Tallie Stafford was 16 years old, active in sports, and had been dating her high school boyfriend for three months when she suspected she was pregnant. She went to the community health department at school to take a pregnancy test.
Stafford told Live Action News, “I heard the phone ring. It was the health department. The pregnancy test was positive. I was adamant that I wasn’t going to go through with the pregnancy.” When Stafford told her boyfriend, he was against her choosing to have abortion, as was his mother — yet they provided the funds for her to have the abortion.
“None of the adults in my life tried to stop me from having the abortion,” Stafford said.
Teen believes abortion is only solution to unplanned pregnancy
It was Stafford’s best friend who was the most supportive and who pleaded with her to reconsider the abortion, but she just couldn’t fathom being a single mother at 16.
Stafford said, “I believed the lie that abortion was the only way to relieve the stress of an unplanned pregnancy and subsequent single motherhood. It saddens me to think that ending a pregnancy was the ‘norm’ for the society I was living in. I didn’t know much about the procedure but felt sure it was the right thing to do.”
The facility she visited was more like an old home rather than a traditional clinic or doctor’s office. She was given an ultrasound, but the screen faced away from her.
“I was told I wasn’t far enough along to get the abortion, and I’d have to come back in two weeks,” Stafford said. “It was at that time my boyfriend tried to wreck his car, he was so distraught.”
READ: Mom encouraged to abort baby, even as doctors worked to save others like him
But two weeks later, she went back for the abortion.
Stafford said, “I had to sit out of sports games and marching band. I told everyone at school I had ulcers. I didn’t want them to know the truth, but my best friend knew and so did the person who went with me to get the pregnancy test.”
Soon, everyone in school would know about her abortion. Stafford would be tormented by her classmates for what she had done.
“My classmates would put notes in my locker declaring ‘abortion is wrong,’” Stafford said. “Then, my science book was stolen, then returned. Written inside the book in large letters was ‘Tallie is a baby killer’.”
Eventually, the bullying escalated, forcing Stafford to leave school. Her friends had pushed her away; out of desperation, she moved in with her boyfriend.
Stafford said, “He became abusive after the abortion, but the relationship got more toxic over time. He once donned black gloves and threatened to put his hands around my neck and squeeze until I was dead.”
He found her birth control, prompting her to stop taking it. Within a year, Stafford was again pregnant.
“This would be my ‘redemptive child,’ in the hopes my boyfriend would love me again,” Stafford said.
Yet while she was pregnant, she was taunted with cruel remarks from her boyfriend’s mother’s co-workers who told her the baby she was carrying wouldn’t cancel the sin of abortion.
About six months after the birth of her baby, Stafford split with her boyfriend and finished high school, later attending college.
Revelation from a fellow churchgoer spurs a redemptive, healing journey
Later, Stafford married and became a mother to two more children. During this time, twinges of regret and guilt would manifest from time to time, but she would stuff her emotions and trudge on — for many years.
Stafford said, “These feelings of guilt, shame and regret became too strong to push away when we started to have grandchildren. When our granddaughter passed in 2021, I felt like God was punishing my daughter for my sin.”
These feelings continued to grow over the next two years as she struggled with shame, dwelling on what she had done at that tiny clinic years earlier.
Then, in 2024, Stafford read the testimony of a woman on Facebook who was post-abortive. The woman, Adriana Camp, was a fellow churchgoer. Stafford was shocked to learn about her past. “I thought she was so brave to be so open,” Stafford said. “She was now dedicating her life to saving precious babies. I wanted to reach out to her. Little did I know that by connecting to her, it would lead me to my healing journey.”
It began at the church’s annual ladies conference. Stafford had not attended for a few years but felt a strong pull to go. Yet, it seemed as if she encountered so many obstacles to thwart her plans.
Stafford said, “As I began to get ready to go, I felt like God spoke to my heart. Out of nowhere, God told me to disclose my abortion to Adriana at this conference. I didn’t know her well but felt I needed to talk to her.”
When she arrived at the conference, Stafford was disappointed when she couldn’t locate Camp. She wondered if she really heard God’s voice directing her to reach out to the woman. “I kept hearing the words, ‘in due time,’ Stafford said.
The next morning after the service, Stafford was waiting in the back of the conference room when she noticed Camp.
“I went over to her immediately, grabbed her hand and out rushed the secret I held onto for 30 years,” Stafford said. “She wanted to know my baby’s name, and to my surprise, I told her, “Brayden Deshaun.”
It was the first time that Stafford had ever said her baby’s name out loud. Now, she could face the demons that had haunted her for too long and embrace redemption. “I received the Holy Ghost when I was 21,” Stafford said. “I felt forgiveness for my abortion but still struggled with the weight of shame and condemnation.”
Camp encouraged Stafford to share her baby’s story with his siblings and to host a memorial for him. She urged Stafford to pick out a special flower for him like she had for her own son. She provided Stafford with information about an abortion recovery program.
Stafford said, “It wasn’t a justification for the decision that I had made, but it was the beginning of mourning a child that up until this point I didn’t feel I had a right to.”
Camp also directed Stafford to an abortion recovery program.
“I finished this program at the end of October and through the word of God I have been able to start to heal some of my deepest wounds,” Stafford said. “It took one woman’s courage to share her pain that helped me see how important it is to speak out.”
