June 24, 2026 · Four Years After Dobbs
What did access to reproductive choices give you the freedom to build?
139 Voices and Counting
You—or someone you love—has benefited from contraception, sex education, maternal care, assisted reproduction, miscarriage care or abortion. This isn't a privilege we ask permission for.
Our lives depend on this right. It's a right millions of us exercise every day—legal or not, restricted or not, named or not.
We are the majority. We're going on the record.
Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to:
Having access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to get an education, develop professional skills and a business, and have a full and happy adult life. I got pregnant when my birth control failed in my early 20’s. I had just finished college, had no work experience, and no career goals. I was very lost, and single. I had a legal abortion and went on to get a Master’s degree and a PhD. I went on to create my own business as an Organization Development Consultant (specializing in DEI), and an executive leadership coach. I helped a lot of people and organizations realize their potential. And I realized my own potential. I am grateful that safe and legal abortion was available to me when I needed it.
I had severe endometriosis and as a consequence, zero fertility. So my attitude toward reproductive care and choices is a bit different. Birth control as a medication gave me the ability to live without great pain and to manage what were unmanageable periods. Sometimes the quality of birth control as a medication is overlooked. But for me, it made an incredible difference in the way I could live my life and the choices I could make. We should always without reservation or hesitation have that option. Full stop.
Access to abortion gave me the freedom to continue pursuing a bachelor’s degree and experiencing young adulthood in D.C. and being on birth control gives me the peace of mind to focus on my education and building a career.
My whole life. Because of access to birth control I could get married at 23 and have my first baby at 30. I could attend graduate school and get my PhD. When the condom broke early in our marriage, I could go to the pharmacy and get plan B (even though the pharmacist I’d known my whole life, in CA, wouldn’t serve me). When I had an incomplete miscarriage between babies (living in Texas), I was able to have an abortion instead of waiting to go septic. Every step of my journey has been supported by reproductive justice, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Make my own choices about my life Continue my education Support other women Feel empowered! Decide when I wanted to have children As a note, before Roe I took a friend for an illegal abortion with the help of Planned Parenthood. I still remember every part of that day and was grateful for the assistance, but also fearful. Now I feel devastated for the women in our country.
To recover from a “missed miscarriage” in the first trimester of my first pregnancy. I wanted a baby. I was ready to devote myself to motherhood. My husband and I were choosing baby names. We were reading baby books. We were making shopping lists for all the baby things. Twelve weeks into the pregnancy, during a routine check-up at the gynecologist, I learned the devastating news that there was no fetal heartbeat. As I sat there sobbing, the doctor recommended D&C to clear my uterus and prevent infection. To put this unhappiness behind me. This happened in Texas, in 1998. It was easy. It was safe. After the procedure, I cried in the recovery room. The nurse told me to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth to calm down. I breathed. I cried for many days. I cried unexpectedly at odd moments, suffering the loss of what could’ve been. But because I had proper miscarriage care, I kept breathing. I kept going. And because that care protected my life and my reproductive health, my husband and I were able to try again to have children. A year after the missed miscarriage, we welcomed our son into this world. Two and a half years after that, our daughter was born. They are here and we are a family because the law at that time allowed medical professionals to give me the care that I needed. When I read about women in Texas and other states, who bleed out in parking lots, who die from sepsis, who cannot receive proper miscarriage care, my heart breaks for them and their families, for their could’ve-beens, for all the should’ve beens that will never be.
As a 35-year-old Hispanic woman, I have built a life for myself. Just like any man would. I left home (Puerto Rico) at eighteen to go study at Syracuse University. Even studied abroad in London and Semester at Sea for two semesters, things I wouldn’t have been able to do without access to reproductive healthcare. After graduating, I got a job at a disability law firm and continued my career in human rights. After years of heavy periods (that I thought were normal), my OBGYN told me that I was very anemic. For a few years, I needed blood transfusions to help improve my health. Finally in 2014, I was recommended by my OBGYN to get an IUD. Not only did the IUD help me with my heavy periods, but it also helped me continue shaping my future. I moved cities for a better paying job and continued my career in human rights. If I had gotten pregnant, I would have had to leave a job I love to make more money to take care of a child. Having an IUD gave me freedom and a chance to make decisions that would ultimately make me happy like traveling the world, continuing my education and build a future for myself.
