'So Glad I Did': Fox News Doctor Recalls Choosing Life as a Pregnant Teenager

Many women who choose to have an abortion do so because they mistakenly believe a baby stands in the way of a career.  However, Fox News contributor Nicole Saphier, M.D., who is also a board-certified radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering, one of the top cancer hospitals in America, is living proof you can have a baby, even in high school, and still land your dream job. 

Dr. Saphier tells her heroic story in her new book, Love, Mom: Inspiring Stories Celebrating Motherhood which features firsthand accounts of motherhood challenges from Dr. Saphier's friends, including several other Fox News personalities.

Dr. Saphier recalls being a churchgoing, athletic, smart teenager who got good grades but made a mistake.  

"I became pregnant at the age of 17," she told CBN News. "I was faced with a huge obstacle. Do I continue on with the pregnancy or do I not?"

She said many people urged her to get an abortion.

"A lot of people around me told me that if I continued with the pregnancy that I would never fulfill my dreams of being a doctor," she said.

Nevertheless, she decided to keep the baby. 

"I was very faithful at the time. I used to go to Bible study, Rosary, Teen Mass," she said. "One of the most heartbreaking things that happened when I found out I was pregnant was that I was asked not to go to Teen Mass anymore."

Despite that, she kept her faith throughout her pregnancy.

"I was reading my teen Bible a ton during that time, and I was trying to draw strength from my Bible," she said.

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It wasn't easy walking the halls of her high school while pregnant. 

"I lost a lot of friends when I made the decision to have the baby. My boyfriend at the time and I also broke up," she said.

She gave birth just six weeks before her high school graduation. 

"My parents were holding my newborn son in the stands of my high school graduation," she said. "He was also at my college graduation, my medical school graduation, and every step along the way."

Not only did Dr. Saphier achieve her dream career despite being a teen mom, but her son is also realizing his. He's now in flight school to become a commercial airline pilot. Today, when thinking back on her decision to go forward with her pregnancy, Dr. Saphier said, "I'm so glad I did."

Dr. Saphier said the book is filled with various different stories of obstacles women face as mothers, but the common thread is that the mothers all credit their faith, family, and friends for helping them get through their challenges.  

"So I have people talking about very intimate things like finding their faith through divorce, miscarriages, and losing hope," she said. "Some deal with some domestic violence.  There's suicide in there, there's losing a child, there's severe mental health issues." 

"Many of the moms are from Fox, so Ainsley Earhart, Kayleigh McEnany, Jennifer Griffin, Martha MacCallum, many others," said Dr. Saphier. "But I also included moms that I had met outside of Fox, some of my patients, colleagues, Gold Star moms, and others."

So while no two moms are alike, Dr. Saphier points out that all mothers have reason to feel grateful.

"You're not alone. We're all kind of running around like crazy. But you have to remind yourself that it is such a gift to be a mother and you should thank God every single day that you were blessed to have children."