In 2020, singer-songwriter Amanda Shires wrote an article for Rolling Stone magazine in which she revealed that she had an abortion – a “10-minute” procedure that came with frustrating and “invasive” issues.
While there were many questions about why she underwent the procedure – although the trolls called her a “baby killer,” she described it as “removing cells” – Schars wrote at the time. –Shires wrote at the time, “The reasons I chose to have an abortion were personal, and they were mine.”
Since then, Shires has expressed this view several times. In a June 2022 follow-up, the artist detailed her experience ending a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy to Rolling Stone magazine. That experience – coupled with the current climate surrounding a person’s right to choose – further fueled her passion for standing up for abortion rights.
“I decided to write a column about my abortion for Rolling Stone because I thought it would be helpful to devalue abortion, but I also noticed that we were probably going backwards and in the wrong direction,” Shires released her new single of the week, “Take It Like a Man ” explaining to Yahoo Life. “I feel like the God I believe in gave me the brain, the mind and the knowledge to know what I should be able to do with my body …… and I think that if I didn’t have enough money to make some of these decisions the creator wouldn’t have given me in the first place.”
Shires knows that people have different views on abortion, and if Roe v. Wade is overturned, it will be almost completely illegal in Tennessee due to the trigger law. In fact, the friend who took her for the medical procedure in 2020 “didn’t see” Shires’ abortion the way she did – but she does believe Shires should have the right to choose what’s best for her.
“She still took me,” the Grammy winner said. “I don’t think the result was necessarily her changing her mind, but realizing that people make hard choices, or not hard choices, [because] it was an easy choice [for me]. When you talk to people close to you to you, I think it’s kind of understandable. …… It turned it from black and white to gray. We are still friends and I know she believes we should all be allowed to make our own choices. It may not be her choice, but it’s all good.
It was that connection that inspired the singer’s 2020 song, “The Question.
Sung with her husband, country music star Jason Isabell, “The Problem” details a woman’s decision to have an abortion. The powerful track features questions such as “Is it legal here?” questions like. “Do you need a reason?” Shires says the conversational nature of the song is intentional.
“I brought Jason in because I didn’t want to speak on his behalf in order to reach more people,” she says. “You need different people, and you know he’s a white guy with a bigger platform. We need more people talking about it, more people trying to change their minds.”
Another conversation Shires is more open to? One of them was the couple’s six-year-old daughter, Mercy, who explained her ectopic pregnancy and why it had to end.
“I explained to her that, you know, sometimes when you’re pregnant, if you’re pregnant outside of the womb, it’s definitely not safe and it’s dangerous,” she noted. “When that happened to me, she knew it was a life or death moment.”
Ultimately, Shires fears for the future of abortion rights – and wants more people to stand up for freedom of choice. She knows there will be people like her who may not be able to easily have an abortion – people who may lose their lives as a result.
“Your husband may not have a wife, your daughter may not have a mother who cares,” she emphasizes.
That’s why she speaks in her voice without apology.
“My mom instilled in me a ferocious attitude of taking up my space and doing everything I could to uphold my morals and ethics while realizing that it’s not as fair as it should be,” Shires says. “It’s fulfilling to talk about these things. Because if I don’t, I won’t be able to sleep at night if I have to keep quiet. I would do something wrong. Let’s be free to be who we are.”