Reproductive choice gave me the freedom to not worry about getting pregnant when I didn’t want to be pregnant.
Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to live the life my biological parents could only dream of. I’m one of the 160,000 Chinese girls adopted due to the One Child Policy. I like to think that my origin story has impacted my views on reproductive choice even more than my experiences growing up in the United States, because from a young age I understood the sacrifices it takes to engage in choice. While my biological parents chose to give me a chance at life, I have made the conscious choice not to have children. There could be a time when it makes sense for me, but because of contraception and sex education, I get to make that choice. I am currently pursuing a PhD, and I know if I had gotten pregnant at any point in my life (and decided to have kids), I probably would not be on the path I am on today. Reproductive choice and my right to choose what is best for me have given me the freedom to pursue a career that I love and a field of study that I am passionate about.
To enjoy and explore my precious and sacred sexual life as a young woman with birth control, without fear or hindrance. And then to choose to have children after I got a job and a stable home, and then during menopause, to get treatment for ending a problematic menstrual condition. All freedom of choice and medical care, thank God!
Allowed me (a single mother with no child support) the chance to compete for a management position. I got the job and got the security I needed.
Wait until I felt emotionally and financially ready to try to get pregnant. For me, that was in my early 30s.
Allowed us to plan our work and family as we chose to as we were newly wed although we had dated for two years before marrying.
Space the births of my children and to limit my children to two, which I conider part of preserving our Earth.
Allowed me to feel women’s voices were finally being heard. My body my choice. Now we are back to the 50s & 60s. When women had no rights
Get an education and have a rewarding career. I got on the pill in college in the 80s and was able to get a bachelor’s and master’s degree and have a rewarding career. My husband also did not want children. We were able to build our dream house in the country and retire early.
Access to contraception and reproductive healthcare for sexually transmitted diseases through Planned Parenthood helped me continue my college education in the early 1980’s. The college health center did not provide any services. I was able to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, eventually practicing as a pharmacist. I wanted a career! My boyfriend at the time (current husband) and I had decided we never wanted our own children. Years later I stopped my birth control pills and promptly became pregnant. I was able to receive abortion services to terminate my pregnancy without a waiting period. I have been together with my husband for 45 years. I have worked my career as a pharmacist for 40 years. The life I’ve built is the life I wanted to build! Reproductive healthcare was necessary!
Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to realize I was in an abusive relationship. Freedom to leave the abusive relationship without lifelong ties to my abuser. Freedom to heal myself so I can be a more dependable, productive member of society. Freedom to make space in my life for a healthy family.
Reproductive care allowed me to continue to live my own life when an ectopic pregnancy almost cut it short. I have never felt so physically ill and unable to function independently as I did during this medical crisis. I am so grateful to the professionals who saved my life and did so without the added stress and guilt. It is a special kind of evil that forces a woman to question herself when her life is on the line.
Allowed me to plan my pregnancies (both when and how many) when I was ready for them.
Choose if I wanted to become a biological mother.
Decide my own fate, as opposed to my mothers, who told me when I was 10 years old that “if it weren’t for you kids I would have had a life.”
I have chosen not to become a mother despite family pressure. I am grateful that the healthcare system respects my right to make that choice while protecting my health. I have the freedom to imagine and live my own femininity outside of the gaze of motherhood. What a joy to celebrate all the ways of being a woman!
Visit Planned Parenthood to ask questions in a confidential setting, which, in turn, helped me make wise decisions on birth control as I pursued education and starting my career. The life I built enabled me to serve others as a pastor for over 40 years.
Focus my energy on my toddler, 2 teenagers and my husband, and have a successful teaching and research career, which contributed to our country through the taxes I paid and the lives I influenced.
