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Women share how experiencing pregnancy and childbirth changed their views on abortion

We live in a world where men, who have never and will never experience pregnancy or childbirth, make laws about women’s reproduction, which in and of itself is a headscratcher. When we’re talking about anti-abortion legislation, which effectively forces women to go through pregnancy and childbirth whether it’s healthy for them or not, it seems like the people who actually experience those things should have a more heavily weighted say in such legislation.

Of course, women have varied opinions on the matter. (The most recent Gallup poll found that 53% of women in the U.S. identify as “pro-choice” and 43% identify as “pro-life.”) But interestingly, a Twitter thread is showing how actual experience can either shift or concretes a person’s views.

Writer Jennifer Wright wrote, “Raise your hand if pregnancy and childbirth only made you *more* pro-choice,” and the responses came flooding in.

Scores of women responded in the affirmative, saying that going through pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing has either made them change their stance from anti-choice to pro-choice or solidified their pro-choice beliefs.

For some, it was getting a first-hand taste of the potential dangers pregnancy poses.

For others, their experiences with adoption solidified their pro-choice stance.

Some shared that losing a baby or nearly losing a baby helped them realize the complexities of choices surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.

Many women shared that going through pregnancy and childbirth made them realize that forcing someone who doesn’t want to be pregnant or birth a child to do so is cruel.

Even those who enjoyed being pregnant or who had loads of support shared that the experience pushed them toward choice.

Experience can be eye-opening.

Even experiences that someone might guess would lead to different views.

A few men even weighed in, saying that their experience just witnessing their wives’ pregnancy and childbirth difficulties made them see that no one should be forced through it against their will.

So many stories, so many reasons to believe in giving women autonomy over their own medical decisions.

Scrolling through the hundreds of comments in the thread, the consensus was clear.

Pregnancy and childbirth are difficult and dangerous, with lifelong consequences, even when you want a child. Adoption is not the panacea people make it out to be. Struggling through infertility and multiple miscarriages can make women more understanding of how complicated reproductive choices are. And the idea of the government forcing a woman to stay pregnant and deliver a baby no matter the circumstances feels wrong when you know exactly what that can mean for her.

Let’s leave personal medical choices that don’t affect others to patients and their providers, period.