Last week, Jessa Duggar shared some heartbreaking news with fans.
In a 19-minute video posted on her YouTube page, Jessa revealed that she had an abortion scheduled for the 2022 holiday season.
The public’s initial reaction was an expression of kindness and support, as even the harshest critics of the Duggar family were quick to thank Jessa for her bravery in sharing her story with the world.
However, some have since taken issue with the language Jessa used to tell her story.
The Duggars, as you probably know, have long been outspoken opponents of a woman’s right to choose.
Abortions performed with the goal of saving the mother’s life are still legal in Arkansas, but some extremists would prefer they be outlawed as well.
Now, some observers believe that Jessa is sidestepping the issue and refusing to accept the fact that the abortion saved her life.
Jessa’s condition has earned widespread media coverage, some of which has helped shed new light on the nature of the procedures that saved her life.
“Due to the risk of complications with the passage of the fetus at home, she said she decided to check into a hospital to have a dilation and curettage procedure to remove the fetus from the womb,” he wrote. People magazine,
several media outlets, such as Arkansas Timesnoted that the dilation and curettage procedure is commonly referred to as an abortion.
hopefullyIn what is already a very painful time, no one wants to make Jessa’s life any more difficult.
(There was a time when we used to “obviously” say that this is the case, but this is the Internet in 2023. Villains lurk around every corner.)
The good faith participants in this conversation are merely pointing out that the abortion issue is more complex than the Duggars and other autocrats have made it out to be.
As many have pointed out, Jessa is outspokenly anti-choice, but her views on access to reproductive health care are at least more compassionate than those of her parents.
“We are not against birth control,” she once remarked in one of her YouTube videos.
“While we are not against preventing pregnancies or spacing children or whatever, there are certainly categories that would be morally wrong for a Christian because they would take the life of a child who is already conceived. has done,” she said.
“We know that children are a blessing from God, but like any blessing, it’s okay to manage it.
Perhaps Jess feels differently about these issues in light of recent events – but perhaps not.
It’s no one’s place to tell her how to feel.
But hopefully, the complexity of this situation will cause those who would deny life-saving health care to pregnant women to consider that stance.
After all, if the worst of extremists had their way, Jessa might not be with us now.