Last week, we talked about April Love Geary and her matter-of-fact statement that she had elective C-sections with all three of her children. As I said, I appreciated her honesty about her fear of vaginal birth and the pain of childbirth, and I like that she presented it as simply another “my body, my choice” conversation, which (IMO) it is. Of course, the biggest “my body, my choice” conversation is about abortion. Turns out, April had a matter-of-fact story about abortion too:
April Love Geary says getting an abortion months before she met fiancé Robin Thicke “was the right thing to do.”
The 26-year-old model opened up about her experience during an Instagram Live on Thursday after a follower asked her to talk more about how she healed from the procedure.
“So my abortion story sucks, but I’ll talk about it,” she began the video. “Healing mentally, I just knew it was the right thing to do so that’s what’s always kept me feeling okay about the decision.” Geary went to the clinic alone and “afterward, (the guy) came and picked me up and took me straight to the airport. So, you know, I did make the right decision cause, like, who does that after someone gets an abortion?”
Geary who shares three children with “Blurred Lines” singer Robin Thicke, Mia, 2, Lola, 1, and newborn son Luca, explained that therapy helped her work through the experience.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to provide a good life for this child,” she said. “It just wasn’t the right time for me. I don’t regret it.”
It’s not the first time Geary has spoken up about getting an abortion. In 2019, she clapped back at people who criticized her choice. “I’ve been getting a bunch of DMs saying things like ‘how could you support abortion when you’re a mother yourself’ so this is MY body, MY body after having an abortion in 2014, a miscarriage in 2017, delivering a baby in 2018 and 2019,” she wrote, along with a photo of her stomach. “I’m glad I was able to make decisions about MY body without facing any type of punishment.”
An abortion in 2014 would have made her 20 years old at the time or thereabouts. Many 20-year-olds probably are not ready for motherhood and it was the wrong guy, clearly. The way she describes the story about the guy dropping her off at the airport is a bit confusing too – did she get on a plane and fly somewhere just hours after the abortion? That is… not the Planned Parenthood medical advice. And if he just dropped her off at the airport instead of taking her home, that’s pretty f–king awful too. Anyway, society is way too patronizing towards women and their reproductive rights and choices. I’m happy to see that a young woman like April has been able to stick up for herself, openly communicate with doctors, abortion providers and douche exes and make her own choices.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
While I 100% agree with my body/my choice, all of the celebrities that promote elective c-sections rub me the wrong way. It also sends a confusing message to people that it is an available option, when in reality, if you’re not a celebrity, this isn’t really a choice.
That is not true. I elected to have a c-section for the exact same reason with no push back from my doctors, and I am not rich or a celebrity. Zero regrets.
my sister had three c-sections, the first was after 12+ hours of labor and the other two were elective so she didn’t have to go through that again.
plenty of doctors will do elective c-sections whether or not you’re a celeb.
I don’t see her “promoting” anything, just talking about HER experience and that it was right FOR HER. and that people shouldn’t…ahem…judge other women for what they do with their bodies.
I am a nurse and you can’t just elect to have a C Section. It doesn’t work like that. It’s dangerous and it has nothing to do with my body my choice. It is everything wrong with our healthcare system that if you have money you can get a C Section you don’t need. It’s ridiculous.
I totally got an elective c-section, and I’m def not a celeb. My first child was vaginal and so completely awful of an experience I knew I’d never want to go through it again. So, c-section for me!
Always grateful for a celebrity to share an abortion story or otherwise speak out against abortion stigma.
Yes me too. I have no idea who this woman is, but always happy to see this. The abortion I had when I got pregnant at 16 was one of the smartest decisions I have ever made.
Yeah, I don’t who she is either, but I really admire her. She’s doing a service to other women by helping de-stigmatize abortion.
Ooh, those DMs she received make me mad.
Just a friendly reminder when we hear anti-choice rhetoric about mothers not being able to be pro-choice: worldwide, the majority of women who have abortions are already mothers. Meaning access to abortions is a vital part of enabling women to make the best choice(s) for their families.
I’m pregnant and beyond excited for my baby. I love him and can’t wait for him. I still support abortion. It’s insane that motherhood would be conflated with bad timing/bad people/bad situations. It’s not my business why someone else doesn’t want to be a parent. They should be granted safe choices in that time.
There was a great episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend about this very thing (a mom having an abortion because 3 kids was enough). They showed an idealized version of how a family could treat it like any other medical procedure that mom was having, without any shame or secretiveness.
When abortion was illegal, many women in the US getting one were mothers who felt they could not manage to support another child. There just were not enough resources to go around.
I became even MORE pro-choice once I became a mother. I realized what an extreme responsibility it was, and no one should be forced to take that on.
Yes, this. I know how difficult parenthood was for me at 30 in a stable, loving, and financially secure marriage; it is the hardest thing I have ever done and I constantly worry that I am “doing it wrong.” Women have the right to make the choice that is best for them, and are in the best position to determine what that means. Every child deserves a stable, loving home, and there should be no shame in admitting that you aren’t in a place to provide that (or that you don’t want to!) and terminating.
