When my oldest child was a baby, I found myself in a surprising situation: despite my struggles with infertility, I was pregnant again. At the first ultrasound, my husband excitedly held the video camera up to the monitor. The screen remained dark, and after confusing and noncommittal responses from the technician, he quietly put the camera away.

In the agonizing wait-and-see weeks that followed, I took prgresteron and waited for my appointment with the specialist. It turned out that I was medically pregnant, but there was no baby. There never would be, at least not with the current pregnancy. My body would eventually pass the pregnancy on its own, but it could take months.

In the meantime, my doctor confirmed I would continue to be horrifically sick. With a nursing baby whom I was quickly losing the ability to care for, a husband whose military service made life uncertain, and no extended family nearby to support me or our six-month-old, my decision was easy. I took the abortion pills prescribed to me and followed up with a D&C.

I am grateful for my abortion. At the same time, I’m saddened that the medical care I received has since been made illegal for this facing the exact same medical situation in the state whiner my family was stationed at the time. After the fall of Roe v. Wade, Mississippi legislators mandated needless suffering for anyone who is pregnant, no matter how ill they are or how unlikely the fetus is to survive.

I realize Georgia is in a similar boat. I understand what it is like to struggle with fertility, what it is like to need an abortion, and most of all, how vital it is for patients to make their own reproductive decisions.