The National Enquirer’s “Britney Aborts Baby – Now Adnan Dumps Her!” cover story is not about how she supposedly aborted a baby recently. The title is misleading as the Enquirer claims inside that Britney aborted a baby in 2002 at the age of 20. While you may assume that it was Justin Timberlake’s baby, as she was dating him up until early 2002, The Enquirer says that she doesn’t know who the father was as she was partying and sleeping around before she supposedly got pregnant for the first time. Her family convinced her to have an abortion, this article asserts, and she was devastated by it and often thinks about what would have happened if she made the choice to have the baby. This sounds incredibly sad if it’s true:

Britney Spears’ devastating mental breakdown was triggered by a secret abortion, insiders have revealed exclusively to The Enquirer. The decision to terminate the pregnancy left her an emotional wreck, say sources.

Britney had the procedure after breaking up with Justin Timberlake in March 2002 – and became convinced she was “going to hell” for her actions, confide insiders. She has never psychologically recovered from that trauma…

On the rebound from Justin, Britney had sex with other men from her hometown and could not be sure who the father was, say the insiders. She was only 20 and was urged to abort for the sake of her singing career and maintaining her public image as a “virgin,” according to the sources.

But that fateful decision has haunted her for years and damaged her psychologically – propelling her to abuse drugs, rush into marriage, and desperately yearn to become a mom, say sources.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, March 17, 2008]

You feel for her, but it’s overblown to say that all her problems in life stem from an abortion she had. Plenty of women make a decision to terminate a pregnancy and while it’s a difficult choice they move on to lead fulfilling happy lives. It’s not like an abortion means that someone is going to be an emotional wreck for the rest of their lives, but I suppose I shouldn’t expect The Enquirer not to hype it and get all preachy.

Britney’s mom Lynne is also said to have encouraged her 16 year-old daughter, Jamie Lynn, to abort her pregnancy for the sake of her career. Jamie Lynn decided to carry the baby to term and is reportedly due in June.

If this story is true it means that both of the Spears girls got pregnant as young woman before they were married. In Britney’s case you’re more emotionally prepared to have a baby at 20 than at 16, but it’s still way too early. In terms of Britney’s many issues you probably can’t point to a single thing and say that it was all downhill from there, except maybe K-Fed. This is a girl who had a boob job as a teen and was forced to work 20-hour days when other kids her age were in high school. She also wore tiny outfits and was over-sexualized as a teen but was told to keep up the facade that she was a virgin. That’s got to mess you up emotionally over time. ‘

Here are some obviously older pictures of Britney performing, thanks to PRPhotos. Whether she’s pregnant or not now remains to be seen.