My Experience of Safe Abortion

by Frances

2007-08-30

It was June 1981. I was 21 years old, a recent UWI graduate and working for just under a year. A member of an embryonic feminist organization, I was very aware of my rights and enjoying the sexual freedom that went had in hand with this awareness.

I think I knew I was pregnant even before I missed my period and in the beginning, I felt excited about the life forming in my womb. I started drinking more milk. By the time I got a confirmed diagnosis, I was eight weeks pregnant. I thought long and hard about my options and decided I did not want to have a baby.

For various reasons. I felt that my "out-of-wedlock" pregnancy would have been an embarrassment to my parents, which at that time seemed like a huge obstacle. I thought about my plans to pursue a graduate degree. I thought about my financial situation and ability to raise a child. And I thought about my relationship with my baby's father and realized, with some embarrassment, that I was not sure who the father was... that there could have been three possibilities--all married.

And I made my decision. I wanted an abortion.

I eventually told my mother about my decision. After the initial shock and disappointment, I recall her saying, "But I did not even know that you had a boyfriend!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that I did not have one. Although she did not approve of an abortion, I think she preferred that solution over the embarrassment of an unmarried, pregnant daughter and early grandmotherhood.

She accompanied me to our family doctor, who empathized but could not help because he was against abortion.

As I was about to go on vacation to the USA, I decided that I would try to get abortion there as it was legal.

It was not hard to find a women's clinic that provided abortion services and a friend accompanied me to the Clinic on the appointed day. A nurse interviewed me at length and I was counseled before the procedure, about alternative options as well as after the procedure.

During the procedure, the doctor (detecting my accent) chatted with me about the Caribbean, and about what he would be doing and what I would feel. The pain was like a very intense menstrual cramp. Afterwards, I was given post-operative care guidelines.

I have never regretted my decision, nor have I felt guilty about doing what I did (I am Catholic). I firmly believe that women should have complete control over their fertility and pregnancy and wished that women in Trinidad and Tobago had access to safe and legal abortion services, like that offered at the clinic I attended.

Today I am childless by choice.

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