I was sexually assaulted by several young men when I was 12. It is unfathomable to consider how a forced pregnancy would have further altered the trajectory of her life. She is still dealing with the repercussions of that trauma. It was the early 1970s.Ī pregnancy would have, in Debbie’s words, ruined her life. Her mother took Debbie to a doctor, who said that because of her scar tissue, she was sexually active and must have a boyfriend. Her stepfather often threatened to kill her younger brother and her mother if Debbie told anyone, so when the fear of pregnancy became too consuming, she told her mother she was assaulted at school. She had no one to talk to and nowhere to turn. The abuse went on for years, and as Debbie got older, she was constantly terrified that she was pregnant. My wife’s stepfather began raping her when she was 11 years old.