Good for her. I know not everybody is comfortable shouting their abortion, but frank conversations like this help destigmatize the topic. I like hearing moms talk about it in particular – for decades we’d been fed this narrative that if you terminate a pregnancy, you’ll be sad, and feel guilty, and somehow you’ll have these dark and twisty feelings about motherhood on the whole. When sometimes it’s just the right thing.
I think most women feel the same way she does, relief and no regrets. That pro birth bullshit has just been drilled into our brains whether we realize it or not, we’re taught to feel guilty and live in shame forever, but that’s not reality for most women. We go on with our lives happy as can be. And yes, many women who have abortions are already mothers, which tells me they know having children is hard and expensive as hell. It’s not all magical rainbows and unicorns, it takes a huge toll on every part of your life. So April gets respect from me for talking about it so openly!
The “pro life” camp absolutely disgusts me at this point. They prove over and over that it’s not actually about life, it’s about controlling women and newborns, those hard to come by fresh newborns who aren’t jaded like older children. There are hundreds of thousands of living breathing children across the world who need homes, food, shelter, etc, and most pro lifers couldn’t care less. Being pro choice is pro life in my opinion, it’s pro life of women and already living children.
If she had a medical abortion she would have received the first dose (causing the placenta to detach) at the clinic, and would take the second does (to initiate the period) days later. So she could’ve going to the airport straight after. I don’t know about surgical abortion but the medical version is really non-traumatic.
i had a surgical abortion. best decision i’ve ever made btw. one with full-blown anesthesia and bleeding the day after. i was already back at work bartending by then. so hopping on a plane would have been no problem either way. lets just take her word for it. i’m very glad about her contributions to the discourse.
I really hope Robin Thicke got his ass in gear because I really want this woman protected. She so young, has three small kids but also seems grounded and self aware. I want healthy things for her.
This. I don’t think Robin Thicke is a great person or partner, but I want good things for her.
Very similar to my abortion story. Pregnant at 21 from a hookup in hindsight I shouldn’t have slept with. Had a medical abortion at 5 weeks. Went on to easily get pregnant when I was married and ready. Had 3 healthy 40 week babies in my 30s. I’ve never regretted the abortion. I regret being in the situation to get pregnant in the first place. Still firmly pro-choice.
My story is similar. Surgical abortion at 21, dude was desperate to get married and have a son (specifically) and I was having full blown hysterical meltdowns about it. I was just past the time frame for a medical abortion. Had a couple of cramps, very little bleeding and that was it.
He ended up cheating on me and getting another girl pregnant around when I would have been giving birth. They got married, had his son, and he abandoned them. He later had a daughter with another woman and left them too. So yeah, it was the best decision on my part.
I am now a mom to a 4 year old and I had an awful pregnancy. Though he is now my ex-husband, he was amazing during my pregnancy. Even the time I texted him to bring me my Sprite from the dresser. Of the room that I was in! I also had awful prenatal depression and anxiety and was in the psych ward for 24 hours. I know first dude would have been an awful partner throughout my pregnancy.
Also very similar to my story – 20 years old, went to clinic alone, guy picked me up and then dropped me at home. Best decision of my life. If the option to have a safe procedure done in a hospital had not been available, I would’ve resorted to more durastic measures – proof that restriction just results in the death of women, not fewer abortions.
While the medical advice may have been to rest for several days, 20 year olds don’t often have the luxury to skip work, flights, etc. I took out a payday loan to pay for mine and needed to hustle to pay for it!
My sister initiated her own abortion after a sexual assault as a teen. She was so ashamed to tell our religious parents she overdosed on a bunch of supplements and alcohol. She ended up in the hospital with an extreme amount of bleeding. She needed blood transfusions and was transfered to the ICU with septicaemia for 3 weeks. The fetus was aborted, thankfully. My sister was physically and mentally wrecked for at least a year. My parents finally came around supporting abortion rights after that. Afterwards my sister became a sexual health teen advocate and worked at an abortion clinic through her 20’s.
Your poor sister. What a horrible and traumatic series of events to experience so young. I hope she found a lot of meaning in helping other young women and is doing well now!
The straight to the airport thing is odd to me as well… like did she have a plane ticket already to go somewhere? Or was it like he drove her to the airport and told her to get the hell out? I dunno, seems like she’s probably twisting that a little bit. But if she’s with Robin Thicke, it doesn’t surprise me.
Glad she’s ok with her abortion though. Glad she’s speaking out about that because all the anti-abortion stuff tries to push the “you’ll regret it” line.
Appreciate her speaking out. Just wanted to add that any woman, of any age, for any reason, shouldn’t be shamed for choosing to have an abortion. I noticed the information about her being only 20, so probably not ready for motherhood, but she needs no passes from others to justify her choice. If she got pregnant tomorrow & chose abortion as a method of birth control (cuz it is), for any reason (that she doesn’t have to give), then more power to her.
This. There doesn’t need to be any reason so that others can place their moral scale on her decision. It’s between a woman and her doctor period.
Maternal request CS. Abortion. All her choice. And it should be for anyone.
Apparently this woman has never heard of the pull out method, natural family planning, birth control, condoms, spermicide and the like.
Well aren’t you charming