As we’ve shared here at Human Life Review before, it’s often the case that the “pro-choice” side isn’t really “pro-choice” at all. When abortion becomes the default “solution” to an unexpected pregnancy, rather than empowering women, this mindset, among other things, gives cover to careless men who don’t want to take on the role of fatherhood.

Such is apparently the case with early aughts pop star Britney Spears, who revealed in her upcoming memoir that 20 years ago, her boyfriend at the time, Justin Timberlake, pressured her into having an abortion.

“It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy,” she said of the pregnancy. “I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated.”

Timberlake, however, felt differently.

“But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy,” Spears wrote. “He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.”

Spears, who now has two teenagers from her second marriage, said that if she had had more support, she wouldn’t have gone through with the abortion.

“If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it,” she wrote. “And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”

As for many young women who feel pressured into abortion, Spears is still haunted by the decision.

“To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life,” she said.

Sadly, Spears’ experience is not foreign to many other women who have had abortions. According to a peer-reviewed study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, published this year, “nearly 70 percent of women with a history of abortion describe their abortions as inconsistent with their own values and preferences, with one in four describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced.”

For many women, abortion is not their first choice; instead, it seems like their only one. The mission for pro-lifers, then, is to continue to support pregnancy resource centers and other groups that provide aid to expecting mothers. It’s also important to reach out personally to any women who may be struggling in our own communities.

In order to prevent stories like Spears’, more women need to know that abortion isn’t their only option, and that when they choose life, they will not be alone.