Rep. Pramila Jayapal Opens Up About Her Abortion

Pramila Jayapal wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about her decision to have an abortion. COURTESY OF JAYAPAL CAMPAIGN

U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal is really that bitch (note: "that bitch" is an honorific).

Today in an op-ed for The New York Times, Jayapal, a U.S. Rep. of WA-7 (that's us, Seattle!) revealed that she had an abortion 22 years ago. After the premature birth of her first child, Janak, who was born weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces with underdeveloped internal organs, Jayapal was told that another pregnancy would be "extremely high risk."

So when a few years later, Jayapal discovered she was pregnant again, she faced an enormous decision:

It was excruciating. I wanted children, but I wasn’t ready, nor was I fully recovered. I was so grateful that Janak had survived, but I could not tempt fate again. It had to be my choice, because in the end, I would be the one to carry the fetus in my body, I would be the one to potentially face another emergency cesarean section, and I would be the one whose baby could suffer the serious, sometimes fatal consequences of extreme prematurity. I could not simply hope for the best — I had to make a decision based on the tremendous risks that had been clearly laid out for me. I decided I could not responsibly have the baby. It was a heartbreaking decision, but it was the only one I was capable of making.

The thing is, this really shouldn't be news. We should live in a country where abortion is readily and safely available to those who desire to have one. It's a fundamental right. It's healthcare. It's normal. Abortion should remain a personal (and private, if the person so chooses) decision about what one pregnant person decides to do with their body. But it's not.

In recent months, many states like Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana, and Ohio have passed horrifically violent anti-choice laws (places where there may be only one center in the entire state that provides abortions), criminalizing people who seek abortions, giving the tiny clump of cells more rights than the person incubating it.

I have never spoken publicly about my abortion. I'm speaking now because of intensified efforts to strip Constitutional rights from pregnant people and to criminalize abortion.



I shared my story in an Op-Ed with @nytimes.https://t.co/AjBxRLtBet

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 13, 2019

Jayapal is one of many prominent people to step forward with their story of abortion during this wave of anti-choice bills being passed: actress Busy Philipps recently made time for her own abortion story, which you should watch here. Jayapal says she was compelled to speak about her experience now during a time of renewed and intensified efforts to strip people of their right to choose what happens to their own bodies.

The Democratic congresswoman doesn't begrudge those who are anti-choice of their views, though. "I never try to convince someone that they should share my views on abortion, and I don’t want anyone to try to do that to me," she writes.

But Jayapal emphasizes that anti-choice lawmakers must "commit to preserving the constitutionally protected right of others to choose." Only the pregnant person should make reproductive choices concerning their body, whatever the situation.

She is kind. I say vote those motherfuckers out of office and make sure they never get any morsel of power again, the sick fucks!

Jayapal ends the op-ed with this, "To this day, I have deep emotions about all the events of my life. For me, terminating my pregnancy was not an easy choice, but it was my choice. That is the single thing that has allowed me to live with the consequences of my decisions. And that is what must be preserved, for every pregnant person."

You should absolutely take the time to read her op-ed in full here.