I’ve had three parents in my life and all three have been or are addicts and two have left. My family has always had low income and we struggle to make ends meet. My whole life I’ve struggled with myself and I’ve been depressed since I could remember I just couldn’t describe it nor would anyone believe a young child. So I earned good grades and tried to be a normal kid. I truly love learning, I was always good at science and math and Chemistry fascinated me, I even made it to AP. But my mental health got worse and I ignored it until the point I burned out my junior year of high school, tanked my gpa, and ruined any chance of getting into a good college with scholarships because I don’t have generational wealth to send me to an expensive school.

I genuinely didn’t believe I had a future as I grew up. I never thought too far ahead because I didn’t plan on being here. But now I am 18 and I’ve been accepted into college this October. I have a chance to finally get over the fucking poverty line for once in my god damn life. To finally not worry about food vs bills. Or a car payment vs basic necessities. If I were to become pregnant whether accidentally or through rape, because that’s the bleak reality of our country, all of that would go away without the right to an abortion in my red state of West Virginia. I cannot take care of a child, not emotionally, not financially, and not right now. Adoption is not an option, that is a cruel sentence for any child. If I were to be forced to conceive and raise a child that ruined my chance of a better future for myself, I would honestly resent that child. Neither of us would be happy.

People need to stop acting like abortions end lives, because they save lives. They don’t realize not all uterus owners want to be parents, not all uterus owners can afford to be parents, or afford to be a parent to another child while already juggling 4 kids and 3 jobs. Children do not deserve to carry a rapist’s baby that their bodies are not even physically ready to conceive. And at the end of the day, no one should be forced to conceive a child that threatens their life in any aspect. Protect the right to abortion.