Being Pro-Choice Was Easy, Until I Became a Parent

Upgrading our Discussions in a Post Roe World

I’ve always been pro-choice, especially when many years ago I was involved in an unplanned pregnancy. But things have changed for me since I became a parent for two specific reasons:

• Never having been a parent, I was previously unable to understand the full impact of that choice. Never had I been face-to-face with what it was I would be losing.
• In order to be on-board with terminating an otherwise healthy pregnancy and birth, I’d have to completely change the way human life is assessed and valued. I’d have to abandon the concept of potential that in large part differentiates human beings from the rest of the animal kingdom.

I’ve noticed how much my genuine excitement for people who are expecting children has changed. It hadn’t affected me the way it does now that I have children. Because I’ve experienced the fulfillment of that news in my own life, I know what it means. I no longer see pregnancy solely for what it is, but for what it will be. There’s an element of that in any excitement for someone’s pregnancy, as from what I am told, it isn’t the pregnancy itself that’s all that exciting for most. My evaluation of the situation is no longer restricted to only the here and now. I value its potential.