It was the summer I turned 20. I was on a scholarship to college and about to start my junior year. I started feeling queasy all the time and noticed my breasts getting swollen and tender so I went to the doctor and yup, pregnant. I was in no way, shape or form ready to be a mother. This was in the mid-70s so I would have had to drop out of...

It was 1969. I was 21. A year later New York would legalize abortion and, of course, Roe arrived in 1973. But I was stuck. The sex was consensual, and we were both equally idiotic about taking precautions against an unwanted pregnancy. So mine is not a story of rape or incest but of youthful arrogance. We were broke college students at an elite...

At age 31, my husband and I discovered that the second child we'd planned for was a cancerous molar pregnancy.  Thus began a 6-month ordeal of two D and C's and 4 months of chemo to rid myself of the cancer in my body and save my uterus to enable me to have more children, which I desperately wanted.  What was the darkest time in my life was made...

It was 1971  and abortion was illegal. I was a 19 year old virgin found myself pregnant. Yes, a virgin. Without getting into details, you can get pregnant without intercourse. Fortunately in Kansas the university medical center was able perform abortions with recommendations from 3 physicians. I took a train 6 hours with my mom for the procedure....

I was date raped while traveling across the country and didn’t realize I hadn’t had a period. After the positive pregnancy test, I planned a trip to visit some friends in Boston. The clinic was fantastic! Counseling before, kindness all the way through and solidarity of sisters in the various waiting and recovery rooms. The second time was with...

I was the mother of two children and married to an abuser. His brutality was increasing, to the point that he was disabling our phone (this was before cell phones) before coming after me. His violence was more and more focusing on my neck. I knew that if I didn’t get out and away he would eventually kill me and my children would be motherless. I...

In 1986 I had been married for almost 5 years and had a 2-year-old daughter. We found out after trying for a few months I was pregnant. One evening a week from my due date I noticed the baby was not moving. That night we went to the hospital for an OB check and got the worst news possible. There was no heartbeat. The next morning, I met with my...

After years of trying to conceive, we moved from clomid to injections & IUI. After round 1 of so many shots, I got pregnant just in time for Father's Day and we told my family. The U/S showed a blighted ovum. Round 2 yielded another pregnancy but I lost that one by about 7 or 8 weeks. I started bleeding at work and screamed in my bathroom,...

I was 19 weeks into pregnancy. I woke up in the middle of the night in a puddle of water. I went to the hospital -- by myself, since my husband had to stay home with our 19 month old toddler. A nurse did an ultrasound and found the baby's heartbeat.   My water broke, and it was all gone -- preterm premature rupture of membranes. There was nothing...