Doris’s Story

I was teaching my first year out of college. It was 1965 (actually New Year’s Eve, 1964), and I got careless — the first time (getting careless) in a two-year relationship. And becoming pregnant was just not an option for me. I didn’t think twice about what to do, but those being the days before abortions were legal, well, it was a bit of a challenge finding someone to do it. Thankfully, an ob/gyn in the town in which I lived performed the abortion so I felt safe about the procedure. But everything else about it — the secrecy, clandestine planning, the cost ($600) — was all very stressful. However, it was absolutely the right thing to do. My strong maternal instincts led me to have three amazing children (not with the man who got me pregnant that first time), but I have never thought of what I did as having killed a child. And I will fight to my dying day to keep abortions legal and safe.