Discussion Were you always pro-choice or were you pro-life at one point?

[Squiddy]

Before I found this website, I used to be somewhat against suicide and thought people always needed to be saved no matter what and potentially put in a psych ward if they had suicidal thoughts. Since finding this website, my eyes were opened.

 

[Life_and_Death]

i think ive always been prochoice. that doesnt mean that if someone decides to commit suicide i wont feel hurt for them and hope there was maybe some way they could live. but as long as they are 100% sure then ill be just be there for them until its their time.

 

[schopenh]

I would have thought the typical "people with mental health problems obviously aren't in the right frame of mind to make decisions about themselves"; which I've come to see as extremely trivial. I also would have thought that it was fine for people who were suffering very painful diseases that weren't improving or had no treatment or were ultimately terminal and likely to experience a lot of suffering before dying anyway.

But now I believe that it is a fundamental right and everyone deserves at a bare minimum to be allowed (given that we are going to have some sort of society at all with governments and laws) to at least apply and have their plea considered. And that they should be allowed even if they have absolutely no discernible reason but they are consistent that they want to die. That's the bare minimum. I am probably more radical than most and think that most people should be allowed to end their life at a moments notice. But I don't feel like defending that again/today lol

 

[WornOutLife]

I was kinda brainwashed with the idea of "you gotta live on no matter what" some years ago but truth be told, I've been suicidal since I'm a teenager.

 

[Marchioness]

I used to help fundraise money for those suicide walks and do the walks, I talked online frequently about anti-suicide events. After several years of this I realized I felt hypocritical because I'd be giving these people advice while still feeling like crap, and that's with therapy and meds. I've seen some good stories come out of people helping people out but that's only from an article online or something sensationalized. The people I walk among still have the same issues that plague them most of their lives and I decided I should stop soapboxing and preaching because I was trying to be a good person (probably coming off as a dick to people without realizing) and start being more real with people.

 

[sadworld]

I never thought about it as a child. I probably would have been pro-life, thinking that everyone needs to live no matter what but once I started thinking about suicide and becoming suicidal myself which was a few years ago i started being pro-choice.

 

[Noodlebug]

Before I found this website, I used to be somewhat against suicide and thought people always needed to be saved no matter what and potentially put in a psych ward if they had suicidal thoughts. Since finding this website, my eyes were opened.

Exactly this, I am VERY Pro Choice now, who has the right to make someone live a life that they don't want?

 

[Rue89]

I've always been pro-choice. But then again my first real exposure to it was when I started having suicidal thoughts. Before that I didn't know anyone who'd ctb'ed or attempted; pretty much didn't hear anything about it, so I never gave it any thought. Once I started thinking about doing it I was pro-choice right away. Suicide prevention stuff made me angry then, and still does because it advocates stopping people at all costs.

 

[BPD Barbie]

I've always been pro choice. But then again I've pretty much always been suicidal since my early teens. But I tend to keep my views to myself outside this forum to avoid argument and suspicion.

 

[DoNotLet2]

I was manipulated by the Christianity so I was anti choice but I became skeptical. I don't mean all Christians are bad but the ones that influenced me were bad xd

 

[Deleted member 19654]

Before I became really depressed and suicidal myself, I was definitely pro life.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I think many people are possibly pro-life until they face a horrible situation that they can't deal with. When the shoe is on the other foot, and people are actually forced to experience suffering, that expedience can sometimes lead to a different perspective.

 

[grungeCat]

I used to be a pro-lifer when I believed in catholic God. It was in middle school. It wasn't very well-thought, I just copied what I heard in the church. I haven't met any suicider then though so fortunately this weird philosophy didn't have the chance to spread. I changed into a pro-choicer in first year of high school when I abondoned every hope and I realised there's no God to save me or anyone who is suffering. Sometimes it's better to give up.

 

[MiseryLovesMyCompany]

I believe that you have to be somewhat suicidal to be able to comprehend it, thus becoming pro-choice. It was the same with me and as I can see from the responses so far pretty much everyone else had it the same way.
Interestingly I know someone who was suicidal for a long time then something changed in her and became so pro-life that I don't even understand how can that be possible. I guess everyone is different. Although when I think about it, older people tend to say to children that their problem isn't that big, things will just get worse, but from the child's perspective their suffering can be the biggest they've ever experienced until that point. Many people forget that they were in the same shoes once. How can we expect those who had no real suicidal thoughts understand our pain and suffering then?

 

[Deleted member 1465]

But yes, I guess I would have been 'pro-life' if I have to really answer that question. I tend to think the distinctions are disingenuous though. I don't like the terms that divide 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice' into different camps. They are not even semantic opposites. Specific contexts can be complex and nuanced. Before I was faced with the collapse of my life and the prospect of a slow drawn out death, it's not something I ever really thought about.
However, I have acted on the will to preserve life at all costs and caused unbearable suffering, something I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself for. I acted out of love and with noble intentions and caused only bad. It's precisely because I'd never thought about death having an appropriate time before, that I did everything humanly possible to sustain life, which I think is the default position of many who have not had to deal with such personal circumstances.

