When Te’Aundra discovered she was pregnant, she had just received good news about a basketball scholarship to college. Afraid that a baby would force her to give up her dreams, she decided to make an adoption plan. But when her baby’s father found out, he called off the adoption.
Today, the Missouri woman said she wishes she would have had an abortion instead, according to the Los Angeles Times. She could have done it without telling her baby’s father, and she could have accepted the basketball scholarship. Instead, she is raising her baby girl and struggling to make ends meet. Her baby’s father is not part of their lives anymore.
Te’Aundra is one of 32 women who shared their stories in the new pro-abortion documentary “Abortion: Stories Women Tell” by filmmaker Tracy Droz Tragos, according to the report. The film centers around the abortion debate in Missouri and features stories of women who considered or had abortions, including a couple pro-life women. It will air on HBO later this year.
“I hate to say it, but if I could have went back, I wouldn’t have contacted him,” she said of her daughter’s father. “I would have just had an abortion and been on my way.”
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Te’Aundra’s tragic remarks about her daughter hint at a major problem among women considering abortions – they lack physical and emotional support. She probably felt trapped by her baby’s father’s decision to reject adoption, a life-affirming alternative for both her and her daughter. And she gave up her dream to go to college and play basketball to take care of her daughter.
Studies that examine the reasons why women have abortions point to support as a key factor. A 2013 study from the University of California, San Francisco found 40 percent of women seeking abortions mentioned finances, 31 percent mentioned partner issues, and 20 percent said a child would interfere with future opportunities (education, career, etc.). All of these indicate a deficient level of support.
Abortion can seem like an easy way out of a difficult situation when women feel desperate and alone. But pro-lifers are working to change that. For example, Students for Life’s Pregnant on Campus initiative offers help to college students so they don’t have to choose between parenting and a college education. And thousands of pregnancy help centers, adoption agencies, maternity homes and other groups help women in their own communities by providing a wide variety of physical and emotional resources.
As pro-life groups offer more physical and emotional support, more women in situations like Te’Aundra’s are being empowered with the resources to pursue their dreams and make life-affirming decisions for their babies.
