I had just turned 16 and had sex for the first time with a person who I thought meant everything. It wasn't bad, but I figured I wouldn't end up pregnant.

I was 19, and it was just three months into what would later turn into a severely abusive relationship when I figured out I was pregnant.

I will forever be grateful that my decision to have an abortion was treated with professionalism, dignity, and kindness by the medical professionals who helped me

In the mid 1990's, I had an unwanted pregnancy. I was living paycheck-to-paycheck. I did not have health insurance, and I was working in a restaurant. My job was physically challenging enough without the burden of pregnancy.

Shaming, or claiming that a woman must have a child conceived through rape or incest is creating a true living hell for that woman or girl. Please people. Don't tell me what to do until you've walked a mile in my shoes.

Both pregnancies were the result of rape. In both instances I was in such denial about what had happened and about the potential for pregnancy that I did not seek medical attention or counsel until it was almost too late to make a decision about what was going to be happening to my body and to my life.