Growing up, my one goal in life was to be a college athlete. When I was 19 years old, my dreams turned into reality, and I became a college basketball player. During my first semester, I walked into a new environment where I felt alone, scared, and invisible. So, I turned to hookup culture for comfort. You would think that being raised in a Christian household as a pastor’s kid would have given me the correct mindset around these struggles, but I rejected my relationship with Christ for most of my life. 

Later that semester, I started seeing a boy, and things progressed quickly. It was merely a physical relationship. I knew it wasn’t a wise decision. One night, our “safe sex method” failed, and I immediately took an emergency contraception pill. After this scare, I was determined to get my life back on track and solely focus on basketball and class. 

About two weeks later, I started to experience what I didn’t realize at the time were pregnancy symptoms. On a late-night trip to Wendy’s, my friend and I went into the bathroom, and I took a pregnancy test. The positive result showed up. 

I was immediately in denial but eventually shared the news with some teammates. They encouraged me to take another test just to make sure. When I went to pick them up, they had a friend with them who I didn’t know. I was frustrated because I wanted to keep this a secret, but in my shame or lack thereof, I looked at this girl I had never met named Zoey and said, “Hey, my name is Gwyn, and I’m probably pregnant. Do you want to come take some test with us?” 

 After the second postive test, I was clearly pregnant and immediately told the father our situation. Without hesitation, he said we needed to get an abortion. I was hesitant at first, but I quickly agreed.  I scheduled an appointment at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Atlanta, and I was hoping to get Chemical Abortion Pills. I assumed all my problems would be taken care of. Something about the situation didn’t sit right with me, but I ignored my gut and convinced myself that this was my “way out.”  

The night before my appointment, Zoey asked if she could talk with me. She said to me, “Gwyn, I know I don’t know you very well, but I love you already. As your sister in Christ, no matter what you decide, you’ll always have a friendship here. But I can’t support the decision you’re about to make.” This immediately caught me off guard and infuriated me. I was so angry that someone was trying to hold me accountable. 

But whether I liked it or not, Zoey opened my eyes to the fact that the pregnancy I did not want was a baby, and it was my baby.  

I decided I wasn’t going to go to the abortion vendor but still had no idea what to do. After returning home for Christmas break, I shared the news with my parents, and instead of condemning me or kicking me out like I anticipated, they covered me in prayer and said, “We will get through this together.” I told the father it was probably time to tell his parents, and since I had accepted that I was going to be a young single mother, I felt like just another statistic. Everything I had worked my whole life for was gone in a moment. 

 I asked my parents to keep my pregnancy private, and they did. But little did I know, this was the Lord preparing me for what was to come. I dropped out of school, didn’t tell any friends or most family, and basically fell off the grid for a while. No one knew what was going on. During this season of quiet, the Lord was preparing my heart for open adoption. 

My family has a friend on the board of Covenant Care Adoptions and asked me to meet with a birth counselor. Initially, I was extremely against this because to me, adoption was secret and, well, sort of sad. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I quickly learned that open adoption specifically was an amazing opportunity for us to provide my daughter with the life I desperately wanted her to have.  

After agreement with the father, he and I chose an amazing family for our daughter. Open adoption is centered around not only a path for the baby but redemption for the parents. Her father and I both have equal access to seeing our daughter, legally two times a year, but we have been able to create a beautiful relationship with her family. We get to see her often!  

Sophia will grow up knowing who we are and the decision we made to give her the best outcome possible. Sophia’s father and I both rededicated our lives to Christ, and we didn’t lose our daughter through open adoption — we gained a whole new family. Sophia is now 2 years old, she is extremely articulate, and I see so much of her father and myself in her. 

In the last two years, I have seen the impact that abortion has on millions of babies. I had all the excuses: I was young; I wasn’t in a relationship with the father; I wasn’t financially stable. I also could relate to all the pro-abortion activists who truly believe the saying “my body/ my choice” because that’s exactly how I had felt before my sister in Christ confronted me.  

But I didn’t choose abortion; I chose open adoption. And despite the challenges — and yes, there have been hard days — I have never once regretted my decision.  

I am now a junior at the University of West Georgia, and I run the Students for Life group on campus. Students for Life of America has played such a huge role in my story over the last two years. I was able to find my calling in helping other women realize abortion isn’t the answer, and through my work with SFLA on campus and nationally I have found my voice in fighting for the voiceless. 

Open adoption is a beautiful and courageous choice for mothers facing unexpected pregnancies who want to offer their babies a chance at a full and loving life. My daughter’s story is not one of rejection, sadness, or loss — it is a story of redemption.