Youth Sound Off on Parents and Abortion

GETTING AN ABORTION AIN’T EASY
BY KEISHA RILEY
Keisha (not her real name), 16, is an intern at YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia.

It’s not easy to walk into a clinic and ask for an abortion as a teenager, especially if you have no one to go with you.

Guys think that since you’re a girl, you automatically know a lot about pregnancies and clinics, but I didn’t know anything. I was 14 when I met my boyfriend and 15 when he got me pregnant. I didn’t know that we were going to be intimate so soon, but I felt that we were really close, close enough for me to make the choice to let him take my virginity.

When I found out I was pregnant I was already 4 weeks along. We had unprotected sex once, and all it takes is one time. When I found out, I wasn’t sad, scared or mad -- I just knew I had to handle it.

When I went to the clinic I was led into a small room with the nurse and a peer educator. We sat and talked about abortions, birth control and how to make better choices. I had to fill out papers about my medical history. When I was done with the paperwork the nurse made an appointment for me to have an abortion.

I was too scared to tell my mother, and I knew I wasn’t ready to take care of a child.

My mother and I don’t talk that much. She has a boyfriend she’s always concerned with, so I stay away from home as much as I can.

Me and my boyfriend were together for about a year at the time. When I told him I didn’t think it was going to affect our relationship -- because we talked about how we would deal with the situation if I got pregnant -- his reactions were not what I had expected. Because we had talked about the possibility of pregnancy in the past I thought he would be sincere and caring -- it didn’t work out like that. I felt like he didn’t want to be with me anymore because all he could do was ignore the situation. I didn’t get mad at him. He was scared just like me.

It took a week from my first visit to the clinic before I could have an abortion. It felt like forever because I wanted to hurry up, get it over with and move on. During that week I had a lot to think about, I felt like my world had come to a pause. I couldn’t do anything but cry.

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SMOKEY’S CHOICE -- AN ABORTION WAS RIGHT FOR MY FRIEND’S FUTURE
BY VICTORIA GARCIA
Victoria, 18, is a staff writer for YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia.

My friend, Smokey, had an abortion about two years ago when she was 17.

It was the summer before her senior year when she found out about her pregnancy. She was in shock for a good month -- thinking about what decision would be best for her. She finally decided to have an abortion. It was senior year. She was living with her parents, her three sisters, their four kids and one of their daddies. To her it was horrifying to think she would end up like one of her sisters.

She didn't want the baby and would do whatever was necessary to prevent it from happening. She decided to get an abortion, and now she is doing good. She's working two jobs in Berkeley trying to stack money for a new car and she attends community college working on transferring to a university.

Proposition 73 states that no minor will be able to get an abortion without the consent of a parent or guardian. If that law passes, people like my friend Smokey will not be able to make decisions about what will happen with their lives.

Some will have to confront their mothers and tell them. That could put their relationship with their families in jeopardy. Others will be too scared to tell their parents until it is too late and they have no other choice but to have the baby, putting their goals for the future away in a safe that may never be unlocked.
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