I Had An Abortion Because I Love My Son
By Raina J. Johnson
You won’t hear my story from abortion opponents.
When I became pregnant with my son, I was a 24-year-old sixth-year senior studying English, with no real prospects for a stable post-graduation life. It was a scary time in my life, even though it was also joyous, and it took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I was really having a baby. Even so, I never reconsidered or regretted my choice.
He was born two weeks before my winter final exams. With the support of my professors, I completed those exams from home, where I was recovering from having an emergency cesarean and figuring out how to breastfeed. I knew that being a brand-new mom with an 18-credit course load would be one of the hardest things I’d ever done, and it was. But I still chose to return to school in January to successfully finish my final semester of undergraduate studies.
Compared to that decision, the choice to have an abortion six months later was relatively easy.
Though we rarely talk about it, according to the Guttmacher Institute, 60% of women who seek an abortion already have at least one child. In my case, I knew that an abortion was the only responsible decision. By this time, I was done with college, but my time and finances were already…
