I'm Josefine, 27 years old, from Scandinavia. I have had three abortions so far and don't regret them at all. The first two was when I was 19 and 20 and having a very active sexual life (promiscuous you could say). I din't know who was the father, and frankly, I didnt care. Keeping the baby was never an option and both abortions went very well, even though the first was quite late, after 16 weeks. The last time I was pregnant was two years ago with my boyfriend. He was willing to keep the baby and tried to convince me during a few weeks, but I knew from the beginning that I didn't wanted it. Among my friends I have never felt ashamed about my abortions, but there is a climate here that abortion is OK once or maybe twice, as long as you have a good reason. From what I understand it is much worse in the US, where I have never been. I have spent a few years studying in Eastern Europe where the social climate is even more liberal than in Scandinavia. In Russia I almost didn't meet a single girl my age who hadnt had an abortion, and I met many who had several. And no one seemed to think of it as anything else than purely natural. It was completely socially acceptable, everyone called talk open about it without getting moralistic reprimands. After that I decided that I would go back home and do what I could to change attitudes. So now I take every chance telling people of my choices, how important they are, and that you never shoul d ask a woman "why" she had her abortion since every reason is perfectly legitimate.
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