Importance of the Right to Vote

December 12, 1991

Wanda Franz says that having an abortion is psychologically unhealthy for a woman and uses this as justification to deny women their freedom to choose how to live their lives. Well, she'd better tell someone else.As a 20-year-old mother with a three-year-old daughter, I can attest to the fact that it's not very psychologically healthy for an unprepared, immature young woman or teenager to have a child. I have been lucky: I have parental support, provision for day care, and am about to graduate from college. But I know a number of girls who had children while teenagers and are stuck on welfare and miserable. I also know many girls who had abortions while young, and although certainly it was not a pleasant experience, they do not regret their choice and certainly did not experience any "post-traumatic stress disorder." I love my daughter and don't regret her existence, but it has not been easy; surely it has taken more of a psychological toll than an abortion. Alexandra Kahn, New York

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