Birth control fails on occasion. Three occasions in my lifetime, anyway.
I’m sure I’ve told this story here before, but for the sake of illumination:
I was on the pill when I got pregnant with my daughter. It happened about six months before they started putting those little “antibiotics may affect the efficacy of your birth control pills” stickers on every pack.
I was on the pill when I got pregnant the second time. No missed pills, no other meds, not really sure what happened there, as I’d used the pill without incident for ten years. That’s when I decided to get my tubes tied.
The third time I realized I was pregnant was a little over three months after my tubes were tied. I was still on the pill when it happened, btw, never went off it until three months after the ligation, and had even switched brands/dosages. I must have ovulated just before the surgery, and it took me a while to realize I was pregnant, since I’d expected to be irregular for a bit after the abortion, the switch in pills, and the tubal ligation. Also because, seriously?
And I talk about my abortions whenever the subject comes up. I am an intelligent, responsible parent and a productive member of society who has had two abortions (in the context of a ten year long monogamous relationship yet), and when people think about abortion, I want them to think about ME, and not the caricatures of vain or selfish or irresponsible women dreamed up by the anti-choice movement.
I opted for abortion, and no regrets. BC failure, and afterwards I went on the pill and haven’t looked back. Except for 1 month recently I went off the pill and rediscovered how much an actual period sucks (its been 20 years) and went right back on.
Flying Dutchman: Speaking as someone who works in research and deals with a lot of questionnaires - titling a thread “Looking back at your abortion decision” might heavily select for women who decided to have abortions.
I didn’t bother to open this thread for a little while, as I assumed it was for people who’ve had personal experience with abortion. I’ve never been pregnant.
If you really want to know what percentage of Doper women have had an abortion, you should start a poll like ‘Women: Have you had an abortion?’ with a yes or no choice.
Irishbaby was planned and wanted. At any other time in my life a pregnancy would not have been planned or wanted. I never had to make the decision to terminate, but that is what would have happened, and I can’t imagine it would have been regretted.
I wasn’t looking for the percentage of doper women who have had abortions. I was surprised by the number who reportrd abortions. I’ve been around long enough and voted in many a SDMB poll. and I I’m well aware that a very popular poll might register 300 votes , and where gender is specified, I rarely see the female voters reach 40 % of the total voters.
To suggest that there are a maximum of 120 female dopers who participate in SDMB polls is not exactly a stretch, and the figure of 1/3 of SDMB female dopers (40 having reported an abortion) that I guestimated as having had an abortion appears after all to follow the norm in the United States as pointed out by Really Not All That Bright.
I haven’t regretted my abortion; I had one child already, no husband or support of the bio-dad, and a low-paying job. This was long ago when women weren’t inundated with news of protesters, forced to watch ultrasound images and listen to doctors explain what happens. (That’s what women in Florida who want an abortion have to go through now – and have to pay for the ultrasound!) In my time, normally abortions were illegal, but if you found the right doctor, you could get one (and I don’t mean back-alley). A few months after the abortion, I found a good job with promotional opportunities, and which provided financial security and great benefits for over 30 years. (And in case you’re wondering what kind of job offers those things, think government - local or federal.) I’ve often wondered if I’d make the same choice now, can’t say because my circumstances have changed. I’m married and very happy as things are (and I can’t get pregnant). I can understand the ambivalence women experience today, given the varying laws and attitudes of those who think they have a right to tell a woman how to care for her body.