They call our hotline (888-217-8679) desperately looking for help. "My friend told me to call you before I go for an abortion. Can you help? I am really scared of what my parents will say. They have enough problems already without this. It will kill them if they find out I am pregnant."

We receive a few hundred calls a month; one-third are pregnancy related, and many are from teenagers. When faced with an unplanned pregnancy, teens need to realize that the decisions they make are permanent and will affect them for the rest of their lives. Abortion may seem like the only choice, and the easiest way out, but abortion is permanent. There is no bringing back a dead baby.

Rachel (not her real name) was 16 when she became pregnant. Too embarrassed and afraid to go to her parents, she turned to her high school guidance counselor for advice. She wrote this letter from a correctional facility:

For five years after the abortion, Rachel was on a destructive path as her parents watched helplessly not knowing what was wrong with her or how to help. Rachel’s traumatic reaction to her abortion experience included suicide attempts, alcoholism, drugs, and finally an arrest and conviction for drug dealing.

Sadly, Rachel’s story is not unique. In the U.S., one out of every three abortion patients is a teenager—for whom the possibility of developing psychological and emotional problems after an abortion is substantially higher than for more mature women. Teens are more likely to experience intense feelings of guilt, depression, and isolation. This major, traumatic, experience occurs at a time when their defense mechanisms are not fully developed, which leaves them more susceptible to events and circumstances that can profoundly damage their view of the world, other people, and themselves.

In addition, a secret abortion disrupts family relationships. To protect their secret, teenagers try to hide feelings of depression, sadness, and even thoughts of suicide that might otherwise alert their parents to the problem. If they cannot repress these feelings, they may be disguised with more lies or transformed into anger and rebellion. This need for secrecy accentuates their feelings of shame and will often lead to withdrawal from family and into drugs, alcohol, and destructive relationships.

Kept in the dark, with no way to understand their child’s disturbed behavior, parents are likely to become increasingly frustrated. In turn, parents are likely to fuel the distrust or rebellious nature of the teen because they "simply don’t understand" what he or she is going through.

Along with the facts about abstinence, parenting, adoption, and abortion, it is important for parents to talk with their teens before a crisis. Teens need to know there is nothing they could ever do that could not be handled with God’s help.

It is also important to know how your child’s school handles situations like this as some school counselors and other offiicals may direct teens into an unwanted abortion.

Finally, our young people need to clearly hear the Gospel preached with passion. They know that God has claimed them in Christ, who loved them enough to suffer and die on the cross, so that they may have eternal life.