I haven’t stopped thinking about a patient from a few weeks ago, in her mid-twenties and a single mom of three school-aged girls. She told me that she needed to have her abortion that day because she had an important graduation the next week. When I asked who was graduating, she said, “I am!”

She told me how she went back to school, finished her GED, and now was starting nursing school. She had dropped out of high school when she had her kids, and she always knew she’d go back. She said, “I am having this abortion so I can show my girls it’s never too late, and you always have a second chance at your dreams.”

Safe, legal abortion provided my patient the ability to provide the best life possible for her girls and to be a role model for them as they grow up. She inspired us all in the office that day!