I had an abortion almost exactly six years ago. I was in Louisiana at the time so I had to deal with all the terrible laws there, like waiting a certain number of days before going through with it to “ponder my decision” and having to look at the ultrasound. Regardless, it was a very easy choice for me to make. I had gotten pregnant practically the first time I had sex with a new boyfriend, we had only been dating about six weeks when I found out I was five or six weeks pregnant. I thought about the life I wanted to have and I was not sure that a baby fit in to either of our plans at the time. I ended up staying with this boyfriend longer than I probably would have if I had never gotten pregnant before getting back together with my ex, who I married last year.
But this story isn’t really about my abortion, it’s about getting pregnant on purpose and being reminded of my abortion over and over again during my prenatal care visits when the doctors were careless and did not read or did not put into my chart after being asked numerous times to stop calling this my second pregnancy. I never really considered the first a pregnancy since I got an abortion early on and I never told my husband about it, because honestly, it didn’t feel like something he needed to know. It was endlessly frustrating to have the current doctors say it over and over and honestly, I’m not sure to this day if they ever noted it in my chart. Anyway, all to say, I’m so thankful I had the abortion when I did, it allowed me to live the life I wanted and make the choices that have brought me to where I am today, but medical providers who can not respect your choices or your requests are the reason we have terrible maternal health outcomes in the US.
