HANDJOBS AND GOLF
21 year-old Recording Arts student from St. Petersburg, Fl.
Compulsive consumer of soul records, electronic music, high contrast, bright colors, minimalism, science fiction, thought exercises, and pretzels
Today a dear friend of mine had to terminate her pregnancy.
She navigated the process… the waiting, the judgement, the fear, the confusion, the tears, the loneliness, the contradictions in self, and came out the other end more or less still a whole person, and I am grateful that despite her age, she displays the peace and strength of being that I could only wish for.
But she took the time to note that for other women it could not have been so easy, that some of the staff of Planned Parenthood at times displayed callous distance and made grim jokes to each other about their work or things related.
The women who have these procedures done are not lying to themselves. They are not naive to the nature of what it is they are signing up for. They are scared. They shake when they fill out their paper work. They cry. They cry a lot. It’s must be the hardest decision in a young woman’s life to make, and anyone who tries to take this away from the circumstance to advance political agenda is a heartless bastard. We need funding for more counseling, better staff, but mostly we need to open a dialogue about how women are treated post-op. The social fabric sees them as lesser, damaged, and not-women. This is only true when we fail as friends and families to come to their aid.
Support the women in your life. Support them in their hardest times. Remind them why you love them and why they are such amazing people, because they are.
