made me have an abortion. it made me very confused and very sad at the time. it was a very difficult time for me and my family. my father passed away only 2 weeks prior; they were working class poor; we had no savings or public assistance; and mom could not handle things on her own. i certainly couldn’t have been a good parent because my “choice” at the time was to live day by day as if i wasn’t even pregnant. pregnancy didn’t even seem real.

now that i’m 53, i look back and see things from my mother’s perspective. continuing to term was just not possible for me, for us. while i feel my mother could’ve handled the situation better than she did, i recognize the stress we were all in and she did the best she could.

i’m glad i had an abortion. the experience led to finding a nyc teen clinic that offered both comprehensive sexuality education and full access to free birth control. what a privilege! but sex ed and access to reproductive health services should not be a privilege or something we need to fight for. reproductive justice requires access to reproductive health for everyone regardless of who they are or their circumstance.

i will always be pro-choice because the choice was available to me when i needed it. i want to ensure that the choice is there for others. thanks for reading my story.