October 1, 2019

Woman with Disability Says Culture Criticized Her Giving Birth but Accepted Abortion

In a Quartz article entitled "As a disabled woman, my abortion wasn’t questioned—but my pregnancy was", Australian feminist and disability activist Nicole Lee wrote about her treatment during two different pregnancies. In one she chose to abort her child, and in the other she chose to keep them. In the instance where she chose to abort the child, nobody questioned her decision or gave her support before or after the procedure. When she chose to complete a later pregnancy, she was often questioned for her decision. Through these experiences, Lee came to the conclusion that the culture surrounding her either did not want her to give birth or simply didn't believe she was physically capable, even though her disability did not prevent her from doing so.
“Imagine you are about to welcome your second child into the world, and everyone is expecting you to fail. This is vastly different to how other women are treated. It was certainly vastly different to how my older (able-bodied) sister was treated while pregnant: I wasn’t showered with congratulations from shop assistants when shopping for baby gear the way my sister was.”
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