Opinion | More Republican Women Than You Think Have Had Abortions. Here’s How I Know. – POLITICO

Despite probably realizing it on some subconscious level, it took my own pregnancy for me to accept that I was in a controlling and unhealthy relationship. My boyfriend had broken down so much of my self-worth and confidence that I didnt have the courage to tell myself the truth about the relationship. But that pregnancy forced me to face it all. Having a child links you to their father for the rest of your life, and this link gives him control over that child in ways you cant predict or stop. For days after leaving the hospital, all I could see were the red flags I had been ignoring, including one harrowing incident I was so ashamed of I kept it hidden. Unlike Juno, I did not have a loving, nerdy best friend as the father, and unlike her, I did not want to go through parenting or a long adoption process with him.

I had an abortion despite the shame I felt about my circumstances. I had an abortion despite a high school friend writing baby killer on my Facebook wall. I had an abortion despite feeling so conflicted due to my Catholic education and confused about how this choice could turn me into a bad person. I had an abortion without a supportive partner or community. I wasnt Juno: I had an abortion.

At the time, I was scared and alone and confused. I certainly didnt recognize the privilege I had. The clinic was two miles away from my childhood home. The procedure was affordable. The staff was kind and professional. The abortion was legal and safe and regulated. And I left for my four-year college three months later.

My abortion story, and everything that happened afterward, is the kind of story that makes political strategists jobs very difficult. As an expert in political data, my job is to put people in boxes. Are you a young person with an electric vehicle that you drive around an urban area? Youre likely a Democrat, and I bet you care about climate change. Are you white, male and the owner of a pickup truck that bumps down country roads? Then you probably have a Donald Trump bumper sticker on that truck, and you probably arent happy about rising gas prices. We can even use the most sophisticated data to find unique cross-sections of voters, those hard-to-reach boxes, such as Republicans who are pro-gun control, or Democrats who dont believe in defunding the police. This is how my world works.

Republicans talk as if abortion is something only Democrats seek and undergo. Not in my home. Not in my church. Not in my community.

The problem with these boxes is that most people are actually far more complex than they appear in even the data. Abortions polls are notoriously inconsistent and vary wildly depending on how questions are asked. Most people hold a complex set of beliefs and ideologies across a spectrum, and I fear that we cant own this complexity out loud in general, but especially on abortion, because of how the abortion debate has become increasingly partisan in recent years. If youre a Republican, you show up in the surveys as being anti-abortion and in favor of fewer exceptions to abortion bans than Democrats. If youre a Democrat, youre probably in favor of abortion rights and more exceptions to abortion bans. If you, like many Americans, fall into the very wide gray space, we might see you show up across some of the more nuanced surveys, but we likely dont have much more specific knowledge about your views.

Republicans talk as if abortion is something only Democrats seek and undergo. Not in my home. Not in my church. Not in my community. The data tell us that at least 600,000 people get abortions annually. Statistics vary and only account for legal abortions. But some of the reddest states in the country states that struggle to even elect Democrats to public office still see significant numbers of abortions, even with very few clinics operating in these states. In 2019, here were some of the numbers of abortions coming out of the reddest states in America: 2,922 in Utah, just over 1,100 in North Dakota, 2,963 in Arkansas and 6,009 in Alabama. The faces and stories behind these abortions would likely surprise us. They shouldnt.

Beyond the statistics on who gets abortions, there is also some agreement across the two parties on who should have access to abortion. According to Pew, 61 percent of voters believe abortion should be legal in some or all cases. Only 8 percent of voters believe abortion should be illegal in all cases. Given these numbers, it should seem that Democrats and Republicans in red states and blue states alike should get to work on deciding what the restrictions and exceptions should be; a law that bans nearly all abortions is unlikely to align with popular opinion, no matter how red the state.

In the community Ive been a part of, I dont see people coming forward to share their personal stories with abortion. And why would they? Its clearly not safe to have had an abortion and its particularly not safe to say it out loud.

If we dont allow people access to this context about their lives and nuanced feelings on abortion, if we dont see people step outside of these boxes in a real way, then how can Republicans meaningfully engage on the issue of abortion access? If we cant even talk about it, how can we legislate on it? If you dont truly think you know someone who has had an abortion, how can you empathize?

In the years since my abortion, I havent felt safe to tell this story. Frankly, I still dont. I know there are many, many more people with stories like mine who dont have the privilege to speak out. I hope we make it safe for them to do so because yes, this is happening in your home. Yes, this is happening in your church. Yes, this is happening in your community.

Perhaps youll find empathy for me as I step outside of this box. Perhaps youll even consider whether your own box is serving you and the people around you. Im a married, white woman, who lives in the suburbs, has worked for many Republicans, and I believe in access to safe, legal abortion.

More:

Opinion | More Republican Women Than You Think Have Had Abortions. Here's How I Know. - POLITICO