For my first, I had just come home from living abroad to begin an exciting new post-college professional life with my boyfriend in a big city. I’d never been on the pill and I didn’t have a job or health insurance yet, but I did have an appointment with Planned Parenthood to get myself on the pill. I made it to the appointment, but in the meantime a condom broke and I was already pregnant. With no job, no health insurance, and no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was clear to both of us this was no time to have a baby.
Fast forward almost 10 years. I am finishing my PhD, married, and eager to begin a family with my husband. It took us five tries. Our first pregnancy ended in a “spontaneous abortion.” That is, the kind you don’t choose. Our second pregnancy was progressing fine, but severe abnormalities were identified in the first ultrasound. The third pregnancy also aborted spontaneously, but not completely. A D&C was required to remove the yolk sac.
Our beautiful daughter was born about a year later, and I celebrate every day the fact that we are raising her intentionally and with the resources to give her the best of ourselves. Thank God (and Roe) that choice was ours to make.
