I'm Pro-Life AND Pro-Choice | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics

I'm Pro-Life AND Pro-Choice

Being pro-life and pro-choice is pretty hard to explain.

11703
I'm Pro-Life AND Pro-Choice
The Daily Dot

With the issue of women's reproductive rights hanging over everyone's head, I've decided to share my view, as an adoptee, on it.

I'm pro-life and pro-choice.

That's not possible, you say?

Think again.

Before you get the wrong idea, I don't hate children. Quite the opposite, actually. I love them. Doesn't matter the color, age, size, anything. If they can move and get in trouble the second you take your eyes off them, I want to make them smile and laugh and be happy.

I'm pro-life because when I have children, nothing else will matter. They will be the center of my entire universe; everything else will be done for the singular purpose of being able to provide for them. For me, raising my children will be my greatest achievement in life.

And it is because I will love my children so much that I'm pro-choice.

(Stop. No. It's not because I want my future children to have the option of abortion.)

I'm pro-choice because, if the government took away my choice, I would choose abortion.

Confused? Don't worry, I'll explain more.

Other governments have put laws in place governing children. Some have forced women to become pregnant and bear children. Some have put restrictions on the number of children women could keep. Personally, I think that once you give the government control of reproductive choices, you cannot take that power back.

If I wasn't given the choice to keep my child, if my only options were adoption or an abortion, I would choose an abortion.

I have felt and lived in the pain that can come with being adopted. I can tell you that it isn't always being grateful that your birth mother decided to give you life and give you away.

Sometimes it's wondering if the woman who carried you in her belly for nine months ever even held you in her arms. Sometimes it's knowing that she carried you for nine months but didn't think of a name for you. Sometimes it's knowing that you were ripped away from a beautiful culture and language. Sometimes it's knowing that your adopted parents tried to have their own children first. Sometimes it's knowing that you were never really wanted.

To be honest, I'm not trying to sound bitter or anything. I've had a pretty good life, only minor bumps and bruises along the way, but I think it's important for people to know what can happens to a child after the adoption.

When I was in middle school, I wanted to go and find my birth parents. I asked another adoptee I knew if they'd ever want to find theirs. They told me no because, "Why would I want to met the person that threw me away?" And it can feel like that, only that's not something that all the brochures and counselors will tell you.

They also probably won't ask you to hand over your family's medical history. It doesn't really seem like a big deal, right? But genetics matter. Being adopted and not knowing anything about your birth family's medical history puts you at a disadvantage and stops you from receiving the best care possible.

You could be a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.

On a lighter note, it also makes some school assignments a little awkward. Ever have to go up to your third grade teacher and ask if you would still be able to do a family tree since you're adopted? Or have your sixth grade teacher tell you that it wasn't necessary for you to do a genetic traits chart?

You know, the one where you write down everyone in your family's hair color, eye color, widow's peck, etc.. Because it's pretty hard to link the genetics of why you look the way you look when you're an Asian in a white family.

Because when you're cross-culturally adopted, you don't look like everyone in your family. It makes it hard to know what you're supposed to look like as you grow. It gives you a visual representation that you're different, that you're 'other'. And, yes, family is about love not about looks, but when you're 10 years old and everyone else looks the same, you can't really help but feel like you're not supposed to be there.

The moral of the story?

There isn't anything wrong with choosing to give a child up for adoption, but it needs to be understood that a single choice, like whether choosing to have an abortion or not, is not the end of the matter. Being adopted can lead to emotional, psychological, and physical problems.

And for some kids, being adopted can pose a lifetime of unanswered questions.

I'm pro-life and pro-choice because I believe that children are gifts and should be treasured.

I'm pro-life and pro-choice because I believe that no one will be able to raise my child better than me.

I'm pro-life and pro-choice because you'd have to be insane to think that I would allow a child, genetically pre-dispositioned to be half of everything that I am, to go through the pain of adoption.

I'm pro-life and pro-choice because any child from my womb will know every second of every day that they have been loved, cherished, and wanted from the moment they were conceived and until the end of time.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

4577
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

303237
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments