Editor:

I should hope that the Chronicle has been flooded with letters responding to Tyler Gasser’s Jan. 24 testimony of his beliefs about abortion, “Reflections on Roe v. Wade.” Please let me add my unique insight on the subject.

I was a pretty typical 18-year-old, careless and nave. I underestimated the consequences of having unprotected sex with my boyfriend, and I soon found that I was pregnant. After agonizing consideration of my options, I chose to place my baby for adoption. I made this choice not because I was morally opposed to abortion, but because it seemed at the time the responsible decision. I had already graduated from high school, and not yet begun college. I had an incredible network of family and friends who supported my decision. I was given every tool to make my decision in a healthy and thoughtful way. Today my son is 7 years old, and I exchange pictures, letters and email with his parents. We even get together occasionally, and my son is always excited to tell anyone about his “birthmom.” It is an incredible role that I cherish.

Although there have been unbelievable benefits to the decision I made, that does not negate the fact that it was the hardest decision I have made. I can’t even express in words the feeling I had that day when I signed a one-page legal document and left my baby behind me. Anyone who has had a child will tell you they can’t even imagine. Because of that, I would never tell a woman in the same situation what to do. I resent anyone who does.

Since my son was born, I have been a volunteer speaker on pregnancy choice at high schools, women’s shelters and pregnancy counseling services. The lesson that I find most important is this: adoption is a wonderful option. There are also other options.

I have met women in shelters, women in abusive relationships, girls whose parents disowned them, women who are handicapped, have been raped or are simply terrified of the decision that they face–an unexpected pregnancy. I have learned that my situation was privileged. Who do you suppose will support these women emotionally and financially through a pregnancy and a delivery?

Yes, it would be an ideal world if all of these women, including myself, had made the decision not to get pregnant. The fact is that two people make a careless decision, but only one has to face the consequences.

Therefore, I believe that until we can instill a solid self-esteem and a value system in all of our children, until we can openly teach them about the physical and emotional complexities of sex, until we can provide honest and thorough information about abstinence and contraception choices, until women stop being raped, and until men have to face the consequences of their actions in the same way women do, women deserve a choice.

Jessica Done

Junior, Political Science and English