This story is published at Women on Web.

I have had 3 abortions, one clinical, 2 medical. I do not regret those decisions for a minute, although I wish I would have never had to make those choices in the first place.

I've never been ashamed of having more then one abortion, but I know others who are. I hope there comes a day when others stop judging and proclaiming things like "it's ok to have an abortion...but only one."

Guess what? Shit happens. Things come up that you didn't expect. We don't have complete control over our bodies, as much as we might try sometimes.

I'm allowed to make more then one mistake in my lifetime, and that doesn't mean I have no regard for human life.

Life is complicated, and no one has to live it but YOU. I'll make the decisions I can live with, you make the decisions you can live with, and let's love and respect each other all the same.

I felt comfortable, peaceful, resolved, relieved, confident, and sure.

My first abortion I went to a clinic a friend worked at. While I was sure of my decision, they still took care of me and made sure I had concretely solidified things within myself before my procedure.

I later understood how important it is to give women the opportunity to openly discuss their feelings before their procedure, validate the wide range of *normal* emotions that can go along with their decision, and making sure they had a plan of how to take care of themselves afterwards as needed.

I think part of the reason I have never had regrets or second guessing myself is because of the valuable care I got before, during and after my abortions. It's unfortunate that not all clinics operate in the same manner, and that care is subjective sometimes.

My preference is for the surgical abortion, but I knew early with my 2nd and 3rd pregnancy and didn't want to wait until 6 weeks so I did medical abortions with those.

Surgical at 10wks: local anesthetic before, 800mg Motrin and hot water bottle after, strong but tolerable cramps that lasted about 20 minutes post procedure. A few days of bleeding, spotting up to about 2 wks. post abortion.

Medical: hated the "waiting" game. Tolerable cramping/bleeding, but bled longer all together than with surgical. I had no complications with any of them.

I like children, but am not sure I need to have one myself or on my own. I would maybe consider it if I was in the right relationship, but it is not an overwhelming need for me.

My last abortion I was in a relationship, but it was unstable. I did not want to be tied for the rest of my life to a man that had that many issues.

~Rachelle