Brenda was born to a single mother and raised primarily by her grandparents.  Her mother suffered from mental illness and told Brenda as a young child that her father had been killed in a car accident and that she was an unplanned, but pleasant surprise.  As a teenager, Brenda discovered that her father, who is schizophrenic, is alive and had been prevented from being involved in her life by her grandparents.  She has since established casual contact with him and his family, but doesn’t view him as a parental figure in her life.

Most of Brenda’s childhood was spent watching the young women in her family and neighborhood raise their children alone.  Hers was a matriarchal clan in a poor, inner city neighborhood.  Many of her relatives struggle with drug addiction and abusive relationships and have spent time incarcerated.  Others try to decide between working low-paying jobs without benefits or relying on public assistance in order to stay home and care for their children.  The legacy of struggle and single motherhood has played itself out so many times in Brenda’s extended family that most of the young women have never considered any other options, including completing high school or going on to college.  Brenda’s grandparents have willingly raised several of their grandchildren while the kids’ mothers worked as exotic dancers for extra money.

In light of this, when Brenda found herself pregnant at 17 as a senior in high school, she saw her choices as two: begin her own life as a single parent in these circumstances, or procure an abortion and “get out.”  She was a good student and a hard worker, holding down a job as well as studying and applying to colleges in an attempt to break the cycle of poverty and lack of education in her family.  Both of her parents suffered from chronic mental illness and Brenda was reluctant to continue the pregnancy and give birth to a child that would likely inherit these difficulties, especially if it was to be adopted into an unsuspecting family.

Brenda recalls that she was surprised when she discovered she was pregnant, as she had been sexually active for several years without any difficulties and, frankly, assumed that she couldn’t get pregnant.  She was not in the habit of using contraception on a regular basis, and as time went on and she had no scares, she became less and less likely to utilize protection.  Like many teenage girls and young women, Brenda had irregular periods and was not truly aware of the risk she was taking.    Fertility rates in women under the age of 30 are at their peak, and it is often difficult for young women to fully understand their own menstrual cycles because they can change so drastically due to diet and exercise, stress and rapid growth phases.

The rest of this story will be available in the book when it is released. Like our Facebook page to get updates on the publishing process!