Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

Rh Reality Check recently printed an article by Veronica Bayett Flores, Senior Policy Analyst at the  National Institute Latina for Reproductive Health, titled, “Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Reproductive Justice: What’s the Real Problem?”(posted in previous post). Well Veronica, my response to your question would be, “people like you”!!!!

Veronica states that at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, “we value sexual freedom, integrity of the body and personal autonomy, and we reject any system of reproductive coercion”. With countless Latina women coerced by boyfriends and husbands to abort, I have to wonder why I have never read an article addressing that problem.

Throughout the article Ms Flores seems to think that Latinas should be given  free education, loan forgiveness, and reproduction health care, as if there are no other people who are living without health insurance or that have to pay for their own college tuition “out of pocket”. As a single parent and post abortive woman who raised two children alone, I had to work three jobs to give my kids a college education, and they, along with countless other non Latinos are still paying college loans and will be for years, will we get loan forgiveness too?

One thing we do agree on, women should not have to choose between pregnancy and college. As Veronica points out we should demand child care on our campuses where many higher education institutions pay for repeat abortion procedures. What message is this giving our youth, certainly not free choice.  It is a disgrace that women who become pregnant often feel they have to chose abortion because they do not feel that can have a child and continue their education.

Ms Flores goes on to say that young mothers have made a choice which is “sometimes is not much of a choice at all”, but she does not reflect their situation back on themselves or give them any responsibility for it. Instead she says it is, “due to a lack of public funding for abortion, waiting periods, and parental consent and notifications laws, young people’s choices are often quite limited indeed.” Does she really believe these are the reasons? So, if we allowed them to abort their unborn children quickly we would not have this problem?

So, we should pay for their contraception, their abortions and their higher education while she promotes “sexual freedom” to young teens. I don’t what Ms Flores considers “integrity of body”, and “personal autonomy”. Her article certainly does not promote self accountability or respect for their body,but instead holds everyone else accountable .

I have personally worked with countless wonderful Latino women who have been devastated because of abortion. I find it truly heartbreaking that she believes the things she promotes will be helpful to them or remove “barriers” to free decisions. True autonomy and integrity calls for us to be responsible for our own decisions, have pride in the things we accomplish and true respect for ourselves.