Heather Corinna of the excellent Scarleteen has been writing for a while now over at her own blog about her experiences working at a clinic which offers abortions.

This latest entry is a must read, as she describes an abusive man trying to pressurise his wife into having a termination, how she got stuck in the middle of it, and the pretty much unsatisfactory conclusion - she ended up leaving with him anyway, and rescheduling an appointment. It’s heartbreaking; but this is real life.

My heart sank when I read one bit of this story, in particular - the abusive husband is out of the way, and Heather is talking to the client one on one - it’s clear she doesn’t want an abortion, but:

She knew full well that having a child with this man would tie her to him forever. We talked about the realities of this, about legal help, about how it was a big issue, even if she could get a divorce and help keeping him from her and a child, a person obsessed with control tends not to be someone who gives up easily, so she would have to be okay with possibly fighting legal battles for years and years.

It’s a hard, but I think necessary read - even though, of course, Heather and the people at the clinic should have been in a perfect situation to help her out of this situation, of course life is messier than that. It’s not always so easy as swooping in to the rescue and real choice has to mean more than just having access to abortion.

Posted by Jess McCabe on 31 May 2008, at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)