my husband and i had been married less than six months when i found out during a study abroad trip in china that my hormonal birth control had failed. there was no way we could afford a child — as a graduate assistant, i was the primary bread winner and insurance provider, both of which would end weeks before my due date when i graduated with my master’s degree. my husband was entering his last year of engineering school with a course load that resembled a full-time job, albeit one that didn’t pay. additionally, i was already wrestling with depression and knew that any pregnancy we had would automatically be considered high-risk between his family’s medical history, my severe hypothyroidism and the depression medication i took daily just to function beyond crying and hating myself.<\/p>\n
adoption was not an option, simply due to protests from both families and again, the financial burden of carrying the pregnancy to term. although i am a native american, the nearest ihs facility with any maternity facilities was more than 90 minutes from our home at the time — too far to be a feasibility.<\/p>\n
before the abortion clinic would allow me to schedule an appointment, i had to meet with an ob-gyn to confirm my pregnancy. my doctor had recently moved and i wound up being referred to her partner, whom i had never met before. when i scheduled the appointment, i made a point to tell the nurse i was strongly considering an abortion and needed to get in as soon as possible so i wouldn’t be forced to travel out of state due to restrictions in oklahoma. although the nurses were very sympathetic and understanding about it, the doctor lectured me about how i shouldn’t have had sex if i couldn’t accept the consequences and that if i was any kind of adult, i’d carry the pregnancy to term and put the baby up for adoption. it wasn’t until i told him very loudly that my husband and i had already discussed our options and were pretty much set that the doctor dropped the issue.<\/p>\n
my husband drove me to the clinic in my hometown, more than an hour from where we lived at the time. although i don’t remember much about the day, i do remember feeling relieved that i wasn’t alone when i saw other women in the same boat.<\/p>\n
three years later, my husband and i had our first — and probably only — child. while i love my daughter, i would not wish pregnancy upon anyone who isn’t prepared and going into it willingly. i would not wish the postpartum depression i endured on my worst enemy. i am all but certain that had i gone through with my first pregnancy, i would have committed — or at least attempted — suicide within the first year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
my husband and i had been married less than six months when i found out during a study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_世界杯2022亚洲预选赛b组 ":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19599"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/世界杯2022亚洲预选赛b组 ?parent=19599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.k12fl.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}