Meaning Day to Day

I work at a clinic that provides abortion. I've been doing it for 8 months now and while there are certainly moments that typical work place stress and office politics can certainly make me question my threshold for human services, I am happy doing what I do for now. I am very happy to get to interact with the women seeking gynecological and abortion services.

I have always been pro-choice. It's not something I suddenly realized one day, I just have always known how I feel about the matter. One of the driving forces behind my activism and desire to work in the field of abortion care comes from being raised in the Catholic Church. At the wise age of 14, I encountered a terrible women lawyer who was invited to speak to my catechism class about abortion. She showed up and began speaking about a video she was going to show us. I can't remember if I waited for her to finish talking or waited until she was about to play the movie but at some point I got up and stormed out. I sat in the hallway and spoke to one of the teaching assistants. I told her there was no way I was going to sit through and watch what I new she was going to be showing. I hadn't seen the exact videos but I knew what they would say and I knew that most if not all of it was untrue.

When I got pregnant 4 years later, there was no question in my mind about what I was going to do. I never for a second considered carrying to term. I'm positive it is not in the cards for me to have children and it certainly wasn't then either. It is only in retrospect that I acknowledge that I did pretty well considering the situation. It didn't feel like it at the time but I managed to find out what I needed to do and how to go about it. A friend brought me to my appointment and home afterwards. My experience was wholly positive and non-traumatic. I was treated with respect, I had a female doctor and a very nice women holding my hand during the 5-7 minutes the procedure took and I told her I just wanted to go to school and finish community college and go on to get a degree. She was compassionate and kind and assured me that I would be back at school and feeling well again in no time. My recovery went well, I got on birth control pills with my primary care doctor and went back to school where I could finally stop throwing up in my car own the way and in my 8:00am math class. I was more relieved than I can ever express.

Now I get to be part of the experiences of other women. I get to treat women with respect and dignity and do what I can to give them a positive and non-judgmental experience. No one wants to have an abortion but once you need one the process can be harrowing. It's nothing to be taken lightly but it also isn't doesn't have to be the traumatic and or stigmatized life event that it is often portrayed. It's okay to need an abortion, it's okay to need multiple abortions. Women lives first, always.