Ruth’s Story
Transcript
Dear Amy,
I was out of college and I joined the Peace Corps so I spent two years in Turkey. And when I came back I moved to San Francisco and I had a boyfriend and I got pregnant. I was thinking, “was I on the pill or was I on an IUD?” I’m sure I was on the pill and was thinking, did something happen with that. I was really careful. Anyway, I got pregnant. And he was totally uninterested in being part of it, in fact he didn’t seem to feel he had anything to do with this. And for some reason I went along with it. It didn’t bother me, I knew who he was and I just knew I was not ready to raise a child. So I talked with my gynecologist and he said he wasn’t able to do anything to help me but he knew somebody in Japan who would give me an abortion. And I thought this is an unusual experience. So I asked my parents to help me. And like any wonderful parents, long before that they said “look if anything happens, if you get pregnant please tell us, come to us.” So when I did they just couldn’t believe it. ”Are you sure?” I had to lay off sort of but they were very good about it and helped me with the money to fly to Japan. And I loved traveling, and I was self-sufficient especially if you’ve spent two years in Turkey you feel you can do anything. So I went to Japan and I went to a restaurant, it was Tokyo, and did a little bit of walking around. And had my abortion. And came back. And everyone I talked to could speak English. So, I certainly could not speak Japanese. Then I came back and I was supposed to, I think take it easy, for a little bit. But when you tell a person I’ve had an operation and have to take it easy they imagine something way different and are just so solicitous, but I couldn’t say “oh no it wasn’t that kind”. But I recovered fine and I recovered mentally. I just knew that it was not for me at that time and that was clear. So I just did what I had to. That's it. And how old were you at the time? 22 or 23. And what year was it- do you remember? I left in 64 and came back in 66 so 67 maybe. Did you go on to have children later? No. And you never regretted this? No. I went on to live my life and eventually marry my first husband, which sounds terrible, you had another one, and he was not father material. And I seem to do ok without having children. So no. That’s it.
Thank you.