Winnie’s Story

I had an abortion in 1977 of an 8-week-old fetus. I don’t regret having had the abortion, but I do regret having had an unplanned pregnancy, which in my case was due to the stupid reason that I didn’t use birth control that time. I am a strong proponent of the right to choose and the right to birth control (isn’t it appalling that health insurance plans are not required to cover all forms of birth control – or abortion?). For some reason I assigned a gender and even a name to my aborted fetus, but do not think that I feel badly about the abortion. I still think it was the right decision, even though that was my only pregnancy, and I am now facing menopause. I became sexually active before Roe v. Wade and am glad I was able to legally and safely abort my baby, since my circumstances at the time were not good for raising a child. My primary post-abortion emotion was relief. It was awkward getting off work, and the procedure was somewhat uncomfortable, but the most inconvenient part was not being able to go tubing down a river with friends while I was healing.