I went on to mother 2 stepchildren, give birth to a son, and adopt 2 children out of foster care. So I am clearly both pro-family AND pro-choice.

I was 20 when I first got pregnant, a college sophomore with an unsuitable boyfriend. He had no opinion on whether I should keep the baby or get an abortion. I have always been grateful that there was a Planned Parenthood in Madison that provided abortions without any ridiculous rules like the 3-day waiting period we have here in Missouri.

The next time I got pregnant, I was 27, living with my fiance, and fast on my way to becoming a raging alcoholic. I drank so much in the 5 weeks before I knew I was pregnant that the doctor said there was a significant chance that this baby would be born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (and if that doesn’t make you suck in your breath and just moan, then you do not know anything about FAS. Read up on it.).

So 5 people in this world call me “Mom” and I love them more than anything else in this world. My choices were my own to make during the halcyon days of the 1980’s, and I am trying to ensure that my own daughter –and my sons — have the same choices if they should ever need them.