This story appears in the comments section of a New York Times article titled “Let’s Talk About My Abortion and Yours.”

I have had an abortion. Twice. Age 13 and 15. I was a child doing grown-up things in childish ways. They called me book-smart but lacking common sense. Who at 13 and 15 has common sense?

As an adult, I did childish things in grown-up ways, but I could afford to handle my mistakes. As a child, my mother, and then my father (crying), made the decisions for me. I was grateful for, and ashamed of, those decisions. (The responsible boys - were they grateful? Ashamed? Why is this a women's issue anyway?)

Today I am just grateful. I also am grateful for my sister, who at age 15 and then 18, chose to have her children. I do not know where her resolve came from at the time; she hid her first pregnancy from us until she was 6 months along.

Her death at age 35 likely stemmed from complications of her pregnancy, lacking (of course) prenatal care 20 and 17 years prior. Her children became amazing young people.

I now have two children who also are amazing young people.

~K.C.