I thought I wanted an abortion

Lyric thought she wanted an abortion, but, by the end of her visit to CPC’s pregnancy medical clinic, she had completely changed her mind.

My husband and I had gotten married, and then, two weeks later, we found out we were pregnant. We were both soldiers at the time—I worked as a diesel mechanic.

Even though we were financially and mentally ready to have a child, my first thought was to get an abortion.

My husband searched for abortion clinics, and CPC’s pregnancy medical clinics came up. It worked out in a crazy way, because I was set on having an abortion, but then we came across CPC and everything changed.

Everyone there was so nice and supportive. It made me feel more confident about it, because I had felt like I was doing something wrong, being so young and pregnant, but going to CPC’s pregnancy medical clinics made me feel a lot better.

Seeing her on the ultrasound changed my mind about having an abortion. It made me see her as human, instead of me just being pregnant.

As soon as I saw her, I smiled—it was hard not to. It was emotional, because at that point I realized that I have to do this for the baby. I was still scared, of course, but I knew that I wanted her.

We received a lot of resources, and, after the ultrasound, they sat down and talked to us about how I was feeling and what I wanted to do. People also reached out after I gave birth.

I thought I wanted an abortion because I just wanted to keep the same life I was living. It was easier to just keep doing what I was doing and skip by the whole having-a-baby part. But my gut was telling me I couldn’t do that.

We showed up at CPC, and, by the end of it, we had completely changed our minds. I’m so glad we found CPC.

My favorite thing about being a mom is seeing the person I love most in baby form—plus a little bit of me too. Sometimes I see my husband and sometimes I see me. It makes me love myself more, because she looks like me, so it’s hard not to, you know?

Interview edited for brevity and clarity.