Hi! My name is Samantha. I’m 23 years old and I have a story to tell…

When I was 17 years old I

found out I was pregnant.

I was a senior in high school.

The baby’s father and I

had just broken up a few weeks

before. Needless to say, I was scared to

death. 1,000 questions were

running through my

mind…

What will my parents say?

What will the people at

school think?

How can I raise a baby

when I’m not even an

adult myself?

At first, the easiest thing

seemed to be to get an

abortion. Nobody

would find out.

Everything would go back to

normal and I could enjoy

being a senior. The “problem” would just go away.

I went to the local Crisis Pregnancy

Center in hopes of getting some

direction on what to do

next… While I was there I

watched a video about

unplanned pregnancy.

I learned what my baby looked like…

How big my baby was…

That my baby’s tiny heart was already

beating…

But the most

important thing I learned that day

was that I could

have my baby if I

wanted to. There were

people who were willing to help me.

A few weeks later, I

went for my first

ultrasound. Seeing my baby for the first time was all it took for me to

know I had made the

right choice.

On August 3rd, 2005, three months after I

graduated high school, I gave birth to a beautiful 9 pound, 4 ounce little

boy named Ethan Kade.

But that’s not the end

of my story…

I had been a single

mother for 3 years when I started

college in January

of 2008. I was so excited to be

back in school.

One week after classes started, I found out I was pregnant again.

What started out as one night out

with an old friend turned

into way more than I

ever expected… This time I

was alone, in school, AND

I had another kid

to think about.

I talked to my friends about

abortion. I was

ashamed, but I felt like it

was my only option…

I told my Mom,

hoping she could give me some

advice. We decided that I should go

to the doctor to

make sure everything was okay,

and then do some

research on adoption.

I cried for weeks while

I scrolled through websites looking at couples

wanting to adopt.

Adoption is a beautiful thing, but

deep down I knew it just wasn’t for

me.

On June 23, 2008, I gave birth to an 11

pound, 4 ounce perfect little boy

named Evan Carter.

Evan was born during my

summer break from college. I

returned to school when he was 2 months

old, right where I had left off.

I was a single Mom for 4 years until I got married to an amazing man in June of

2009. He is a wonderful step-father to Ethan and

father to Evan (the adoption was final this past

March).

The point of my story is that even though babies can come about at the most

inopportune times, it doesn’t mean that they will

ruin your life. Things will work out if you give them a

chance to.

You may feel alone. Or too young. Or too busy. Maybe you’re just

scared. Maybe you feel like I did: You just want to have the abortion because it’ll

make the “problem” go away and you won’t have to think about it

anymore.

But if you go through with

it, the “problem” won’t go

away. It will stay with you for the rest of your life. You’ll

think about the baby you could have had. What that baby

would look like now, what it

would be doing, how old it would be…

I considered abortion two times. If I had gone through with it, I would be missing out on a beautiful

gift.

Being a Mom isn’t easy, but little kisses on

the face, crayon

doodles made just for you, and being

told, “I love you Mommy,”

every day makes it all

worth it.

Please don’t think that abortion is your only choice. There

are so many people who want to help you

and your baby.

American Pregnancy Helpline – 1-866-942-6466 www. thehelpline.orgAdoptionhelp.org

Abort73.com 4exhale.org – After Abortion Help