In the 1990s

Where do I start? I was quite young when I began being sexually active, from a single-parent family and left to run wild.

This wasn’t all a negative experience; my unmonitored freedom as a young woman came with shocks and hard lessons.

I was not prepared for men. Not having a father and mother was very busy/near exhaustion. I was fully experimenting with alcohol, drugs, and sex. There are great experiences in this, but some are completely dark. At 15, I was living with a boyfriend who forced himself on me frequently, but I really thought that was normal.

I had attempted to get birth control pills, but a local doctor denied me multiple times, calling me too young.

My older sister tried to help, she was 18 and just had a baby. All the women in my family had children in their teen years. This wasn’t abnormal to me, it seemed expected.

Many of my friends also had kids during their teen years. I became pregnant at 15 and ended up seeing 3 doctors before one would connect me to abortion care.

I had to convince friends and other friends who were teens to skip school to take me to Calgary. I never talk about it, but I always remember I was too young, my boyfriend wasn’t great, and it would have kept me living in poverty.

I’m not from wealth and likely child support wouldn’t have happened. I would have had to leave school.

Due to the ability to have an abortion and access to birth control. I was able to do other things with my life.

I am very successful in my chosen field and have learned how to keep myself safe, though it wasn’t shown to me as a young woman. I hope access is easier these days, but I don’t believe it is.

I'm glad I was able to avoid a life I didn’t want. I didn’t want to leave school, and my family understood, but we haven’t spoken about it since.

- Nell Bird