When an affectionate term like dear is used by a stranger/person in a position of power it always comes off as super condescending to me.

I’m just glad that there’s a story about the Girl Scouts that doesn’t involve a conservative nutbag damning those adorable, young girls to hell. I’m glad that they had fun.

My sister, her partner, and I went out for Margarita Monday a while back. This sort of thing happened, and I was like ughhhhhh. They were both laughing like no big deal, we get this all the time. I wanted to cut people’s throats and they were dealing with it in their way by laughing and giving people the face. You…

To me, what it comes down to is this:

In regards to “dress how you want to be addressed”:

Next time I see a guy in cargo pants I’m going to force him to build me a house. I mean, walking around looking all probably-owns-a-hammer...what did he think would happen? #CarpenterLookingAssBitch.

I am confused. Why would I force a person to play basketball with me if he/she was dressed like a basketball player? Does that happen? Forced basketballery?

Thank you for writing this. I had my tubes tied during my 4th c/section with my 4th child after my (now ex-)husband got me pregnant against my wishes. If I hadn’t have found out I was pregnant in front of his family member, no one may have ever been the wiser. I of course love my fourth but if I had not been in an…

Of course. The first time I got pregnant was at 16 - it was 17 years later that we decided to get pregnant together. I spent under $400. I am pretty sure my (now) ex and I wouldn’t have stayed together at all, I would have been on Welfare, would have never joined the Navy or gone to college or done any of the really…

Yep. I got pregnant at nineteen and terminated. Went on to marry the guy a couple years later. Eleven years after that, I had my daughter.

If I’d been forced to carry that first pregnancy to term, I’m certain that child would have entered into the system before they turned two. I was in no position to care for a…

Doctors decided they would delay until the woman showed signs of sepsis.

This. I had three abortions - two when in my early 20's and a third with the man who is now my husband. We just weren’t ready - went on to have two healthy kids at the time and place that we WERE ready.

Yep, another mom here who had an abortion! It’s a long complicated story, but basically I had tons of birth injuries from my first. It was emotionally and physically traumatic, and husband and I couldn’t have sex for a year and a half. By the time we could I was so stressed and worried about sex that neither of us…

That’s where I think the confusion is for forced-birthers who insist a woman will “regret” their abortion- they mistake being bummed about having to go through it as regret. No one is happy to get an abortion, most just feel relieved. In a perfect world, we would never need abortions because our birth control planning…

Thank you so much for sharing your story.

I also had a polite sounding D&C for an ectopic pregnancy. It too me a while to realize that I'd actually had an abortion. And thank goodness I was able to with none of the barriers they are throwing up now.

“I felt so cared for, and so respected.”

This is brilliant, thank you for writing it. And just to help you contextualize your experience a little, the second-largest group of women needing abortion in the U.S., (though not Canada) is women between 40 and 45 who are mothers. It’s not you, though your copper IUD failure is a spectacular one!

So you’re saying you made a well thought out, reasonable decision about your health and your body; the people responsible for it did not judge or subject you to their personal bias; and your supportive partner was there for you and cared for you before, during and after.

I had 3 abortions before I decided to have a child. All with the same guy. The abortions all happened before we were married. That’s not why I had them - I had them because I wanted a life. One where I wouldn’t resent any possible children for all of the things I “could” have done. I did a shit ton of shit before…