It was my senior year of High School, I woke up one morning and knew I was pregnant. I think that there is just this feeling that overcomes you. I left my house early sneaking away from my parents and went to the grocery store to purchase an early pregnancy test. I returned home and took it and it showed a positive result. From the moment that I saw the little pink line in the window I knew that there was no way I was going to have this baby. I was 17; my partner was 16 going on 17. I had my whole life ahead of me, a life that I was not ready to share with a child. I called my boyfriend and went straight over to his house. He was in disbelief but supportive of any choicethat I wanted to make. We went to school that day and I consulted a teacher. My boyfriend and I had decided that we would not tell our parents.
Since my parents were out of the question I turned to the one place I knew could
help me, Planned Parenthood. I went in for a consultation where I took another pregnancy test which the result was positive. During the consultation I was
advised of all my options. I knew that I wanted to terminate my pregnancy. In the state I live in you must be 18 years of age in order to have an abortion without parental notification. I was five months shy of my birthday, and she advised me it was too long to wait. The only other option that I had was to go to court and convince a judge that I was responsible and mature enough to make this decision on my own. My court date was set for two days after my consultation. I was appointed an attorney free of charge by the state. She and I went to the courthouse and when we got there we entered the judge's chambers she looked at me and said, "He's pro-choice, that's great." I had no idea what pro-choice was at that time. The judge asked me personal questions about my life. It felt like a job interview. He wanted to know about school and my family and so on. After the interview he awarded me a judicial bypass. I was able to obtain an abortion without parental consent. I went home and called my boyfriend and the local clinic.
My appointment was set for the next day. My boyfriend was unable to go with
me to the appointment so my best friend went. She was one of the few people who knew. When we got there we were so relieved to see that the facility was
clean. When they took me into the room I laid down on the bed. I don't
remember much about the procedure but I can remember how badly I was shaking--not from the actual procedure, but from the anticipation and wonder
of what was going to happen. I had an EA, a procedure where they place a small suction tube with rough edges into the vaginal opening and scrape the insides of the walls to remove the fetus. The whole procedure took about five minutes. My life would never be the same. In the matter of a week I had become aware that I had conceived a baby, and chose to terminate the pregnancy.
Five years later I am so thankful that I was able to choose to have an abortion--and a safe one for that matter. I now know what pro-choice is and I am doing my part to give back to the community. I believe it when they say that a pregnancy changes your life no matter what choice you make. My choice has made me a stronger woman, and a woman who wants to make a difference.
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