In the wake of abortion bans, women are braving the subject in front of everyone
Tori Owen’s admitted it: she once judged women who had abortions.
Now that she’s a mother, she realized she was jealous that so many women around her got pregnant when she struggled to.
“I used to be AGAINST abortions,” she wrote on her Instagram page, The Urban Mom. “I was so judgemental and ignorant.”
She went on to disclose that watching women around her get pregnant and abort made her feel unworthy of carrying.
Now mom to an adorable toddler, Owens has grown from her envy. She feels laws should not dictate what a woman should do with her body.
In the recent stretch of the South’s anti-abortion laws, women and mothers like Owens are speaking up. They are sharing their abortion stories and perspectives, appalled that they have to. Southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi passed abortion bans. Georgia’s six-week ban, known as the heartbeat bill, won’t go into effect until January.
This year, 12 states have passed or attempted to pass stricter abortion legislation.
On Tuesday, Alabama passed the country’s most restrictive abortion ban, which would prohibit abortions at any stage of pregnancy unless the mother’s mental or physical health is at stake.
Here’s how black women are using their voice in the fight:
Alisha Wedderburn
“It’s OK to be pregnant and know that now is not a good time. As women, we don’t hear this enough, often enough, we’re not granted the leniency men are when it comes to being a parent. But as a woman who has done both, I’ve chosen to wait and not go through with a pregnancy while in a long-term committed relationship and I’ve also been pregnant and journeyed into motherhood knowing I would be a single mother. The reasons are your own.”
Tori Owens
“Now that I’m a mother, I wouldn’t dare have the audacity to dictate what another woman does with her body. Having a child is a lot of work. If a woman feels like she’s not ready, then dammit LET HER LIVE! ?IT’S NONE OF OUR BUSINESS!