I had an abortion in my thirties. I got pregnant when a condom came off during sex. My partner pulled out before I had a chance to secure it. I love and respect children, so the last thing I wanted to do was to have a child I didn’t want and couldn’t care for— I was a child my mother didn’t want.

I can’t take the pill because it makes me feel depressed. I had used spermicides before, but stopped because it disturbed me that I was putting poison in my vagina and had been doing so for years. I have never heard a discussion about the long term effects of putting poison in the vagina, much less found a study. For two decades I asked for an IUD and was refused because the gynecologists were concerned about my future fertility. So was I. I didn’t want to have a child so didn’t want to get pregnant.