anita@drux3.UUCP (05/04/84)
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I would like to comment on Mr Maurer's letter to Sophie, because I have
some personal experience which he thinks Sophie may lack, and which he
definitely lacks. I don't think I read the original letter to which Mr
Maurer is referring (I don't read anything over about 50 lines), so
I may not be right on target with what's being discussed.
(The numbered items are quotes from Mr Maurer's letter)
2] ...I am lead to believe from your statements that you have never been
pregnant. ...almost no pregnancy is as bad as you describe it, and
(I have been told) is often quite a pleasurable sensation as well.
Thus, I do not think that you are any more, or less, qualified to
discuss this question than any male in the newsgroup.
I would venture to say that most women feel physically uncomfortable
more than 50% of the time they are pregnant. If they feel it is a
pleasurable sensation, this is most likely because they are happy that
they are pregnant and therefor some of the unpainful sensations
(perhaps feeling the baby kick) may be interpereted as good because
they are anticipating the birth. These good feelings are just not
there when you don't want to be pregnant, nor give birth.
I do think that any woman is more qualified to talk about pregnancy
than any man. I am certainly less qualified to talk about the pain of
being kicked in the balls than any man, even one who has never had
the experience. I don't have the relevant equipment, so I have a
very hard time imagining what it must be like. I'm sure Mr Maurer
can, even if he's never felt it.
3] It has been my experience that many women bring the problems with
late abortion on themselves, delaying the date up to the last
minute. ...Pregnant women ...have a strong desire to carry the
fetus to term.
Mr Maurer says later in this paragraph that his experience with this
(abortion or pregnancy, I'm not sure) is limited to 2 cases. I have
known 5 women who had abortions, myself included. The only one who
waited more than 10 weeks was a friend of mine who got pregnant when
the state we lived in hadn't legalized abortion. That made it a lot
worse (a long trip, lots of effort at secrecy, etc.) Two of the women
incidently, were already mothers. At the clinic I
went to, there were 10 women in the group I was in where they explained
the procedure. There was one woman who was over 12 weeks. That was
apparent, because she had to wait overnight to have it done due to
a slower method which was used to dilate the cervix. I really don't think
late abortions are a big problem. I think most women who have abortions are
quite anxious to get it over with.
I personally had no desire whatsoever to carry my pregnancy to term.
I was in a total panic, feeling that my life was suddenly out of my
own control. Carelessness is why I got pregnant. I'm not proud of it,
but it happened and I have never regretted the abortion. I do regret
that I wasn't ready to be a mother, because I know that that can be
a wonderful thing (I have 2 sisters, 3 sisters-in-law, all mothers).
I was just not ready to handle it.
Well, this is too long already. I won't be discussing this anymore on
the net, because, after all, it is a very personal matter. I did want
to contribute some personal experience to this subject, though.