Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) is opening up about her experience of getting an abortion amid backlash over the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade, saying she was “never sorry” about her choices.
In a piece published by Elle magazine on Monday, Moore said that she went through the procedure after getting pregnant for the second time at 19 years old, citing financial struggles such as unemployment and her occupational preparedness to handle another pregnancy.
Moore had given birth to her first child when she was a senior in high school.
“This was pre-Roe, and by that point, I’d heard of women who had botched, self-induced abortions. I was two degrees of separation away from people who had died from abortions,” Moore said. “So I knew I wanted a safe procedure. I didn’t know how I was going to get it, but once I found out I was pregnant, I was on top of it day and night until I was able to secure help.”
Moore, a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor, also said that with help from her college connections, she was able to contact an abortion care fund through her doctor, saying that the trip to her procedure in New York was a “surreal” experience.
“The whole trip was surreal. I don’t have any memories of eating anything, drinking anything; I don’t remember a lot of details, except that I was on a mission. And the most important memory I have is that I had a safe abortion,” Moore told the magazine. “There were no complications, no problems, no difficulties. I never looked back, and I was never sorry.”
“I never felt like I did something that was inappropriate for me or my family or my situation,” she concluded. “I was very, very grateful.”
Moore joins a list of prominent figures who have shared their personal experiences with abortion as the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the constitutional right to the procedure.
“The leaked draft opinion argued that abortion is not an enumerated right,” Moore said. “So if this becomes the Court’s official decision, unless there’s an enumerated right in the Constitution, don’t count on it. That means birth control. That’s marrying outside your race or religion. That’s same sex marriage. If you don’t fight for abortion, your rights are on the chopping block next.”