This story is published at Shout Your Abortion. Content warning.

I have a family member who has struggled with shooting up meth since she was a kid. I will call her Cindy.  Cindy was one of five. They all were brought up in this environment, all suffered cruel abuse. Two of her sisters have committed suicide before turning thirty.

One of her sisters, Amanda, had a a daughter who watched her commit suicide at eight years old. She never felt love before because her mother never wanted her — her mental illness kept her from being maternal.

Cindy is now in prison where she will stay the rest of her life. She has seven children.

One she put in foster care as a baby. We cannot find where he is now, if he’s alive. One of them is missing, his father went off the grid and took him. He is eleven.

One she put in foster care as a baby. We cannot find where he is now, if he’s alive. One of them is missing, his father went off the grid and took him. He is eleven.

One she put in foster care as a baby. We cannot find where he is now, if he’s alive. One of them is missing, his father went off the grid and took him. He is eleven.

One is only three and I have to take care of that poor girl because her father was deported after being arrested for abusing her. She cries for her mother everyday. She will never see her again.

One just had her first child at fourteen. The child has the herpes virus, contracted from his mother at birth.

One of them is fifteen and she shoots up meth every day.

I don’t know about the others — they are too violent to contact. But they’re gone. Most underaged.

Cindy got her first abortion when she became pregnant with twins. Another relative paid for her abortion. This was a year or two back and I cannot imagine what would have happened to those kids had they been born.

Those children she was growing were not meant to be born. It would be morally wrong to bring them into the world she lives. None of her kids are happy. They didn’t ask to be born into such vile conditions.  

I wrote all of this to say that abortion is humane when a child is going to be hurt.