Those who have had an abortion know the truth and the difference between a Dilatation and Curettage (D&C for miscarriage) and abortion.
Ms. Shaheen and I share vastly different experiences at the precious Oyster River School system we both attended.
At 15, I got pregnant with my high school sweetheart. I had no idea when it happened. My parents suspected our relationship and shipped me off for the summer. I returned to school that fall and collapsed in the girls’ room after hemorrhaging and throwing up. I ended up at Wentworth Douglas Hospital, where they informed me that I miscarried and needed a D&C. The kind doctor told me he did not tell my parents of the pregnancy per my request. I was put under anesthesia, woke up more comfortable, and bled for a couple of days. I was back at school, and no one knew, not even my sweetheart, who had found another sweetheart.
At 16, a student at UNH got me pregnant. (Why anyone would send their children to Oyster River schools is beyond me.) Students, boys, and men frequent the campus looking to get laid, and he found me. I believed the goods I was sold, and then he disappeared. I was in a panic. My parents would kill me, so I thought. A friend’s mom, who was attending UNH, shuffled me off to Concord for an abortion procedure. I had no idea about any of it. I was a sexually active teen during the end of the sexual revolution of the 70s. I believed I could not get pregnant. It was like playing Russian Roulette with your body. It was a horrific experience, and to this day, years later, I regret that decision. I wonder what he/she would have been like. I spent a lifetime wondering how that decision altered my life.
This is an abortion. The noise from the machines, the excruciating pain, and hell are still clear in my head. They dilate your cervix with no anesthesia. The pain was equivalent to birth, but it did not stop. They attached a vacuum after dilatation that sucked for what seemed a lifetime, and the remains of my baby ended up in a container to be disposed of. You are awake for the whole procedure.
At 24, after having a child from a horrific man who beat me and treated me like dirt. I ran away with my child. He tried to force me to come back to him. I lived homeless for months with my baby bouncing from place to place. I finally saved enough to find an apartment and felt the restraining order I had on him was enough; it wasn’t. He broke into my apartment and raped me. He told me he would make me pregnant, so I would have to come back. I did get pregnant and went to Portland for another abortion that no one knows about. I did not want to do it, but I had a child I needed to protect. Bringing another baby into this world by him would end badly. I did not choose this lightly and deal with guilt to this day. This time, I suffered a horrible infection after the abortion.
I finally found a decent man who took me and my child on as his own and protected us from my ex-husband. I had two miscarriages, and we were heartbroken, and we decided not to have a child. I do believe I ruined my body and chances to have children with a man I love. Both miscarriages I had to have a D&C. Both times I was put under and physically did not feel a thing. Only heartbreak.
These procedures are not to be used as a political lie. That will harm and hurt women. An abortion is ripping a viable fetus out of your body. A D&C after a miscarriage or medical condition is not an abortion! Don’t confuse the two.
No, Stefany, a D&C from a miscarriage is not an abortion! Not even close. How dare you even go there! You have children and, as a woman, know the power of giving life. You make me sick to use such a lie to scare women and get votes. You are a gross representation of what is wrong with your political party. Every time I hear abortion rights, I want to puke. NH has all the abortion rights necessary. A second or third-trimester abortion is vile, and there is a special place in hell just for you and the people who support it.
What kind of a person tells her girls that abortion is available to them? What kind of person lies about something they know nothing about?
She quotes: “I am compelled to speak up for my three daughters who are guaranteed fewer rights than I had when they were born.”
What exactly has changed!?
Maybe teach your children about safe sex and birth control. Abortion is not birth control, and any mother who wants this for their child is sick in the head. Every woman looking to abort after 6 weeks should listen to this at about 4m in.
Back in the day, parents’ permission was not needed or overlooked. I am glad it is needed today. My life may have been different. I am sick and tired of Democrats scaring young women. We should educate, not scare them; that’s a parent’s job! I’m not for or against abortion up to the first trimester. After that, I don’t believe it needs to happen unless it’s a medical emergency. Before the procedure, the parents, especially the mother, must be aware of what they are doing. A woman should make up her mind in the first trimester, not after.
