In a strict catholic high school ran by Irish nuns, I first came across abortion aged 12, in a religious education class where we were shown a horrific pro-life propaganda movie about abortions. The young female teacher cried and apologised and said she’d lose her job if she didn’t show us it. One girl threw up.
I didn’t give abortion much thought again until I was 17, and fell pregnant with my first real boyfriend. I opted for medical abortion and had a pretty horrible experience in a hospital room with a tiny tv and a toilet in the corner, and I shit, vomited and bled my way through the day, drifting in and out of consciousness and screaming in pain whilst my boyfriend looked on awkwardly as he watched daytime tv.
I was 23 the next time I fell pregnant, and I’m now 27 and have had a total of seven abortions. All of my abortions have been medical, however the law changed and medical abortions are now fine to be done at home, and my experiences have been so much less traumatic and much less painful than my first abortion when managing them at home.
I’m not proud of it, but I’m not certainly NOT ASHAMED.
I’m been refused contraception from my GP due to underlying health issues, and refused sterilisation because I’m too young and apparently “will change my mind on not wanting children”. That’s a whole separate issue. But I’m not trying to justify my abortions.
I see abortion as a perfectly legitimate medical procedure to remove a tiny cluster of cells from your body, similar to getting your appendix out, or a cyst removed.
I’m a huge advocate for abortions. The city I live in is a popular location for people from Northern Ireland (where abortion is illegal) to fly over cheaply to get an abortion here. In conjunction with a charity, I occasionally offer the people having abortions alone in an unfamiliar city a comfortable place to stay and experience medical abortions with dignity and privacy, alongside somebody who knows what they’re going through on hand with pain relief and a cup of tea. I usually drive them back to the airport to fly home in the evening or the following morning, and have made a friend for life.
I’ve also campaigned for abortion to be legalised in other countries, and on International Womens Day 2019, joined a huge protest in Buenos Aires for Aborto Legal in Argentina.
I have a pretty good job now, a stable life, a beautiful dog, and I don’t want children ever. And I’m still with that very first boyfriend from high school. Will I get another abortion? I really hope not. But I am pro-choice in every way of the word, no exceptions, no limits. So let’s remove the stigma, remove the shame, and start talking about our abortions.
