Alabama's Abortion Law Would Have Punished This Woman Who Was Pregnant At 12

Today, she's a freelance writer and mother of six, but when she was just 12 years old, she was pregnant.

After Alabama's abortion legislation was signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey, Shannon shared her story with USA Today, and it's downright heartbreaking.

But when she was 12, she went through her ordeal in silence. She says that, while living in a suburb of Tampa, she was repeatedly abused.

"I never chose to have sex at such a young age," she wrote, "but abusers in my family chose to rape me."

"With a dad high ranking in the county sheriff's office, I didn't trust going to the police. I had tried to tell teachers and church volunteers, but that never went anywhere either," she wrote.

"When I was two weeks late, I threw up for the first time. I was confused initially, because it didn't feel like my experiences with stomach bugs or bulimia."

"Then I remembered when Becky from 'Full House' had been sick and pregnant with their twins. I did the math."

So, when she should have been off doing kid things, she had to go get a pregnancy test.

Then she walked off deep into the woods to take the test, climbing a tree as she waited for the results. "As soon as I saw the results, I scrambled back down the tree to double-check the box."

"I was six weeks pregnant, and seventh grade was starting at the end of the month."

At six weeks, when she had only just found out, she would already have been ineligible for an abortion under Alabama law, even though she had had no say in getting pregnant in the first place. But then, 12-year-olds never have a say in the matter.

"I felt like this pregnancy brought hope, so much so that I named the baby inside me Hope. I was sure Hope's existence would bring about change. No one could deny my abuse with genetic proof."

"I thought my parents would make me quietly get an abortion if I told them, so I didn't. I carried Hope and secrets into seventh grade."

Think about that for a moment.

But she's had many years to think on that experience, and the recent spate of highly restrictive abortion laws have her thinking about it all again, and the thoughts of a survivor are worth listening to.

"I need you to know that any child's pregnancy is traumatic, no matter the outcome, because little girls aren't supposed to have full wombs."

"I need to you know that I didn't know I had options, because I knew girls who got pregnant were called sluts and girls who had abortions were called murderers."

"But I need you to know that every story is unique. Every discussion of abortion between a woman and her doctor is different."

"This is why abortion can't be dictated by legislators. This is why abortion decisions must be made individually, between a woman and her doctor," she wrote.

If anybody knows, it's Shannon.

The unnamed girl was repeatedly raped by a 26-year-old and impregnated, CBS News reported, and under that state's law, would be forced to carry her rapist's baby to term.

Even before that law was passed, the girl would have had to argue her case to a judge or receive parental consent.

h/t: USA Today