From The Sovereign Uterus, an online space dedicated to publishing personal stories about abortion access and after care on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Prince Edward Island is the only province in Canada that does not provide local access to abortion services. Limited access to medical abortion is available but after care for both medical and surgical abortions is also limited and inconsistent.

My story: I was 16. Living at home with a single mom on welfare. Still in school. I found out I was pregnant. Most people judge me because they say I was irresponsible. Should I have been having sex at 16 .. no probably not but let’s get real here. SEX IS HUMAN NATURE. People are going to do it.

Why wasn’t I on birth control? Simple answer is … I couldn’t afford it. I was working but my part time pay check went to help put food on the table. Hell there was some months I had to stay home from school for a week because I only had toilet paper to use while on my period because we couldn’t afford tampons. Which bring me to make two points
1. Birth control should be free
2. Feminine hygiene products should be tax free.

So How was I going to afford a baby? Depend on the government like my mother was? I didn’t think so. I made the best choice for me at the time.

I told a friend my situation. She told me about this female doctor who ran a woman’s clinic. I went there. The doctor was so friendly. She got me all the paper work I needed to have it done in Halifax at the hospital. She said I needed to go have an ultrasound done. So off I went to the QEH. What a completely different environment that was.

Here I am all by myself .. 16 years old not knowing what was going to happen .. the ultrasound lady doesn’t say more than 5 words to me thru the whole thing until the end … she gives me the towel to wipe the gel off and then turns the monitor towards me and says “just so you know that’s what you about to kill” . I left in tears. She made me feel like a horrible person.

I had to turn to my friends and their parents for help. My mom couldn’t afford to help send me to Halifax .. we didn’t have a car.

I had to drive by myself all the way over to Halifax with a friends parent who was traveling over there for work .. I didn’t know them from a hole in the wall .. it was extremely awkward. . They dropped me off at the Halifax hospital doors and I went and had the procedure. . I then had to call another family friend who I had never met who worked at the hospital to come sign me out Cuz I couldn’t leave alone. They drove me to their house to sleep until they got off work. I was sitting there in a strange house all by myself after just having it done .. after work they drove me to the boat and I took the boat home alone and another friend picked me up on this side and took me home.

I was told by the first female doctor that my family doctor would follow up with me afterwards. Didn’t get a  call for a week after. So I called and asked for an appointment. The receptionist told me if I wasn’t having problems I was fine and he didn’t need to see me.