I was 27, in my second year of graduate school and in the second year of a four year work contract, when I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant. The father, and my then boyfriend, did not care to have a child and I was unprepared to have one by myself. It was a lose-lose choice as far as I was concerned, yet I am grateful that I had the choice.

What was missing for me back then, that would’ve made the difference, were programs and support to help women who were going to be single mothers beyond choices that would make them working-poor.
Now that I have an established career, full health benefits and I’m ready to have a child I am unable to conceive without IVF intervention due to my age. Here I am a woman ready, willing and wanting to have a child and yet can’t because even though I have full health benefits I have zero coverage to help me conceive. What’s missing for me now is not legislation to make me keep a child that I’m unprepared for, but the legislation that would make my health insurance pay for conception service to conceive a child I’m more than prepared for now.
My wish, and the reason I’m sharing my intensely personal story, is to help other people understand that everyone knows someone that had an abortion; we are normal people that had to make a difficult decision. Understand, it’s not a decision I would wish on anyone, however it’s a decision that should remain legal and personal.