I got pregnant on my 22nd birthday. I was a senior in college studying biology with the plans of going on to get my PhD. I have the grades and the research experience to do it, but a child was not in the plans. I had been with my boyfriend for only 6 months. He also had plans of post graduate work, wanting to go to vet school.

Needless to say both of us were poor college students in no position to support a child. We made the decision together after a lot of discussion. Ironically, we had briefly discussed it before and he had said if I ever got pregnant he would want to keep it and raise it while I always thought the opposite, having such long term school plans. However, when the situation actually occurred we switched our view points with me wanting to keep it and him logically arguing that we are not ready. We made the appointment at Planned Parenthood and he was very supportive through the whole process. I was 8 weeks exactly, just in the window for the pill to work. I took the first pill on a Thursday. After that appointment all I wanted to do was cry but I was not really sure why. I went to breakfast with my boyfriend who could clearly see something was wrong. The next day was absolutely awful. The next few months were not exactly great either but they were bearable, the worst month, however, was June, when my projected due date was. My boyfriend and I had such issues after emotionally dealing with the abortion and a few other things, we broke up a few months after. After dating other people for a while we are now back together and planning to get married next month. We are then off to spend 3 years abroad together traveling and doing volunteer work before we start our grad school. Having the abortion is not something I regret at all. It would not be fair to bring a child into this world without being stable enough to support it. There will always be a special place in my heart for the ‘what ifs’ but now I mainly look forward to the children my fiance and I will have when we are both ready.