# Thank God your mother was pro life. How would you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 7, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305 "2013-03-07T17:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/41 "2013-03-08T09:46:15Z")
> [@Obsidian](#): > > My mom had one before I was born. (And before it was legal). Because she didn’t have to be a teenage unwed mother, she got to go to college, have a career, meet my dad, and have two kids in her thirties. If my mother was “pro life” I wouldn’t exist. Came here to tell pretty much this exact same story. Thank God my mother was pro-choice. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/42 "2013-03-08T11:57:06Z")
I know my late mother was pro-choice from discussing the issue with her. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/43 "2013-03-08T13:46:05Z")
Thank god my mother was pro-choice. An abortion saved her life before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/44 "2013-03-08T13:56:23Z")
My 20 year old son told me recently that he’s glad he knows I’m pro-choice, because he knows I chose to have him and that means he didn’t make my life hard, I did. (I was pregnant with him at 17.) Which sounds weird, but was actually beautiful in the moment, and quite a breakthrough for a young man who feels responsible for everything on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/45 "2013-03-08T14:03:49Z")
It isn’t that different from “Thank god your mother was straight.” Imagine what the reaction would be to that one. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/46 "2013-03-08T14:44:53Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > My mother had at least one abortion before having me and my brother. > [@Obsidian](#): > > My mom had one before I was born. > [@Procrustus](#): > > Yes, my two children should be very happy abortion was available when their mother got pregnant earlier in life. > [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Mine did the same after she was raped in the 1960’s. > [@Smapti](#): > > Came here to tell pretty much this exact same story. > [@Rysto](#): > > An abortion saved her life before I was born. I have a question for all of you, and anyone else who cares to weigh in. Like these women, I had an abortion - two, in fact - so that I could finish college, have a career, and be in a good position to be a mother when I was ready. And I’m so very glad I did. I wouldn’t have ever met, much less married, my husband, and my wonderful son wouldn’t even exist. I’ve considered whether I should tell him about this someday. I will certainly tell him, when the time is right, that I’m pro-choice. I want him to know that although abortion is never, in my opinion, a _good_ thing to do, sometimes it’s the _right_ thing to do. And I’m sure my words will have a lot more impact if he knows they’re not just in theory, but also in practice. I worry, though, about exactly what that impact will be. So my question is this: when, and how, did you find out about your mom’s abortion(s)? (And for **Procrustus** , have you told your kids?) How did you feel about it at the time? Did you consider what your mom’s life would have been like if she hadn’t had the abortion(s)? Did you ever think, “Sure, she’s glad I’m here _now_, but if she _hadn’t_ had the abortion, she would have loved that other kid just as much, and I would never have been born!”? Because that’s true, of course. I know when I was a kid, I had an existential wig-out along those lines when I found out that not only had my parents _dated_ other people, my dad had been _married_ before! “But… if he’d had kids with that other woman… ::gasp!::” So I can only imagine how a kid might feel about the idea that there was actually another kid in the making. Maybe I could start off the conversation by sticking one of these on the back of his tricycle… > [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I know I was wanted, because my mom is pro-choice. And I wish there were a way we could selectively display bumper stickers only in response to other stickers. Because otherwise, people might get a wrong impression or two when they saw this on my car: > [@chrisk](#): > > “Thank god your mother was straight.” ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/47 "2013-03-08T15:50:37Z")
I know about my mom’s rape because she told me she was raped. I’m a pro choice and a mom. You know what I hope that means to my kids? I hope it means that they’re here because I wanted them here. Not because of an ideology or an accident or because of religion or morality or the force of law or because the birth control failed. They exist because I made a conscious and voluntary choice to deliberately bring them into the world. If that’s not an act of love I can’t imagine what else is. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/48 "2013-03-08T16:03:04Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > I think abortions should be available at the post office, but I have 2 kids. It means a little more to my children that we weren’t forced to have them. This is where I would draw the line. I’m just going to the post office to buy some stamps. I don’t want to have to walk around somebody having an abortion in the lobby. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/49 "2013-03-08T16:05:43Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > It isn’t that different from “Thank god your mother was straight.” Imagine what the reaction would be to that one. 😉 I’d go a step further and make up t-shirts that say “Thank god your mother got laid.” I imagine I could sell thousands of them at pro-life rallies. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/50 "2013-03-08T16:09:28Z")
