Karen’s Story

I had an abortion ten years ago (I’ve just realized it was ten years ago this month) and have never regretted it for a single second. It’s a simple story, really: got pregnant, knew I did not want to have a child, knew even then I wouldn’t be ending up staying with the abusive guy I was with at the time (long, depressing, scary story – but after the worst period in my life, I’ve gotten through and past it), and never for a second considered any other option. Did I cry? Yes, when I was told by my doctor that I was pregnant. Yes, after the abortion, but not because I regretted having it. A nurse practitioner at my doctor’s medical practice who saw me a few days after the abortion told me she’d felt nothing but relief after her own abortion – and I agreed, and agree to this day. The ex-boyfriend is long in the past (presumably in jail or a mental institution, and I say that in all seriousness), I’m now 43, happily married to a man who has two adult children with his first wife and is supportive of my own decisions about my own body, and I’ve had a tubal ligation to make sure I never have to have another abortion.
But the abortion I did have was something I have never, ever regretted. Deciding to have it was one of the most important, and best, decisions I have ever made.