Abortion: A Personal Story, a Political Choice

In this nuanced account, Harmange (I Hate Men) reflects on her decision to have an abortion. She recounts how in 2019, she became pregnant despite using birth control and aborted the embryo because though she wanted to one day be a mother, her circumstances were “less-than-ideal” as a recent college graduate still struggling to launch a career. “There was no doubt and no regret,” she reports, but admits she had complicated emotions, waiting over a year to tell her mother out of shame and grieving “who I’d thought I was.” She uses her story as a launching pad to explore the politics of abortion and laments that taboo inhibits frank discussion of the “feelings of ambiguity, negativity, sadness, and insecurity” that can accompany the procedure. Examining the role of men, she posits that their stunted emotional “vocabulary” regarding abortion is exacerbated by the “fact that women still don’t have the right to talk about it freely.” Harmange excels at illuminating intersections between the personal and the political, and her willingness to probe her own pain makes for powerful reading. Timely and affecting, this packs a punch. (May)