on today’s anniversary of roe v. wade, i share my story. i have had three abortions and remain grateful for each one. without any one of these i would not have had my two children and i might not be alive.

the third abortion was when i learned the very much wanted fetus i was carrying had no heartbeat at 16 weeks. it had stopped, likely at the 15 week mark. my body would have miscarried at some point but quite possibly not before i was in mortal danger. it took an abortion procedure to safely see me through the ordeal.

the second was when at 12 weeks i learned the fetus i was carrying had a condition that meant, even if i was able to carry it to term, it would not survive outside the womb for more than a few hours. since i was considered old to be pregnant, trying to carry to term a fetus that could miscarry at any moment was a dangerous prospect for me while also meaning certain death for the child in the rare chance it did come to term.

the first, i suppose, is the one that anti-abortion people would most like to have prevented me from having. i was not married, would not have married my partner at the time and i was not interested in having a child as a single mother. if i had carried that child to term, i would never have met the father of my children and they would not exist, an unthinkable outcome for me.

i am grateful that my work in the early days of helping to make abortion legal and safe paid off for me. i want it to remain that way for others.