I was seventeen when I found out that I was pregnant. I was a senior in high school. Those were supose to be the best times of my life, but instead they were the worse. I was the typical small town girl. I was senior class president, valedictorian, president of several organizations, and played volleyball and basketball. I was totally sweet and innocent girl. I had dated the same guy throughout high school. We were in love and we still have a very special friendship. He graduated a year before me and, during my senior year, he went to college and we didn't see each other as much as we had. We eventually broke up. I started dating a guy that I had know since elementary school. One night I got drunk and pregnant. When I found out, it was shocking! I knew that these things happened, but I never guessed that it would happen to me. I think that that is the way a lot of girls feel. I didn't find out that I was pregnant until I was two and a half months along. I was still seventeen. In Virginia, the law then was that underage girls could have an abortion without parental consent or parental notification. I never told the baby's father; instead I turned to my ex-boyfriend. He was very understanding and he offered to have the baby with me. I htought about it, but I realized that I had too many things going for me and I couldn't give them up, like college.

I made plans to go to a clinic that was in Virginia, but it was four hours away. I could have gonet to one that was about an hour and a half away, but they required parental consent because it was in Tennesse and I couldn't go there because my parents still didn't know. The day before I was suppose to go, my mother asked my if I was pregnant, so I finally told her. We cancelled my appointment for the next day.

We talked everything over and I still wanted to go through with the abortion. So, two weeks later, I went to the clinic. I was totally ready for the abortion until I went in and had an ultrasound done. Seeing that little baby there was so amazing. I almost changed my mind right there, but I didn't and I regret that more than anything in my life. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about my child that I killed. I think about that picture of the sonogram and I can see that little baby there and I don't think I will never be able to forgive myself. I am a freshman in college now. I went away to school because I couldn't take all the talk about me in my small town. Everyone found out what had happened, especially my friends at school and the teachers because I had a rough time for two months. I stayed sick and also got migrain headaches from the pregnancy. Everyone judged me and many were cruel about it. I still haven't forgive myself and I don't think that I ever will because I aborted a little innocent baby. That will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I would like to make an appeal to all the girls in my situation. Don't do it! You will have to live with it forever. Remember that it is not just an unborn child - it is a part of you and no matter how bad it seems, the abortion won't fix it. It only makes it worse.