All in Five Abortions

"I couldn't stand the thought of having another child with another loser."

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Five Abortions, Location Not Given

“I have a 4 year old with someone who abused me and isn’t active in my child’s life and had a miscarriage after having my first baby with the same guy. Now I’m with someone whom I love very much.. Has anyone else here had multiple abortions like me??” — One of several replies: “Yes, I've had 3 abortions. It's common to have more than 1 . I mean think about it. Women can get pregnant til they're like 50.” Read more.

"Accidental pregnancies are way more common than spoken about." ~ 20 people share stories in one Reddit thread.

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Two Abortions, Three Abortions, Four Abortions, Five Abortions, Six Abortions, Multiple Abortions

A person asks, “Has anyone had more than one abortion” in a Reddit forum — and a flood of people respond, sharing their own experiences of more than one accidental or unhealthy pregnancy, and assuring that it’s common and that there is no need to feel shame or fear judgment. Read more.

"I was a mom and didn't want more kids."

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Five Abortions, Location Not Given

“I felt most guilty right before the 2nd abortion. I felt like, everyone gets ONE mistake, you know? This, despite the fact that I had struggled with serious postpartum depression and had an extremely long list of reasons why another child at that point in my life would have been a terrible choice, despite the fact that I am a running joke of failed birth control methods and could have found plenty of ‘not my fault’ excuses.” Read more.

"I don’t see myself bringing a child into the world only for them to suffer just because I’m afraid of what people are going to say."

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Five Abortions, South Africa

“From these experiences I've learnt to live with myself and not be ashamed of the decisions I've made. Societal norms make us believe it’s okay to bear children into poverty. If I feel like I’m not ready for a child, then I’m not ready. I'll never let anyone tell me differently, because when it comes to raising a baby especially with an absent father or without a support structure, you really are on your own.” Read more.

"I realize now that I am not alone, and I’m not a bad person, and I don’t need to let the decisions I made haunt me forever."

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Five Abortions, Australia

“We were together for 4 years from when I was 16 to 20. He paid for all the procedures and we never told anyone. I have trouble remembering, but the first one with him was when I was I think 16, and the last one was before I turned 19. I am 32 now and I have 3 kids — twins age 6 and a son age 2 with the same dad, who is a different guy from those I had the abortions with. I have been on my own now for three and a half years and have been doing my post grad studies.” Read more.

"These abortions I had, I felt them differently, the shame, stigma, and other related issues."

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Five Abortions, Uganda, Unsafe Abortions

“This took me a long time, like 41 years, to talk about my abortion experiences, even when I was advising other women to speak up and support other people who have had abortions to chase away the shame, fear and stigma. But then I joined inroads and started gaining support, power, and courage to start sharing my abortions stories. I am now a shame and stigma free person and am doing my abortion stigma busting work in my country Uganda very well and incredibly.” Read more.

"I was in a relationship with an abusive man who I knew was bad, but I felt trapped and desperately wanted his love."

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Five Abortions, Florida, U.S.

“I didn’t even consider keeping the baby. He already had 4 children he didn’t take care of, and I just wasn’t ready. I went to planned parenthood for the procedure. I was poor at the time and didn’t have the money for the anesthesia. I was 8 weeks. I was so scared the whole time I could barely stop myself from shaking. The second time I got pregnant I again knew I wanted an abortion, I was 20 or 21. Same man, and I was less than 10 weeks. Again, I went to planned parenthood, again couldn’t pay for the anesthesia. This time I didn’t want to go to the same location in fear of being judged.” Read more.

"I kept all of these experiences to myself until now."

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Five Abortions, Location Unknown

“In February of 2014, I became pregnant with the same boyfriend. We were technically broken up at this time, but just like in any toxic relationship, I was stuck in a loop with him. I knew I didn’t want to be with him; he had put me through so much mental abuse, cheated on me, humiliated me in front of so many people & constantly talked down to me. Having his baby felt absurd.” Read more.

"He beat me when he was drunk, wanted sex when he said so, and I felt like a slave but I think a bit of me thought I deserved to be tortured."

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Five Abortions, Location Unknown

“God made me survive a serial rapist for a reason even though I feel the choices I made were horrific. I don't know if God can forgive me or if I can I will always look at myself as a failure to my kids, but I know that if I were who I am now, I'd have never gotten myself in those situations. I don't regret the abortions exactly; I know with my soon-to-be ex-husband it never would have been good life with a dad like that. I know that as a recovering drug addict I could never have raised them alone. I know with my first three I was too immature and not thinking of what I should have all for the wrong reasons.” Read more.

"The thing that pisses me off most about people who would judge me for my abortions is the utter lack of respect it displays for the child and family I actually have."

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Five Abortions, U.S.

“I can tell you that I was too young to be a parent when I got pregnant for the first time during my freshman year of college. I can tell you that I had severe postpartum depression after the birth of my first child, and had very real reasons to think that giving birth to any additional children would do serious damage to my mental health, as well as damage to my marriage and to my ability to parent the child I already had.”

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