Apr 25 Apr 25 "I just need to know if someone else out there had a similar experience and if I’m not wrong for considering another abortion.” Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Multiple Abortions, Many different locations This person’s call for help was posted on the Instagram account of Shout Your Abortion. What happened next was a huge flood of supportive comments filled with stories of others who have ended their pregnancies. More than 40 people responded with words of care and support. Read more.
Mar 19 Mar 19 "Accidental pregnancies are way more common than spoken about." ~ 20 people share stories in one Reddit thread. Sharing Truth Two Abortions, Three Abortions, Four Abortions, Five Abortions, Six Abortions, Multiple Abortions A person asks, “Has anyone had more than one abortion” in a Reddit forum — and a flood of people respond, sharing their own experiences of more than one accidental or unhealthy pregnancy, and assuring that it’s common and that there is no need to feel shame or fear judgment. Read more.
Jan 16 Jan 16 "We were so careful and it still happened. We can’t have another baby." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, U.K. “The mortgage is enormous, we have 4 children between us, and we are not in the right place for this. Three abortions. What is this?! This was not supposed to be my life. I’m trying to be hard hearted about it. I am mind blown this has happened.” Read more.
Jun 27 Jun 27 "I learned to extend some compassion to myself because even though I played a role in it, i could not blame myself for everything." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Location Not Given “My third pregnancy is my biggest shock. My ex and I continued spending time and i held out on intimacy and the one time i thought i would be not so strict, i got pregnant again even without actual penetration. I felt, devastated, defeated and numb.” Read more.
Oct 6 Oct 6 "Each one saved me, each in a different way." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Location Not Given Being in charge of how and when I had a baby was vitally important because so much of my fertility seemed random and out of control. And now I have this little person who owes their life to abortion. Read more.
May 10 May 10 "I always wanted to be a mother, but circumstances made me make other decisions." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Mexico “In addition to not having support from my family, the man I became pregnant with threatened and blackmailed me into having an abortion. I had to leave the house and go to a hotel, because it was unbearable to stay in that place with them telling me so many bad things. They harassed me through messages and social media and I had to block them and delete them from my life to preserve my mental health.” Read more.
Mar 10 Mar 10 "His texts would slut shame me for sleeping with him and getting pregnant." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, U.S. “My third abortion happened after my divorce. I meet a guy and we were talking. We seem very compatible and we discussed everything before we even got intimate. This including children and if I get pregnant he would want to be part of the baby’s life. We both had good jobs, income and we were mature. I was 33 and he was 36. There were some yellow flags that turned red in the months I was dating him. I tried to break up with him, but he would ask me to give us a chance.” Read more.
Feb 6 Feb 6 "Both these last two, contraception has failed, which feels like a massive kick." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Location Not Given “I can’t believe I was that unlucky!! I feel awful but I have two children already and unfortunately there is no way I could afford a third.” Read more.
Jan 25 Jan 25 "What hurts most is the way it happens, surrounded by stigma, judgment, guilt from society. Lo que más duele es la forma en que sucede, rodeado de estigma, juicio y culpa por parte de la sociedad." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Brazil, Spanish/English “What hurt me the most was that I wanted to continue with the pregnancy, but I had to make another decision because of the circumstances. I knew it would be painful and I would feel guilty if I brought a child into the world without being able to provide the minimum for him, growing up without a father.” Read more.“Lo que más me dolió fue que quería seguir con el embarazo, pero tuve que tomar otra decisión por las circunstancias. Sabía que sería doloroso y me sentiría culpable si trajera un niño al mundo sin poder brindarle lo mínimo, creciendo sin un padre”. Leer más.
Oct 27 Oct 27 "You (we) deserve to live the lives we choose for ourselves and not feel shame for it." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Multiple Abortions When a person shared on Reddit’s r/abortion forum about feeling like a bad person for having three abortions, what happened next turned her entire outlook around. See the outpouring of loving support from more than 25 people who shared their own experiences of having more than one abortion. Read more.
