"I was 23 when I had an abortion. I had a long history of ovarian cysts and complications and was naive to believe that would impact my fertility. I was also on birth control at the time. My boyfriend and I have been together for over a year and have a great relationship but we both agreed that now was not the right time to have a child. I discovered I was pregnant because I was feeling so exhausted and emotional, like the worst PMS I'd ever had in my life except I never got my period. At about 12 weeks is when I had a surgical abortion at Planned Parenthood. I had no idea what to expect though I'd spent weeks reading testimonials online. The staff at Planned Parenthood was so supportive and comforting and put me at ease. I elected to have IV sedation but remained awake throughout the entire procedure which was quick but still painful. I left the clinic with my boyfriend and we went actually went shopping before we went home because I was somehow feeling well enough to do that. For the next few weeks I felt really weird, I felt exhausted and emotional. At least once a day my mind was drawn to the thought that I would be pregnant now and expecting a baby and all of a sudden I wasn't. Those feelings passed within a few weeks. It's now been about two months since I had my abortion and I've been starting to feel back to normal. I am thankful that I had the option to have an abortion and a supportive boyfriend with me the whole time and feel like this is a second chance at life for me." —anonymous
