• CHICAGO (AP) -- They say they were using birth control, but it failed.
• One woman would have had the baby but the man she was in a relationship with didn't want her to. Another was having an affair with a married man and viewed a pregnancy as unthinkable. A third woman's health would be at risk if she continued her pregnancy.
• Nearly 1 million women have abortions in the U.S. each year. What leads them to that choice?
• "There's this false idea that certain types of women have abortions and different types of women have babies," says bioethicist and gynecologist Dr. Lisa Harris. "They're really the same types of women at different points in their lives."
• It's hard to find women willing to talk about it. The Associated Press contacted eight abortion providers and three groups that work with abortion patients. No women were willing to talk.
• Ultimately, the AP found three women through a nonpolitical online support group, http://www.afterabortion.com, for those who struggle emotionally after their abortions. They may not be typical of the majority who have abortions.
• A fourth woman who considered abortion but didn't have one agreed to talk after her doctor asked her to consider AP's request.
• The women spoke by phone and e-mail on condition of anonymity for privacy reasons, and because of shame, concern over hurting loved ones, or fear of harassment from abortion foes. AP verified their names, ages, locations, and abortion circumstances as much as possible through a public records database, phone calls and other sources.
• These are their stories:
• ___
• A 24-year-old woman in Chicago, working as a bookkeeper, discovered she was pregnant earlier this year.
• She'd been using a contraceptive patch that she thought was almost 100 percent effective. A missed period was the first clue it had failed.

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