If You Don’t Support Jemima Kirke’s Abortion Story, You’re Not As Pro-Choice As You Think
Abortion is legal, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Legislators and activists across the country work every day to limit women’s access to abortion, making it more difficult to obtain one and more shameful to admit it. The stigma surrounding abortion is toxic, and if the reactions to a recent pro-choice PSA are any indication, it isn’t going away soon.
Actress Jemima Kirke recently appeared in a three-minute PSA for the Center For Reproductive Rights and told her personal abortion story. Kirke became pregnant in 2007 at age 22, but felt that her lifestyle at that time wasn’t ‘conducive to raising a healthy, happy child’ and it wouldn’t be fair to the child, so she chose to abort. She paid out of pocket, draining her checking account and still needing to borrow from her boyfriend and forego anesthesia to be able to afford the procedure.
As you might expect, the PSA has caused a stir. A Buzzfeed post about the video drew a mixed bag of responses, with plenty standing in support of Kirke, but also many who are either staunchly anti-choice or going with the old standby: “I support a woman’s right to choose, BUT…“
“I Support abortion to a certain point. Late-term abortion? No way, that’s infanticide. But if it’s in the first trimester, then a woman should be able to without harassment.” – Rachel P.
“…i think that abortion should safe and legal but i think that it should also be a last resort. even if you find yourself in a situation where you have had unprotected sex, you have 72 hours to take the morning after pill. i think that women owe it to themselves to make use of these resources to avoid having to make such a weighty and potentially psychologically scarring decision.” – Elizabeth M.
“Women have every right to decide what they want to do in this case. But no liberal bullshit is gonna change the fact that getting pregnant when you’re not ready to have a child is irresponsible. There are plenty of reasons to end a pregnancy. This is not one of them.” – Brent F.
Oh, the privilege in being able to tell other people what they should and shouldn’t do with their bodies based on your own circumstances, education, and access to resources. Too bad your personal feelings about abortion have nothing to do with someone else’s uterus.
Ultimately, it’s no one’s business why or when a woman has an abortion. Personal opinions don’t matter. There are no ‘but’s about it. You either trust women and support their right to make choices about their own bodies, or you don’t. Maybe you personally cannot fathom why someone would want, need, or choose abortion. That doesn’t matter. Being pro-choice means you are pro-autonomy. It means you agree that no woman should be forced to allow a fetus to inhabit her body and make use of it without her consent.
If we’re going to end the stigma around abortion, we need to stop quantifying our support of women’s bodily autonomy with rules about when they’re allowed to make choices and under what specific circumstances they’re allowed a say. You might not think abortion is the best option or agree with the circumstances surrounding someone’s decision, but you don’t get to make that decision for someone else. You also don’t get to weigh their experiences against your own and make judgment calls about them. If you only support a woman’s right to choose as long as her story fits into your personal ideal abortion scenario, you don’t really support choice at all.
