Emily Aaron

I am from the US and go to school there. My friends and family are there.
I found out i was pregnant on a traveling study abroad program. at the time i took the home preganacy test, we were about to leave Poland and Travel to the Czech Republic. I talked it over with the director of the program and some friends and agreed that I would get an abortion once we arrived in the Czech Republic.
When we arrived, we found out that is is illegal for foreigners to get abortions in the Czech Republic if they cannot prove permanent residency. However, there is a loophole in the law that says doctors can overule this if the proceedure is deemed medically nessecary. It then took 3 days to convince a number of doctors that this was the case for me. At the beginning of this process I had an ultrasound done and found out i was 11 weeks pregnant and had to have the abortion done by the end of the week as abortions done after the 12th week are illegal. It was tuesday when i had the ultrasound done.
On wednesday they informed me that i had recieved permission and they would schedule the proceedure for Friday morning.
I went in Friday morning and had to wait until about 12:30 in the afternoon at which point they put me to sleep and did the abortion. I woke up about an hour later with some pain and bleeding, but feeling generally alright.I went home a couple hours later.
At the doctor's recomendation i ended up having to stay in Prague an extra week while the rest of the group moved on to Berlin.

Keep in mind that I do not speak Czech and not everyone at the hospital spoke english. I spent a total of 4 days at the hospital visiting with doctors and having tests done and then finally having the abortion. the first two days someone who spoke czech came with me to translate. I cannot describe the feelings of panic and helplessness that result from listening to doctors and nurses and the translator talk about you in a language you cannot understand.The language barrier added a whole new dimension to my already fragile emotional state.
The total cost was about 400 US Dollars.

Throughout my recovery week i had no pain and very little bleeding.
Two weeks after the abortion I had a check-up with a gyno in Berlin. She said my uterus looked good.

A month later I am still traveling with the program. We are in the Netherlands currently and are then moving on to London.

I do no regret this decision at all.

Before the abortion i felt trapped and confused and afraid. I felt that if i were not allowed to have this proceedure I would have to take matters into my own hands.

After it was over, i knew I made the right decision. I was just so relieved that everything i went through prior to the proceedure was worth it.