cuando quedé embarazada estaba comenzando la universidad, en 1967, el aborto legal más cercano había sido en japón.

i'm 52, childless and single. i terminated my only 2 pregnancies and only now know for sure that i did the right thing.

before i had my abortion i scoured the internet for stories about the procedure: how long, how painful, etc. aside from a video of a young woman who calmly undergoes an abortion, making it seem like no big deal, the pain and procedure information was hard to find.

i was raised in the mormon church, and had been told to always be a good girl, and learned how to be codependent at a very early age.

i saved the ultrasound picture in a dated envelope, stuck it in a drawer and just as i closed the drawer - i closed out that moment in my life. they asked if i planned to continue with the pregnancy, at the tender, scared and reckless age of 18, in a low whisper, i said, “no.”