Blanche’s Story

Getting an abortion was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have never regretted the procedure.

I found out I was pregnant shortly after I had been laid off from my job and lost my health insurance. I had no savings to speak of. I was 25, unmarried, and unemployed. The father is someone that frankly I wouldn’t trust with children. Responsibility eludes him. I knew right away I was pregnant. My body is always regular. I was so early I had to wait a week for something to show up in the ultrasound. After my period was a week late, I took a pregnancy test, and it was positive. But I already knew. I am very sensitive to hormones and the 2 weeks waiting for the abortion were miserable. I had terrible cramps, vomited constantly, and even the water in the shower hurt my breasts.

I had a medical abortion. Honestly, it was much more painful than I expected, but I had painkillers from the doctor and spent most of the time sleeping or in the shower. There was blood, obviously, but nothing extreme and I didn’t pass anything large or noticeable. The worst part was that I had kind of forgotten about my dog in all of this, and I really wish I had asked someone to take care of her for the day. Besides that, it was over quickly. A week later I had another ultrasound which showed I was no longer pregnant. I was so relieved!

I went to Planned Parenthood and I cannot say enough good things about them. Everyone was kind, and I didn’t feel judged at all, and they were very knowledgeable and answered all my questions, even the paranoid ones! They seemed to really care and did check up on me after the procedure to see how I was doing. I am so glad that I had such open-minded, compassionate people to help me in a situation where I was frightened and felt very alone.

Now that I am not pregnant, I feel like I have my life back. I would just warn women that you have moderate cramps for a few months after while your body readjusts.