Good Thing She wasn't Pro-choice

By Tracey Burroughs

Summary

What Mary might have decided if she were a modern-day young woman.

Cast

Mary

Script

Hi my name is Mary.  Something very strange has happened to me, I would like to  share it with you.  It really sounds unbelievable but I promise every word is true.
Do you believe in angels?  Well, um, one came to me.  His name was Gabriel or something like that? (shrugs).  He told me I was going to (hesitates) have a baby  (snickers).  A baby?  I am only 14 years old.  Besides aren't you supposed to have sex with a man in order to become pregnant?  He said He would be the Son of God.  Wow, I must have really ate something weird that night.  I was soon to be married to Joseph.  Oh, Joseph (dreamy look) he is so wonderful.  I love him and he loves me.  When we get married, yes, then I'm sure we will have children.  But not until then!
Soon after that I went to visit my cousin Elizabeth for a few months.  That's when things really started getting crazy.  Every month I kept missing my period.   I  started to gain weight too.  I could hardly eat anything because I couldn't keep any food down.  How could I  be getting so fat?  I went to go see the doctor  to see what was really wrong with me.
He told me...(looks down) I was ah..pregnant!  What? ...How?...  No!...He knew me, he knew I was engaged.  How could this happen but  by only one way, he thought.  Ashamed of me, he handed me a pamphlet.  I didn't read it right away, my mind was on other things... What would Joseph say?...  What would he do?  He will never believe this!  Mom?...The people...they will stone me. (teary eyes)
I looked down (looks down at hand) in my clutched hands and read that pamphlet.  It was describing a choice for young mothers-to-be...abortion...  It would cost some money, but I could manage to raise it.  I made an appointment to get this thing done.  You mightn't believe me, but I really had never heard of this before - I'd had a fairly sheltered life in our little village.
Will it hurt?  What about the baby inside? (feels stomach) (Convinces self)
The pamphlet said it was just a foetus, not really a baby... (Relieved) Oh good, I wouldn't want to kill anything.  Well...I did it!  No one knows I was ever pregnant.  Joseph will never know...  The world will never know...  I hope I did the right thing?
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Copyright Tracey Burroughs, all rights reserved.
This script may be used free of charge, provided no charge is made for admission to the performance. In return the author would appreciate being notified of any performance. She may be contacted at: serveJesus@excite.com