After leaving home at 17, I was sleeping on beaches and in people’s truck beds, thinking I was making it on my own.
Penniless, phoneless, and not even having an ID because I’d left it all at home in my stand for independence, I eventually found someone to take me in. Unfortunately, it connected me with some bad people and fueled my use of alcohol and drugs. I would drink all day, go to sleep, get up, and drink again. I didn’t have anything to ground me, and I didn’t care enough about my life to get it back on track.
I was shocked when a drug dealer I knew demanded I take a pregnancy test. A blurry night when I blacked out in his car and woke up at the house where I was staying came to mind. I was even more shocked when the pregnancy test was positive.
The dealer insisted I get an abortion, saying, “I am not going to go to jail for this.” He even tried to abduct me and wreck his car with us in it to “get rid of the problem.”
But part of me felt that this pregnancy was an opportunity to get my life back on track, and if I didn’t take this opportunity, I wouldn’t get another one.
The dealer began harassing me nonstop, and I began to feel like I was never going to be able to escape him unless I had an abortion. I ended up turning to an abortion
