Abortion is a very sensitive topic. In fact, in some families it is a taboo – they don't risk talking about it just in case their opinions don't match.
In a way, the family from today's story was one of these. Well, to be more specific, some were trying to ignore the topic, while others were actively bringing it up and making everyone uncomfortable. Until one day it all got too personal and the inevitable explosion of relationships happened.
More info: Reddit
Sometimes, not bringing up certain topics in a family setting can save some relationships from being ruined
Image credits: Nataliya Vaitkevich (not the actual photo)
A family had two sisters who held very different opinions related to abortion – one of them was pro-life, while the other was pro-choice
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
While the pro-life one constantly was talking about her views, the rest of the family used to try not to get involved and cause a big fight
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
But one day, the pro-life woman brought up her sister's similar-to-abortion procedure she had done many years earlier for her health and told her to repent for her sin
Image credits: AcanthisittaThrowRA
This angered the pro-choice woman, and she revealed to everyone that her sister had actually had an abortion, despite calling it murder now
The OP describes herself as a pro-choice person. At the same time, her older sister Jane refers to herself as pro-life.
Some say that these labels can be viewed as loaded language. After all, implying someone is anti-life or anti-choice sounds pretty harsh. They are also viewed as outdated terms. While they remain widely used by the public, some organizations, like Planned Parenthood, don’t use them anymore. Since the original poster used the terms mentioned, for the sake of clarity we will too.
So, to no surprise, the author’s pro-life sister is quite a religious Christian. This religion and the topic of abortion have a fairly complicated relationship, to put it mildly.
So, as we already know, she and her husband are in the 47% of those Christians who think that abortion should be illegal in most cases. They also do not shy away from referring to it as murder. And this drastic view causes quite some tension between her and her family.
The unfortunate family brunch described in the post became the peak of this tension. During it, the topic of abortion came up. So, Jane once again started her speech about how it is murder and anyone who supports it goes against Christian values. And just like any other time, both the OP and her parents tried to stay out of Jane’s monologue, since they didn’t agree with it.
But then the older sister decided to bring up the author. She called her a disgrace to the family and God because of her pro-choice views. If that wasn’t enough, she also brought up her medical history.
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
To be more specific, the fact that back in the day the OP had a uterine fistula removed via the dilatation and curettage method. With this operation, the woman's uterus lining is scraped. While it can be used as a method of abortion, it also has many other functions, such as investigation of uterine infection, female infertility, and many others.
These functions applied to the OP. For some reason, her sister still viewed this as an abortion and said that she should repent for her sin. This was the last straw. The woman got tired of her sister’s holier-than-thou attitude and her entitlement to reveal her medical history, so she snapped.
She said, “At least I'm not a murderer by your standard, but you are.” She was referring to the fact that the pro-life sister had actually had an abortion a few years earlier. What a plot twist!
No surprise, it shocked both Jane and her husband, who didn’t have a clue about it. And we probably don’t even have to say that this painted the OP in rather a bad light in her family's eyes. In the spur of the moment she not only revealed a sensitive secret her sister had trusted her with but also caused a rift in her marriage.
On the other hand, Jane did a similar thing to her and she did it first. That’s what many people in the comments thought too. They said that going with the “eye for eye” idea was fair in this scenario.
Well, it’s probably a good guess that this interaction only further ruined the sisters' already tense relationship. But when one of them constantly was trying to imply her moral superiority over such a sensitive question, it was bound to happen, wasn’t it?
This caused a rift in family relationships, so the woman asked online if she was wrong for it, but people there told her that going with the "eye for eye" idea was okay in this situation
