approximately 59% of females getting abortion are already mothers. 1 in 3 women will have a pregnancy termination in her life span. and in 2015, of the 926, 200 females who ended their pregnancies, 59% were mothers, as per a research published in 2016. in roe v. wade, the supreme court supported women’s legal right to abortion, around some 44 years ago. however access to reproductive health care is ‘more threatened now than at any time since roe v. wade’, as told by an american pro-choice organization’s president. different states have different laws for abortion.

there’s a personal story of a woman, who chose to abort after having children and explained why it was so important that she was able to make that decision.

i and my ex-husband were both raised in really orthodox families, and so we didn’t use contraception. we had two children in four years and were in the process of divorcing while i realized that my depression and fatigue weren’t just due to the breakup. again i was pregnant. a very close friend of mine talked about the possibility, otherwise i truly had never even considered a pregnancy termination. i was raised in a household where we prayed for the unborn children in heaven every single night. i was like, wait, you mean i don’t have to have three kids under 5 years old? i don’t have to financially struggle while raising 3 children.

my ob-gyn i use to visit was at the time was very anti-choice; hence i knew i couldn’t talk to her about this. at the time of my first pregnancy, she asked me whether i was really sure for wanting to have an amniocentesis (a test for genetic disorder) as if knowing about some defects in the fetus would only encouraged me towards the abortion thought. i found an online pharmacy that was light on the pockets to get the abortion pills. i was simultaneously working two full-time jobs, as a bakery worker and part-time home health helper and nurturing two babies; however i just delayed some bills to pay for those pills by tightened my budget even further.

i was 8 weeks along when i took the first pill (mifepristone), then the second set (misoprostol) at home. i waited until my two children were in bed. it was a bit worrying to do it alone. i kept remunerating, is this the way it’s supposed to takes place? is, the blood too much, or not enough blood? did i do it right? but it wasn’t the worst pain compared to childbirth.

my ex and i never have ever absolute discussed what i did, however, i think he knows. we co parent really well, he‘s very active in my kids’ lives now. it’s been 4 years, and now i still feel grateful with the website that helped me then. they guided me in a proper way, i felt so supported.

-yesenia d. harris, 33. divorced with an 8 year old son, 5 year old daughter.