Deena So'Oteh for Insider
Tara couldn't afford to keep the baby.
It was fall 2021, and she and her husband were "totally broke and really struggling," she said.
They were staying at Tara's mother-in-law's home in Texas, sleeping with their kids in a converted garage with no air conditioning or heat. They could barely buy formula for their 3-month-old or food for their toddler. Her husband, an electrician, hadn't had work since the pandemic started, and Tara had incapacitating postpartum depression. "It was hard for me to get out of bed every day," she said.
Then, Tara, who was 24, learned she was pregnant for the third time in two years.