I was 18 years old in New York City - a freshman at Columbia. I had worked hard to get there. I was a striver. I was a good girl. I graduated high school a virgin, but I was looking to change that status.

I met a guy over Thanksgiving weekend when we were both stranded at school. He became my boyfriend. We always used condoms. There was no way I was going to be cavalier about getting pregnant. And yet, that's what happened.

My period was super regular, so when I missed it, I immediately went to get a pregnancy test. In fact, I was so early to the test that I had to wait ten days before I could get an abortion. I detected it TOO SOON.

I felt ashamed that I let this happen. It was so strange that I was in this position. I knew a lot of friends who were so careless about birth control and who never had a pregnancy. (Or, maybe they did.) For decades, I never told anyone other than my best friend at the time, my brother, and of course, my boyfriend at the time.

Only in the past ten years did I realize that I have nothing to be ashamed of. I told my children (my husband has known about it), I've told friends. I want to tell people because I am not the stereotype of a person who gets an abortion. And that's just it: There is no stereotype. We all get abortions - regardless of class, ethnicity, economic status, race, or education.

Had I not had access to the abortion, I would be tied to that boyfriend (not a great boyfriend) for the rest of my life. I haven't seen him since graduation - we were not meant to be involved for the rest of our lives. This gave us both freedom.