 

[VIBRITANNIA]

before finding this site, i was pro-choice when it came to myself, and pro-life when it came to others. selfish, i know. funny how easily all that pro-life bullshit comes crumbles down once you do a bit of thinking. makes me wish i'd done it earlier.

 

[death137]

Five years ago when I heard the suicide of someone I know I said he is selfish how can't he didn't care about his parents. Although I had suicidal thought before that it was only for a short period and I was ignorant about mental illness and other problems that can lead to suicide. But some months after that I became suicidal on a daily basis and started to deeply understand about suicide. Ever since then I've became pro suicide. I still feel sad if someone suicide but I won't say they shouldn't suicide. I won't even judge the reason behind it. If someone come to me and say I want to suicide because I lost my pen I won't say you shouldn't do it. If my opinion is asked I will say if I were you I won't suicide because of that but suicide is personal and I don't know how you feel so I support whatever you do.

 

[TAW122]

When I was young and naive (kid or adolescent), I used to be pro-life in the sense that I always thought that suicide was bad, but I was never for involuntary hospitalization as I always saw that as an infringement upon another's right to decide. When I gotten older, almost adulthood, I started to see that CTB can be a valid option and that it may even be an appropriate choice if someone decides that life is no longer worth living and that the suffering outweighs the pleasure in life.

 

[Superdeterminist]

I never really thought about the issue until I began to really think about how I want to die and there's no easy way to do it, then I realised I was definitely pro-choice because I badly wanted that option for myself.

 

[262653]

When I was 9 yr old or so, I remember myself crying when I read on TV that two people have died from aids in my country, and that the number will increase in future, or something like that. Those news made me cry. Not like , but like

I had no stance on my own. I was doing what others were telling me to do, believing what other people seem to believe. A docile sheep, basically.
I'm not sure if I should call myself a pro-choicer now. Usually I'm not telling others what to do, but that comes mostly from indifference rather than concern about individual choice of others. I'm for decriminalization of suicide and assisted suicide because I'm the concerned party.

 

[Sprite_Geist]

Through all of life so far I have been indifferent toward suicide. Before the age of 18 I did not really think about it too much; I would sometimes see about people taking their own lives in the news and such, it did not evoke any strong feelings either way however. Sure it was sad for me hearing about it at that age but I was not against it, in fact I always was confused as a child/minor when people would label it as "The Cowards Way Out" - I could not understand why someone would think of it like that. Basically I had a neutral attitude (not for or against) on suicide before turning 18, but I would not have considered myself pro-choice because I did not know of that movement or term at the time. Now that I am older I still hold a neutral attitude on suicide, but now I also do consider myself pro-choice as well now; mainly because I started feeling suicidal at the age of 19 and that pushed me to look for communities like this and others, and in turn took to learn all of the terms.

 

[Ardesevent]

I was semi-pro choice. No one told me it was wrong, since my mom CTBd and no one really wanted to offend me. After I started wanting to die, I pretty much committed to it.

 

[Good4Nothing]

I knew a lot of suicides from a young age. Friends of the family at first, then my own friends. I never judged. I always saw it as a choice.

 

[willitpass]

i was pro life as a child before i became depressed. i became pro choice at the age of 12 when i became extremely suicidal, even before i found this website i have believe that if someone has been suffering for years and has tried to get help to no avail that people should not tell them it isn't their right to die

 

[ISeeRed]

I don't agree that a healthy baby should be aborted that is 30+ weeks gestational but I'm pro-choice. I'm sure plenty of people disagree but that's just me.

 

[ready 2 go]

Even as a child I was pro-choice. If one of my close friends or family members wanted to end their life, I'd try to get them help, but in the end it's their body, their life, their choice. Or if someone wants an abortion, it's completely up to them, none of my business. I'll support them no matter what. My family say they're "pro-choice" but when I attempted suicide they had me committed. I have so much trauma from my time in hospital. They saw my suicidal thoughts as a phase and that I'd recover from them. Nope. Been suicidal for almost 6 years straight. They see suicides in the news, and only think of them as selfish, and "what about their family?" I get where they're coming from, but ultimately it's that persons choice. People don't understand unless they've been in the situation.

 

[epic]

Convert it into a poll .

 

[KiraLittleOwl]

I was pro choice, I always understood that life can be unbearable to the extent that it is better not to live at all.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I was definitely anti-suicide despite having suicidal thoughts until about five years ago. I guess I didn't frame my acceptance of suicide as pro-choice until I came to this website but the opinion was always there.

 

[voyager]

Have to admit I never really thought about it while I was healthy (till 16). I was just happy and innocent. But I've always had an anti-authoritarian mindset and the belief that people have the right to make their own choices and not bend to someone else's will. I was in support of ending one's life if suffering (like mental or physical disability, cancer etc.) but I can't say if I would have extended this to people with mental health issues since it was something I probably couldn't relate to at the time.

Makes me wonder if I could've explained it to myself. I might've been able to grasp something like anhedonia, but I'm not sure I would've believed the earth shattering change right at one's inner core completely destroying one's peace of mind and personality. Truth is I'm still somewhat in shock and disbelief despite having experienced it myself. A part of me still thinks this is surreal and can't be happening, even after 27 years. How then could a normal me comprehend?