My Story
thisidlemind submitted:
Two years ago, at age 18, I was dating a man who was physically and psychologically abusive. I became pregnant. My decision to terminate the pregnancy was a difficult one, but ultimately I made my choice. I live in Virginia, where it’s mandatory to receive a certain number of hours of counselling prior to the procedure. When we went to Planned Parenthood to see how far along I was, it was apparent that in the time it would take to receive that counselling I would not be able to have a medical abortion, which was the least invasive option. Knowing this, my mom (pro-choice, thankfully) and I made our way to D.C. Upon arriving to PP, we were harassed and berated by some (not all) anti-choice nuts. A few were very respectfully protesting. Others were downright violent. Calling me a slut, saying I’m going to burn in hell, stuff like that. After all was said and done, one man followed my mother and I to our car and started beating on the windshield.
Through all of this, I was suffering from an addiction to self harm, being treated for bipolar disorder, and was being physically and psychologically abused by the man who got me pregnant. I was living out of a family friend’s pool house and feeding myself with food stamps (no income at all). All that said, there was no way in hell I was even close to being able to care for a child.
Half of Women Unaware that Pregnancy Is More Dangerous Than Contraception
About half of pregnant women incorrectly believe that hormonal contraception is more dangerous than pregnancy, according to new research presented today at the Annual Clinical Meeting of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Studies show that approximately 30% of women with an undesired pregnancy do not use contraception. Data on the number of women who do not use contraceptives due to safety concerns have varied.
Brandy J. Becker, MD, and Sarah J. Betstadt, MD, MPH, at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, NY, sought to evaluate patients’ knowledge of medical risks from hormonal contraception compared with risks from pregnancy. They offered an anonymous survey to women receiving pregnancy counseling at the university’s family planning clinic.
“Almost half of the women in our study were unaware that pregnancy is more dangerous than contraception,” Dr. Becker said. The overall risk of death for young healthy nonsmokers using oral contraceptives (OC) is 240 times lower than the risk of death from pregnancy-related complications, according to the researchers. The risk of developing potentially deadly blood clots in pregnancy is five times greater than the risk of blood clots from OCs. A woman’s highest risk of blood clots is during the immediate postpartum period.
Read the rest from the ACOG here.
