The recent "Heartbeat Bill"passed in Ohio hit particularly close to home for this Ohio girl. Ohio lawmakers passed a bill last week banning abortions from the moment a fetal heartbeat can be detected — typically around six weeks. This is before many women know that they are pregnant.

The bill would make exceptions for women and girls whose lives are endangered by their pregnancies, but it would not make exceptions for abortions resulting from rape or incest. We are now waiting to see if Governor Kasich will sign it or not.

It's impossible to hold back tears as I thought of myself less than two years ago, sitting in a Cleveland Planned Parenthood. I find myself crying over stories of abortions due to rape and much-wanted, very sick babies. However, my abortion story is not one of medical necessity, of mourning, of an unhealthy fetus with an abysmal future — it is one of the choice to choose myself.

I was a 22-year old senior in college, with a bright future ahead of me. I was a student-athlete, had just been accepted to my dream grad school, and was about to serve as the executive director for the first ever Dance Marathon at my current institution, raising money and celebrating the kids in our local children's hospital. I worked a part-time job on campus, was publishing my own research, and volunteered in many different student organizations. I was a student in the Honors College, with nearly a 4.0 GPA and Dean’s List honors every semester. On the outside, I was a happy, confident woman who many of my teammates dubbed ‘Superwoman.’

On the inside, I was a miserable human hiding in a happy shell. I was in a long-term physically and emotionally abusive relationship, marred by struggles, hidden from family and friends. I was under the illusion of love, believing I could change my partner and make him happy again. I believed it was a problem with me. As many times he claimed he wished I was dead, I wished it too.

Then, the fatigue hit me. Sleeping through days and nights, so exhausted for seemingly no reason. The missed period, the two pregnancy tests (both positive), the realization that my oral contraception had failed, white-faced hugging my roommate, and crying on the phone to my then-boyfriend: "What are we going to do?" I saw my future grad school, career, and life I had exquisite plans for disappear in the blink of an eye.

My partner and I came to the conclusion of abortion. As college students, we were barely able to make ends meet financially as it was. I also knew I did not want to bring a child into the world of abuse. We considered adoption, and dismissed the idea after much thought. First and foremost, I could never share my predicament with my parents, out of fear of their anticipated disapproval. Second, the thought of physically carrying a child and building a bond over those several months, only to have it taken away upon birth was too difficult to bear. The commitment to regular doctor’s appointments and a complete lifestyle overhaul simply to produce a child from someone else was a sacrifice I was unwilling to make. Producing a baby in a country with thousands of children waiting to be adopted seemed unfair. I knew that in my graduate program, I would be working around 30 hours per week, as well as attending full-time to receive financial aid, just to make ends meet — a task I knew I would not be able to handle as a pregnant woman.