Unwanted pregnancy - damned if you do, damned if you don't?
I've been reading posts about unwanted pregnancies and it has prompted me consider the matter on a deeper level.
It seems to me that when you are confronted with an unwanted pregnancy, you will always be criticized by the choice you make. Keep the baby, adopt the baby or abort the baby. They are the only three options available and yet they all draw unique criticism from others.
I found myself in that situation at the age of 16. My boyfriend and I decided to lose our virginity together, it happened just once, and a few months later I discovered to my horror that I was pregnant. At that stage I was lucky to get a period once every 2 years, so the absence of a period was quite normal in those days.
Anyway the point is, I had 3 choices:
1. Abort the baby - reaction from peers 'you murderer' etc.
2. Adopt the baby - reaction from peers 'how can you do that? It's your own flesh and blood' and 'how can you just leave a little baby?'
3. Keep the baby - reaction from peers 'you are a baby yourself! How can you be a parent?'
So from my experience, you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. What do you all think?
For the record, I chose option 2. I moved to another state to stay with my grandparents while I mulled it over. I was embarrassed and ashamed of myself because I had gotten myself into this situation and didn't want anybody to know. I avoided the church like the plague too out of fear of being judged. I decided at that time I would be incompetent as a mother, and I saw many bad examples of teenagers who had babies and did not want to risk turning into one myself, thus giving my son a bad start to life. Those were my reasons, although it was a very difficult decision. I kept this secret for many years, I was too shamed to tell my father and some of my siblings. But the secret got out, and have been frowned upon, as well as praised, for my decision.