Jessica Valenti is a feminist author, co-founder of Feministing.com, and columnist at The Guardian US. Her new book, Sex Object, explores what it's like to come of age as a female in a misogynist, patriarchal society.

Her experiences with abortion and motherhood have reinforced her feminist, pro-choice beliefs. Valenti has had two abortions. The first was the result of an unwanted pregnancy, and the second ended a very wanted pregnancy that could have been fatal. The first wasn't a difficult decision at all: she just didn't want to be pregnant. The second was profoundly painful. Still, she says, one experience was not more valid than the other.

Listen to her full story here.