I was a young woman in college. I had been on birth control pills at a young age due to menstrual issues. I was not sexually active at the time and my older sister began to experience health issues due to birth control pills, so I made the decision to get off birth control. Shortly after making the decision to get off birth control, I met a young man. Because I had been on the pills so long, I wasn’t having regular periods. Due to that and using contraceptive foam, I thought I was safe. I had made an appointment at Planned Parenthood to get back on birth control. However, by the time my appointment came, I was pregnant. I had taken a home pregnancy test. I was in denial and thought for certain, I would go to my appointment and they would say everything was fine.

I went to my appointment and the doctor asked me before I got off the table and had absorbed the news “ What are you going to do?” I said I didn’t know. She said if there was any chance, I would want an abortion that I needed to go down the hall and talk to someone. She said from her exam, she thought I was about 6 weeks and I had to make a decision as soon as possible. 

I was in shock and went down the hall to talk to someone. I don’t remember what they said but they said I needed to make the decision quickly or it would be too late. They gave me information to take home. The information included letters from women talking about how glad they were they had their abortion. There was one letter from a young couple that said they weren’t ready for a child, so they got the abortion and later they were ready and had their child. 

They painted it as simply delaying having a child. It sounds like such an obvious lie, that you may wonder why anyone would buy that, but at the time, I was scared, and it gave me justification. The father and I were new in our relationship and although he didn’t pressure me, he didn’t offer a lot of support at the time. 

He basically said it’s my decision. We did stay together and have been married for 40 years. We became Christians and both have repented. God led me to a post-abortion Bible study 20 years later. I felt deceived and manipulated by Planned Parenthood. I just hate seeing women continuing to be deceived, that’s why I’m silent no more.