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Why I’m pro-choice

 

June 25 2022

In this blog I explain that while I am, on a personal level, very deeply pro-life, I am pro-choice at a government level.

While I respect Marina’s privacy, and while Marina was a very private person, I believe she would not object to having these very private stories being made public in light of abortion being made illegal this week for 40% of US citizens.

==Roe vs. Wade: Overturned==

You probably already know that the Supreme Court of the United States has overturned Roe vs. Wade, which has, on the spot, made abortion illegal for about 40% of women in the US.

==The miscarriage==

Before we had our child, Marina had a miscarriage. As part of the procedure to handle the miscarriage, the doctor prescribed for Marina mifepristone and misoprostol. Marina took these medications so that the dead baby could leave her body and she could be back to no longer being pregnant.

Those pills are standard treatment for a woman who has had a miscarriage. Even though Marina was in Mexico, in a state where abortion was and still is illegal, the pharmacist didn’t even think twice about filling the prescription. There are many legitimate reasons to take those pills which do not involve performing an abortion, such as the miscarriage.

Today, as I write this, it is very difficult to get these pills to treat miscarriages in Texas. With today’s supreme court decision, this means that many women will no longer be able to get the care they need if they lose a baby in a miscarriage.

==My daughter==

A couple of years later, Marina, after being diagnosed with cancer, ended up pregnant again. While our oncologist strongly recommended that we terminate the child so Marina could resume her cancer treatments, Marina and I were very deeply pro-life, and felt that the child was a miracle and Marina’s only chance to bring a child in to the world. Marina would not perform assisted reproductive treatments because they went against her pro-life values.

We got a very good OB/GYN doctor who supported our decision to keep the baby, and excellent care who made sure the baby would come to term as a healthy, normal child.

After the baby was born, we found out that Marina’s cancer had spread. Her oncologist always felt the cancer would not had spread like that if she had aborted our child. Marina succumbed to the cancer within a year after having our child.

Despite this, Marina always made it clear to me that she completely supported a woman’s right to choose, even in her final days on this earth. She would had been—and perhaps is—mortified to see Roe vs. Wade be overthrown.

==Sex: I’m very conservative==

I am extremely conservative about sex and family. I do not, and have never had, sex outside of a lifetime monogamous commitment. I also feel, as a man, I should be responsible for any life created because of the sex act, and am very glad we kept the child and that I get to be a parent today.

But, there is a difference between my personal views and what I feel the government should make illegal.

Abortion is always a very difficult decision to make. It should be one that is the mother’s decision, not the decision of the government to make.

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