Boyfriend told me to get an abortion

Dear Pastor, This is the first time I am writing to you, but I am a regular reader of your column. I am 19 years old, and I grew up in a Christian home. I go to church every Sunday. I teach Sunday school. I have a boyfriend. He is not from our church. He has a good job. He is 26 years old. He wants to know everywhere I go. Sometimes he talks to me as if I am a little child.

Every weekend he goes to a different party. He takes me to clubs. I do not like to go clubbing, but he says that if I don’t go with him, he will have to go with another girl because he does not want to go alone. I went to a club with him, but I couldn’t let my parents know that was where I was going. When I told him that I couldn’t tell my parents where I was going, he said that I should remember that I am 19 years old.

NOT READY TO LEAVE HOME

This man is trying to encourage me to leave home, but I am not ready to do so as yet. He is living alone, and every time we go out, he takes me to his house to have sex. I threw away one pregnancy for him. I don’t want him to get me pregnant again. When he got me pregnant, I was not happy, and he was the first to suggest that I have an abortion. When he told me to have an abortion, I asked him why, and he said he did not want any children before he was married because bad luck would follow him. At the same time, he is not ready to get married.

I don’t know what this man thinks of me. He knows that I am a church member, and he is criticising my church and saying to me that I need to have more fun. I love him so much, but I am confused.

B.L.