I was 27 years old when I chose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, and it was the best choice I made considering the circumstances. I was very much in love with the man I was dating who had gotten me pregnant but we were not ready to become parents.
I had been taking birth control pills since I was 17 years old but had gone off of them at the age of 25 due to high blood pressure but I was always meticulous about taking them and not missing any days. When I first missed my period in February of 2003 I had this inkling that something was wrong. Well, when I took 3 home pregnancy tests and they all turned up positive there was no escaping the fact that I was pregnant. My boyfriend at the time and I talked out all options and decided that abortion was the best thing.
I got to the clinic on March 1 and was told to come back in 2 weeks because they couldn’t find the fetus (or my uterus for that matter because it was small), so I went back on March 15 and paid the $400. I sat in the waiting room watching all these young girls and women sitting with their boyfriends and crying … I was there by myself being that my mother didn’t approve of my decision and left the clinic and would be back to pick me up. I didn’t mind because it gave me plenty of time to mull over what I was doing. When the nurse called my name I got up and went into the room. The doctor was very professional and told me to put my feet in the stirrups, then told me he found the fetus. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking “good, I don’t have to come back again and get the surgical abortion” (I opted to have the non surgical abortion since I was only 5-6 weeks by then). I was told to go into another office where the nurse gave me pill to take orally then explained that I had to go home and insert 4 pills deep into my vagina to expel the fertilized egg. I asked the nurse if I could see the sonogram (I’m a morbid person by nature) to get a piece of mind that I wasn’t “killing a baby”. The nurse told me “sure” and I saw the sonogram; to me it looked no bigger than a golf ball. She said it was just a sac and there was no reason to feel any guilt, but I didn’t anyway.
After I got home and inserted the other pills, I started to bleed profusely, very much like a severe menstrual cycle with twice the cramps! My boyfriend wasn’t allowed at the clinic with me but he called me every hour on the hour when I was home and was very attentive. Do I regret my decision? No. I’m now 31 and I have a 5 year old tabby cat that is even better than a kid!
