I had an abortion because I pressured into it by my boyfriend.

He is the one who called and scheduled our baby’s death, should a man be allowed to call an abortion clinic and schedule an appointment for a woman? I think that should raise a red flag to the staff, but I've learned from my experience and my activism since my abortion that they care only about the money they are making, not the woman.

The abortionist allowed my baby’s father to stay in the room while he tore my first child from my womb, as I pleaded for them to stop... Which was when I felt the speculum being inserted.  I was telling them to stop and I was trying to get up and the abortionist told my baby's father who was sitting in a chair to my left to keep my arms in place. He told his MA who was standing at the head of the bed petting my head as if it would help because she recognized I was so emotionally distraught that she even said "I feel so bad for you sweetie, I know you don't want this" to hold my head in place because I was lifting it up trying to communicate better to the abortionist.

When I felt the pain of him scraping my baby in shreds from my body, I was pleading even more with him to stop and telling them how bad they were hurting me.

What I want people to recognize is that these abortion mills claim they are there to assist in empowering women in our society.

My baby was aborted six days prior to my twenty-third birthday.  Before my baby's death I was a pre-med student majoring in Nutrition who ranked in the top 20% of my class at my University. I had it all together.

After my baby’s death I lost my sanity. I would drive to the abortion mill on a daily basis, sometimes more than twice a day and I would look in the dumpsters wondering if my baby was there, I'd sleep there or drive around aimlessly having hallucinations of my baby who I'd never be able to hold. I tried to commit suicide on multiple occasions. I was self destructive on a number of levels. As far as my education, I failed every single class the semester after the abortion. My boss at work was pregnant... Every time I went to work, I would be so mad that she was carrying her baby and was so excited about it. I would vomit to the point I wouldn't even be able to drive myself home and my co-workers would call someone to come get me, I had to quit my job.

My story might sound appalling to you, and maybe it's different from the other stories you have heard and are going to hear today, but though the stories you are hearing are different, one thing is certain, the pain is the same.

I’m now twenty-four, it has been slightly over a year since my baby’s death and although counseling and Rachel's Vineyard have really helped me, I'll never forget the tragedy of how I lost my baby. The way my first child died is always going to impact my sense of womanhood and motherhood and I'm only standing here today because of the grace of God and in honor of my baby who I will never forget, for a second of my life. There is healing in God and although he forgets my sin of pre-marital sex and I am now living in purity, a mother can never forget her child, especially her first.

That abortion facility did nothing to empower me as a woman! In fact, what they did destroyed my sense of womanhood as well as motherhood on many levels and the healing process I’m sure is going to be lifelong.

Abortion does not only take the life of an innocent child, it leaves the mothers with a lost sense of womanhood, no sense of motherhood, and a lost sense of self identity!

Come on America - let’s empower women by recognizing the right to life their unborn should have!!!