being brought up in a large catholic family, i was raising myself after being lost in the shuffle. i started hanging out with people 5-7 years older than me when i was 14-16. i didn’t have a lot of parenting so i was probably looking for a father figure? i was madly in love with someone that was 24 and me 16. i got pregnant and was so afraid of telling my parents about it i confided in the people whom i was a caretaker for their children. they called my mom. by that time i was 3 months pregnant. i was so afraid! i hid out from my dad for a long time. finally, we talked and he asked me what i wanted to do. he asked me if i wanted to have the baby and wreck my life with a bastard kid on my hands or have an abortion. i opted for the abortion at 5.5 months into the pregnancy and my parents took me to new york. i didn’t think about nothing but being brave. it was on my 17th birthday. i never thought about it until i was older because i blocked it out of my mind. sometimes i feel guilt because i was so far along. i still think i did the right thing. i am now 58 years old. just wanted to vent.