My daughter’s full name was Anais Rayleigh Walker. Or, that’s what I had planned it to be. I was two months pregnant when I was told this glorious news, and three months pregnant when I was told that material death was inescapable. My gynecologist told me that my body simply wouldn’t expand. My hips wouldn’t widen, my uterus wouldn’t grow, I would only get torn apart from the inside. I wasn’t prepared, only terrified. I wanted to create something new and beautiful and pure but I was fourteen, with a father not prepared to lose his only daughter, and a life uncertain for Anais. Abortion is haunting, but I spend every day thankful I’m alive.
