Creative Non-Fiction

Unfortunately, our stories were mostly met with anger, insult, ill-informed and unsolicited advice.

The reality is that abortion is happening in the Philippines, and thousands of women are dying precisely because abortion is illegal in this country. Many of us choose to ignore this truth.

As long as we keep our minds shut, we will always have a negative perception of abortion. As long as we keep mum, nothing will change.

The worst stories she’d heard came from the nurses over at Fabella, about women who didn’t have enough money or contacts, and opted to do it themselves:

There were the ones who tried to
fish it out with a hanger.

The ones that were advised to
expel it with laundry detergent.

The ones who “fell” down flights of stairs in an attempt to dislodge it.

I wrote this because I am tired of girls being made to regret decisions that involve their own bodies. I am tired of women having to do what they don’t want to do because of the fear of being judged. Motherhood is a gift but it is also a decision.

So if I could go back to the exact same situation where I had to choose between keeping the baby or not would I still do it? Yes, and hopefully in a more sanitized, safe place for abortions.

Ang aming kailangan
sana’y pagbigyan:
pagdamay at pagunawa
respeto at simpatiya

Kalusugan at kaligtasan
ay aming karapatan.
Pagpalaglag na pinagdaanan
sana inyong igalang.

Men have no right imposing their beliefs on women. And not even other women have a right to impose their beliefs on another woman. An individual’s choice is hers and hers alone.

Sagot ng ina
Kung alam lang namin
Kung saan

Sana buhay pa ang
Anak ko ngayon

Please let everyone decide for themselves if they are ready to sacrifice all to raise a kid, especially because their right to their body and life really is greater than the right of the chance at a human being that an undeveloped fetus represents.

I made my own decision
I made my own choice
It's over
The real fear is gone
No more blood
The bleeding stopped
I am alive

Awaken
Embracing the wholeness of my soul
Beckoning
The renewed feeling
Totally liberatIng

I heard about Liselle, She chanced Quiapo church; a plastic of poison was the fruit of her search

I heard about Joanne, she drank her elixir; and dropped down dead in front of her fixer

I heard about Rissa, I heard that she died; I heard that they caught her, I heard no one cried

But the Philippine law prohibits these indignant cases and would adhere to carry her pregnancy without considerations from the adolescent victim and the infant himself collating to a more and complex notions as concerned citizens for we may deny the right of a woman to seek for therapeutic interventions and discourage her to see the chance beyond chances of knowing what is just for her.

Abortion is not an easy decision and does not make us criminal. A woman’s decision to opt for abortion does not make her a murderer, undignified nor shameful.

She told me that every now and then a woman comes to the emergency room, alone or with a friend -- rarely with a man – bleeding heavily between her legs. She’ll ask them what happened and nine out of 10, they’ll lie and say they don’t know, they fell down, they miscarried a few days ago. But tell them they might die if they’re not telling the truth, because the doctors might give them the wrong medicine, maybe 6 or 8 will come around and tell her it was a hanger, or Cytotec, she drank too much of that pamparegla from Quiapo, or the manghihilot gave her a wrong medicine. So the social worker reports it to the police.

Sabi nila, walang tiyak na numerong makapagsasabing tumatanda na ang isang tao. Ang mayroon lamang ay isang abstraktong bagay. Isang kaganapan. Kapag ang isang tao'y nagsimula nang gawin ang mga bagay na hindi niya gusto, at kapag nilimutan niya na ang ilang mga bagay, at sinimulan nang gawin pati ang mga bagay na nakasasakit sa kaniya, dito, nagsisimula nang matiyak ang reyalidad.

Maria learned that she was pregnant six weeks after the rape incident; she tried to hide the truth. Her mother was clueless about her condition. Her pregnancy was both unwanted and unplanned. Weighing her options, she was at liberty to decide what she wanted to do. Afraid that the government would intervene against her personal choice to discontinue pregnancy, she resorted to the clandestine and unsafe abortion practices.