about five years ago, i got pregnant on continuous hormone birth control.
i wasn’t getting a period because of the pill, but i could tell something was off. turned out i was 8 weeks along. i was in a committed relationship and i loved my partner — now, we are married and the parents of a beautiful 19 month old boy. but five years ago, i knew i wasn’t ready to be a mother. i believed then, and i still do, that bringing a child into the world is a tremendous, unspeakably important act that requires incredible will and love and intention. i didn’t feel ready to commit myself fully to that act five years ago, and i was afraid that doing so without full commitment or will would damage my relationship with both my partner and the child we would bring into the world. so i opted to end the pregnancy. it was a sad, strange experience, and while i don’t think back on it with fondness, i do not regret my choice one iota. as a mom i know now just how hard and brilliant and intense motherhood is, and i am proud to have exercised my right to choose — twice.

once it ended a pregnancy. once it brought a beautiful boy into the world.
no regrets. and i will fight for my right — and the right of women everywhere — to choose again.