In high school I had a friend who had an abortion. It was quietly whispered about among our circle of friends.

At the time I remember feeling upset, I myself was pregnant at 16 and because of my family support I chose to keep the baby. I remember thinking she should have been responsible or she should have done something different as if I had any right to talk about being responsible or making good decisions. There were times in my nine months that I was so emotional, scared and the relationship I was part of that created my pregnancy became such a roller coaster that I remember just wanting to go and have an abortion right then and there if only…if only I wasn’t scared, if only the drive to the clinic wouldn’t give me time to think… What if I could fall down stairs and have no other choice. I know with my own feelings and life choices they were hard but they were mine. I took comfort then and now with the fact that we have a choice. No one should have a right to take our choice away. Unless they walked in our shoes they couldn’t begin to understand. I now have a beautiful 13 year old daughter. My decision to have her was just as hard as to not have her. I have known at least two other women in my life who had hard decision to make. One chose to have an abortion and the other gave her second child up for adoption. Each woman had a story and had a reason for their decisions and they did the right thing in both.