I was 16 years old and my girlfriend at the time was 15. We were both virgins and the very first time we ever had sex, it was just not on our minds to use a condom. Well, about 5 weeks later, she had been feeling ill and had missed 2 periods. Both of us knew in our hearts what the issue was, but we had to take a trip to Planned Parenthood to know for sure. Sure enough, they gave us the news that she was in fact pregnant. Both of us being from strict Christian backgrounds immediately planned on keeping it, however after thinking about it realized that there was no way that a 16 and 15-year-old couple could raise a child properly. We then made the inevitable decision to have an abortion.
I was a senior in high school at this time, as I was graduating early, and it was prom time. I had been saving for months to be able to go to prom and the timing couldn’t have been more horrible, but we knew we had to use that money for this operation instead. It was a very precarious situation because neither of us had our own car yet and had no way of getting to the clinic for the operation, and definitely could not tell either of our parents about it. We found comfort in a good friend of mine’s mother, who understood our situation and wanted to help. She took us to the clinic that day.
I will never forget the nervousness of both of us as we walked through that clinic door. We had no clue what was in store. After she came out of the room, she was crying, but told me that she was glad that we had made that decision, as was I. Though our relationship lasted another year after, we drifted apart and I haven’t seen her in some time now. But one of the things we always knew was that we were glad that we had made the decision we had. I thank God every day that this procedure was available for us. There are times that having a child is simply not an option, and if we had gone ahead and had that child together, both of our lives would be very much different now, and I do not believe in a better way. Thanks for your time.
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