i've been a single mother of two (no support) since 1997. in 2005, i finally made it to college working full-time days and schooling at night.

i was 23 and in a new relationship with a man that i already thought i would marry, but we had been together only two months when we had a condom failure, and a few weeks later i took a positive pregnancy test. i called my mom right away, sobbing.

i had an abortion when i was 20 years old. i was in my sophomore year of college and my boyfriend had just broken up with me.

i had been married only a few months, but between my precarious mental health due to being a survivor of incest (i thought about suicide almost daily) and my husband's childhood of physical abuse our relationship was intermittently violent.

when i was a junior in high school, my boyfriend, at the time, and i were having protected sex when the condom broke. when he first realized this i hadn't been hit with any emotions yet.