erica saves the day

“No hook-up, no cumulative accounting of a lifetime of hook-ups, will ever hurt as much as a break-up with a partner you love more than anything in this world. Young women know this about relationships. That’s probably one reason why we sometimes prefer not to engage in them.”

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That right there, that is the truth. Unless the hookup gives you an STD. Those can sometimes hurt worse than breakups.

(Over at JBel, Tatiana the anonymous model tears apart a new sex ed web site)

“

Walking around with a belly full of broken dreams, it felt like what I would imagine drowning feels like — flailing and suffocating and desperate. Semiconscious. Surrounded by our family, I found myself tortured by our decision, asking over and over, are we doing the right thing? That was the hardest part. Even though I finally understood that pregnancy wasn’t a Gerber commercial, that bringing forth life was intimately wrapped up in death — what with miscarriage and stillbirth — this was actually a choice.

Everyone said, of course it’s the right thing to do — even my Catholic father and my Republican father-in-law, neither of whom was ever “pro-choice.” Because suddenly, for them, it wasn’t about religious doctrine or political platforms. It was personal — their son, their daughter, their grandchild. It was flesh and blood, as opposed to abstract ideology, and that changed everything.

”

— What exactly are these second- and third-term abortion procedures Dr. Tiller was performing? Read this great piece by Maggie Voss, who had one, this handy factsheet on RH Reality Check, or any one of these other personal stories to find out.