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It's not often a politician admits to having an abortion. But this one did.

Lucy Flores. (Photo: Facebook.)

 

 

 

 

Usually a headline with the words “politician” and “abortion” in it, is followed by an article about ultra-conservative men preaching about sin and promiscuity.

But one thing we don’t often hear about in the media, is a female politician announcing she had an abortion.

Which is weird when you consider that, on average, one in four women will have an abortion in her lifetime.

And that’s why it’s so refreshing to hear US Democratic nominee Lucy Flores openly admit to having had an abortions as a teenager — not because the foetus was sick, not because it was a product of rape, but because she wasn’t ready to have a baby and had a different vision for her life.

It was during a hearing on a state sex education bill in April 2013, that the 34-year-old admitted she’d had an abortion, and revealed more of her story in an interview with MSNBC published yesterday.

Of the seven daughters in her family, she was ‘the only one who didn’t have kids in their teenage years,’ she told MSNBC.

“That’s because at 16, I got an abortion,” she explained.

As MSNBC writes:

Her eyes welled up and her voice caught as she described how she’d convinced her father to pay the $200 cost for the procedure. She didn’t want to end up like her sisters, Flores told him.

“I don’t regret it,” she said. “I don’t regret it because I am here making a difference, at least in my mind, for many other young ladies and letting them know that there are options and they can do things to not be in the situation I was in, but to prevent.”

Interestingly, given America’s political climate — in which abortions are typically taboo — Flores has actually become more popular since speaking out about her life experiences: polling data suggests 59 per cent of people like Flores more after hearing her life story, as Slate reports.

Flores as a teenager. (Photo: Facebook)

Indeed, the brave way she’s tackled the challenges she grew up with has become the centrepiece of Flores’ campaign, and women’s rights advocates and Hispanic activists in particular see her as “as a potential superstar for the Democratic Party”, according to Slate.

We’re a little disappointed Flores isn’t campaigning here in Australia — we could do with fewer rich, white, anti-choice men in power at the moment.

But on the whole, we’re so pleased Lucy Flores is brave enough to speak out about an experience that so many women can relate to.

Brava, Lucy. Brava.

Would hearing Flores’ life story make you more or less likely to vote for her? Do you think Australian politicians could do with being more honest?