Teyuon’s Story

“You’d be stupid to want another child,” the baby’s father said. “If you have another baby, you know that’s your baby, right?”

For Teyuon, life had never been easy. “My mom was on drugs, and she struggled with that demon her whole life.” With no mother or family support, and with the father of her child pushing her to abort, Teyuon felt completely alone, abandoned to handle her second pregnancy by herself.

“With my first pregnancy, my child’s father was supportive of me. But with my second pregnancy, he didn’t want another child. I’d just had a baby. I was sitting there with a 4-month-old.”

Already tired from caring for a newborn, Teyuon was struggling. She hadn’t planned to get pregnant again and certainly not so soon. What was she supposed to do without help, support, or the partnership of her babies’ father? Thoughts swirled as she tried to imagine life with two children born just 10 months apart. Could she manage with two babies? Could she provide for two babies? With each thought, her options seemed to dwindle. She couldn’t envision how she’d possibly handle another child with no help.

As she looked at the child in her arms, her thoughts drifted to the one in her womb.

What would people think? She could hear them criticizing her for getting pregnant again so soon. How could she even consider abortion while looking at the child she already had? None of her thoughts made sense.

But when you don’t have any support or someone telling you can do it, you give in to the pressure. Fear and anxiety become huge beasts telling you there are no other options. They sit on your shoulders like heavy weights, whispering in your ear that no one cares. That you can’t do it. That it would be better for everyone if you would choose abortion.

So Teyuon began searching for abortion information. Thankfully, she called Human Coalition’s contact center. The woman who answered the phone understood Teyuon’s situation. And for the first time since she discovered she was pregnant, Teyuon didn’t feel alone. The call agent listened to Teyuon as she explained her situation and her fears. Her kind and thoughtful demeanor immediately put Teyuon at ease.

Relieved that she could confide in a compassionate and trained professional, Teyuon began to feel a glimmer of hope and see solutions other than abortion. Teyuon explained to the call agent that she’d visited a local hospital and received a pregnancy test, which confirmed she was a little over four months along.

The call agent encouraged Teyuon that she was not alone in this. She told her about a nearby Human Coalition’s women’s care clinic and its Continuum of Care program that would walk with Teyuon throughout her pregnancy and even help her afterward—for as long as she needed.

Throughout the course of Teyuon’s pregnancy, our clinic staff showed her the love and support she desperately longed for. It was a turning point in Teyuon’s path toward choosing life.

“A lot of women out there just need that support—somebody they know they can call who isn’t gonna judge them. You need somebody to be like,

‘Okay, it’s all right. Pick yourself up, get up, it’s time to move on.’

I really think the women’s care clinic helps the woman. When you help the woman, she becomes a better mother. She becomes a better person period.”

Teyuon found the help and support she needed to choose life, and she later gave birth to a precious baby boy, saying, “I think this is going to be a wonderful journey. I’m looking forward to being his mom. I’m just… I’m looking forward to the years to come.”