i had my first abortion when i was 22 in berkeley ca in 1973. i was on ssi for depression and my 19-year-old boyfriend had already made his other girlfriend pregnant the month before.

even though i was on medical (state paid health care), the abortion was in a private ob/gyn’s office and i was treated with dignity and respect.

i had another abortion five years later, i was still on ssi and my then boyfriend was a viet-nam vet with disabling ptsd. it was with the same doctor, the same positive experience.

i later got training as a programmer through the federal cita program. cita was a very successful program to get people off welfare by paying them to go through training and then paying half their salary for the first year to their employer. i was hired as a computer programmer with a major construction company, and have been employed as computer programming and systems analyst ever since. i was happily married and had a wonderful son who was only born after i could afford to give him a good life.