Pro-Choice Catholic Testimony

“In my early twenties, I was in an emotionally abusive relationship with a very immature young man who manipulated me sexually. I was naïve and didn’t know anything about sex, having been raised in a very strict Catholic household. Living in a small town where my family was in the medical community, I was often also hesitant to seek help from doctors and counselors. When I became pregnant, I knew that my family would force me to have the baby, maybe even force me to consider marrying this young man, whom I did not respect or really love. Abortion was the only way to give myself permission to become an authentic adult. It was the only way to extricate myself from this man and, for a while, from my family and their controlling beliefs. I’ve never regretted it. Later when I became a mother, intentionally, after I had become a whole person, I knew I had my abortion to thank for my child.”