The Lost Woman in the Abortion Argument

Essay:The Lost Woman in the Abortion Argument
As I sit here editing RW pages on abortion I find myself in a strange "mental space" of trying to address the issue on some kind of logical, articulate, "rational", cold way, while every bit of me rebels at such a stupid and "untruthful" sense that such articles portray about the abortion decision. For a woman with an unwanted pregnancy, abortion is not ever a cold balance sheet of logical arguments about what to do and not to do. Nor is it a reflection upon the law, nor a moral or ethical study about life, or when life begins, or if a child can live outside of the womb. In fact, in my experience - right or wrong, selfish or not - the only real question that comes into play is "What is best for me?"
I say this, knowing that unlike most of the editors on this page, debaters in their pro-life rallies, and politicians who make the world's laws, I've actually been there. I've faced an unwanted pregnancy twice and aborted twice.
My choice at 18 from a night of "being stupid", and my choice just 1 year later after a violent rape were nearly the same process - I knew I did not want to be pregnant. I did not want to carry a child. I wanted to end the pregnancy. And I knew it almost instantly, with very little "debate" or "consideration" necessary. (The Right can yell all they want about how we as women do not *really* know what we want. How we need legislated and enforced "time to consider" our decisions. I beg to differ.) It was, it is a personal decision that no one who is not living my life and wearing my skin can possibly understand. It was not a political choice; it was not an economic choice; it was not a choice I mulled over for weeks or months (which is good, cause any abortion is both safer and perhaps morally less problematic the earlier you do it), it was an almost instantaneous acceptance that an abortion was right for me.