I am a ninth generation Georgian, this great state has been my home for the entirety of my 26 years, my parents still live here along with majority of my extended family. I was always proud to claim Georgia as my home and share my heritage, but today I am ashamed.

Today governor Kemp singed a bill that says I should have never existed in his eyes. Now you may be thinking how that could be? The bill he signed made it where you couldn’t have abortions after five weeks, so surely he wants everyone to be born, to exist. However if it were not for abortion the events that created me as me would not have transpired.

My mom was young just out of high school and dating the boy next door kids will be kids and my mother fell pregnant. She kept it a secret from her family and told the boy. He wasn’t ready to have a child and broke it off with my mom. By the time my mom went to a clinic she was past five weeks.

If this bill had of existed then her procedure would have been denied. Now we can’t say for certain the details of what would have happened except that the child would have been born in October.

My mother met my father at a Halloween party that October. After two years of dating they were married and two years later had me. My mom admitted to me that making that hard choice was the best one for her as she truly believes her life would be completely different had she not had the procedure.

So as strange as it may sound the person I am with the experiences I have had would not exist. A happy marriage 28 years and counting would not exist. And another life with unique experiences, my little brother, would not exist in the same way.

Now I know we are one little family and that might not matter much to some but the thing of it is it is my family. My great great uncle found gold in the north Georgia mountains, my great grandpa retired from southern bell and was given the last indoor phone booth in Atlanta his wife worked for riches at Lenox and everyone knew her name. This is my heritage. We may not be rich or truly famous but we are a part of this state.

Now I genuinely have to consider bringing a tenth generation into this state and the implications it could have on my children or myself if I stay and possibly face the the same decision my mother faced myself or for my child.

We have all heard jokes about coat hanger abortions what if this joke is a reality I am subjecting my future child to.

I am here. I exist because of safe legal abortion. Without it my life and my experiences would not be present. So please don’t let the heartbeat bill become law in 2020 so that families like mine can exist and girls like my mother have the choice to have a child the same as the next door neighbor boy who walked away.

Here's my stance on Abortion in light of the unsettling news that Georgia criminalized abortion with the heartbeat bill! PLEASE READ OBJECTIVELY!

To bring some understanding on where my stance comes from I will be referencing the sexual abuse and rape I endured as a child, which is a daunting idea in of itself. I can't remember exactly when this abuse began at the time but I didn't know what sex was yet or what was happening. However, at home when the parents and adults were away, a relative I loved would touch me and bring me alone to a room or take me to the store for “treats” to get us alone. I remember keeping the focus on the tattered fabric of the car ceiling during the events. This carries on for years when he visits. I get older and around the age of 8 yrs old I began to understand the concept of sex and I start to realize that he's not supposed to be doing this. I also learn around this time, sex creates babies.

I start fighting and resisting back against the events because I didn't want a baby. I'm just a child. Now I didn't understand the process of the conception of a child so in the mind of an 8 year old, I was always worried I would wake up pregnant. Even though at that age it's nearly impossible to conceive, but I didn't know that and I would think to myself. If I become pregnant I will kill myself. These become the first troubling thoughts I have in my life. I am more willing to put up with sexual abuse than the thought of having a child. At this age, I didn't know there was such a thing as an abortion

Fast Forward. I'm twelve years old now. I understand what is needed to actually conceive a child. He is over visiting and touching me again. I have started puberty and I know my body can physically conceive a child. I say to myself again. I’ll kill myself if I get pregnant. I now know abortion is a thing but because of guilt I rather kill myself first. And I plead him to stop because I can actually conceive now. Thankfully there was nowhere to be alone and that was the last time I saw him.

Now I don't want y'all to think this is my stance for in the case of rape or minors conceiving a child. But I am Pro-choice in ALL cases. The mindset of feeling that dread of not wanting to have a child does not change from circumstances for which that child was conceived. No one should have to feel that, everyone should have a chance out. Even if its the most promiscuous of women out there. That feeling of being more willing to go through sexual abuse or end my life than dealing with the consequences resulting from it, that I had as a child, does not change. And I know what you're thinking. What about adoption? The argument is to have control over our bodies and choose for ourselves. Even if that choice supersedes that of a fetus that has yet to begin life. It is easy to empathize with situations such as rape. However, people are too dense to understand you don't have to be raped to feel like you have no control over your body.

I don't like the idea of abortion and would never consider it for myself now as a 20year old female no matter the circumstance. But I also understand what it's like to be on the other end. And it has given me the perspective to why I support Pro-choice.

-rape happens

-broken condoms happen

-irresponsible rendezvous happen

Your option on a way out should not be taken from you.

I think the misconception here is that a women’s body is her own.

The moment I heard my daughter’s heartbeats, my body was no longer my own. It was not just my body, but the body of another. 

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