The wife of Nevada’s leading Republican U.S. Senate candidate is talking about her abortion to encourage women to consider other options such as adoption.

“When I made my choice, I was under the impression that I was choosing freedom,” Amy Brown, 40, told NBC News last month. “But I did not receive freedom. I received a five-year sentence of living with regret and shame and having my life wrecked.”

Brown was 24 years old, unmarried, and using contraceptives when she found out a month before graduating that she was unexpectedly pregnant. At the time, she was interning for the Army in San Antonio, Texas, with hopes of becoming a full-time dietitian. Five and 1/2 weeks later, she decided to abort her unborn child.

“I just felt this immense amount of pressure that I had to do it,” she said, recalling that she had no one to talk to. “I felt all alone. I felt really overwhelmed, and I also felt a lot of shame.”

Brown’s husband, Sam, whom she met in the Army right after her abortion, is poised to take on incumbent Democrat Jacky Rosen this fall. Abortion has been a wedge issue for Nevada Democrats in recent state-wide elections.

Sam has been a successful businessman and previously served as chairman of the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition’s executive board. Despite his wife’s traumatic experience with abortion — and describing himself as “pro-life” — he opposes a federal abortion ban of any kind.

“I respect the law that the voters put in place over 30 years ago [in Nevada] that grants access for women up to 24 weeks,” he has said, referring to a 1990 referendum that was passed in the state.

Amy and Sam spoke to NBC for nearly 80 minutes. She explained that she wanted to go public with her story so other women don’t have to go through what she did.

“I’m sharing my story today so that I can provide awareness for what it’s like to live in my shoes, for women who have chosen to have abortions. And also just to provide awareness to women … that they can take a break, they can take a minute, they can process and hopefully know that they have options,” she said.

“I got to a very dark place and I remember being in my room and crying out: ‘God help me,’” she further revealed. “My healing process was a long one … but part of that healing came from hearing the stories from other women.”

Amy advised people who are fighting for the unborn not to forget about the mothers of those children.

“I feel like we’ve boiled the pro-life movement down to legislation and policy, and I feel like it should really be so much more,” she said. “It should be building awareness, building advocacy, and increasing support for women before, during, and after pregnancy. And that’s really what my focus is on.”