Warning: This post contains descriptions of domestic violence and sexual assault.

I am a family physician at a small community health center. A patient of mine in her thirties has lived her entire adult life regretting NOT having had an abortion when she was a teenager; she was forced to carry the pregnancy to term by her conservative family, and then gave the baby up for adoption because she knew she was not ready for motherhood at the time. She has made many self-sabotaging life choices since then out of regret over the fact that she was not able to simply have an abortion.

She came in to see me two years ago, requesting an IUD, as she had recently started a relationship with a new partner. She said at the time, “I know he’s not really good for me, but I at least want to do the responsible thing and not get pregnant.” I couldn’t get her cervix adequately dilated to get the IUD in, so I gave her a prescription from some misoprostol to soften her cervix, and asked her to come back for another appointment. Her new partner was present when she picked the medication up from the pharmacy, and overheard the pharmacist’s instruction that the misoprostol should not be taken by pregnant women, as it could potentially cause a miscarriage.

He decided that meant it was okay to rape her without a condom on. She turned up in my clinic two weeks later for her second IUD insertion, and was devastated to learn that she was pregnant by her rapist. I accompanied her to her Planned Parenthood abortion appointment, and she subsequently disclosed to me that her partner had not only raped her multiple times but had also beaten her, threatened her, thrown her down stairs, and attempted to strangle her. (It also turned out he has multiple citations against him for armed assault and domestic violence, including against his own children from a previous relationship). She has now thankfully managed to break free of him, but had she borne his child, there’s no way she would have been able to do so. Without Planned Parenthood, I think it’s very likely that this wonderful, bright, witty woman would be dead.

I am not sharing my name only out of concern that my patient might be identifiable by my story (I work in a very small town), but I want everyone to know that I am proud to call several Planned Parenthood providers friends and colleagues, and I am unceasingly grateful for the work they do.