Every Day, Good Women Choose Abortion: I Am One of Them

I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a friend... I am not just a face or voice on a screen. I have had an abortion. And I have a voice.

Earlier this week, we published an article by Charlotte Taft about vicious attacks on Northland Family Planning Clinic in response to a video they have on their website called "Every Day Good Women Choose Abortion," which can be viewed here. Thelma, the author of this post, is the woman in that video., writing under an alias.  Here she speaks out.

Vicious, hateful
things have been said about Northland Family Planning’s "Every Day, Good Women Choose
Abortion" video
, and about the wonderful staff who work in these clinics, it’s
Executive Director, women who have abortions… and me.

While I understand
that the things that are said directly about the woman in the video are meant
to be comments about the message and the pro-choice community at large, I am a
person.  

I am a human being.

I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, a
wife, a friend… I am not just a face or voice on a screen.

And I have a voice.

The words they have
attempted to demonize, to pervert, are not just the words of love, the words of
courage and the words of a movement headed by the Abortion Care Network, and
Northland Family Planning.

They are my words.

So, what I have to say
is this:  the video speaks for itself.  It speaks for
me.

The video speaks to
women all over this country and the world who need it the most.

So let my actions in
this world be my response to this hate.  Let my love for my family and
friends, my commitment to women’s rights and social justice, my passion for
helping those less fortunate then I be my answer to this hate.

I have had an
abortion.  I know the kind of woman I am. Nothing can take that away
from me.  And nothing can take that away from your sister, your
friend, your wife, your daughter, and your mother who
may have had to make the decision to have an abortion.

A dear friend of mine
shared something with me tonight.  She told me that a friend of hers
called her after she viewed the video.  And she told her "I had an
abortion 5 years ago.  And this is the message I have been searching for.
I know I am a good person, and now I feel it in my heart."

Love will win over
hate.

Truly,

Thelma