I’d raised my eldest daughter alone with a lot of hardship and some (much appreciated) financial help from the government after being persuaded that I should keep the unplanned baby. Later I’d married and had two more planned daughters. The youngest was 19 months old and was still nursing when I noticed I was pregnant again.
For me at the time there was no question of having another baby, I just didn’t want one. The only problem was jumping through all the hoops to get an abortion as quickly as possible. I talked it over with my husband and then started the ball rolling with the abortion process. I found it very frustrating having to wait so long, to get things signed by various people, to get appointments with them to sign them, and to book my abortion. All this time the tiny clump of cells was growing more babylike and I was feeling more pregnant.
In the end we went to the clinic, I was accompanied by my husband’s best friend (a gay man) as my husband was laid up with a slipped disc. I’m very scared of any medical procedure but the abortion went smoothly, I’d’ve been interested to see the cell clump/embryo that came out but wasn’t offered the chance. I was glad to rest on the bed afterwards. My friend’s boyfriend kindly picked me up in his car and drove me home.
No regrets, no strange feelings, no guilt.