An easy solution eluded them. Melissa's boyfriend, Greg, didn't want someone else to raise the baby. Melissa didn't want to get married just because she was pregnant. Neither of them wanted to disappoint friends and family. Though Melissa knew her parents would support her, she feared having people know she and Greg had slept together.
German law requires women to attend counseling before having an abortion.
The details are sketchy in Melissa's memory, but she recalls the counselor asking her several times if she really wanted to go through with the abortion. When the time came, Greg took Melissa to get the abortion and then took her home. She promptly threw up and started to cry. And that was it. They never discussed the abortion again, and Melissa decided then and there to keep it to herself.