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by Laura

May 10, 2019

Content Warning: later abortion

When I was 27, I had had been in the hospital three months and had three major life-threatening surgeries. Ultimately, I was told that one of the results was I never could get pregnant. And if I did, all the internal scar tissue and damage done by those surgeries would be life threatening to me and a baby, that most likely both of us would die in the process. I finally came to grips with my situation and had my IUD removed a year or so later. Life was going fine until I turned 30 and started getting sick every day. I thought it was a virus. But it didn’t go away. My doctor thought it would work its way out of my system. When I started vomiting, but gained weight, I said if I didn’t know better I’d say I was pregnant. Back to my doctor for pregnancy tests, negative. I continued to have classic signs of being pregnant. After more negative pregnancy tests, I went to a specialist who confirmed I was at least three months pregnant and that the odds were high that I’d die and the baby would die. I agonized that after being told I’d never get pregnant that maybe I should take the risk and get lucky. My doctor told me that there was no chance that I’d survive. I decided to have a legal abortion. However, halfway through it, the doctor stopped and said I had to be transferred from the outpatient to the hospital. I was groggy and scared. After I woke up in the hospital, the doctor told me that I’d had to have the surgery because I was more than five months along and the doctor at the clinic found skull fragments. At that moment, I was crushed because I thought I might’ve been able to get all the way. Then the doctor told me that I would’ve died and my life had been saved that day. Legal access to safe abortions saved my life. I’m 69 now and have led a productive life. WE MUST NOT LOSE OUR RIGHT TO SAFE AND LEGAL BIRTH CONTROL & ABORTIONS. WE MUST NOT LOSE OUR RIGHT TO CHOICE! WE WON’T GO BACK TO DARK DAYS OF COAT HANGERS IN DESPERATION!

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