From Anti to Escort

Hi!

My name is Jennifer, and I was an anti-abortion/religious protestor.

I'm the third in a large homeschooling "missionary" family. I was raised quiverful, fundamentalist, evangelical, isolationist, and anti-abortion. But I was also raised to "swim against the current," to question everything, to seek out truth, and to fight for what is right.

I blocked my cognitive dissonance by devoting myself completely to the cause. At the age of nine I was writing what I thought were groundbreaking children's fiction stories to evangelize "the lost." I would literally cry myself to sleep because I wasn't old enough to do my own proselytizing. My grandparents ran a "crisis pregnancy center." You know the kind; with only one option? One of my siblings helped run the 24/7 phone line as a volunteer.

It wasn't until my late teens that the façade became impossible to maintain. Cracks in reasoning and holes in logic caused doubt. Inconsistency created roadblocks. "Truth" turned out to be regurgitated cult doctrine, and "what was right" never seemed to get in the way of what most benefitted the men in power on top. I needed to swim against the stream, and more and more the stream where I was raised became what I opposed.

I eventually escaped, and began the excruciating task of reassessing all the brainwashing and learning the kind of person I wanted to be. I also learned more about life as I got a minimum wage job and began making meagre paychecks. I learned about sex and saw from new friends at work how shockingly easy it was to get pregnant, even using various methods of protection. It was plain that I would never be able to support a child with my income and job prospects.

I came to recognize how fantastical the concept of "abstinence" was, especially if I didn't want a child after marriage. I also came to see how abortions are a very personal decision, and I wanted to get out of the habit of judging everyone based on my parents’ ideologies. I decided I would support the right to choose, whether it be giving birth or not carrying to term, because I would want to have that choice myself. It's also none of my business what other people choose. If your choice is abortion, it is the right choice for you, and I will do everything I can to help you get one.

I am here because I want to give back, because I want to right the wrongs my Grandparents have done, because I care, and because the anti-choice protestors just don't know how to handle me.

I look forward to a day when I'm no longer needed as an escort, because there will be no antis. Maybe it can happen? Or am I writing fictional stories again?

Until then I'm volunteering locally and being an online advocate.

See you on the sidewalks!!