When I was 17, I was forced to meet with my bishop because I was pregnant and not married. I cannot remember everything about the conversation as I am now 59 years old but the one thing that was said to me at that time will always be a sad memory for me. I knew what I had done was wrong and that I should not have had sex out of wedlock and back then it was much more taboo than it is now.
The bishop told me that what I had done by getting pregnant outside of marriage was as bad as shooting someone and killing them. I thought “how could bringing a miracle into this world be as bad as killing another person.” I was ashamed but mostly I was angry. I left the church then and never looked back. I am happy to say that I am a Christian who believes that we are saved by God’s grace and that I am loved and I am forgiven for any sins that I may have committed.