Jersey Shore Women’s Center, founded and directed by Tricia Bradberry, provides support to all women and their families in a loving environment, connecting them to the resources and services they need. Through all stages of life, we walk alongside women providing education and promoting strong, healthy families. Since 2021, our center has served hundreds of women with our high-touch approach that in-cludes ultrasounds, baby showers, parenting classes, adoption information, coun-seling, and outreach to women.

The following is the transcript of a video, Rebecca’s Story—“I Can’t Believe this is My Story,” which can be viewed on the Friends of JSWC YouTube Channel, @ FriendsofJSWC. For more information, go to jerseyshorewomenscenter.org.

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I still can’t believe this is my story. I had a normal, happy childhood and I was definitely a daddy’s girl. My father was such a strong man and he taught me to be a strong woman. But when I was away in college, my father passed away suddenly and I had a very hard time grieving. At first I started using Adderall to help focus on school, but soon I was abusing Adderall.

Eventually, I found myself in the drug scene. It still doesn’t seem real, but I ended up addicted to meth. I dropped out of school, moved home, but I fell into the drug scene there as well. Then I found out I was pregnant. I knew right away I wanted an abortion. This time in my life . . . . the drugs . . . that was all just supposed to be a temporary escape.

I thought eventually I’d go back to my normal life, and I thought a baby would be like an anchor in this other life that wasn’t really mine. So I scheduled an abortion. But truthfully, I was afraid of the procedure. Of course, my drug use was a cloud over all of my decisions at this time, but really my hesitation was about my own fear.

I kept scheduling abortions and I kept canceling them. Finally, I was 35 weeks along when I started researching late term abortions. I found a place in Washington, D.C. that would take me. Those procedures are very expensive, but the clinic connected me with funding from the National Abortion Federation. They emailed me a packet with all the information I would need; they set me up with travel in a hotel . . . in all, the National Abortion Federation put up $10,000 for my abortion.

Nothing about any of this felt real to me until I was sitting on that table in the clinic, and they told me that they just needed to use a needle to stop the fetal heartbeat. For the first time, it wasn’t just about my own fear. I was finally faced with the reality of my situation. I told them, “I don’t think I can do it. Can I think about it? Can I come back tomorrow?” Their reaction was strong and cold. They said something like, “I don’t think we’re open tomorrow.” I think they know once you end up leaving that table, you probably aren’t going to come back.

I left. I went back to the hotel. I called my mom. Somehow there were women who showed up to drive me back home. I found out later that my mom had called Jersey Shore Women’s Center and talked to Tricia. She was the one who found people to come get me. The women brought me directly to Jersey Shore Women’s Center, where I met Tricia.

In the beginning, my addiction was so bad that I wasn’t able to have custody of my daughter. Tricia had offered to get me into a rehab program right away while I was still pregnant, but I had turned her down. When I wanted to start working toward custody, Tricia got me into another program, but I left early. Throughout this time, my mom was bringing my daughter to the Women’s Center so they could support her, and Tricia was texting me every day asking me if I was okay. She cared about me.

In the chaos of addiction, I became homeless. All I can say is that eventually I was walking through Atlantic City alone, without even a proper pair of shoes. Desperate, I called Tricia from some random person’s phone. She Ubered me into the Jersey Shore Women’s Center immediately. Even after I turned her down when I was pregnant, even after I left the first rehab, she was there for me, even for a third time. She was there to help the minute I was ready to ask. When I was finally ready to get sober, Tricia got me into a program, and I want to be clear: I ended up going to rehab because I had something to live for.

I wanted to have an abortion because I thought having a baby would tie me to this other life, this life on drugs. But it was having my daughter that actually pulled me out of it. Jersey Shore Women’s Center didn’t just save my daughter’s life, they saved mine.

Interested in lending a hand? The center would be most grateful. Donations can be made at https://friendsofjswc.org/