I was 18 and dating a younger boy from my high school. Somehow we had managed to get pregnant...and I was on the pill! There was simply no way I could have a baby- I was headed to my dream college in 3 months and I had my whole life planned after that. So I called Planned Parenthood. I went in for an appointment and had to wade through protesters holding big orange signs with religious sayings. Thankfully they were not violent or too pushy-in fact out of all the protesters I have ever seen these were probably the most well-behaved. But at that time, they scared the hell out of me.
Because my local Planned Parenthood didn't perform abortions I just got bloodwork and counseling that day and they made an appointment for the abortion a week later at a clinic in a bigger city nearby. I had my boyfriend and my best friend with me that day and they sat in the waiting room the whole time. The procedure itself wasn't painful or terrible. There was a medical student there, and I recall thinking that it was good she was learning. My nurse was a woman of about 60 who I *thought* would be mean (I remember thinking that no one of that age could possibly understand my choice). In fact she was one of the nicest women that I have met in my life. She gave me a stress ball to hold and held my hand. After the surgery I spent about an hour in the recovery room with other women..and then I went home.
I remember thinking that I should feel bad...and I remember feeling nothing but overwhelming relief. For a few weeks I thought about my decision and I couldn't work up any guilt or sadness. In fact, those weeks were probably some of the happiest in my life. 2 months later I moved to Ithaca, NY and started school at Cornell University.
I am now a labor and delivery nurse, after graduating summa cum laude from Cornell and getting a second BS from Johns Hopkins University. I love my job and I love my life. I have a boyfriend who I plan to marry in the near future (who is proud of me for what I did). I love children and babies. I enjoy seeing the miracle of birth every day and taking care of pregnant women. I want children of my own, but 7 years ago was not the right time for me to have them. I wouldn't be where I am today, I wouldn't have had the same experiences and I wouldn't have had the same life. The right to choose is slowly being eroded by our president, and it's something that we cannot afford to ignore. So I will continue to fight for choice and reproductive freedom--because I had an abortion and I'm not sorry.
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