Introduction to "Mom, I'm Pregnant"

**This is a part of an incomplete series. The rest will be added as soon as it becomes available.

Introduction

The words, “Mom, I’m pregnant” can either be the most joyous words a grandmother-to-be can hear, or the most devastating. If her daughter is happily married, a celebration ensues. If that daughter is 19 and an unmarried college sophomore, her world comes crashing down.

When that mother and daughter land in your office or at your kitchen table seeking help, where do you start? What do you do or say?

First, understand that everyone in that family will be affected by the pregnancy. The notion that only the body of the pregnant girl is involved and therefore she alone should be able to make decisions about the pregnancy is patently foolish and simply not true. (It is correct, however, that legal rights surrounding potential abortion decisions belong only to her.)

Any pregnancy is a life-changing event, regardless of its outcome. Think of the number of times you’ve said to an excited, jubilant young married couple expecting their first child, “Oooohhhh, your life will never be the same!” And that’s right – it won’t.

The same is true for an unplanned pregnancy, whether its outcome is parenting, adoption, or abortion. The life of that pregnant girl will never be the same, because she will never “not have been pregnant” (all English teachers please excuse the double negative.) She is already a mother; all that remains to be decided is how she will respond to that fact.

The pregnant girl faces a very difficult situation and needs help in dealing with it. Her mother also faces a very difficult situation and needs help in dealing with it. (Her father does too, but we’re talking Women’s Ministry here, so we’ll not address his situation.)

So, we’ll divide this up into several parts. Part 1 A will focus on the pregnant girl prior to her decision about what to do. Part 1B will focus on her mother during that same time frame. 2A will look at how to help this girl after her decision, if that decision was abortion. 2B will look at her mother in that same time frame after “it’s over.”