This participant went on to carry her second pregnancy to term then terminated her third 

pregnancy with an abortion. 

Participants, like the one quoted above, generally said that having too many abortions 

(usually more than one or two) was not good for the woman. They reported that this opinion had 

been expressed by their parents, health care providers, and others. For example, another 

participant described this as part of her reason for having a second child with her boyfriend. 

After the second abortion, I didn't want to do any more abortions because I learned from 

adults that too many abortions weakens the womb and one might not be able to have a 

child in the future. [Opal] 

Five participants said that even after having one child with a boyfriend or husband they 

terminated a subsequent pregnancy because their first child was too young. Most of the time, the 

girl's children were still under one or two years old when she decided to get an abortion.  For 

example, Ariel said the following about when she got pregnant for the second time by the same 

boyfriend: 

The second time, when our child was one and a half years, when I told him he said no, 

that our child was not yet grown, and if I would give birth again it would disturb him and 

I also understood it. [Ariel] 

In two of these cases, the girls had abortions to space children without the consent of the 

husband. 

5.3 

Girl and Boyfriend Do Not Agree 

Couples disagreed about giving birth or having an abortion in two ways: 1) when the 

boyfriend did not accept responsibility for the pregnancy, and 2) when the couple had strong but 

opposing desires regarding giving birth or having an abortion. Girls used various strategies to 

resolve these situations, mainly by bringing her parents or guardians into the decisionmaking 

process. Whether parents were brought into the process often seemed to depend on whether the 

girl wanted to give birth or to have an abortion. The general assumption seemed to be that the 

parents would enable the girl to give birth if she wanted to do so.  

5.3.1  Boyfriend Does Not Accept Responsibility  

Among the 49 accounts of teen pregnancy, six participants reported that their boyfriends, 

at least initially, denied paternity or refused to provide support. According to participants, their 

boyfriends used various strategies to avoid taking responsibility for the pregnancies. For 

example, Faith, who was 18 at the time she got pregnant, said her boyfriend accused her of 

having another lover because she refused sex once. 

Once, when I went there, he wanted to have sex with me and I did not permit him, and he 

said it was because I had found myself another lover. [Faith] 

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