Young Girls & Pregnancy
I wonder how many:
- Young girls area abused in their families of origin
- Girls lose their sense of self due to lack of love by their own mothers
- Girls are fooled into sex at a young age by the first boy overloaded with testosterone
- Girls bring babies into this world thinking/hoping “now I’ll have someone to really love me.”
- Girls are on food stamps because the sperm donor fails to provide for his off spring while she struggles to be a mom.
Am I the only one who wonders?
Gail holds a degree from Lamar University in Speech and a Master’s from the University of Texas. She married Sam after raising three children as a single mother. She was an educator in regular and special education for eighteen years, finishing her professional career as a Braille teacher. In 2007 She founded SMORE for Women. SMORE is a nonprofit association whose goal is Single Moms, Overjoyed, Rejuvenated, & Empowered. She is a Women’s Transition Coach and her stories have been published in several Christian books and magazines.
Gail Cawley Showalter 
I wonder too…how many girls start out in what they think is a loving relationship (even a marriage) but it turns out to be not what they had imagined and they think a baby will “fix” what is broken and then ends up a single mom anyway? I wonder how many are brainwashed by or willingly accept what their religion teaches about birth control or just “accepting” what God sends” and end up single mothers unable to adequately provide for those children? I too wonder…
I know this is a touchy subject for many Christians. Religious teachings are not always divine.
I certainly don’t claim to have the answers. I do know that many single mothers were trusting and thought they were in love when they got pregnant – married or not. Their expectations were not met. Still they have the child to raise, feed, and cloth.
While I was on a trip earlier this year and told someone about the work I do I got a reply that, frankly, irritated me. This woman said, in a not so compassionate tone, “Do you ever ask these women what they were thinking when they got pregnant?” As I tried to calm the steam building – probably coming out my ears – I said that I believed many were abused and needed love that they had not received as children. There was no reply. Our society would rather judge than understand. Understanding requires something from them.
I always tell people that single mothers are the strongest people I know. I believe that. I admire you! You are doing the most difficult job on the planet. Give yourself a hug.