I had an abortion using 'sick time' at work. These days, I worry others won't have the same privacy
[email protected] (Julie Peck)
It was just a little sinus surgery to help with my bad seasonal allergies. It would be outpatient, but I'd be getting it done out of town and staying with friends so they could take care of me.
That was the lie I told my boss when I took a couple of days off to have an abortion. It's a lie I chose to tell him. Now looking back, with more than 25 years of hindsight, I'm sure it was a case of nerves that compelled me to make up such a detailed story when I could have simply asked for a few vacation days. But at least I had a choice: a choice about what to tell or not to tell my employer. A choice to have the procedure done in the state where I lived or to go elsewhere for care. A choice about whether I could have the procedure done at all.
Privacy surrounding healthcare decisions in the workplace, among many other things, took a giant leap backward when Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24.
To say that it was a crisis would be a vast understatement. I was in my mid 20s, and while I may have appeared to be a "together" career woman, nothing could have been further from the truth. The pregnancy occurred amidst a difficult situation, and considering all of the economic, psychological, and interpersonal factors involved, I agonized over what to do. In the end, the deciding factor was that my life was the very definition of chaos, and I could not bring another human being into the whirlwind.
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