Kathleen's Story

I had an abortion in 1993. Wow, it's been 6 years already.

I was 21 years old and I was in the process of divorcing a terrible man. The man I was dating knew I was pregnant and offered to raise the baby as "ours" but I knew it was not the right decision. It was difficult for me to have an abortion because I have always had fertility problems, up until that point, I hadn't even ever had my period. I feared being unable to get pregnant again. My family feared the same, my mom questioned my decision. She says it was because she wanted to make SURE I had thought things through.

Now, six years later, I have returned to college, I have a four-year-old daughter (whose father is the same man I dated when I went through my abortion). I don't know how having a baby then would have changed my life, but I can only imagine that I wouldn't be in the position I am in now. I have never once regretted my decision, nor do I regret the entire episode. I have learned compassion and empathy for other people through the event. Nobody is perfect. Sometimes things happen in our lives that we wish we could change and thankfully, women before us have fought hard for us to be able to change an unplanned pregnancy.

Kay
3 February 1999