I met the guy at a New Year’s Eve house party. I didn’t intend to Sleep with him, but my “no” eventually became “nokay,” and unprotected sex was had. I was completely paranoid when I came down with a urinary tract infection a week later, and asked the clinic to run a pregnancy test just in case. It was too early to tell, though, and the test came back negative. But I was unconvinced…I just *knew* I was pregnant. So, a week and a half later, I was back in to the Planned Parenthood clinic downtown. I s at there for over an hour before asking the receptionist what the deal was. She went into the back for a moment, then came out and asked me to come into a back office with her where she broke the news. After a nanosecond of fantasy about having the baby, I declared my intent to terminate the pregnancy. I signed a waiver stating that it was my uninfluenced decision, and made an appointment for three weeks(!) later. Those were the longest three weeks of my life, I think. I was fascinated by the changes my body was going through, though, and kept telling myself that next time, I’d be able to really enjoy it.
The day of the procedure was my mother’s birthday, which was pretty hard. She didn’t know anything about it. My friend – a devout Christian, no less – drove me to the clinic and stayed there through the whole thing – I am still grateful for her support. The security was pretty tight. Everyone had to show picture ID and wear name tags. The procedure itself wasn’t painful, but it was pretty uncomfortable. The physician’s assistant was wonderful about holding my hand and putting cold compresses on my forehead. I sent out constant thanks to the Universe that I was able to have a safe and clean abortion of my own volition. My insurance even picked up the tab.
I don’t regret the decision for a moment. The guy was great when I told him about it, after some initial annoyance about not being part of the decision. We went on to actually date about six months later, and while the romance didn’t last very long, he and his wife are now two of my best friends.
