Julia is a woman.
Julia has a lung. Julia has a heart.
Julia has legs, head and arms.
Julia is as any other human.
She is in college. She is twenty-one.
She has really good grades.
Julia does not drink alcohol,
Julia does not smoke. She is a ‘good girl’.
She has a boyfriend, a really nice guy.
She trusts him. Two years together is a long time.
They have sex like any other couple
They use protection, almost always…
This time there is no condom.
She is taking pills. She is taking contraceptives.
The time passes by and everything is fine.
But she starts getting nauseous all the time.
She throws up for no reason.
Why is that happening? She is so confused.
A lot of things come to her mind
Am I sick? Am I dying?
And then everything gets clear.
She buys a pregnancy test.
She is so confused. She has never done this before.
She does the test and prays for the best.
She cries. It cannot be possible.
She thinks it is just a nightmare.
She takes a while to realize the truth,
She is pregnant.
So now she need to talk with the “DAD”.
He laughs at her. He thinks it is a joke.
She wishes it was, but unfortunately it is not.
He screams at her: “How could SHE let it happen?”
She says it is not only her fault.
She takes pills, but THEY were not using condoms.
But it was obviously ONLY HER fault, because SHE is pregnant.
She talks about abortion but he just doesn’t care.
”SHE is pregnant, it is HER problem and it is not unfair”
She realizes the truth. He is not helping.
She is frustrated, disappointed. She is upset.
She THOUGHT she could lean on him. Her fault again.
She needs her family. She goes home.
She tells her mom. She tells her dad.
They swear at her. “She destroyed her studies”
They are really angry. “She destroyed her life”
She mentions abortion. Her mom argues with her.
Her mom is too religious. “Abortion is against God”
But it is her body, not God’s.
Her dad goes crazy. “Abortion is illegal here!
“Don’t even think about doing it”
But why? It is HER body. Why is it illegal?
Her family judges her. Judging is too easy.
But helping is really hard.
She is so lost. She does not know what to do.
They call her irresponsible, dumb and a slut.
They say it is all her fault. But no, it is not.
She is definitely alone and it is hard to admit.
She does not want a baby. She wants back her life.
She wants her boyfriend. She wants her family.
She wants to study, graduate and work.
She does not want a baby. She cannot even take care of herself.
She knows now, her life will never be the same again.
She goes talk with her friends. They are her last hope, her last help.
Her friend says: “ I did it once. But are you sure you want it?
It is dangerous if illegal; you can harm yourself, or even die.
And if you survive, it is going to be hard.”
“But if you really want to do it I can show you the place”
But she is confused. What she should do?
Keeping it would be bad for her and for the baby.
Not keeping it could be cause irreparable damages.
It was the toughest decision in her life.
But she decides. She goes to the clinic.
She does it.
Empty. That is how she feels.
Lonely, confused, sad and empty.
A piece of her now is missing.
She goes home. She lies down. And sleeps.
It is her last one. She bleeds while sleeping.
The bleeding does not stop and Julia has gone.
Julia had a lung. Julia had a heart.
Julia had legs, head and arms.
Julia was as any other human.
But why could she not have taken decisions over her own body?
That is just a fictional story, but a reality for lots of girls and women. Every year, 68,000 women die from complications related to unsafe abortion procedures, accounting for 13% of the maternal mortality rate.
It is about health, not about crime.
Abortion should be an option for women all over the world and nothing and no one, no matter if it is a law, or just people, should be more important than their own decision. Their body is their body and it should be under their control.