NPR

'It's Not A Fairy Tale, It's Not A Failure': A Mother At 16 Conquers Stigma With Love

Until she put her own feelings before the judgments others made about her, April Gibson says she, as a young mother, "felt like I didn't deserve to feel the way women who do the right things do."
April Gibson gave birth to Gregory Bess in 2001.

A favorite pastime for April Gibson and her teenage son, Gregory Bess, is simply talking to one another.

"I think I learn more from those conversations than school," says Gregory, who turned 17 on Thursday.

But during a recent StoryCorps conversation in St. Paul, Minn., April,

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