i never told anyone about my abortion. this is the first time i have ever talked about it. it was 1983 and i was in college. we were catholics so i didn’t know much about birth control and we were expected to be virgins on our wedding nights. my parents had told me before i left for college that if i ever got pregnant before marriage or had an abortion they would never speak to me again. of course i figured it could never happen to me. my boyfriend and i used condoms but they are not 100% effective and the unthinkable happened. i was terrified my family wouldn’t ever talk to me again, and i could not figure out how i would ever manage to keep a baby and not tell them. i had plans after college and good grades and i knew i didn’t want to get married yet. it was a very difficult decision for me on the one hand, because i did not want to hurt the growing fetus, but i also knew there was no other way. i was so thankful that the clinic i went to helped me non-judgmentally and everything went smoothly with the abortion. it took me a long time to find peace with my decision because i have never been able to tell anyone in my family to this day, and i was afraid if i told a friend my family might find out. this was the worst part of it, the mental difficulties of not being able to talk about it. eventually i came to peace with my abortion, and now i have 2 beautiful daughters and we have a great relationship. i don’t regret having the abortion.