{"id":161723,"date":"2017-02-17T08:12:26","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T13:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=161723"},"modified":"2017-02-17T13:59:35","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T18:59:35","slug":"how-my-unplanned-pregnancy-changed-me-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/how-my-unplanned-pregnancy-changed-me-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"How my unplanned pregnancy changed me forever"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I have been attending every March for Life since 2010, when I first came as a freshman with Fordham University’s Respect for Life. This year, my daughter turned five months old in time for the special occasion.<\/p>\n

I had the privilege of speaking at Humans of the March for Life, an event put on by Life Matters Journal. As executive director, Aimee Murphy explained that the theme of the event was “sonder,” which is “the idea that every other person is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” In sharing my testimony, I like to think that I touched on that idea, having gone through an unplanned pregnancy. My unplanned pregnancy changed me forever. Here is my story:<\/p>\n

I conceived my daughter in November of 2015, but failed to find out until January 4, 2016, just days before my 25th birthday. From the start, abortion was mentioned to me, though I quickly let the well-intentioned doctor know it would not be an option. It turns out I would be tested over how much of an option it was or wasn’t for the weeks to come.<\/p>\n

Although I was together with my boyfriend when we conceived in November, we had broken up in December. The pregnancy was unplanned and quite frankly, a shock. Multiple people I knew\u00a0mentioned, suggested, and even hoped for abortion. They figured that abortion would be the easier route — for me\u00a0and for\u00a0others.<\/p>\n

The easier route isn’t always the better route, though. I knew that the child inside my womb was a human person, and that she had been since conception, since before I even know she existed.<\/p>\n

Many would think that abortion would have been easier because I was single and facing an unplanned pregnancy. I was living in a separate state from my family and my daughter’s father. I was still working on my obtaining my degree, and I had not factored in if my job at the time would support a baby. Toughest of all was figuring out the relationship with the father. I began to wonder what it would be like if I wasn’t pro-life. I began to wonder if that meant I would have had an abortion.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I am pro-life, and this is a belief I apply in the difficult times of life.\u00a0I knew that abortion would have ended the life of my daughter. She would never get to know this world, and people would never have the privilege of knowing her if I took her life in abortion. Because she had her own set of unique DNA since the moment of conception, there would never be another one of her ever again<\/em>, whether she made it to birth\u00a0or not.<\/p>\n

I also knew how she would meet her untimely end if\u00a0I had an abortion, since I myself have written about abortion procedures<\/a> before, and have seen the non -graphic abortion procedure videos<\/a> from Live Action. (Check them out here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I knew that abortion would wound me personally as well, because I was aware of how women have suffered emotionally from their abortions<\/a> and how they’ve been dismissed.<\/a> Having an abortion wouldn\u2019t change that I had gotten pregnant and was single when I found out.<\/p>\n

The only thing it was guaranteed to do was end the life of my daughter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible an abortion wouldn\u2019t have been so easy after all, then. I believe I was\u00a0blessed with knowing\u00a0all of this to keep me from having an abortion, no matter how angry and confused I felt.<\/p>\n