I Had an Abortion and It Was a Totally Joyful Experience': Blogger Shocks Pro-Lifers With Op-Ed About Why Abortion Brought Her 'Relief

A blogger who revealed in a recent op-ed that she once had an abortion said that the experience wasn't "dark or painful" and instead called it "a joy."

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Kristen V. Brown's Fusion piece titled, "I Had an Abortion and It Was a Totally Joyful Experience," recounted how she became pregnant while on birth control — an experience that terrified her, considering that she had no money at the time and barely knew the father.

"I had just finished grad school and moved upstate from New York City to Albany to start a year-and-a-half long newspaper fellowship. I didn’t have friends, but I did have an OkCupid account," Brown wrote. "I met a nice enough guy there, and we dated for a few weeks, until he bought a house and a puppy and made clear that he was rapidly heading toward settling down."

But she said that they had dinner a few weeks later and ended up spending the night together.

"We parted ways, but a few weeks later, on yet another friendless Friday night, I asked him out to dinner. I drank too much. I don’t especially remember how, but we wound up back at his place," Brown wrote. "I do remember asking him to wear a condom. I also remember being too out of it to effectively protest when he declined."

She continued, "The next day, I made an appointment for an STD test, blocked his number, unfriended him on Facebook, and sincerely hoped to never see him again."

Brown said that the pregnancy that followed was "one of the darkest points" in her life, as she had little money and was alone in a new city.

So, she decided to go to Planned Parenthood, where she was able to secure an abortion pill just a few weeks into her pregnancy.

"I envisioned having to quit my fellowship and move home to California, since there was no way I could handle a baby in my current situation. I worried that my life was over," she continued. "The pregnancy itself made me physically ill, and the worrying only made me sicker. But once I got an abortion, suddenly, everything was fine again."

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It was after the abortion that Brown said that her life was once again normal, saying that she felt "powerful" and had a "deep sense of freedom," adding that she "felt awesome" and has never regressed her decision. That said, she did acknowledge that some women do find abortion difficult and traumatic, saying that she simply didn't have that experience.

"Becoming pregnant was a grief and a blackness," Brown said. "Getting an abortion was just a relief."

She concluded, "I wouldn’t call that dark or painful. Actually, I think I would call it a joy."

Pro-lifers responded to the article with shock and disgust. Micaiah Bilger wrote on LifeNews.com that "distasteful is too mild a word for" the piece, while Daniel Garza wrote for Newsbusters that "Brown does not take into account even one mention of the fact that she is terminating a human life."

Read Brown's entire op-ed here.

This comes after actress Amy Brenneman, who plays Laurie Garvey in “The Leftovers,” penned a recent Cosmopolitan op-ed in which she explained why she also believes that having an abortion at age 21 was the “right decision.”

Brenneman's op-ed led Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), who is pro-life, to push back via an open letter. The congresswoman also appeared on The Church Boys podcast last week to explain why she's speaking so openly about abortion.

“I think we have to reach women with the truth,” she said. “And the truth is abortion is not responsible family planning.”

Listen to what Black had to say about abortion below:

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