> [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > So my question is this: when, and how, did you find out about your mom’s abortion(s)? I found out when I was writing a personal essay about my parents’ wedding for a college class. I was taken aback, but not overly so. I was more thrown by finding out that I was conceived before my parents got married–which, in retrospect, should have been obvious to anyone who can do basic arithmetic. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/51 "2013-03-08T16:11:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This is where I would draw the line. I’m just going to the post office to buy some stamps. I don’t want to have to walk around somebody having an abortion in the lobby. Hey, I’m not paying an extra cent in taxes so they can put in fancy-shmancy exam rooms! ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/52 "2013-03-08T17:22:02Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I’m a pro choice and a mom. You know what I hope that means to my kids? I hope it means that they’re here because I wanted them here. Not because of an ideology or an accident or because of religion or morality or the force of law or because the birth control failed. They exist because I made a conscious and voluntary choice to deliberately bring them into the world. > > If that’s not an act of love I can’t imagine what else is. That’s my view; I’m not sure how “your mother never loved you” wins people over to your cause. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/53 "2013-03-08T18:27:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’d go a step further and make up t-shirts that say “Thank god your mother got laid.” I imagine I could sell thousands of them at pro-life rallies. Thank god my parents had unprotected sex. In fact, if your\* 16 year old daughter did the same thing she could have a beautiful baby too which would be just as grateful for it’s life. Shouldn’t you be encouraging her to get out more often? \*(generic pro-life you) ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/54 "2013-03-08T20:21:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This is where I would draw the line. I’m just going to the post office to buy some stamps. I don’t want to have to walk around somebody having an abortion in the lobby. Duh, I assumed they’d do it back in the sorting room. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/55 "2013-03-09T01:29:14Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > I hope when my daughter is old enough to figure out that she was unplanned, inconvenient and ill-timed, she’ll also realise that she wasn’t a consequence that I was stuck with. Unplanned and wanted, inconvenient and loved, ill-timed and chosen. I hope, if she she realises that her conception was accidental, she’ll also realise the subdequent choice to have her was deliberate. Personally, if the circumstances of my birth were like hers, I’d take that any day over knowing Mum had me because she had no other option. Do please try to make it clear to your daughter. I was unplanned, inconvenient and very ill-timed, but because my mother was anti-abortion, I was forced to grow up poor with a mother who lost interest in me after I grew out of the “cute baby” phase and a father that resented me until the day I left, on my 18th birthday. It sounds like your daughter should already know she was wanted, but do make sure of it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/56 "2013-03-09T14:24:39Z")
> [@tenacious\_j](#): > > Stop me if we have done this one, but I saw the sign again yesterday. “Thank God your mother was pro life!”. Um, what? Everyone who has a baby is pro life now? News to me. How bout you? Did you know that? I know my mom was pro-life because she told me. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/57 "2013-03-09T19:07:43Z")
I wonder how many pro life people were born of pro choice people? For females: How many pro life have had an abortion? How many pro life use contraception? Why do pro life people not demand abstaining from intercourse as the only way to prevent pregnancy? Is giving children up for adoption for ANY reason acceptable to pro life people? (rape victims, any sort of birth defect, economic, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/58 "2013-03-10T03:36:25Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Is giving children up for adoption for ANY reason acceptable to pro life people? (rape victims, any sort of birth defect, economic, etc.? Generally, the anti-abortion folks are not really concerned with what happens to the child once it is born. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/59 "2013-03-10T04:45:27Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Generally, the anti-abortion folks are not really concerned with what happens to the child once it is born. Unless it’s being born to, say, a lesbian who was raped but is living with a female partner, in which case the baby should be immediately adopted out to a “real” family. (This was an anecdote mentioned in another abortion thread, can’t remember which one.) ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305/60 "2013-03-10T05:10:32Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > Unless it’s being born to, say, a lesbian who was raped but is living with a female partner, in which case the baby should be immediately adopted out to a “real” family. (This was an anecdote mentioned in another abortion thread, can’t remember which one.) Ah yes, that’s true! My bad. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-god-your-mother-was-pro-life-how-would-you-know/652305.md?page=4)