I want all women, especially young women, to know that your reason for having an abortion can simply be, 'I don't want to have a baby'.
I was 21 when I had my abortion, in what I believed at the time was a serious relationship. My partner’s reaction to my pregnancy made me realize that I would be dealing with this alone.
Having a child was never an option for me. I come from a poor background, and with little to no family support, any sort of stability I had achieved at 21 would have been destroyed in trying to support another life.
Thank goodness for the Planned Parenthood in my small town, which was able to provide me with a medical abortion.
When lawmakers in the US create and perpetuate a situation in which having a child very often means the destruction of the life of the mother (and a low quality of life for the child) through stigmatization and lack of financial and societal support, abortion doesn’t always have to be for medical reasons. My choice to have an abortion was a choice about self-preservation, about my own survival – I felt that with total certainty even at 21.
I am now 40 and I do not regret it one bit.
Because I was able to devote my time and energy to studying, I finished my degree. Then I got more degrees! I got out of my tiny town. I have seen the world. I have done so many things which would not have been possible for someone in my situation had I had a baby.
I want all women, especially young women, to know that your reason for having an abortion can simply be, ‘I don’t want to have a baby’. That is absolutely good enough.
