I am a 24 year old British woman and in August this year (2003) I learned I was 6 weeks pregnant. My partner and I had been using a diaphragm extremely carefully, and I thought that as it was 96% effective it would “never happen to me”. But it did. After I became pregnant I did a bit more research and learned that in reality its effectiveness for couples like us is closer to 75% - Not great odds when you consider the outcome!
Although I do not regret my abortion, I would rather I’d never had to make the decision to have it. With this in mind, I am angry that women are not given better access to information about contraception. I am mindful of the fact that although everyone I encountered during the process was kind and supportive, they probably did think I was stupid for choosing an unreliable method of contraception. In fact I have always prided myself for being incredibly careful with it.
I graduated from University a couple of years ago, but my partner and I both have quite low paid jobs, and live in London where the cost of everything leaves nothing left over each month. We were both aware that in our current circumstances we would not have been able to give our child the quality of life it deserved. We had been together for 18 months this August. Long enough to know that we want to be “together forever” and have children one day, but not yet long enough to say with certainty that our relationship would be able to stand the pressure of us having a child while we were so young. When I got the home test result, the first thing we agreed is that we really want to have children, and that we will make excellent parents, but not yet! I make no apology for choosing an abortion for this reason. Having a child is a huge responsibility and I think I am a decent person for wanting to wait until I feel able to do this as well as possible.
I saw my GP and found the process of obtaining an abortion through the National Health Service here is surprisingly easy. Everyone I encountered was kind and supportive. I got my appointment for the procedure within 10 days of my initial visit to the doctor.
As it was the NHS, there was no choice of method. I had “vacuum aspiration” under general anaesthetic and suffered no pain or complications afterwards. The staff in the hospital were lovely, the treatment I received was faultless and I was home within a few hours.
I hope I do have children in a few years time. I know that Richard and I will make excellent parents one day, and for my decision to have an abortion this summer, I am truly not sorry!
  
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