In 1970, I had an abortion when I was 17 years old but had to fly to New York because they were not yet legal in Colorado where I lived. Although I was on birth control, I was already a young mother to a 6-month-old baby and a wife. We would not financially support another child and needed to make the best decision for my family.
It was incredibly frightening for me as a 17-year-old to go to a big city alone, find a clinic and get an abortion and check myself into a run-down motel while still woozy from the drugs and the experience. I had to return to my family still tender from the day before, But as terrified as I was, I am grateful that I had the option and the choice. Our daughters deserve to make their own choices with their bodies and their lives.