abortion. how do i put this? i have been pro-choice since before it was ever a ‘choice’. i remember talking with my motherabout this when i was in middle school, around 1973. i remember a few girls in high school that went away to live with other family members, but we knew why they were gone. when i was in college in the late 70’s, i had a very good friend in my dorm that came to me and basically collapsed in my room. she was pregnant. we arranged to go to a clinic, i drove her there, drove her back, took care of her, and never said a negative word

go forward a year or two, and i am dating someone who i was crazy about. even though we did use protection (most of the time) i became pregnant. i arranged for the procedure, and another friend took me. she never said a negative word to me. the guy left me, not because of the procedure, because he would have anyway. go a few more years forward. i marry. then, i become pregnant, and he was not happy and i say to him, “you are asking me to do something that i cannot do.” i have the baby, and after a few years, he has an affair, and leaves us. love my baby, would not trade for the world.

my advice, if you are a parent and think there is the smallest chance in the world that your teenagers are thinking/having/considering sex, tell them to have protection. do not give me the excuse that telling them this is giving them permission. it will happen, whether you like it or not.