Jayapal opens up about her own abortion in NY Times op-ed

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) opened up about her own abortion in a column for The New York Times.

In the Thursday op-ed, Jayapal describes her first pregnancy and how her child Janak was born weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces and faced complications due to undeveloped organs.

{mosads}Jayapal describes becoming pregnant again years later and knowing she faced potential major health complications, both for herself from another emergency cesarean section and for another potentially premature child.

“I decided I could not responsibly have the baby. It was a heartbreaking decision, but it was the only one I was capable of making,” Jayapal writes.

Jayapal describes the doctor who performed the procedure as “extremely skilled, thoughtful, kind and compassionate” and keenly aware of what a woman making such a decision went through.

Jayapal writes in the column that she has never before discussed the experience and acknowledges the existence of women with stories “far more traumatic than mine” such as rape victims, as well as stories that do not involve any trauma.

“For me, terminating my pregnancy was not an easy choice, but it was my choice,” she writes. “That is the single thing that has allowed me to live with the consequences of my decisions. And that is what must be preserved, for every pregnant person.”

The column comes as several states, including Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana and Alabama, have passed restrictive abortion laws.

Several women, including late-night host Busy Philipps and actress Jameela Jamil, have similarly come forward about their own abortions in an effort to personalize the issue.