It’s awful that we have to discount and stigmatize such individual experiences. When I counsel, I really do get to talk with so-called “welfare moms” who glow with pride about their five kids, who put their heads in their hands as they tell me about how hard it is to feed their families, and who hesitantly confess that they have the audacity to consider going back to school. The body language is shame. When they hear talk about how women get pregnant so carelessly and have abortions so guiltlessly, they learn shame. In the 20 or so minutes I have with them, I can only try fruitlessly to let them know how much I respect them and their choices, not in spite of their choices.
Let’s put words back in the mouths of the women. As a pro-choice community, it is our job to listen and to speak out, but not to speak for.
