content warning: mention of rape "I found out I was pregnant right before my 17th birthday, my junior year of high school. It shouldn’t have come by surprise but it did. My boyfriend was a man, almost 20 years old. I think I was looking for someone to love me, to pay attention to me, to be seen. When I told my Mom she said 'you are having an abortion.' I didn’t fight her. We had just found out that my grandfather was sick around the same time so my Mom was there with him. I d

"I was 18. I had been with my boyfriend for a year, and I was 2 months into my first semester in college, hours away from my hometown, when I found out that I was pregnant. We had always talked about growing together and even starting a family in the future, but never this soon. My whole life, I had always wanted children, even if it happened on accident. When I found out, I was scared, I didn't know what I was going to do. I knew all of the options that I had, but at the tim

content warning: suicide attempt, relationship abuse, sexual violence, verbal abuse "I am 19 years old and I had 4 abortions in my teenage years. My family despises me because of this. They don't tell me but I know it. Now I feel ashamed and guilty and lonely, and I even tried once to take my own life. If they would try to understand me, if they would show me support, maybe I would feel different now. I wish I could feel different. The first one was when I was 13 years old. I

"I am 22, just turned 22. I am not ready in any sort of way to have a baby. My abortion is 3 days. I don't know how to feel at this point." - Anonymous #confusion #youngperson #notready

"I had an abortion -- pre-Roe v Wade -- and that experience, along with the politics of my liberal Democratic parents, shaped not only my political and social beliefs; but, also informed my ethical standards. The life I lead, and most important, the children that I raised, would not have been possible if I had not chosen to have an abortion. In fact, every experience that I had post March 1, 1971-- the day of my abortion -- occurred because of it. Because of my decision, I wa

"I'm not good with words, so I'll keep this short. My boyfriend and I have only been together for 2 months, which isn't very long. One of the things we bond on is never wanting kids. I had the Kyleena IUD, and being 21 years old, thought I was invincible. I was wrong. At first we were panicking about if it was ectopic. When we found out it was in utero, the panic grew. It would have been easier to tell my family that it was a medical procedure instead of an abortion. My boyfr

"A couple weeks ago I found out I was pregnant at just 21. I took 3 drugstore pregnancy tests with my boyfriend right by my side and they were all positive. We cried and cried together and had many long conversations about what to do when I came to the conclusion that the best option for me was an abortion. I kind of always knew that if this ever happened that’s what I would do. I think of myself as too young to raise a kid right now and am just not financially, mentally or p

"I want to share again since it has been about 3 years. I was 20 when I first found out I was pregnant. My boyfriend and I during that time were in a badly stressed year, for both of us. It didn’t occur to me I'd be the one to have one. We were doing things we did, and added stress of my mental illness, made our relationship not so great at the time. We had been dating for almost two years at this point. I was on the pill, and it just happened. I told him about it and it didn

"When I had my abortion I was only 18. I originally didn’t want to have it, but after I was told by the dad that he didn’t want anything to do with me or the baby I knew it would be a bad idea to have the baby. At the time I worked at a fast food place and I was definitely not stable enough to have a baby, especially alone, so I went to planned parenthood. They confirmed the pregnancy and I was about 6 weeks. They told me my options and how each procedure works. And I chose t

“I got an NHS medical abortion in May 2019. I am 22 years old and in a very happy and loving 5-year relationship. We have always spoken about having children and are very excited about one day having them. I had always thought that if I was to accidentally get pregnant, that I would keep the baby no matter what. I found out I was pregnant at about 3 weeks (very early, I know) and deciding between abortion and life was very hard. The reason we chose abortion was because we are

"There is still some secret shame that lingers inside, coming from a religious home, coming from a Bangladeshi home. I'm 23 now. I had grown up thinking being a mother was all that a woman could be. That motherhood was the ultimate end goal. I didn't mind that dream. It felt secure, warm and comforting, to create and live in a loving household, without physical or verbal abuse. I had a different childhood growing up, and the male figures in my life were not supportive. I stil

Content warning: child abuse, suicide, infant mortality “Background: I was born into an Irish Roman Catholic Family. More or less. My father was of Irish, English, and Scottish descent. But the family identified as Irish. Big time Irish. My mother was from Swedish, English and Welsh descent. He was raised Roman Catholic by his mother in the strictest sense. She was raised a Methodist in North Dakota. She converted when she married father. They wanted to have six children. Whi

“I had an abortion when I was 16 years old. When I found out I was pregnant my best friend and I went to grocery store, bought a pregnancy test, and took it to the Panera Bread public restroom because I didn’t want my Mom to find out. I was so embarrassed because all my life my mom would tell me not to get pregnant young and I would always say that I wouldn’t. But the truth is, I never thought it would happen to me and as a result it did. My boyfriend at the time and I were m

“I have had 2 abortions, and would like to share how very different these two abortions were. My first was at age 16. I lost my virginity to this guy when I was 14. We split up and then got back together roughly a year later. We had regular sex and never used contraception. I was stupid and so naive about the consequences. I still remember the evening I took the pregnancy test, we were in his dad’s flat and my friend came into the bathroom with me. I took the test and left it

content warning: drug use, suicide, overdose “I was 20 when I got pregnant for the first time. I was on the depo shot and l, because I had tried with my ex to get pregnant before, was convinced I couldn’t have kids. (Silly me.) I had been with the guy I was seeing for about a month. The very first time we had sex I got pregnant. I didn’t have a job, it was summer and I had spent it getting high on whatever and day drinking. I ran off with this guy to ‘escape’ my hometown and

Content warning: emotional abuse “My name is Cila and this is my story. I was 13 years old when I had to make the biggest decision that would change my life forever. Growing up I have always known that I wanted to be a mother. I have always adored children and I was always around them. I had a boyfriend at the time - he was 16 - we were in a very serious, mature relationship that was never able to keep stable and faithful because we were both kids trying to have a serious rel

“I fell ‘in love’ while in high school. So blind & useless at everything that I fell pregnant when my life was falling apart. While kicking it with my ‘then’ boyfriend, I would always come home to a troubled family. I would always forget that I had a human being growing inside of me, I was too focused on what my problems were than my own child. My true feelings were that happiness all mothers feel when finding out but at the same time I had a heavy heart. I couldn’t tell my p

“Where do I even start...I’m not going to make this detail-to-detail because it’s a lot and I’m still very emotional about it but talking about it really helps. I found out I was pregnant on January 1st, 2019 (New Year’s Day to be exact.) I knew I was pregnant. Obviously, I missed my period, had a positive pregnancy test, extreme fatigue, really bad mood swings, and I had strong food cravings—mainly for Chinese takeout. I was very emotional, I was already about 5 weeks pregna

“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

“I was 18. It was the winter after I graduated high school. I met this boy last spring and he asked me to be his girlfriend, then about 4 months later I became pregnant unexpectedly. I was scared, I had the feeling that I was pregnant for about a week before I took a test, I was not on birth control, and this was my first real relationship. I immediately told my boyfriend, his first thought was an abortion, but told me it was my choice. I felt I had no support from him after