For a long time I have not felt belonging to either the Pro Choice or Pro Life groups and recently came across ProGrace which sets politics aside to focus on aiding the woman and meeting her needs directly both during and after her pregnancy regardless as to how she decides to proceed. This got my attention and I have since taken their training course, listened to their podcast and started some of their recommended reading to further my understanding.

In full disclosure I am a white christian male in the southeastern USA who has experienced two unplanned pregnancies myself and after learning of how terribly the church has handled their support of women, especially around unplanned pregnancy, I am looking to work with my wife to educate those within our sphere of influence to address this.

However, as mentioned above, I am a male and so naturally my experience around the issue simply does not compare to the depth of emotion and trauma that a woman would experience and so I am hoping to learn from those here who are or have experienced an unplanned pregnancy to better understand what support is needed to bring women through the traumas associated, overcome the fear and shame around the issue, and just generally help in any way I can.

I know this is a sensitive topic and so I would not ask for sharing directly in the comments here. Rather I am hoping to chat directly whether via Signal, email, etc. or even a quick call for those comfortable with that (can use Jitsi, Signal or another private voice chat to avoid needing to share any personal details). I would like to simply listen to your experience; I will not debate, judge, etc. as my goal is entirely to learn.

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider.

  • s3rvant@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    Thank for responding; I share your passion around the issue

    I am assuming you are in the US, in that case there are little programs available to help a woman raise a child she does not want especially if it is a red state.

    This is the kind of information I am looking for

    They do little background checks on people who foster and adopt

    As a foster parent of 8.5 years this is highly variable on the area; ours for example was extremely thorough and we were able to see several children’s lives improved through their placements - I do not however want to discount that the opposite does also happen though I do not have the answer as to any better solution beyond providing significantly more support to all areas of the foster system. We need more well-meaning people to get involved both as social workers and especially as foster / adoptive parents.