These are the Kinds of Women who get Abortions

This originally appeared as a Facebook post by Shahla Fisher De Leon

Let’s talk about abortion.

Before studying public health, I worked for Planned Parenthood for six years. Six of the best years of my life. And I’ll share something I learned in those six years: You know who has abortions?

Young women have abortions
Older women have abortions
Married women have abortions
Single women have abortions
Atheist women have abortions
Jewish, Muslim, Hindu women have abortions
Christian women have abortions
Conservative women have abortions
Poor women have abortions
Wealthy women have abortions
Educated women have abortions
Women with no insurance and women with health insurance have abortions
Women who use birth control have abortions
Doctors and Doctors’ wives have abortions
Women who have tried and tried and wished for healthy babies have abortions
Mothers have abortions
Pro-life women HAVE abortions. They have sat across from me, looked into my eyes, and told me how they never supported abortion, before they found themselves in the situation they were currently in. And they felt strongly that it was the right CHOICE for them.

Every kind of woman has abortions. Women who have babies and women who have abortions are the same women, just at different times in their lives. And before you speak for them, just know that you are no different than all of these women except perhaps for the circumstances in your life.