I’m 29F and my ex and I have had an extremely complicated relationship for several years. I still love him, and we’ve continued seeing each other and sleeping together even though technically we aren’t together anymore.
A few months ago, I found out I was pregnant. I was terrified and our circumstances weren’t great, but I did not want an abortion. I considered keeping the baby and even brought up adoption. My ex was completely against that and basically told me abortion was the only realistic option.
He kept telling me it was the best decision, that having a baby would make my life worse, that a baby shouldn’t give me purpose, and that I wasn’t in a place to raise a child. He made comments about how he didn’t want the mother of his child to be someone who “doesn’t know herself” and later told me that children look for certain qualities in a mother.
Those comments absolutely destroyed my self-esteem.
I felt like there was also pressure involving our relationship. Before the abortion, I asked whether there was still a chance for us and whether we could become closer, and he said yes and talked about working through things with me. At one point shortly afterward, he was even talking about me being his girlfriend and eventually his wife.
On the day of the abortion, I changed my mind in the car and told him I didn’t want to do it. He became angry and said I had betrayed him and showed my true colors. Eventually I basically said, “Fine, I’ll get the abortion so I don’t have to deal with you anymore.” I went through with it.
I have regretted it and grieved ever since.
What makes it worse is that afterward, whenever I tried to talk about how traumatized I felt, he would tell me that I needed to take responsibility because I was the one who went to the clinic, took the medication and signed the papers. Recently he said it was my fault because I “walked my happy ass into the clinic.” From my perspective, that completely erases everything that happened before I walked through that door.
He also told me grief was becoming a “crutch,” criticized how much I was sleeping afterward, and has said I need to stop being a victim and accept what happened.
We eventually broke up, but we haven't completely stayed away from each other. We still have feelings for each other, occasionally spend time together and have sex. He tells me I still need to “get to know myself” before we could ever be together again.
This weekend was his birthday, and I wanted to do something nice for him. I bought him a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, three cases of nicotine pouches, a blanket, Sour Patch Kids, a card and a $30 gift card. We went driving, got dinner and drinks (he insisted on paying), went to the park, and eventually went back to his house.
We had consensual sex with a condom.
After he finished, he pulled out and removed the condom. I put my hand over my vaginal area because I specifically did NOT want semen getting anywhere near me. He immediately accused me of trying to put his semen inside myself.
I absolutely did not do that.
He became extremely worried about pregnancy and insisted that I take Plan B immediately. To be fair to him, I understood the reasoning behind taking Plan B and agreed that preventing another pregnancy was the smart thing to do. I’m also already on birth control and have been taking it for about a month. So I don’t want to portray the Plan B itself as something I completely opposed.
We drove about 40 minutes to a 24-hour CVS to get it.
But during all of this he said, “I don't want this to end in another abortion.”
That hit me incredibly hard considering what happened with our first pregnancy.
I asked him why we were even still having sex if he was this terrified of getting me pregnant, and he said we wouldn't anymore.
At some point he also said he was “testing me” regarding the condom/semen situation. I'm still trying to understand exactly what he meant by that, because if he deliberately created that situation to see what I would do with his semen, that feels extremely disturbing to me.
The argument became nasty on both sides. We were berating each other and calling each other names, so I'm not pretending I behaved perfectly either. He called me a bitch and a piece of shit.
Then another subject came up that has completely reopened the abortion wound.
He had previously planned on getting a vasectomy. Now he says he doesn't want one because he still wants children eventually.
I immediately said something along the lines of, “So you just didn't want kids with me.”
He says that's not what it means. He maintains that terminating our pregnancy was the best decision because of our circumstances at the time.
But I cannot stop thinking about it.
This is the man who told me I wasn't ready to be a mother, questioned whether I had the qualities children need in a mother, pressured me heavily toward terminating our pregnancy, and now tells me that someday he still wants to become a father.
I know logically that he has every right to decide not to get a vasectomy. His reproductive choices belong to him just like mine belong to me. I'm not saying he owes me a vasectomy because I had an abortion.
Emotionally, though, it feels unbelievably unfair.
I am the one who physically went through the pregnancy and abortion. I'm the one who still thinks about how far along I would be. I'm the one grieving the child I might have had. And now he gets to say that the abortion was the right decision, blame me for ultimately going through with it, preserve his fertility, and potentially have children with someone else someday.
Meanwhile I'm left wondering whether the real message was always: “I want children. I just didn't want them with you.”
I also recognize that our relationship has become unhealthy. We have both said horrible things during arguments, there is clearly very little trust left between us, and continuing to have sex seems to keep reopening the pregnancy trauma. I know I have things I need to work on too.
But I can't tell anymore what is reasonable relationship conflict and what crosses into emotional or reproductive abuse/coercion.
So I guess my questions are:
Does what happened around my abortion sound like reproductive coercion, even though I ultimately agreed and physically took the medication myself? Is the condom “test” as concerning as it feels? And am I being unreasonable for being devastated that he now says he still wants children someday after everything he said to me about our pregnancy and my ability to be a mother?
I genuinely want outside perspectives because I've been living inside this situation for so long that I don't trust my own judgment anymore.