I’m 53.
I’ve been trying to convince others that free choice is a right that shouldn’t be taken away.
Only by framing it in the context of reproductive health choices I don’t think a lot of people will ever buy what I’m selling.
Only I know this much is true:
Ever since I was 15 or 16 years old I didn’t want to get married and raise a family.
Since I didn’t want to be forced to choose to get an abortion I used birth control.
This is the road taken in my life: to remain child-free.
In 1987 when I was 22 my life changed forever on a single night.
Having a breakdown is like a right of passage for some women.
This sealed the deal for me: I didn’t want to bring into the world a kid who could have a chronic unremitting illness.
A kid who might not be given mental health treatment as soon as they need it.
A kid who could become an adult who thus wouldn’t recover because they didn’t get treatment.
Most of all I didn’t want to have to discontinue medication to be able to carry a baby to term.
Doing so would put my life at risk.
When I was the Health Guide at the HealthCentral mental health website I wrote in a news article:
I’d rather be dead than psychotic.
Fighting words yet oh so true.
Left of the Dial 