I was in my late twenties and had a boyfriend I’d been seeing for a couple of years. He was great in the beginning but soon became aloof and dismissive. We were engaged to be married at one point, but he never even wanted to talk about making plans to go through with it. He had a party at his house one night with some of his friends. I believe they roofied me (with his permission, I’m sure.) I was using an IUD so I thought I couldn’t possibly get pregnant. But guess what? I knew, deep down, that our relationship was not a “keeper”. I knew he would not be there for me, or a child. I knew because I saw his poor relationship with my son from a previous marriage. He even tried to choke me once so I knew I could not be tied to him for the rest of my life. I decided to have an abortion. He gave me $30 to help with the cost (although he claimed it was $300.) We continued to see each other for a few years after that until I got fed up and told him to “crap or get off the pot”. He vacillated but I pushed him off anyway. Best decision I ever made! Should have done it a lot sooner. I have now been married to my wife for 16 years, although we have been together for 33. We have built a wonderful life together and have a beautiful 11-year-old granddaughter. If I had not had abortion available to me back then, I would have married, and probably divorced, this man. Having an abortion was not an easy decision but it was the best one for me.
Avoid getting stuck making questionable life choices with some bozo who turned out to be a big phony.
Remain child-free by choice, attain my educational goals, and live my life on my own terms.
End a marriage gone sour. The pregnancy was due to failed birth control after my IUD had to be removed. Had I had a second child, I would never have had the courage to sue for divorce, even though I had married right out of college and never had to support myself. Instead, a link to a volunteer position got me hired to my first job, and when that ended 10 years later, I had a resume that impressed the management at the second job I applied to, which hired me and where I worked until I retired 15 years later. Another wonderful benefit: my daughter and I have an excellent relationship, and after I retired, she and I bought a house together, a house that has 2 independent living spaces. At 82, I am able to continue to live on my own, but she lives downstairs and can help me as needed, which was especially important following my 2 heart attacks. And right now, when she’s dealing with a health issue, I can help her!
Continue my education that ultimately led me to my career in Public Health Nursing where I counseled young women about reproductive options and educational goals for THEIR future. I made my choices in fourth grade and luckily had the advantage of reproductive choices that let me persue my goals. Contraception is a RIGHT!
Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to make decisions about my own future, my health, and my family on my own terms. It allowed me to pursue my goals, plan for the life I wanted, and ensure that any decision about parenthood was made with readiness, love, and stability. Having that choice meant having control over my body and the opportunity to build the future that was right for me.
I simply support the cause
live the life I wanted.
Having reproductive choices gave me the right to decide not to have children. It comes down to every womans’ right to choose how they want to live their life. I’m still floored that the Supreme Court took this right away from the women in this country that I had the privilege to have. They are a disgrace. I am hoping that one day we can reverse their decision for all the women in the future.
Limit my children to the two that I had, finish college and graduate school and go onto help others as a psychotherapist.
After suffering through multiple unexplained miscarriages, we were given an alternative path to starting a family through IVF!
Congratulate Women Worldwide for achieving the freedom they ALL Deserve
I had the freedom to decide when to marry, when to have children, and how many to have. I wanted children when I married young, but not immediately. The timing was mine. I was lucky that Roe v. Wade passed just as I turned 18 yrs. old, so it has always been a part of my life. I felt the power of choice. I spaced my children to fit in with family finances and time. I don’t even want to imagine what my life would’ve been like without the passage of Roe v. Wade. I feel so badly for those having to live through this time without the power of Roe v. Wade.
Create a beautiful family on my own terms. I became a single mother by choice at the ages of 44 and 46 through the miracle of IVF.
The freedom to make my own reproductive healthcare decisions gave me the opportunity to build a career, raise my family, and plan my life according to my own values.
I always thought I wanted a third child. After years of trying it didn’t happen. And then one day it did, after I’d chosen a very different life for myself. Because I had the right to choose, I wasn’t forced to go back to a life I didn’t want because of a child. No child deserves to be raised under those circumstances.
It gave me the freedom to decide when to have my two children.
My body, my choice. That should never be up for debate and it should never be up to the government. Period. Having access to reproductive rights gave me the freedom to be an entrepreneur. I had the ability to build two companies on my own terms and choosing when to start a family, and when to start a business, without anyone else dictating the order. I didn’t wait to have kids because I had to. I waited because I wanted to. After I got married, I chose to focus on building my career and growing as partners with my husband before adding kids into the mix. That wasn’t a compromise but rather a choice I got to make because I had control over my own body and my own timeline. Choice isn’t static. What I wanted at 25 wasn’t what I wanted at 30, and what I want now isn’t what I’ll want in ten years. That’s exactly why this MUST stay a choice because only the person living in that body knows what’s right for them, and when. Nobody else gets to make that call. Not for me, not for anyone. That’s what reproductive freedom gave me: not just the ability to become a mother, but the freedom to build on my own terms, in my own time. I built my life in the way I wanted. Every person deserves that same right.
