I am currently 34 years old and pregnant for the fourth time. In my 20’s I had three abortions. They were hard decisions but helped me get to the place I am at now.
At 23 I got pregnant after not using birth control or condoms regularly. I terminated at a Planned Parenthood at about 8 weeks. This was not a hard decision and at the time mostly beat myself up for not using protection. 6 months later I got pregnant again and terminated at a private clinic. This was bad in that I was given ketamine as absence amnesia and didn’t enjoy it at all.
In my late 20’s I got pregnant while in the process of breaking up with my live-in boyfriend. We made the decision together to terminate the pregnancy and I took RU-486. The experience was not terrible and I was very lucky to have support from my ex and a therapist at the time.
I was concerned about long term effects when trying to conceive now but had no problems and am more than 20 weeks pregnant with a much wanted and planned child. I was at the march on Washington pictured on the front page with my mother and my sister and two friends, all who fervently support a woman’s right to choose. It was one of the best days of my life and a memory of my mother that my sister and I cherish. We still talk about her getting super angry and yelling at counter-protesters!
I have never been shy about talking about my experiences and the choices I made. One of the best things that happened after my second abortion was that I met with a social worker through my job. I told her that I had recently had an abortion (it had been maybe 2 weeks before). She shared she had done the same between her two children. Knowing someone married with two kids had also decided to terminate an unwanted pregnancy made me feel much less alone. I hope that by not being ashamed I can help some other woman as that social worker helped me.
