Those of you who follow our Instagram know already that the most engaging discussions happen there. We have people sending supportive messages, as well as some folks blocking us once a while, which resulted in removing our account 3 times already… Yes…
We decided to engage with you more directly, and we asked what is the most annoying abortion myth for you.
We received many, many answers - some of them we expected, as they repeat in abortion debate. It’s frustrating that they are still valid, and that those myths still need busting. But we are hopefully doing our own small work to help changing that.
Some of those myths - we didn’t think about much before - thank you for growing our awareness. And this is what project is about: we want to open some eyes, but during this work - we learn ourselves, a lot. And we keep learning, keep being aware of more issues, more various views, more different aspects. Thank you for that - it is you who are teaching us ❤️
So, what are those answers? Here are some of them. You can find more on our social media (mostly Instagram @thechoice_vr), and also bigger debate is happening there, with some of those answers being more widely explained and discussed.
40 MOST ANNOYING ABORTION MYTHS:
That only teenagers do it.
That it’s always easy. Or always extremely bad. Nothing in between.
“Children” from abortion are used to produce expensive face creams…
It’s just for weak, stupid and young girls.
That only women have abortions. Please do not forget transgender people.
"It's okay if she was raped”. No, it's okay regardless
That if you wanted it, you are supposed to be strong and “just get over it”
That it causes mental health issues.
That abortions cause cancer, that you can’t have kids after an abortion, that there’s some family just waiting to adopt said fetus, “partial birth abortions”, if you don’t want to get pregnant don’t have sex, that it’s “ok” in only certain situations… The list goes on. I hate them all.
That I don’t want children.
That it is easy.
That they will eventually regret it.
I feel that one of the most troubling abortion myths is the depiction of people who have late term abortions as patients who use it as a de facto form of birth control. Not only is this inaccurate (most “late term” abortions are undertaken due to fatal fetal abnormality/risk to health of pregnant person/delayed access to reproductive health care), but it is also incredibly dangerous imagery that is deployed politically to endanger access to reproductive health care in general. Late term abortion access is okay, and the patients who need them, deserve love and support, regardless of their circumstances. ❤️
If it will be more accessible, women will use it instead of condoms or other pregnancy prevention methods.
That people who terminate pregnancies never choose to carry them and vice versa 😡 The people who choose abortion and the people who choose parenting are usually the same people at different points in their lives!
That it’s unnatural.
That you are a murderer if you get an abortion.
The over exaggerated - or completely false - risks and side effects.
That women who have them are selfish.
That she will always regret her decision to terminate.
That your soul will go to eternal hell…
When the terms fetus and person are used interchangeably as if they referred to the same thing.
That the baby would have asked the mother why she did that.
That men have a say in a woman’s choice
That the woman kills a “life”, respectively a “baby”.
Every abortion myth is annoying, but “abortion is murder” is the worst one.
That no person who choose to terminate grieves as a result of this experience.
That if you are emotional after - it means you did wrong.
That it is always a hard choice.
“She should have kept her legs closed." 🙄 Any blatant slut shaming, actually."
I don't agree with people choosing to have late abortions”. No one has abortions late unless it's absolutely necessary, 99% of the time.
My friend was told by a doctor in sexual health clinic that “she won’t be able to have more children after the abortion”. It made my blood boil 🔫
That abortion is anti women. It bothers me because they try to pass off our oppression as “good for us”. It’s so disgusting to me.
That every pregnancy is healthy and every embryo created can turn into a baby. Ever since my unhealthy pregnancy, I’ve found there are numerous complications that can happen to your baby and the cure is an abortion. This is because not every embryo turns into a baby, sometimes it becomes a clump of DNA and it can kill you. It doesn’t become a cute lil baby, it becomes a risk to your life and the thought of not being in control of my own health feels like they’re trying to send me back to biblical times. I’m not a slave to my husband. I’m not a minor that can’t make my own decisions. I’m a human with powers to create life and if that makes you too emotional that’s on you to get over. (Speaking to the anti-choicers)
That most women have “post abortion regret”.
The most annoying ones are that women having abortions are mostly irresponsible single women and that women must get depressed afterwards. I've never come across any valid source of the depression belief and I know a couple women who chose to have abortion and none of them were particularly sad about it - it was rather a relieving experience since none of those pregnancies were planned or wanted.
That women who get abortions use it irresponsibly and that it's just a normal form of birth control (like the pill or something) 🙄
That it is considered murder to the antichoice.
That adoption is better answer. For some people might be, but for many the process of being pregnant - emotions, hormones, life growing and developing - mean that it is much, much harder, and actually completely different. So no, adoption is not a better answer.
That it is quick and easy. It may be that, but not always it is, sometimes emotions show, sometimes it’s hard. Doesn’t mean that your choice is wrong.
I will post this on our Facebook [LINK], feel free to keep adding more answers, more myths that need to be discussed and busted.
And very much: please, share it further, to help open more eyes, each day, step by step.