“Summer of 2000 I had an abortion. I was 20 and it wasn’t a hard decision:  I had grown up knowing I didn’t want kids and had been responsible about birth control. I  felt a little awkward telling my then-boyfriend as he was from the South and I was from Seattle, so I didn’t know how he’d respond when I told him I was getting an abortion and that he needed to take me. I realized belatedly that I should’ve brought this up earlier, but sometimes we learn in hindsight. …When I consider a change in my life trajectory I see how everything could have been very different for me and the people around me. As a direct result of my abortion I was able to finish my four year stint in the Navy and then use up my GI Bill and Navy College Fund, which almost completely paid for my degree. Earning that degree was my way to become financially independent and have full freedom to make choices I actually desired, rather than ones forced by things like lack of money, time, or other factors. It was the sole...