Naomi, for example, who had run away from her mother at the age of 13 and was living 

with a woman who employed her to work in a chop bar, gave the following account of how the 

decision to have an abortion was made: 

I was still 13 years then [when I got pregnant]. The owner of the chop bar told me I was 

pregnant. I told her I hadn't had my period that month and she said then that I was 

pregnant. She took me for a laboratory test and I tested positive for pregnancy. Then she 

asked a doctor to abort it. [Naomi]  

When asked whether she or her boyfriend had wanted the abortion, she said, 

No [I didn't say I wanted it aborted] I went to tell my boyfriend about it and he said I 

shouldn't abort it. He said I should carry it full term, but the chop bar owner insisted I 

abort it since she was caring for me at that time. I agreed with her decision because I 

was then living in her house and she was guidance, sort of. The boy too was 

unemployed  [Naomi]  

Another participant, who was not working yet at age 17, said the following about the 

decision regarding her pregnancy: 

I did not have the power to decide at that time. Even if I wanted to do something, I did not 

have the money I was not working [at the time of my first pregnancy]. [Ariel] 

Her parents and boyfriend advised her to carry the pregnancy to term, and they supported 

her and her child. 

According to two participants' reports, their parents were very opposed to abortion, either 

because it was not practiced at all in the family or because they believed that it endangered 

female fertility. 

After I told him, I told my mother and my mother said they would not allow me to have an 

abortion, so I should give birth, because if I had an abortion I may not be able to have 

children in the future  The boy also said I should give birth. His father is from a royal 

family, so they don't do abortions in their family, and my mother was also against it. 

[Charity] 

In four cases, the girls brought in family members to help mediate the dispute. In two 

cases, the family members sided with the girls' plan to keep the baby and in the other two cases 

they agreed with the boyfriends' plans to have an abortion. One girl described the reasoning of 

her parents, who prevailed and supplied more support so that the girl could give birth to her first 

child. 

We moved in together for a while and I got pregnant. . . When I got pregnant for the first 

time and told them [parents] they didn't say anything. However, when my boyfriend [with 

whom I'd moved out] said I should go and terminate the pregnancy, my parents strongly 

objected to it and said it was not the best. They explained that, in case I die in the process 

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