This story is published at My Abortion, My Life.
When I was 18 years old I got pregnant. I was young, naive, and still very much a child. At that time I made the decision to continue with my pregnancy. I now have an incredibly beautiful, smart, fierce 17 year old daughter.
That said, I want to share my abortion story. After I had my daughter I made the decision to have an IUD placed for birth control. At 22, 6 months away from graduating from college, I became pregnant. I was in a long term relationship, however, I knew that I did not want bring another child into the world. I was barely making it as it was, raising a child on my own, going to school, it was an incredibly difficult time.
When I went to for my initial appointment, the nurse was completely shocked that I had gotten pregnant while having an IUD in place. She had never had a patient or known of a patient who had gotten pregnant with an IUD in place and she had been a nurse for 30 years.
To say it was devastating emotionally is an understatement. My partner at the time had visions of marriage and a big happy family, but that was not to be. I knew for me to grow as a woman and be the best mother to my daughter, having another child was not an option.
It's difficult to express the amount of gratitude I felt to the women and staff at the Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula, MT. I felt strong, empowered, and incredibly lucky to be able to make this decision myself and be in control of the future of my life, and still do.
When I was 30, I fell pregnant again. At the time I was on the Nuvaring for birth control. I had been in a relationship for about 3 months and he wore a condom each time we had sex, which was literally a handful of times. To say I was shocked when I discovered I was pregnant, is an incredible understatement.
@StacieSwift
Again the staff at the Planned Parenthood I received my annual exams, medical care, and birth control were as shocked as I was because they had never had a patient get pregnant while on the Nuvaring.
At this point, my daughter was 11 years old and again, I knew that in order to be the best mother to her and give us both the best chance, I was not going to have another child.
I made the decision to have an abortion. I don't think it is even possible for me to put into words the relief I felt after it was completed.
Now, my daughter is a senior in high school. Some people would say I was selfish for choosing to have an abortion, let alone 2. And to be honest, I agree with them 100%. I was selfish in wanting the best life and future for my daughter and myself.
My life is important. My quality of life is important and if I would have chosen to have had two more children, as a single parent, I, along with my children would have lived in poverty.
I chose myself and that makes me a strong woman and role model for my daughter who gives me strength and courage every day. I guess you could say that my abortions were an ode to my daughter in a way as well. And if she is ever in the position of making a choice for her future, she has my full support, no matter what her decision is because as women, we are more than capable of choosing what is best for us." —Jessica