Access to reproductive choices gave me the freedom to decide when I wanted to start a family and become a parent. It enabled me to pursue my career and invest in my future. It allowed me to build the financial security I needed to raise kids and provide for my family. Most importantly it gave me the freedom to plan my life instead having it planned for me.
Pursue my education first. I graduated from college, got credentialed to be a teacher, and even earned my Master’s. When I was ready to be a mom, I unfortunately miscarried, but I was able to avoid an invasive D&C by taking the pills that would cause a medical abortion. This was necessary because although it was evident there was no life in my uterus, it hadn’t come out naturally yet. By staying on top of my body’s needs, I was later able to have a healthy baby girl without further complications. I am so lucky to have had medical care and access without guilt, recriminations, or denials of service. I took it for granted, but after the fact, I recognize that this was potentially life-saving care for me as an autonomous individual. I love being a mother to my daughter, and access to this type of care and the freedom to make my own reproductive choices helped me get to this point.
The safety to conceive and birth my children when I was ready for that responsibility. The confidence to know that I had control over my body and the decisions made about my body.
complete college, grad school, law school. and remain single and child-free. over 40 years doing dog rescue and foster care of dogs. and much authorship of information on dog training, dog behavior problem solving, general dog care. also a lot of humorous song lyrics and verses. financial independence. control of my own life.
I was the first in my family to go to college. I worked 30-36 hours per week while taking a full load of classes each semester. I took the birth control pill like my life depended on it…because it did. The life I was working so hard to build included earning my bachelor’s degree, having a career doing something I enjoyed and cared about, and earning enough money to support myself and help others. That all hinged on me being able to put all my energy into what I was doing. I’m proud to say that I earned two bachelor’s degrees, have had a 30-year career doing work that I’m passionate about, bought my own home, started a business, served on city council, and, when the time was right, raised two wonderful children. Being able to decide when to have my children has enabled me to fulfill the dreams I had for my life. Every woman deserves that opportunity.
Avoid having my life defined by the rapist who got me pregnant. Because I had the freedom to choose, I continued my graduate studies, became a college professor, and had a child later in life with the man I love.
The life I built was child-free. With boyfriends and cats, lol! My mother asked me why I chose not to have children and I told her: mine was the first generation to have a choice. I didn’t think I would make a good mother because I wasn’t interested in staying home. Instead I was a late applicant to medical school who became the kind of physician who would listen to women. A best friend had died at 32 from her delayed diagnosis of breast cancer. Physicians were almost all men then, and hers was paternal in the worst sense. He ignored and then down-played the growing lump she found, treating her anxiety about the lump instead because she was “too young” to have breast cancer. I took every patient complaint seriously, whether from a male or a female patient, saving and improving many lives during my career.
I was able to leave a terrible college relationship, work on a presidential campaign, establish a career in public health, serve on municipal commissions, travel to 6 new countries, finish a degree, apply to graduate school, and more. Reproductive freedom is essential to women’s liberation and status as full citizens.
Live and live on my own terms!
To support myself as a single, child free adult. I knew I could get Healthcare to maintain that status. Birth control, or abortion if that failed. It is infuriating that the current Administration is taking us backwards.
Relax about the fear of pregnancy. In the 50’s, my roommate got pregnant and did not wish to marry the father. Her parents tried to force her into the Florence Crittendon Home. At 19, she resisted and managed her pregnancy and the adoption of the baby on her own. Around 1970, before Roe, I was living in New York, where abortion was legal. Another pregnant friend came from Colorado to stay with me for a few days to get an abortion. BTW, in the 1950’s it was illegal for a doctor to provide contraception to an unmarried woman. We all shared a wedding ring to get around that prohibition. Lack of access to safe, affordable abortion and even contraception screwed up the lives of many young women I knew.
I was able to contribute to my community by working and volunteering in addition to raising a family.
Allowed us to plan our work and family as we chose to as we were newly wed although we had dated for two years before marrying.
Our lives depend on this right.
Tell us what you built.
Published in Ms. · Be Part of the Record