Hello, my name is Claudia and I am 22 years old, I live in Monterrey, Mexico, where abortion is considered a crime and is penalized with jail … but I have had my abortion a month ago and this is my story.
I have had a relationship with this guy for years, his name is David, but we’re just “friends.” I’ve known him since I was 16 and he 18; we started having sex about 3 years ago. I never wanted to take pills because we were together occasionally, so we used condoms and everything was fine. 10 weeks ago, I was out with my friends when he called because he wanted to see me. For some reason that night we wanted to enjoy it “completely.” I accepted because I thought nothing could happen for just one time … so we did not use protection, and two weeks later when my period didn’t come I knew I was pregnant. I first felt scared, nervous, I couldn’t believe that it could happen to me, I went to a laboratory and had a blood test. The result confirmed what I already knew-I was pregnant.
I called him, we saw each other and he was nervous but we had talked about a situation like this and we made the decision of not having the baby because we were both still studying, were working to pay for our school and were not financially prepared to assume the responsibility of a baby. We both cried a lot because it was not an easy decision; I will never understand why the people say it is the “easy way”-it is not, you have to have a lot of courage to do it.
As I said in the beginning, I live in Mexico. There are no abortion clinics, so I started the research of how I would have an abortion. I began my research on the Internet and I found there was an abortion clinic in McAllen, Texas, about 3 hours from Monterrey. I called them, they were very nice, they explained the procedure to me, everything I wanted to know and I knew then that I was taking the right choice for me, for David (who has been supporting me all the time) and for the baby.
I set an appointment for Friday July 1st. I left Monterrey at 4 a.m. and arrived at McAllen at 8, by 9 we were on the clinic. I started with all the papers and that stuff, then they did a sonogram. I was 5 weeks and six days pregnant. Then they took my blood pressure and did some blood tests, then I wait until they call me in the waiting room. I felt better when I saw more girls there. Then the counselor called me, they spoke to me in Spanish (I was nervous so my English just went away); that made things easier. She explained the procedure and asked me if I wanted to be sedated during the procedure. I said yes. She gave me a couple of pills and I waited until they called me again. All the time the nurses were very kind. Then the doctor arrived and he started talking to me. The IV took effect and I don’t remember anything about the procedure, I just remember the nurse helping me to get dressed and putting me on a comfortable sofa, giving me some cookies and juice and a blanket. I was sleepy so I was in the recovery area for about 30 minutes, then they called David and we took a cab to the hotel where we spend the night. I felt some cramps, but there wasn’t a lot of pain.
The next day I wake up and felt free, knowing that I had made the right choice. I understand that having an abortion is really taking the responsibility of not having a baby just because your pregnant. I want to have kids some day, but being able to give him or her quality time and a good financial situation. It’s now a month since that happened and I’m not sorry. I’m happy I have the opportunity to travel for a place where they let me have a choice. I will fight for the right to have the opportunity to choose in my own country.
