Thread by @SusanKBradford

I remember well my feelings in 1987 when I went to get an abortion. When I was accosted by the “probirthers” outside the abortion clinic who were harassing women using their PERSONAL FREEDOM to obtain the healthcare services provided by a @PPFA clinic. Bec they provide HC servs 2

2/It’s worrisome to me that #Yamiche is outside an abortion clinic interviewing ppl trying to seek services at the clinic.

When I went to get the abortion, I already knew I was pregnant but only a few weeks. Probirthers outside the clinic accosted me, screamed at me #deadlineWH

3/yelling for me not to kill my “baby”. They stuck signs in my face, followed me from my 🚗 in the parking lot all the way to the fence line in front of the clinic — where a staffer met me & escorted me inside — all the while ppl were screaming & threatening me. #DeadlineWH

4/I was so early in the pregnancy that the clinic sent me 🏡, telling me it was too soon & they couldn’t perform the abortion properly. Once again, I was escorted outside & had to deal w being accosted by the idiots past the fence. I was terrified, yet I persisted #MyBodyMyChoice

5/I returned to PP to get the abortion 2 wks later. The clinic had moved these services to another area where it was easier to access the clinic w/out being accosted by probirthers. This time the escort actually came out to my 🚗 & walked me across the street to the clinic.

6/while the protestors were still doing what they did on my 1st trip, it was less terrifying bec I wasn’t alone. The volunteer had an ☔️ bec it was raining, she walked me all the way to the 🚪

She was big-tall & a very intimidating woman! Turns out yrs later, she wld b my boss

7/at any rate, i was far enuf along, rec’d the abortion, rec’d comfort & care from the staff at the @PPFA where I also went to get birth control when I was younger but got taken off the pill bec of🩸pressure issues. At the time I had this procedure I was a single mother.

8/my daughter, now 36, was 18 months at the time. I was working as a secretary at a construction site. My father paid for the procedure. I couldn’t afford it. I wasn’t getting child support at the time. I was paying $600 a mo in rent for a 2 bdrm apt, worked 40+ hrs a week.

9/child care was costing $250 a week, & that’s w a discount based on my income. i made too much 💵 to get vouchers, or food stamps or Medicaid but I was poor bec I had a car note, utilities & past due bills. I made the agonizing decision to have an abortion bec I knew if I didnt

10/I wouldn’t be able to continue working w 2 kids. I wouldn’t have been able to pay double for child care, clothes, food, insurance, housing, just living!

I made the personal decision to have an abortion as it was my RIGHT to do so for my health & that of my little family.

11/Neither father was involved in my life. Neither father could pay child support either. I made more 💵 than both. So I had an abortion. I still to this day do not regret my decision.

My daughter & I made it thru those days when I made too much for help from the county/state,

12/but not enuf to have savings, living paycheck to paycheck like millions of other Americans. My life turned out fine. The construction secretary job ended, i worked for my former employer for a few yrs & then i got a job as an office manager at a speech clinic for 8 yrs.

13/after that job, I started my own typing, temporary & secretarial business worked as a temp secretary for 14 yrs. I farmed myself out to several law firms, worked from 🏡 when needed. I had ppl working for me as temps at various law firms, i had ppl who worked from 🏡 typing…

14/& transcription for medical docs & attys. My life turned out fine. My daughter grew up healthy, happy & well rounded. She was & still is, the light of my life. I wld be in a completely diff position if I didn’t have that abortion. Being a single mother, my options were limited

15/but my dreams came true & i was an independent business owner until I retired in 2011 at 51. My daughter went to nursing 🏫. Shes an RN, inspired by the cancer treatment her 5 yo daughter rec’d, she decided to be a nurse. I live w her, my SIL & 3 of their kids in a 🏡 in SW OH

16/there are 2 more kids who live w their mothers. i wouldn’t be where I am had I not had that abortion, had it not bn available to me. Overturning #RoeVsWade wld have had a much more devastating impact on my life but im going 2b fine. #DeadlineWH #thebeat #TheReidOut #Maddow

17/It’s my granddaughters & the other girls in America who will suffer bec of this travesty.

We must fight for all womens personal rights to #Bodyautonomy along w millions of other women, I call for a #GeneralStrikeForReproductiveRights and a #sexstrike #Lysistrata #deadlineWH

18/I demand that Congress codify abortion rights NOW! I demand that Congress #ExpandTheCourtNow I demand our personal rights to #BodyAutonomyNOW

I demand #abortionrights for all future women & girls who find themselves in such an absurd situation! #AbortionRightsAreHumanRights

19/side note, yrs later I returned to the PP clinic w my 18 yo niece who was trying to get birth control pills she cld afford w/out health ins! The probirthers were there, screaming at our 🚘— the clinic had changed its properly putting a fenced in parking lot— scaring my niece.

20/my niece didn’t believe in abortions, she still doesn’t. But she had no other choice for affordable healthcare than to go to the PP clinic. Exams & bc pill costs are based on income. She needed the heathcare services provided at @PPFA bec abortion is only 5% of their business.