On Monday, January 10th, a young woman came into our Brooklyn office and wanted to get an abortion. She was about 5 months pregnant. She no longer wanted to keep her baby because she didn't "want to raise the baby by herself." Her ex-boyfriend is heading to jail for 10 years due to illegal activities such as selling drugs and guns illegally. She has no job to support herself, nor are her parents involved in her life. She can't work because she is Jamaican and doesn't have her papers as of now. She is currently living with a friend whom she claims will "kick her out of the house" if she finds out she is pregnant. She has not yet started her prenatal care.
Pregnancy however, is not the only thing she has to worry about. She and her boyfriend have been sexually active since they met, however, she wasn't the only girl he was having a physical relationship with. Prior to coming to our office, she got tested for STIs and found out that she had genital herpes. She said to me "I got treated for it and now it is all gone." She was misinformed because she wasn't aware of the fact that Herpes is a virus and she will have it for the rest of her life. She was also unaware of the complications this could cause for her baby.
The first and most important thing that I learned within the first week of interning is that teenagers that come to our office only think about pregnancy. They do not consider all of the other risks such as life threatening STIs that can change their lives or even be fatal to them if left untreated. Many of them have yet to realize that sex has a price tag!
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