November 17, 2006 9:16:49 AM. I was 14 when I had an abortion. It changed my life forever. All choices seem to have been striped from me, not only the choice to abort but the pregnancy itself was not my choice. I was a child and this child was a result of rape. I was told it was alright, by my parents, doctors and friends to have an abortion. I was told I should not bring a child of rape into the world. After, I immediately knew I was wrong. I may not then have been able to look upon the face of my child without seeing the trauma, but adoptive parents would not know the circumstances of the conception. This child was innocent!!
Instead, I looked upon myself every day for more than 2 decades with pain, guilt and remorse. I may not have been given a choice in conception, but I did have the ultimate choice in the outcome of life. I could have stood my ground, I could have adopted out. I could have stopped the pain.
Years of depression, self loathing, destructive behaviour and counseling followed. The grief is with me still almost 30 years later. The son I had after the abortion was born prematurely and frail. Scar tissue and infections in my uterus caused me to have to have a total hysterectomy at the age of 22! Then I was diagnosed with stage 3 estrogen positive breast cancer at the age of 34 and have now relapsed at the age of 41 to an advanced stage.
There is not a year that goes by I do not think of the child lost due to my own uneducated decision... on abortion. Think before you act, search before you decide, it's a baby, and you are the mother. The decisions made today will affect you everyday after.
Tragically, Sandra died of Breast Cancer on April 20, 2008.