# Does being pregnant change women's opinions about abortion? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387 "2008-03-14T19:12:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/1 "2008-03-14T19:12:32Z")
Just curious. Has carrying and bearing a child changed any doper ladies before, during, and after pregnancy attitudes towards abortion? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/2 "2008-03-14T19:25:52Z")
[The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion](http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/3 "2008-03-14T19:34:41Z")
I could never regret it now (not that I ever would have anyway). If I’d taken some different path, I wouldn’t have the kids I have now, and I like these kids. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/4 "2008-03-14T19:36:27Z")
Being pregnant certainly seems to make a lot of women choose to have an abortion. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/5 "2008-03-14T19:36:49Z")
It didn’t change mine. Nor did finding out that I was a failed abortion. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/6 "2008-03-14T19:39:36Z")
Nope, not at all. I’m still very firmly pro-choice. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/7 "2008-03-14T19:47:40Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] [The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion](http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html) [/QUOTE] I know you love to have an excuse to link to that website, but it doesn’t answer the question. The question was: “\*Has carrying and bearing a child \* changed any doper ladies before, during, and after pregnancy attitudes towards abortion?” (empahsis mine). In my case, no. I have always been pro-life. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/8 "2008-03-14T19:54:00Z")
I have heard many times that a not insignificant number of the abortions in the USA are women who are married with children but are now in their 40s or whatever and don’t want to have another child at this point in their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/9 "2008-03-14T20:11:17Z")
My attitude toward abortion is the same as it was before my only pregnancy. I wouldn’t have an abortion myself, but am still pro-choice. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/10 "2008-03-14T20:16:08Z")
Even after having kids, I am still very strongly pro-choice. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/11 "2008-03-14T20:22:27Z")
Yes, it made me more strongly pro-choice. Before I had my first child (I was 17 when he was conceived, so, yeah, I was pretty much a kid) I was politically pro-choice but personally pro-life. After my experiences not just with pregnancy but with raising a child, I believe not only more firmly that no one should do this against his/her\* will, but I now believe that if the circumstances of my life warranted it, I, too, could and would get an abortion. \*Yes, “his”. I feel that, for equality’s sake, men should be allowed to opt-out of parenting and child support until the point of fetal viability - after that, we’re all in this together. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/12 "2008-03-14T20:40:14Z")
I suspect that for most women it clarifies what they do believe - it doesn’t make you change your mind. If you were convinced that abortion is murder, every experience of pregnancy reinforces that this is a BABY. I’m pro-choice and for me pregnancy simply drove home that I was using my body in ways that were far more than inconvienent and in fact, were someone life threatening to me - this was not something I could ask another woman to do unless she was willing. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/13 "2008-03-14T20:54:04Z")
It did change my opinion some. I have always been pro-choice and had one abortion at 16 and another at 20. The first was straight up stupidity that I couldn’t possibly get pregnant because that happened to other people, and the second was failed birth control. I don’t know why I’m giving all the details, except to explain that I am not a complete moron that didn’t learn from my mistakes. Anyway, I now have two kids and after having had them I did have some regrets that I didn’t have before and have wished that I had not opted out of the pregnancies. Part of it is because I feel like I managed to make it with the two I have now, so why couldn’t I have done it a few years earlier? Intellectually I know there is a world of difference between having a kid at 16 and having one later in life when I was married and had a job, and that’s why I haven’t changed my views politically. It’s the emotionally charged parts of my mind that have shaded how I view the past. So I would say that no, I haven’t changed from pro-choice to pro-life politically after having kids. However, I do have more complex feelings about it now and see the issue as shades of gray instead of black and white as I did before. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/14 "2008-03-14T21:03:31Z")
I was pro-choice before, and I remain pro-choice during. After? Won’t know for a week or so 😉 Seriously though, at this point I’d say I’m probably slightly more strongly pro-choice. Even my trouble-free pregnancy has impacted my ability to work and to do some things for myself. While adoption might be the ideal (or least-worst) outcome for an unwanted pregnancy, it does involve a significant sacrifice personally, financially and emotionally and I couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to or feeling able to make that sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/15 "2008-03-14T21:38:04Z")
Nope. Didn’t change my opinion at all. ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/16 "2008-03-14T22:24:48Z")
Not at all. It only solidified my view that it’s not something I could do - but it’s not my choice to make for anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/17 "2008-03-14T22:31:26Z")
No, like **Dangerosa** it simply made me more passionate about the freedom to choose. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/18 "2008-03-14T23:21:14Z")
I’m with Sarahfeena on this one. Was prolife before, and still am, only maybe more so. Although I understand better why people would make the other choice. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/19 "2008-03-14T23:43:37Z")
I know several women who got pregnant unexpectedly who did not terminate the pregnancy. They were all politically pro-choice before and personally pro-choice after. They did not feel trapped by their bodies and hearts; they knew they were freely accepting the responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387/20 "2008-03-14T23:44:46Z")
I was loosely pro-choice before getting pregnant. It was not a pregnancy by choice and things were very hard after having the baby. Since I had the choice - the doctor I went to for the pregnancy test gave me the results and then pulled up his calendar to schedule the abortion - I always knew, no matter how down things got, that this was my choice. This wasn’t just something that had happened to me and that I couldn’t, or hadn’t tried hard enough, to get out of. There’s never been a question of “would I have, if I could have?” That was always a comfort. Also, having gone through a pregnancy and severe life change, I wouldn’t force that on anybody. It’s something you have to choose. Kids need to be welcomed, not resented. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-being-pregnant-change-womens-opinions-about-abortion/441387.md?page=2)