At the beginning of the end of a very long and violent relationship after I’d “consented” to unprotected sex…shortly after a severe physical assault…where I’d asked that he pull out and he didn’t I found myself pregnant.
I started crying during the medical exam at the clinic and disclosed that the pregnancy was a result of being raped by my soon to be ex. He got me pregnant frequently, refusing condoms discouraging birth control, but I always terminated.
I told the doctor, face swollen and a fractured eye socket still healing…that I said yes to sex to avoid being beaten.
The doctor looked at me with so much compassion. “You did what you had to do to survive.”
I was offered sedation while I waited in a room alone away from others in the clinic. I spoke with a social worker. I had a plan, I was moving while he was out of town. I was getting out. But I only had 3 days to do it. I was definitely pregnant but considered too early for surgical procedure by the clinic guidelines.
3 women, two doctors and a nurse, decided they were going to do it anyway. I was the last patient in that day. I know they violated procedure. But it saved my life. I don’t know that I would have been able to find the strength to get away from him.
I was able to get out of the relationship. I moved. I moved again.
6 years later I’m married to a good man with a family and a completely different life.
I still think of those women. The clinic staff that helped me.
