Sex with a felon at 17 got me pregnant.

My story isn’t long or elaborate, but it’s still my story. When I had just turned 17 I started dating a 22 year old who was out of jail on probation. He was facing a 10 year sentence. He had a long criminal background including assault, possession, and larceny. I was still in high school. I had never been sexually active before. And was unprepared for sex. I was so “in love” with him that I quickly gave it up to him. About a month after we started dating I found out I was pregnant. It was a long and hard decision, but I decided that it would be best for me because I was still young and didn’t know him well enough. I hid it from my family for as long as I could, and to this day the only people who know are my ex-boyfriend and my mother. By the time a year had passed since my abortion, my ex-boyfriend had cheated on me multiple times, stole from me, physically and mentally abused me, and ended up back in jail for violating his probation. If I hadn’t had that abortion I would have brought a child into that awful mess. I would have been a single mother at 17. I would have struggled to graduate high school, let alone any type of advanced education. Plenty of people are teen mothers. Plenty of people leave their abusive partners to properly raise their children. But plenty of people also have abortions. It was my body and my decision. I’m glad I made the decision I did and I’m lucky I had the ability to make that choice for myself. I’m so sad for all the women who can no longer make that choice for themselves.