Sep 10 Sep 10 "The sense of relief washed over me almost immediately." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, U.S. “My second one was right when I found out my Dad’s cancer was terminal. My sister had just announced her first pregnancy with her husband—they were elated. But there was a massive elephant in the room. She wouldn’t have a grandpa by the time she was born. Amidst all this, there I was, pregnant, and no one knew. Not only did I not want to be a mother, how the fuck could this happen NOW? Worst timing ever. I drove myself to that same clinic, a state away.” Read more.
Jul 7 Jul 7 "He never once thought about how this could affect my mental health." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, California “All he cared about was how he wanted this second child. He wanted a playmate for child number one, who is on the spectrum, which within itself is a lot of work with them being a toddler and having that disability. So once the second abortion was done, he really went overboard and in some ways is trying to trap me, though I have been using a birth control that works for me and happy that I was able to have such.” Read more.
Jun 23 Jun 23 "I grew up in the church and that’s where all of my shame resided." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Delaware, U.S. “Although making the choice to not be a mom each time was by far the hardest decisions I’ll ever have to make, I don’t regret them. I’m here to tell you that there is light at the end of those dark tunnels.” Read more.
Jun 9 Jun 9 "I don’t want any other human to have to hide in shame for something that’s a valid option." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Location Not Given “First was in 2013. My kids were 1.5 years and 9 months old. My birth control failed and the condom broke. I felt backed into a corner with no escape otherwise. I walked into the clinic alone and went through it alone. My husband waited in the car with our youngest.” Read more.
Jun 2 Jun 2 "I think of the damage those children might have experienced with me as their mother." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Georgia, U.S. “I know being wanted isn’t a guarantee of a child’s happiness or success, but after I got sober at 25, I went back to school and got a degree in social work. I worked in child abuse investigations for 20 years, and I can’t count the number of children I saw who had been targeted, scapegoated, tortured, and vilified because they were unwanted. The most basic gift we can give children is to be wanted and loved. Every child should have that starting out.” Read more.
May 22 May 22 "The relief was grand, knowing at that age I was incompetent of raising anyone other than myself, barely!" Sharing Truth Three Abortions, U.S. “I was living in a ski town and my boyfriend and I got pregnant. I was 19 soon to be 20. We both were in shock and he supported whatever choice I needed. My girlfriends surrounded me and drove me to the clinic. At that time it was very common. All my older friends, and my sister, had all been through it.” Read more.
May 14 May 14 "I was afraid of my ex who I had been with yet again and he scared me." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Florida “My first abortion was my choice, I agreed with my ex we were in a hard place in our relationship and financially unstable. Less than a year later I was pregnant again. I had told him I didn’t want to abort, we were doing better and could figure it out, but he had other ideas which he pressured very hard for me to have another abortion.” Read more.
Mar 9 Mar 9 "I would have five children right now and would have to live off government aid." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Location Not Given “Should I have kept the child with the man who, unprovoked, questioned paternity? Or the one who abandoned me when I was ten weeks along? Or how about with the one who went off the deep end into QAnon conspiracies? I felt fed up with men, relieved I could continue with my life.” Read more.
Feb 23 Feb 23 "I absolutely can not and will not bring a child into total chaos." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, Location Not Given “I'm pregnant again about to schedule my third. I do have a daughter but I am going through a divorce from a mentally unstable man. I'm pregnant by the love of my life and I currently do not have a place to stay.” Read more.
Feb 8 Feb 8 "I didn't have the tools to navigate these situations due to my upbringing in a culture that didn't talk about sex or womb trauma." Sharing Truth Three Abortions, California “It was when I was seeking my third abortion that I realized I needed real, deep healing around the relationship choices I was making and what they cost my body, as well as some generational trauma I was carrying. My mom was forced to give up her firstborn. She was an immigrant from Peru, experiencing domestic violence, and she gave birth at a Catholic hospital where they didn't speak Spanish. They highly encouraged her to give up her child, which I feel is more coercion when you don't know the language. It's a secret she kept for 31 years, so there's womb trauma on my mom's side.” Read more.
