I had an abortion after the unfortunate event of the condom breaking and not realizing at the time. Due to a medical condition I am forbidden to take the contraceptive pill, so my chances of getting pregnant are always high. He was not my partner, I was a still a student, that decision was the only one for me. I grew up in a family where abortion was normal and the possibility of it happening was always in my mind.
Regardless of this, the actual reality of having one is something no one ever is prepared for. Three years later and it is still hard for me to talk about it. Throughout the whole process I was obsessively reading other people’s stories. For me, it was one of the only ways to work through those emotions. When I had my abortion, the only other person I knew who had gone through it was my mother. I am lucky now to have met two more women with whom we shared our stories. It was something we all desperately needed.
Empowerment, shame, relief and grief were so interchangeable when I was going through it and still continue now. It angers me when I hear arguments from the pro-life side, that if it’s more accessible, people would use abortion as contraception. No one would choose to go through it if it wasn’t a necessary choice to make.
Having an abortion opened my eyes to the world of reproductive justice. In some ways I always took it for granted, due to my family’s acceptance of it. I now realize in the era of Trump, none of us can take it for granted. We are all affected and we should keep the conversation going, even in countries that legal abortion is not threatened at the moment.
I am shouting out my abortion because no one should ever feel alone when taking that decision.
(My abortion took place in the UK)
