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“Is that your real name?”
“My real name?”
The nurse looked at me impatiently. “A lot of women try to be anonymous. Just know, we are going to need to see an ID.”
“It’s my real name,” I replied.
She nodded. “OK, Chet here is going to take you to do a few tests. It shouldn’t take long. Dr. Collins will see you after that to give you all the details.”
The tests did take a while, and I spent two hours waiting for anyone to see me before I started losing patience.
“Martha Auden.”
I raised my hand, and the nurse escorted me to an examination room. I sat there, staring at the walls decorated with pictures of bodily systems and advertisements for drugs. When the door opened, and a burly doctor with white hair stepped in, I was in the middle of reading all about the benefits of Ibuprofen.
“Miss Auden,” the doctor greeted me, shaking my hand. “My name is Dr. Collins. How are we feeling?”
“Pregnant,” I replied.
He smiled at that and took a quick look over the chart. “I have a bit of bad news, unfortunately.”
“Worse than this?”
He nodded. “Your tests came back, and quite honestly, you’re not in a very healthy position to have this abortion.”
“Excuse me?”
“For starters, you’re severely anemic, and your platelet count is low as well. If you get an abortion now, you’re looking at some very serious health issues, hospitalization, or worse. I would highly advise against this.”
“Well, can’t we fix what’s wrong, and I can come back?”
“Miss Auden, you’re already six weeks pregnant, and –”
“What?” I cut in. “I only found out a few days ago. How am I six weeks pregnant?”
“It doesn’t always show early on, and symptoms can come late,” Dr. Collins replied, and I could see he was already feeling sorry for me. “Fixing your blood count and all that will take a while, and it’s going to have to be done anyway for the baby’s sake, but by the time you’d be ready for an abortion, you would have crossed the legal timeframe for an abortion.”
“So you’re saying I’m stuck with this baby?”
Dr. Collins tucked the chart under his arm and gave me a small smile that I’m sure was meant to reassure me, but it only pissed me off more. “This isn’t my place, so I can’t really reply to that. However, my best advice would be to seek professional help with it. You’re eighteen, and being pregnant at your age is not the end of the world and honestly isn’t as taboo as you’d think.”
“Try telling that to my parents.”
“They might surprise you,” Dr. Collins replied. “In this day and age, we need family more than anything, and your parents might just embrace this.”
They didn’t, of course.
When I broke the news to them that night over dinner, my father’s face had gone so pale I thought I had given him a heart attack. He just sat there, completely silent. My mother, on the other hand, had a hell of a lot to say.
“You’re what?” she screamed. I could almost hear glass breaking.
“I’m pregnant,” I repeated.
“How the hell are you pregnant?” she yelled. “What are you, stupid? I thought you were on birth control!”
I frowned. “How did you get that idea?”
“I assumed that a smart girl like you wouldn’t be that daft!” She looked at my father, but he was still staring into space. “Was it Louis? I knew that boy was bad news!”
