“I was 22, in school, living at home and madly in love with my boyfriend. We fell pregnant and at 5 weeks I had a positive test. We decided not to tell anyone. We considered the abortion pills, but I looked online and found out that an embryo has a heartbeat 18 days after conception. We decided to wait until the ultrasound. I couldn’t take away something so small with a heartbeat different from my... own. I do not have two hearts.
The ultrasound was at 9 weeks and we saw the heartbeat, strong and fierce. We saw the tiny fetus moving and stretching - almost like it was waving at us. We could even see the difference between a leg, arm, head and umbilical cord. I cried.
But then we decided to tell our parents and close family. That did not end well. My brother-in-law said I should have an abortion because we were way too young and still in school. He wasn't even saying it to me but to my boyfriend. He didn't even look at me. He told my boyfriend that he had to think and chose the best for his life and that that would be abortion. I cried harder than with the ultrasound. I cried because he thought he had the right to tell me to abort my child.
I decided right there that I would fight against abortion. It only tells us that we aren't strong, we aren't good, we are weak and alone. We do not deserve a child and we can't take care of it, so we must abort. They do not even tell the truth of what an abortion looks like.
We still chose to keep the child and luckily my parents are Pro-Life and my mother-in-law said, 'This child IS coming'. She went with us for the 20 week ultrasound and we were able to see: it's a girl! We all cried. The first baby girl in a long line of men. I had my parents to support me and now I have a tiny tomboy princess. She is almost 2 years old.
I wasn't the only one in my class to have a child. I was the second of three girls having babies. We all finished college, we all have our diplomas. We are mothers, we ARE strong. We can do everything they say we can't. We are even having seconds. 😉 " - Anonymous
Story submitted to Choice42 May 25, 2016
