"The Choice I Made".

While the names and faces may have been changed, the stories here are true, written by real young women in their own words, telling about the choices they made regarding their unplanned pregnancies and the consequences that followed.

I was 16 when I found out I was pregnant. Things started pretty badly.

My mom and my stepfather kicked me out of the house when I told them. My boyfriend, Zach, and his family let me stay at their house, but Zach was mad and confused. He thought I'd intentionally gotten pregnant, which of course was not true. I felt all alone, completely unwanted by everyone, and completely scared.

Everyone seemed to be nagging me about what I was going to do. My parents wanted me to get an abortion. Zach's parents wanted me to keep the baby, and so did my friends. Zach and I just kept fighting about everything. But I didn't know what I wanted to do. I figured I was deciding between keeping the baby and making my life more difficult, and getting an abortion and then living with the fact that I had killed my child. Mostly, I just wanted to end all the confusion and hurt. I wanted my life back.

Finally I figured that if I just went through with an abortion I could end everything - - the hurt I caused my family, the fighting with Zach, and the small talk at school. I could just act like nothing ever happened. I didn't realize that it couldn't be that simple.

I told my mom to schedule an abortion, lying when she asked if it was what I really wanted. I didn't tell anyone else what I planned on doing.

At the abortion clinic, I was nervous, scared, and once again all alone. I had to sign a bunch of papers before the abortion, and found that the only thing I could think about was innocent babies I'd seen in pictures. Why should they have to suffer? I found myself wondering. It wasn't their fault!