Live Action’s Can’t Stay Silent campaign is sharing the stories of women who are rediscovering their voices and speaking out about how abortion harmed them. One of these women is Patty, who said she would have made a different choice if she had known there was an option other than abortion.
In an interview with Alternatives Pregnancy Center for its My Choice, My Story platform, Patty spoke about her decision to have an abortion in the 1970s. She was newly married with two children, and found herself pregnant almost immediately after getting married. “My husband comes home shortly after that and he says, ‘I don’t want this child, or I don’t want you,'” she recalled. “And I was devastated. I just stood there — I didn’t know what to do. And so, he packed up, he left.”
Though she tried to get information, Patty said no one was able to give her the answers she needed. “It was back in the ’70s,” she explained. “It was the times where women were starting to make decisions for their own body, so I decided that I would go ahead and set the appointment for the procedure.”
Still, that didn’t mean the abortion was an easy experience. “I remember walking into the clinic, just like frozen, because I didn’t know what to — what was going to happen,” she said. “There wasn’t an ultrasound. I didn’t know what to expect, and I was scared. I just blocked everything out.”
Patty said she was operating purely in survival mode. “I remember like it was yesterday. It was something that I just shut my mind, and shut my thoughts, because it was so… something I didn’t want,” she said. “After I had the abortion, I was scared. And I didn’t want to think about it, because I knew it was something that I couldn’t think about. It was too much pain. The burden one carries, that you think that will go away, is a deep hurt inside your heart. You keep pushing it down, but it’s always there. You start wondering what that child would look like.”
Today, she hopes her story can help other people to realize how important it is to choose life.
“I encourage young mothers and fathers… give that child a chance,” she said. “It’s God’s creation. And I want to let these young mothers and fathers out there know, if they find themselves in a situation of an unwanted pregnancy, or unexpected pregnancy, don’t give up. There’s hope out there for you, there’s alternatives out there for you. I know you’re afraid, I know it’s something you didn’t expect. And I encourage you to do everything you can to call and get all your options. Because this young life that you’re carrying is very precious.”
