I image: a comic page depicting teenagers in a school yard. Text: I think back to middle school. Classmates would, somewhat regularly, be up in arms about pregnancy scares.
Living in a conservative community does not change the fact that teenagers will experience raging hormones and act on it.
Not every adolscent boy was down with using condoms either.
I had a boyfriend at the time.
Image: a comic page with several panels. Top: a girl, facing her mother in the luving room. Mother is ironing. Middle: two hands pressing a pill from its strip, Below: a girl takingva contraceptive pill, looking into a mirror. Her friend is partly visible in the mirror. Posters on the wall are depicting Lenny Kravitz, Bob Marley and Skin from the band Skunk Anansie. Text:I worked up the courage to ask my mother if I could take the birth control pill.
Thankfully, she agreed.
I was extremely punctual about taking it.
My friends teased me about my rigid approach. They weren’t wrong, I was paranoid, afraid of pregnancy.
“Oh no Ytje! I think you took the pill five minutes late! Are you sure it’s still effective now?”
Image: a comic page with several drawn frames. Top: a toilet bag in a bathroom. Middle: a person holding a portfolio case, standing in front of a building.
Text: At nineteen, I miscalculated and I became really stressed out about potentially being pregnant. I was terrified.
I had been accepted at an art school, some ways away from my hometown.
At this point , I lived in a flat with three housemates. I was excited. Being able to study illustration made me feel so lucky. I
had worked very hard to get there.
Now, being confronted with a possible pregnancy, I saw my future being threatened. I still went home to my parents every weekend. I hung out with my boyfriend, who still lived with his parents.
Coming from a very conservative background, I did not believe that abortion would even be an option. But I also could not fathom being a mother. It sounded like a nightmare to me.
Image: a comic page with several drawn frames. Top: a toilet bag in a bathroom. Middle: a person holding a portfolio case, standing in front of a building.
Text: At nineteen, I miscalculated and I became really stressed out about potentially being pregnant. I was terrified.
I had been accepted at an art school, some ways away from my hometown.
At this point , I lived in a flat with three housemates. I was excited. Being able to study illustration made me feel so lucky. I
had worked very hard to get there.
Now, being confronted with a possible pregnancy, I saw my future being threatened. I still went home to my parents every weekend. I hung out with my boyfriend, who still lived with his parents.
Coming from a very conservative background, I did not believe that abortion would even be an option. But I also could not fathom being a mother. It sounded like a nightmare to me.
On page 18, 19, 20 and 21 of Life in the Catalina Foothills. Women should always have the choice whether they want to continue a pregnancy, or end a pregnancy. Read the full (and developing) story on www.ytje.org.
#prochoice #womensrights #bodilyautonomy #webcomic