My boyfriend and I had been going out for a good six months. We’d been having sex since month two and always made sure to use protection. I’m not really sure when exactly I got pregnant but I am almost positive it was when the condom broke and we didn’t notice. I freaked. I ran into the bathroom and tried to rinse everything off of me but I guess it didn’t help.

I never felt sick so I convinced myself everything was OK. Until about a month later... I was trying on clothes and couldn’t get past the new stomach I was growing... I couldn’t suck it in. I knew in the back of my mind what was happening. Until I missed my period I had convinced myself that it wasn’t real. My boyfriend went with me to buy the pregnancy test... we drove 30 miles out of town to ensure no one we saw would see our purchase. We took the test to his house because his mother was out of town. Those two lines changed my life forever. I cried for three hours.

January 11th 2007. We both skipped school and drove to the nearest clinic for my appointment. He waited six hours outside for me to come out. Lying on the table waiting to get my anesthesia was the most terrifying experience of my life. I remember watching my heart rate jump every time a nurse came near me. My arm went cold from the medicine and then it was over. I woke up in a recovery room with the other girls I had sat with all this time. I immediately started sobbing, knowing what I had done.

To this day I cannot stop thinking about what will happen when I’m old enough and can support my children. How unfair it was of me to choose those future children over this one. I realize this was the right decision for me at the time but I don't know what I can do.

My boyfriend and I broke up about seven months after the procedure. I am with a new guy who knows nothing of this. I don’t think I could ever tell him, or anyone else for that matter. Even though I could never do this again I need something said: Planned Parenthood deserves the greatest respect in the world. They helped me before, during, and after the procedure and I could never have asked for more caring people. They deserve recognition for the care they give every single girl that walks in there. They support any decision a woman makes and treats her as a human.

This experience has changed my life and I have to deal with it somehow.