I would love to work higher paying jobs, but with no degree, this is the best I can do

I grew up in a great home. My parents were always loving towards each other and my sister and me. They always encouraged us to achieve great things, sent us to private school, took us on nice vacations every summer, and provided us with piano, dance, and figure skating lessons. My family is very stable, and you would expect any child that has grown up in this environment to carry on living the same way.

My sister did. She is now married, has a beautiful baby, and is living a wholesome life in the suburbs of Kansas City. I, however, have made a giant mess of my life. I am 21 years old and I am not in school, because, due to my father’s income I qualify for no financial aid. Even though I’m paying for my school entirely, I live paycheck to paycheck, making school nearly impossible to save for, and now, I’m 22 weeks pregnant.

For your sake, I truly hope you or a friend or a family member never experiences an unexpected pregnancy, because I fear that you will be treated with the same disrespect that you’re so publicly bestowing upon others.

Regardless, since then, my boyfriend and I have split up, and I am desperately in need of financial assistance. I work full-time at Starbucks, and up until my pregnancy was working three jobs – Starbucks, Pita Pit, and teaching group ice skating lessons.

I saw some of you make comments about how these young women that got pregnant should have had an abortion, because they were too “stupid” to practice safe sex

I would also like to mention, I have been with Starbucks for three years, and I worked at Pita Pit for a year. The coaching, however, was just seasonal.

With these jobs, I made 10 grand last year. It’s definitely not a lot, but as a single person, I managed to survive. However, now that I will have a baby, I am faced with a whole bunch of brand new expenses.

My health insurance through Starbucks is great, so I am not worried about that, but there is no way I can afford rent, groceries, day care expenses (because yes, I do intend on continuing full-time employment), etc on my income.

And honestly, I still do not even know if I am going to apply for welfare or not. An adoption is very much an option for me right now. It is so hard to think about giving up my baby, but as a mother, I have to do what’s best for my child.

I would love for that to be me, and I would have to have some sort of government assistance, but if I discover it’s not, then an adoption is my only choice.

For those of you who have criticized the young and single mothers for being stupid and not practicing safe sex, you should know, condoms do break from time to time

Some of the same people making these comments were insulting the morality of people on welfare. However, you are suggesting murdering a child rather than seeking government assistance, and you’re criticizing morality?

I am just so irritated by these kinds of comments. You sit here and make these women out to be white trash and idiots and all cracked out and not hard workers. Let me tell you something: I am one of these women, and I can tell you first-hand these are nothing more than stereotypes that are not true!