All in Two Abortions
“So after the first time I got the coil put in, and then a year later, almost to the day practically, I got pregnant again, probably because the coil was sitting too low in the cervix, which reduced its effectiveness.” Click the green title to read more.
“So, I was 21 and living in America when I became pregnant by my boyfriend at the time. We were in a very intense and active relationship, and often used the withdrawal method for contraception. But by the time I knew I was pregnant he had left the country, so I went to have a backstreet abortion.” Click the green title to read more.
“It is hard not to write a list of justifications why.” Click the green title to read more.
“I came from a teenage mother myself. My mom was 14 when she had me. She didn’t want to have me, she didn’t want to be a parent — but she had no choice. I think about what I would look like as a parent in that situation, having a child who knew they weren’t wanted the way I knew I wasn’t wanted and I can’t imagine doing that. I think a lot of people think about the choice to have an abortion as a selfish one, but for me, the choice to not have one would have been the selfish one. A child deserves to be parented.” Click the green title to read more.
“What having two terminations doesn’t mean is that I am a stupid person, that I am useless, that I should be shunned by society, suffer punishment or live the rest of my life in a state of trauma. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t deserve to be loved. It was not easy for me to accept that. I have made these judgements about myself, consciously or unconsciously, at one time or another, in the five years following my terminations. I don’t want you to do the same.” Click the green title to read more.
“In my culture, talking about sex and birth control is forbidden. There’s an unspoken rule about sex – don’t have it. I had to find resources and answers to my questions on my own. . . . When I sought out resources I came across Aid for Women, a crisis pregnancy center that gave me misleading medical information and basically tried to talk me out of my abortion. It was incredibly belittling and hurtful.” Click the green title to read more.
“My mom has told me time and time again that she doesn’t understand why I share my story publicly. ‘You’re giving people a reason to judge you,’ she’ll tell me. But I’ve never seen it as that. Instead, I see speaking out as a way to show people that they don’t have to feel ashamed for having an abortion.” Click the green title to read more.
Listen as Maryann tells of her two abortion experiences.
Comedian Chelsea Handler says her abortions were wise. “We have 7.3 billion people on this planet. Anybody who carefully decides not to become a parent—let alone a bad parent, which is what I would have become—should be applauded for making a smart and sustainable decision.” Click the green title to read more.
Genesis as she tells of her two abortion experiences. Listen and share.
“To be alive and human is to be in favor of life, but to bring an unwanted child into this world—or to force any woman to do so against her will, her health, her future, her finances, or her well-being, because that is your moral stance, not hers or her doctor’s—is not pro-life. It is control wearing the mask of virtue.“ Click the green title to read more.
Watch this video posted by Feminism in India. Women tell their abortion stories. One of them talks about having two abortions. Find her voice at the 1:10 minute mark.
“I have no regrets about any of the decisions I made in my life. If my story taught me anything is that abortions are not something shameful, isolated, or sinful and the women who choose to have them are not monsters. They are girls just like you and me: your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors, single, married, divorced, teenagers, mothers, grandmothers and they are everywhere.” Click the green title to read more.
“I've always been very careful with contraception but about 10 years later I got pregnant twice within a year and had two abortions. It was devastating. I was raised in a very conservative family in a country that sees abortion in such a bad light.” Click the green title to read more.
Listen to Josephine tell about her two abortion experiences in this episode of The Abortion Diary Podcast.
“En ambas circunstancias tenía tanta negación sobre lo que había sucedido y sobre la posibilidad de embarazo que no busqué ayuda médica o apoyo hasta que ya era demasiado tarde para tomar una decisión sobre lo que le estaba sucediendo a mi cuerpo y a mi vida. Opté por el aborto en lugar del suicidio.” Click the green title to read more.
“I no longer feel trapped in a dark, cluttered place. I finally feel like myself and I am hopeful for my future. I have been told that God can punish me for my abortions, but I know that God’s love doesn’t work that way.”
“The doctor encouraged me to take the abortion pill so that I wouldn’t have to deal with all the waiting. He said, “Why subject yourself to this?” I’d wanted a surgical abortion. I also didn’t want to subject myself to the judgment of my friends and husband about a second abortion, so I was there on my own.” Click the green title to read more.
“Definitely felt like a complete failure when I found out I was pregnant the second time.” Click the green title to read more.
“Only when it was pointed out to me that a woman’s reproductive years encompass about 40 years — and that even the best birth control is 98-99% effective — you do the math. A woman consistently practicing contraception is going to statistically have more than one unintended pregnancy.” Click the green title to read more.
