A 17 year old whose boyfriend broke up with her when she got pregnant decided on abortion. She explains what happened the first time she went to an abortion clinic:
“The abortion clinic employee informed me that I would go to a consultation appointment first. Then, 24 hours later, the actual abortion would be performed…
They called me back, and the doctor gave me an exam and ultrasound. The screen was turned away from my eyes, so I didn’t have a chance to see my baby. I saw him listen to my baby with the fetal Doppler, but he wore headphones, so I didn’t get a chance to hear the heartbeat, either.
But even without hearing or seeing the baby, my heart still ached…
After the exam, I went to the front desk to schedule the actual procedure, but because they were so booked, I would have to wait another week…
Every day I could feel this thing inside me was actually growing, but I stood firm in my abortion plans.
On the day before my procedure… I received a phone call from the abortion clinic. They would not be able to perform my abortion. A law had just passed in the House of Representatives, and it shut down all but four abortion clinics in Texas.…
I was still determined to end the life of my baby. I made an appointment at one of the four abortion clinics left in Texas, two hours away. ….
I woke up the morning of my appointment with butterflies in my stomach. But these butterflies weren’t from nervousness. No. They were the flutter of little feet kicking against my tummy. I knew in my heart that this was not a mass of cells…
However, I got dressed and made my way to the appointment… They gave me another exam and limited the view of the ultrasound just like before.…
They informed me that I had a urinary tract infection and I would have to wait another week while I took antibiotics…So yet again, I scheduled my appointment for another week later…
That evening, I received a call from my mom. She asked if I would be willing to go get another ultrasound at a local pregnancy center. I was strongly against this, as I knew going someplace like that would make the decision much harder. John [her boyfriend, who wanted the abortion] told me not to go.
However, I felt that in order to make my mother happy, I must at least just check this place out, because I already knew I was 100% set on having the abortion… I wasn’t all too excited to sit and be judged by a room full of people telling me how wrong it was to get this abortion.
When I walked in, all I saw was smiling faces. I signed in, and they took me into a back room and began to talk with me. My counselor was smiling and understanding, and she was listening to the words I was saying…
They offered to give me an ultrasound, and not thinking that I would be able to identify or see anything – just like at the abortion clinic – I agreed…
That’s when I saw it. I saw a head with a brain. I saw little arms followed by 10 little fingers. I saw tiny legs with two tiny feet moving and kicking around.
But most of all, I saw and heard a beating heart. I lay there watching my daughter’s steady beating heart, and I knew that baby was my baby.
Tears flooded my eyes. I loved that fluttering heartbeat inside me. I loved this baby, and I knew she deserved life. At that moment, I chose life for my daughter, and I believe by doing so, I chose life for myself.”
