I am a 35-year-old mother of two delightful boys, 5 and 10. When my youngest was two, I became pregnant unexpectedly, unintentionally. I was using a diaphragm/spermicide as I was breastfeeding. We were desperately poor at the time, though we were both working, and I was battling severe depression (for which there was no money with which to seek professional help--the poor are not allowed mental illness). Obviously, there was no question about having an abortion. My responsibility was towards my young sons, my husband and myself. The only regret was towards the sanctimonious cowards that made it necessary to enter the clinic surreptitiously and half-wondering whether we would be picked off by some coward's high-caliber rifle for having made a logical, sound decision to go ahead with a legal medical procedure.
Eight years later, I still have no regrets--only an ever-strengthened belief that what I did was the right thing to do at the time. I am still extremely happily married. We are financially stable. My two children are healthy and happy. They have a mother that has dealt with her depression and is a very happy woman these days. All these things would have never have happened, I am convinced, had I not made the decision for an abortion eight years ago.
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