No fear! No dilemma! No painful decision to make. No guilt. No drama.

Hi, I guess it was four years ago that I had my abortion. My story is pretty typical, I suppose. I was 19 at the time, in college and a bad relationship. I had always said that if I ever became pregnant before I finished school I wouldn’t hesitate to have an abortion, so as soon as I finished watching the second line on the test show up I was making my appointment.

My boyfriend was initially excited when I told him about the pregnancy. He was older than me, and ready to have kids. But we hadn’t been together long, and I the bottom line was I wasn’t ready to have children. Still, he was supportive of my decision, and went with me to the clinic.

The clinic was really an incredible place. I decided to have a medical abortion, rather than a surgical one, because my pregnancy was so early (only about three weeks). I would have had to have waited for a surgical, and didn’t want to stay pregnant for a second longer than I had to. The first drug didn’t seem to do much, and I didn’t feel anything until I took the second one. Then the cramps started. If I have one piece of advice to women having a medical abortion it is to take the painkillers they give you a half-hour before you take the RU-486! Once the pain meds kicked in it wasn’t too bad, but I still chose to sit in a warm bath for most of the afternoon. I had minor bleeding for a few days, but it wasn’t anything unbearable.

I didn’t tell anyone in my family at the time. A few months later I told my sister, who was very supportive. In many ways it’s strange that I didn’t. I have five aunts, and three of them have had abortions. I just didn’t want to add to the drama in our lives at the time.

After the abortion I can’t tell you how liberated I felt. I felt like I had my life back under control, and had just been given the most incredible gift. Then I started to think about how awful it must have been to live in the pre-Roe era. I started doing research, and got hooked up with my local NARAL affiliate. I started doing volunteer work for them, and attended the March for Women’s Lives in DC. Through that experience I got an internship for NARAL, and now (four years later) work for them full time. I know from my research that 43% of women in the US will, before they’re 40, have an abortion. Most do this without ever realizing how endangered our rights are. We have to stand up! I think back to my abortion and am thankful for the people I met who took such good care of me. And I have never been sorry.