When I was 17, I dated a guy who was 19. He told me he loved me. He was aggressive sexually. I lost my virginity to what we now call date rape. I immediately was pregnant, and terrified. It wasn't legal to get an abortion, but many doctors made some quick cash doing illegal abortions, so my boyfriend asked if I thought I wanted one. No way, I said. Over the next 6 months I hid my pregnancy so no one could make me get an abortion. At last, I couldn't hide it. My parents were furious. My mother wouldn't speak to me for days, and my father threatened to kill the baby and slugged me in the arm, but didn't hit my stomach. After a few days, they settled down and got excited about the baby. Still, I got kicked out of public school only 6 weeks before graduation. I got a GED, but missed college. Instead, the boyfriend and I married, and I had the baby. She was amazing. I had never known you could love anyone as much as I loved that baby girl. Our parents fell in love with her, too.

After a few years, my husband started beating me up. He would say if I left him, he would take my baby away or hunt me down and kill me or kill my parents. I couldn't leave because there were no safehouses back then. One night I prayed for God to get him to leave, and a few days later he came home, packed his clothes and moved in with a girlfriend he'd been seeing on the side.

Within a couple of years, I met a wonderful, kind man, and we married. He has been a great father for my daughter, and we had kids of our own. We've been married 34 years. I've gotten some college and am an artist and writer.

My daughter is 42. She's still awesome. She has two kids; one of them was also an "accident." A girl. Thank God abortions were illegal back in 1969, or I might have had an abortion out of fear. I'm the type of person that would never have gotten over it. My daughter and her children make all the hardships worthwhile.

Age: 60
Location: North Carolina
Date: January 4, 2012

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