to force women to give birth against our will so that they can have the kind of family they feel entitled to. Sadly, I’ve heard that line of thinking from gay men more than once...

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      mooncafnopenotathing
      11/18/15 12:16am

      Riiight. Hey, giving up a baby is almost the same thing as losing your favorite sweater! Or your iPod! /sarcasm

      Sorry - I’m reading The Girls Who Went Away (who gave up babies circa 1945-73 for adoption whether they wanted to or not), and damn, it’s heartbreaking. I mean, I don’t have the greatest motivation to reproduce, but it’s appalling to me that the “just place the baby for adoption” folks think that giving up a child IS in fact, like losing a smartphone, and that I might have more parental instincts than they do :P

      I don’t think adoption is remotely terrible or inherently immoral or anything, just that it seems like very few people who consider it a solution think about anything approaching real life consequences, and not just for the mother and baby.

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    jkredwineJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:42pm

    Having grown up in Texas public schools in a city with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, this jives well with my own experience. Girls used oral contraceptives to attempt abortion pretty regularly. Not to mention the even more dangerous methods. It’s a serious problem that’s only getting worse.

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      Calls From the Publicjkredwine
      11/17/15 1:58pm

      I hope this comment gets so many stars. Not because it’s a good thing, but because it is so important that the women with direct experiences have their voices heard. I think for some of us in more liberal places it can be hard to actually picture this in action. Please keep talking, please keep sharing.

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    arewemenoramidevoJoanna Rothkopf
    11/17/15 1:42pm

    You see? The free market has stepped up to fill the gravbbbblegar vbvvvvvvvvvbrraaaaaaaaaallllllllll

    *eats own head*

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      thespotteddogarewemenoramidevo
      11/17/15 1:45pm

      I just choked on my coffee. I hope you are pleased inside.

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      sybannarewemenoramidevo
      11/17/15 1:47pm

      If only. (The head eating part).

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