Sex, dating and family
I'm pregnant and scared. What do I do?
Short answer
Take a breath. You are not alone, and God has not left you. Your baby is a real life, and there is real help for both of you.
Finding out you're pregnant when you didn't plan it can feel like the ground has gone. Fear, panic and shame are normal. But God is not shocked, and He has not stopped loving you. He says, “Do not fear, for I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10).
The life inside you is a person God is already forming. The Bible says, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13), and God knew Jeremiah before he was born. Life begins at conception. That is why we gently but clearly encourage you to keep your baby, whether you raise your child yourself or choose adoption.
Don't carry this alone. Tell a trusted adult today: a parent, a youth leader your church has approved, a pastor or your doctor. If you're under 18, please tell a parent or another safe adult. If telling your parents feels impossible, start with a school counsellor or a doctor and let them help you. If someone is pressuring you, hurting you, or forced you into sex, that is not your fault. Tell someone now.
Real help exists. In New Zealand, Pregnancy Help gives free support, counselling and parenting help (pregnancyhelp.org.nz). In Germany, the Hilfetelefon Schwangere in Not is free, anonymous and open day and night on 0800 40 40 020. In Austria, aktion leben offers pregnancy counselling on 01 512 52 21 on weekdays. Wherever you are, a doctor or a church can point you to help nearby.
A baby is not the end of your life. God can bring good out of the hardest start. This week, tell one trusted person, see a doctor, and pray: God, I'm scared. Please help me and my baby.
My verses
For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.
Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.