Britney Spears Reveals In Her New Memoir That She And Justin Timberlake Made A Decision To Have An Abortion In 2000

Oh boy! We're talking abortion on the blog today! 

I'm going to start off making my stance very clear - I'm proud of Britney for being brave enough to tell this kind of story, and I am a staunch supporter of abortion. Via TMZ, an excerpt of Britney's book reads:

She says in the book she was raised not to get an abortion ... part of it was religious and part was just what she learned from her family.

In the book, Britney writes, "I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I'd anticipated." But, she says Justin felt they weren't ready, because they were too young -- both were around 19 at the time.

According to the book, Britney says she was "conflicted," but after some difficult, emotional discussions, they both agreed getting an abortion was the right decision.

I'm sure tons of people will have conflicting thoughts about this, even though I personally think they shouldn't - it's easy to push children and pregnancy on people when you aren't the one having your life changed forever. Taking "celebrity" out of it - Britney and Justin were extremely young. They were at the height of their careers, they were having fun and in love, but accidents happen. A little bit of misplaced teenage cum shouldn't be the cause of the entire trajectory of your life changing, famous or not.

I feel that present day we hear WAY more about how hard of a time women have getting pregnant, but we've almost abandoned the education (or warnings) of how, for the majority of people, it's comically easy. You could be tracking your ovulation schedule, you could be on birth control, you could have gotten lucky most of your life with pulling out. Condoms can break. It's never a 100% chance of avoiding pregnancy. Even IUDs, which are supposed to be the most effective birth control at "more than 99%," still cannot claim that 100%. If you have sex, you could get pregnant. 

For those women who have had abortions because they weren't ready to have children, I salute you. In my opinion, it's more mature to recognize that bringing a human being into the world under the wrong circumstances, and being proactive about a solution, is significantly less damaging than "figuring it out." Not everyone "figures it out" - a lot of people fail. It's a harsh reality, but what's the first thing therapists ask you about? Your parents. It doesn't matter how much money or help you have, if you know you don't have the mental capacity to love and nurture a person for the rest of your life, why let that child (and future damaged adult) suffer? It sounds to me like Britney and Justin found the maturity to make that very difficult decision at their young age, and there aren't any regrets. 

Again, I commend Britney on sharing her story, especially as she comes from a religious upbringing. I recognize it's a controversial topic and while I have the luxury of living in a state where safe abortions are accessible, a lot of women do not, or feel like they don't have a choice. I'm not saying this revelation will change time and space, but the world knowing that Britney Spears had an abortion 23 years ago will certainly make a lot of women feel less alone.