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How Abortion Has Changed Women's Experience of Pregnancy

As wonderful and awesome as it is to be with child, we know it's also possible for mothers to face pregnancy with mixed feelings. This is only natural. Fear of childbirth was especially understandable in the past, when medical knowledge was more limited than it is today. Mothers frequently died due to complications that are easily treatable now. And there have always financial and other pressures that have meant the idea of a new pregnancy can take a little getting used to. But generally, mothers and fathers have learned to accept new life and gone on to successfully parent. Today, however, women face an added burden which simply didn't exist in times gone by. It is the pressure to abort. In the Western world and in any place where legal abortion has gained a foothold, abortion has become the default position for pregnancy - and not only for unplanned pregnancies. It's quite common in Australian hospitals and clinics for mothers to be asked, as their pregnancy is confirmed, whether they 'want to keep it'. "It's your choice," medical staff will say. And thus the pressure begins.