content warning: domestic abuse, sexual abuse "In 2018 I was in a relationship with a man who was 13 years older than me. The relationship slipped from toxic, to mentally abusive to physically and sexually abusive. I'm a tough girl who never thought I would allow myself to be treated like that. But abusers are master manipulators who make you question everything you know. I also consoled in the wrong person, a "friend" who instead of supporting me, victim-blamed me. Because o

content warning: abusive relationship "I had an abortion at 24 years old. I had just graduated college and just moved into my own apartment leased in my name that I shared with a roommate. I started dating a guy that I always knew of through my friend and it became a tumultuous affair. We had a lot of issues in the beginning because of his past history and I was hesitant to date him because of that especially since he was just recently out of jail. He kept convincing me that

content warning: relationship abuse "I had just ended my year long relationship, which consisted of nothing but abuse. I was finally learning how to love myself again. Moved to the city, starting a new job. Things were finally looking up. Two weeks later I realized my period was late, and I took two home pregnancy tests. Both came back positive. I was shocked, I was in shock, and I didn’t know what to do. The next day I thought about my choices, and decided that abortion was

Content warning: childhood sexual abuse, abusive relationship, rape “When I was 4-6 (not sure when) I was sexually abused. I repressed the memories until I was 14. When the memories came back my home life was also really bad and I (I always such a good kid) was lost. I dated a bit and then had my heart broken and I was left by all my friends. When I thought no one liked me, a guy found interest in me. I instantly devoted myself to him, the dumb kid I was. He got me into drugs

Content warning: abusive relationship “I’m 27 and I’ve had two abortions. Both before 8 weeks. I was in a long term, ABUSIVE relationship that I could not get out of. I chose to have abortions because I would never bring a child into this world knowing they could face the same abuse I was. Not only was I repeatedly beaten every day, but I wasn’t ready for a child. I was on birth control. I did everything I could not to get pregnant, but it happened. I am very thankful that I

Content warning: abusive relationship “I always had safe sex. I was on birth control (the pill) and I got off it because it gave me lots of headaches and nausea and made me gain a lot of weight. I knew having unprotected sex would end up getting me pregnant and that wasn’t what I had planned for right now. While trying to get on a different form of birth control, after sex I would just take Plan B, until one time my partner was aware of it and he got very angry. That’s alread

Content warning: relationship abuse “My Story: I had an unplanned pregnancy with my ex-husband. He will never know about it. That shitty plus sign forced my eyes open to the realities of my abusive relationship, and an abortion was the only guarantee I could ever leave. For years, I made decisions as large as what continent to live on and as small as what shirt to wear based on how I thought it would make someone else feel and to avoid verbal attacks that skillfully cut to my

“I was 16 when I had an abortion. The pregnancy was from an abusive and manipulative boy, who was older than me. My body felt strange one day about a week from my encounter with him, and I was so scared, so I told a friend and she told me to tell my mom. But I couldn’t, and she would be disappointed in me, and I was determined to get her approval. So, I got an abortion, and it was one of the best things I could have done for my life. It was really sad and I felt empty for a w

“On the 26th of January 2019 I had a surgical abortion at 11 weeks (what a way to start my year). I had recently found out that my boyfriend (now ex) was cheating on me. It was not the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or even 4th time I had found out, he was emotionally and physically abusive towards me and I couldn't imagine myself bringing a child into a situation like that. I had fallen out of love with him and I honestly couldn't stand him anymore. On the day of the abortion he insisted he

“This is my story. I'm 18 years old and was in a very toxic and abusive relationship when I got pregnant. I was with a guy who had no respect for me, had no job, got physical with me a few times and cheated on me all the time. I knew right away that I couldn’t have a child with him. He’s 20 and has a 3-year-old son he never sees. He also speaks very poorly about the mother of his child which worried me. I knew he got me pregnant on purpose, as our relationship was falling apa

“It all started when I went out with a boy who I had known for years. In fact, he was a close friend. At first, he was perfect, and I couldn't have wished for better, but then I found out I was pregnant almost straight away. I was only 17 years old, had no job, and still going through college. We both sat down and decided to have an abortion. Soon after, cracks started to show, but I was so scared of being alone and leaving him after what I had just been through. 7 months lat

“I found out I was pregnant with twins a while ago. I never felt such a mix of emotions. The father of the twins became very verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive towards me. The relationship was so unhealthy I realized if I kept the babies I will be risking my life. Because the father was clearly showing signs of unstable and ugly behavior... after a lot of back and forth, I decided to go through with terminating the pregnancy because of the health of the relationshi

"It was like living a nightmare. Me and my boyfriend had been fighting terribly for weeks. I had just experienced a huge financial burden. Between my two jobs and being a senior in college, the stress was very difficult to manage in a healthy way. My period has never been a single day late. My friends kept trying to convince me that I was overreacting, that i wasn't pregnant and everything would be okay just like every other time we’ve all had our scares. But i knew, i could

“Aloha, I am 21 years old and had my first abortion today..... I've been in my own world keeping quiet starring at my ultrasound for quite a while now. I feel so numb and dead inside. The father of my child has been so abusive towards me. I was in the shower this morning waiting for my mom to pick me up and take me to my appointment. He turned the shower off mid of me washing my hair, dragged me out by my hair... pushed me against the bathroom sink which took the breath out o

"When I came to Preterm in autumn 2010, I had been beaten, I had been raped, and I was pregnant. I had bruises everywhere. I was sore everywhere, even my bones. When I looked at myself in the mirror I cried because I didn’t even recognize myself. My friends and family didn’t recognize me either. I didn’t know what it was like to feel safe anymore and I was sick with dread. I’ve thankfully never been that sick again in my life. But, as soon as I walked into Preterm, I felt saf

“So I was 21, in a horrible relationship with an abusive heroine addict. When I first found out I was pregnant I was so happy. I thought maybe he could get his life together stop using drugs and be the person I fell in love with. I was terribly wrong. We went to my first doctors appointment together, it was a long wait a few hours. He suddenly just left and didn't come back for an hour. He came back high as a kite, nodding out half asleep and could barely talk. I found out I

"I am currently 19 years old and i found out about 2 weeks ago that i was 6 weeks pregnant with my (now ex) boyfriends baby. At first I felt nothingness. I starred at the pregnancy tests with him as we sat in the bathroom. He was happy but i could tell he was a little nervous. I honestly felt nothing. And its been a while that i feel nothingness over a very serious event. After that we decided to go to go to the doctor to confirm. And of course after 3 positive at home tests

"I was 16. I had just gotten out of an abusive relationship when I started dating a friend of mine, and for sake of this story we'll call him John. We only dated a month. A few weeks after we broke up, I began feeling ill and tired all the time. I had just about every symptom in the book after 4 weeks which was when I decided to take a test. I really thought I wanted a baby. I wanted to be a mother more than anything my whole life. But it wasn't the time and he wasn't the one

"It was two years ago, and I knew in my heart it was not my time to be a mother. My partner at the time was very abusive and brought hell onto the people he cared about. The relationship was self destructive, even if I kept the pregnancy the stress from the entire situation would had eventually made me miscarry. I've made peace with myself and my choice, and in my heart it wasn't the right time. I'm grateful to go to a clinic where the staff is so gentle and caring about thei

"I had just turned 21, and found out I was pregnant with my abusive boyfriends child. I was not bringing a child into the world to go through the pain and terror I was going through." —Anonymous #abusiverelationship