My Friend Got Two Abortions

My friend got an abortion at a Planned Parenthood in Dallas, Texas a few years back.

The suction kind, where they insert a vacuum into the womb and suck out the developing embryo-fetus-baby.

After, she went home and began recovering from the painful procedure.

She soon started feeling really sick.

Then, she started bleeding out fetal guts.

She rushed back to the clinic.

The abortionist explained that the abortion procedure had not been wholly successful.

They had left partial fetal remains inside her.

The damn suction vacuum had not properly done its job.

My friend totally freaked out, losing her god-damn mind.

She later told me she became like a wild animal, thrashing about and howling.

They strapped her down to a gurney.

Shoveled a handful of sedatives into her mouth.

She started to calm down.

The doctor completed the abortion, removing the remaining fetal parts.

Afterward, the abortionist doctor lady felt so bad that she implanted a copper IUD in my friend’s cervix.

For free.

So that she would never accidentally get pregnant again.

A few years after that, with the copper IUD still inside her, my friend got pregnant.

Again.

After the doctor who botched her abortion told her the IUD would keep her safe.

She debated keeping the baby this time if only to avoid the severe psychological trauma of another botched abortion.

Her mother, absolutely furious, insisted she get an abortion.

"You're ruining your life again," She told her.

Her baby daddy, whom she'd just recently begun dating, agreed.

"Don't ruin both our lives. I'll pay half."

She went back to the clinic.

This time around, they didn’t botch her abortion.

They even gave her free Xanax as soon as she arrived, which really helped to numb her to the entire experience.

She texted me while she awaited her procedure. She was in a row of girls, all numbed by the Xanax.

"We are all so out of it," she joked via text. "It's like a cattle drive in here."

A couple hours later she texted again:

"It's done. I'm going home to sleep and never wake up."

The next day, the dude who had knocked her up went AWOL.

Before the pregnancy, he had promised her he wanted to marry her.

She was deeply wounded, but moved on.

A couple years later, she started a job at a cushy company and met a co-worker whom she instantly connected with.

She was in the middle of some rough, impassioned sexual intercourse with him when agony struck again.

Suddenly, intense physical pain shot through her entire body. It didn't stop. Getting worse and worse. She doubled over in the bathroom, sobbing.

Her boyfriend called the Paramedics, and she was rushed to the hospital.

An ER physician told her that her IUD had ruptured in her cervix during intercourse.

“We need to remove this IUD ASAP,” he told her.

“Take it out,” she cried. “I’d rather get pregnant and have a baby.”

Truth is, she knew she’d finally met the man she would marry.

And five years later, after considerable coaxing on her part, they finally tied the knot.

But he doesn’t want to have kids with her.

They have a sweet little dog instead, whom she treats like a child.

She still dreams of getting pregnant.

Having a baby of her own.

Raising a little girl.

She dreams of pink ribbons and Disney princess movies.

Her husband, meanwhile, is still adamantly not on board with parenting.

Nearing forty, it might not ever happen for her.

Though she feels increasingly haunted by two ghosts of what might have been.

I asked her recently if she has ever considered filing legal action against the clinic that botched her abortion, severely traumatizing her.

I told her she could be entitled to monetary compensation for emotional damages, due to potential gross medical negligence by the abortionist.

"Hello no," she responded. I'm too ashamed."