I started dating my boyfriend in the early winter of 2003. We met at work, and I can honestly say we fell in love right from the start. I thought the world of him, and our relationship would have been perfect except that my boyfriend had had a son with his girlfriend when they were both 19. I knew this going into the relationship, but out of ignorance, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to handle. My boyfriend's son was born out of religious fear and peer pressure, and now, at eight years old, he shows all the signs of what happens to a child when it isn't born out of true love or want. My boyfriend loves his son, of course, but realizes the shortcomings of being a parent too soon. His uneducated ex raises his son, and doesn't do such a great job to say the least. So when I found out I was pregnant after we had been dating about 6 months, I was both shocked and devastated. I had been responsibly using the Pill, but I had also been taking antibiotics for bronchitis which I now know counteract the Pill. My boyfriend's situation with premature fatherhood taught me that it would be selfish to bring a child into the world without a commitment from my partner, without any money, and without honestly wanting parenthood.

My boyfriend and I both agreed, with some sadness, that it would be in everyone's best interest to abort. My gynecologist performed the abortion in a hospital, under full anesthesia, and my insurance covered it 100%. I know that one day I will marry my boyfriend and we will have children together. This thought was the only thing that made me question whether abortion was right. I felt if timing was the only thing that was off, then why not maybe go for it? But the cliché "timing is everything" is correct. I want to really want my child. I want my child to have its own room, in a house, not some dingy apartment. I want to have time for my child, and working all the time because of lack of money wouldn't make that possible. I want my child to be brought up properly. I think my abortion was a favor to everyone involved in my story, and I'm not sorry. I also feel that having an abortion under three months gestation is not murder.