Unplanned pregnancy is a topic of concern in today’s world. Social concern as well as personal and family concern.
There are so many pressures, considerations, and conflicts. Along with increasing freedoms for women have come increased expectations. Expectations to finish education goals, find respectable careers, and contribute to household expenses. Unplanned pregnancies seem to interfere with all of these.
Our Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, stated a few years ago that abortions should be available so that women would be able to “reach their full potential.” At the time, I was working in a pregnancy centre. I wondered what reaching full potential actually meant, and in what sense.
What would a person want to look back on later in life? Reaching some sort of career goal? Or having bravely taken on moral responsibility that falls to her?
Unplanned pregnancy happens to all kinds of women, from young to middle-aged, in all walks of life. From those in the sex trade to clean-living church-goers.
I decided to explore an unplanned pregnancy within the context of a novel. To bring out the sort of experiences a teen girl might go through.
I couldn’t find many Christian fiction books that directly tackled the topic, especially from the point of view of the potential mother. My heart called me to do that.
Through assisting in a post-abortion counseling group, I found that many Christian women had been pushed into abortions, even by their church-going mothers. The reason was the shame that they dreaded the church would drag the family through. These women spent many years affected by terrible guilt.
In the pregnancy centre where I later worked, I met many women who lacked support and resources to raise children. Yet they couldn’t face the alternative of giving their baby up for adoption.
We were glad to have the privilege of helping them by providing baby clothes and equipment and counseling, as well as references to doctors and meeting their needs in whatever ways possible. In our community the pregnancy centre became well-known and highly regarded. Women came from far and wide, and all kinds of people and organizations donated and supported us.
My book isn’t about this centre, nor about any real person. It is purely fiction. But I wanted to show not only the stresses, conflicts, and difficulties that can happen, but also a more positive outcome.
God forgives. We ALL need that. We all sin. No one is perfect and never blunders into a circumstance that they regret. However, God can bring good out of it.
As Christians, we need to participate with God in enacting His forgiveness, especially when it involves an innocent victim like a baby. As a community, we need to pitch in to help. Not to focus on shame.
I hope that my novel, Something I Haven’t Told You, not only gives you some uplifting lighthearted entertainment, but also inspires you to do something to help. There are many ways help is needed—from prayer to donations, to volunteer time, or simply understanding better so you can relate to someone in such a situation.
Alison, now a happy mother of two, recalls her teen years when a mistake of love led to unfathomable distress. Faced with pregnancy at the age of fourteen, she deals with shame, her father’s rage, choices, and decisions that jerk her into adulthood. But, with her sister as her biggest supporter, along with her mother, friends, a counselor, and a school program for pregnant teens, she finds what is really important in life to her and succeeds in fulfilling her dreams.
Available in paperback or e-book
Pearl Ada Pridham, a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith, Hope and Love Christian Fiction Writers, is the award-winning author of Something I Haven’t Told You. She started writing this novel after working for several years in pregnancy centres. Her purpose was to bring awareness around issues to do with teen pregnancy, especially in the Christian realm, with church, family, friends, and community.
Pearl also teaches English to speakers of other languages and has worked in various charitable organizations. She enjoys walking on the many beaches and trails of Vancouver Island where she lives with her husband, son, and their cute little shitzu named Bear. Learn more about Pearl and her interests at https://PearlAdaPridham.com.