i am struck with this sense that people will read my story and judge me or look at me as someone who is uneducated or not smart enough to make good decisions. but i did make good decisions. i made the best decisions for myself.

he was my first sexual partner. we never used any contraception. i was an idiot and never imagined that i would become pregnant, but then i did.

melinda's story

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.

i never regretted my decision to have an abortion. but i regret the amount of fear i felt because of other people's reactions and how that fear caused me to make other decisions i wish i hadn't made.

i have had three abortions. considering that i became sexually active at age 15 and knew then that i never wanted to give birth, and i am now 44, i think three is a pretty small number.