I Am Rahab… The Student

By: Charlie

After a really difficult year, things were finally looking up for me. My son was now 10 months old and I had just been accepted into the local community college. I was so excited because it was only a year ago I had to leave a top university in New York due to lack of funding. I ended up getting pregnant while trying to work and earn money to go back. The irony of it all, I was a good girl, a church girl, who had vowed to remain a virgin until marriage. I was considered the cream of the crop by all who knew me, I wouldn’t have been caught dead at a community college a year ago. Shoot, I got pregnant the first time I had sex!

The same week I got my community college acceptance letter, I found out I was pregnant again. I was so ashamed. The thought of being 20 years old, pregnant with my second child and trying to go to college at the same time overwhelmed me. My family had already been helping and, although my boyfriend did what he could, he was always changing jobs. I couldn’t bear the shame of telling my family I was pregnant again.

Going against everything I had learned in church and everything I believed in, I chose to abort my pregnancy. I didn’t tell anyone except my cousin who took me to the clinic and my boyfriend who didn’t agree with me and left me for a while because of it. Afterward, I battled with the guilt of my actions. I cried out to God for forgiveness and even apologized to my boyfriend, explaining to him my fear of becoming a stereotype.

Today, I consider myself pro-choice. I believe that a woman should have the right to choose and her choice is between her and God, especially in cases of rape or rare medical conditions. I am at peace and know that God has forgiven me, my first abortion was my last…because I am Rahab too.