content warning: rape, sexual abuse, suicide attempts, self harm "I am a Texan. I am a daughter, aunt, niece, wife and most importantly mother. I am a Texan mom. I am a Caucasian white female who was raised in an upper-middle class family where women attended cotillion, played tennis and college was for finding a good husband. I am a Texan mom. I have been raped, abused, molested, neglected & broken. I am a Texan mom. I suffer from severe PTSD, ADHD, depression, anxiety and h

“I was 17 when I found out I was pregnant. I took the test with my boyfriend there with me. We've been dating for half a year at that time and used condoms always, it broke once, but we figured it shouldn't be a problem. It is quite complicated to get a Plan B in my country. He came from a super Christian family, so for them abortion wasn't an option. We told his parents, who immediately started to plan our life for us. They told me that I have to move in with them, and they

Content warning: suicide, rape “My suicide, as a gift to my Dad. I was fifteen, motherless (she died of cancer,) and raised by an upstanding, beleaguered, and loving Catholic Dad. At a beach party a guy "friend" dragged me behind a dune and raped me. I see that now, as an adult. Back then I thought I was imprudent. Too flirty, and culpable. Two weeks later I was vomiting in the bushes on my way to babysit for a neighbor when it occurred to me that I was pregnant. My stomach s

“I am 21 and I had my abortion yesterday. I was 6 weeks however, I realised at two weeks when I felt heavily nauseous and could smell everything intensely. I wish I was able to have this baby. Immediately, I felt a connection, I could feel the baby weirdly enough, and yes I know that sounds impossible but I suppose its my own maternal relationship. I cradled my flat belly in the shower, sometimes talk to it and dreamed of winning the lottery. My boyfriend said he is supportiv

"Stigma only hurts people who are already hurting. I added to that stigma because I could never envisage myself making such a selfish choice. I wanted to stop people from normalising abortion. Another option seemed so easy to me, too easy, in fact. I couldn't make sense it - why would anyone choose such a thing? I relapsed one night and called over a drinking buddy. I cheated on my boyfriend and discovered I was pregnant. I wanted a baby so badly - but I couldn't let anyone k

“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

"My abortion experience was hideous. I became pregnant as the result of a rape on a night out.. I won't go into exact details about that. I had sex with him a second time two days later when he turned up at my house unexpectedly. The day after that I took the morning after pill, but strangely I knew I was already pregnant. I felt different. The person who got me pregnant insisted he attend every pre-abortion appointment I had, to remain in control, but I refused. The day befo

"Driving up to the building scared shitless. I get out of the car and hear people yelling… cursing… screaming at me, calling me names. I sign in and find chair. I’m looking down at my feet completely ashamed and feeling guilty. I hear this high pitched voice “C---”. I feel like I have been sitting an eternity. I am sat in this small room with three plastic chairs and those thick glass blocks as walls. I had been sitting for hours, waiting to be in that room. I hear a small kn

"It is very hard to write my story because I have to get over the shame I feel for my past situation that resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. Along the years I tried to speak about it to a few people, but I ended up telling half-truths and what I thought at the time were lies. Nevertheless, I knew I wanted so badly to tell my story to a trusting and non-judgmental person. The only one I told the whole truth to was my therapist a couple years later. This is now my true story:

“I feel like my life has spiraled out of control. Its like every time I become pregnant my mind automatically tells me "This is bad, you can't do this, you're not ready, it's not the right time." I'm a 25yo nursing student graduating in May. I've been married a little over a year. I became pregnant about 5 months ago and terminated because of school. My husband was devastated. I found out I was pregnant about a week ago. I hadn't even missed my period yet, I just knew. I fe

"I was 16 when I found out i was pregnant. At first i was scared and didn't know what to do. I told the father and the first thing that he told me was to get an abortion because he didn't have time to raise a baby he had other plans. I cried i have always been against abortion but I sat down and talked to my best friend and she told me it was my choice and either way no one would ever know because at the time no one knew i was pregnant so i thought about it and decided it was