CHALLENGE
choice I could make for anyone else.
When“ you specifically seek out someone who hates you, you start to believe they’ re right. They’ re so right to hate you.”
“ So it looks like you’ re at about six weeks and one day,” the nurse said, the keyboard clacking as she captured images.
One day? I thought to myself, too embarrassed to ask out loud. How can you tell the one day? I just nodded.“ Have you decided what you want to do?” she asked casually.
“ I want to … have an abortion,” I said, the word catching slightly on my tongue.
“ Okay, I can walk you through your choices when I’ m all finished up here.” She was still pressing the ultrasound doodad into my bladder, and I was increasingly aware of the discomfort.
After a few more minutes, she used the towel to wipe the gel from my stomach and started talking about what they offer.
“ So you have two options for the abortion procedure,” she said.“ There’ s the surgical procedure where we go in and the fetus is removed in-office. You’ ll be given anesthesia through an IV. The other option is a medicinal abortion; now a lot of people think it’ s a one-and-done, but you take more doses at home. It will essentially induce a miscarriage.”
Neither sounded particularly appealing, and I still felt like I knew nothing.
“ Is there one that’ s better than the other? Or safer?”
“ The surgical, definitely,” she said.“ With the medicinal, you will be sick— physically and visually— for at least a couple of weeks.