I was neither single, careless, immature, poor, nor selfish. I was the 27-year old mother of a very much wanted six month old son, who was practicing birth control with an IUD that failed. I had thought that maybe, just maybe, I might want a second child, but this was certainly not the time. My little creature was demanding all of my time, and I was willingly committed to him, even though I was exhausted most of the time. I knew that another child so close to the first would profoundly affect my ability to be a decent mother. My dear husband was not exactly thrilled with my decision to abort, but he supported my right to do it. I did have to have it done in a hospital with an overnight stay, but no one was judgmental, and I was decently treated by everyone.

As it turned out, a second child would have severely impacted what became a successful career, and I developed a chronic health problem that rendered me quite fragile. I would not have been able to finish my master’s degree, or have had the same career with two children, and my health would have been quite ruined. As it was, I then had my tubes tied in 1972 when I was 28. My obstetrician at first objected because I was “too young,” to which I replied, “I am most certainly not too young to know my own mind, it is entirely legal, and I will get another doctor to do it if you will not.’’ I was not sorry I had the abortion then, and I’m not sorry now, 34 years later. I deeply resent those who have religious positions who would have wanted to impose their prejudices upon me, and have fought against them all my adult life. If my story helps others to see that a decision to abort can be a positive one, please post it. And by the way, my son grew up to be everything a mother could want, and I do not consider that to have been an accident.