What was going on when I was born?

When Paula's father discovered she was pregnant, he said that if she did not have an abortion he hoped her baby would die. ''I had to get away from that thinking,'' said Paula, who is 17 years old. ''I had to figure out for myself how I was going to deal with all this.'' At an aunt's suggestion, Paula joined 34 other young women at Family Life Services, a maternity home in this town of peaceful, tree-lined streets. The residence, founded in 1982 by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, is typical of a new kind of maternity home that has sprung up from Orlando to San Diego and from Kansas City, Mo., to Hillsboro, N.H., in an effort to reduce the incidence of abortion.

The Reagan Administration's effort to overturn affirmative action plans in 50 cities, states and counties is meeting widespread opposition. In New York, New Jersey, Miami, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco, officials said in interviews that they opposed the Administration effort to eliminate quotas for hiring blacks, Hispanic-Americans and women. Several of these jurisdictions said they would fight in court against any attempt by the Justice Department to force changes in their hiring practices. ''The Justice Department is trying to reopen this wound and nobody here is excited by the prospect,'' said Philip R. Trapani, the City Attorney in Norfolk, Va., one of the 50 local governments involved. ''No community that has been through this and achieved the success we have is anxious to go back and revisit it.''

President Reagan won endorsement at the seven-nation economic conference today for what were termed the ''positive'' American proposals in arms talks with the Soviet Union. But he ran into broad criticism of the United States trade embargo against Nicaragua. Over dinner Thursday night and in talks today, the seven leaders discussed prospects for a meeting this fall between President Reagan and the Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and then declared their readiness ''to pursue a high-level dialogue to deal with the profound differences dividing East and West'' on arms control and other issues. The White House, meanwhile, announced that Mr. Reagan's visit to the Bitburg military cemetery on Sunday would be limited to 10 minutes and would include a wreath-laying ceremony. Before visiting the cemetery, where 49 SS soldiers are buried among others, Mr. Reagan will spend 50 minutes visiting the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp site, the White House said. [Page 6.] Differences on Nicaragua Several foreign ministers took issue with the embargo imposed against Nicaragua by Mr. Reagan on Wednesday. Sir Geoffrey Howe, the British Foreign Secretary, and Roland Dumas, the French Foreign Minister, were reported by a British spokesman to have asserted that they did not want Nicaragua driven to greater dependence on the Soviet Union and Cuba.

The Government today ordered the expulsion of two United States diplomats who the police said had taken part in an illegal May Day demonstration in Cracow. [The United States retaliated by ordering four Polish diplomats to leave the country. A State Department official said the action was a reflection of ''grave displeasure'' with the ''unjustified expulsion of our diplomats but also with the Polish Government's bald fabrication of a story to justify their expulsion.''] The action by Poland's Foreign Ministry came after Government and party newspapers published front-page condemnations of the two diplomats for ''brutally exploiting their diplomatic status.'' Detention Near Church According to the Polish press accounts, the two diplomats, William Harwood and David Hopper, both assigned to the United States Consulate in Cracow, were among 15 people taken into custody when the police detained marchers carrying anti-Government signs and shouting anti-Government slogans near a church in Nowa Huta, a steel-mill suburb of Cracow. A spokesman for the United States Embassy reported that Mr. Hopper had been struck, kicked and shoved into an unmarked car.

President Reagan and the leaders of six major industrial allies tried today to reach a compromise that would enable a round of global trade negotiations to begin early next year. While President Francois Mitterrand of France again refused to agree to a firm date for the trade talks, the French held out the hope of a resolution. ''A spirit of compromise reigns over this summit,'' a French spokesman, Michel Vauzelle, told reporters at the end of the afternoon session. Asked whether President Mitterrand's position was ''nonnegotiable,'' Mr. Vauzelle said that ''it's too early to reply.'' He added that ''we are in a negotiation.''

Mayor Koch yesterday proposed a $20 billion budget for the next fiscal year that increases spending by 10 percent, adds more than 10,000 city workers and demonstrates, the Mayor proclaimed, that ''times are better.'' Mr. Koch, who insisted with a smile that he was observing a moratorium on political comment in this election year, said: ''Last year's budget had good news. This year's budget is even better. And the best is yet to be.'' The budget gave details of increased hiring of police officers, sanitation workers and teachers. There are also to be new schools, rebuilt parks and tax cuts for businesses and low-income workers.

Two decades ago the Government calculated that it could provide adequate housing for the nation's poor with six million new units in 10 years. Since then it has spent well over $100 billion on housing programs that now help more than 15 million people, yet decent housing is still beyond the means of seven million households. Like many other landmarks of President Johnson's Great Society, Federal housing assistance has fallen short of its original goal. This gap reflects the high cost of housing as well as the difficulties encountered by Federal efforts to eradicate poverty. In almost every area of the nation, particularly in New York City, long lists of applicants wait to get into federally asssisted housing, much of it considered undesirable by most Americans.

At the corner of Union Street and the Plaza de San Martin, where Peru's underground economy comes bubbling to the surface, Isabel Prado stands all day with her back to the traffic selling cigarettes - one at a time. The 21-year-old former waitress seems good at her job. Calling out and occasionally smiling at passers-by, she can sell up to 400 cigarettes over a 14-hour day, earning the equivalent of 12 cents from each pack of 20 and taking home $2.40 in profits. ''But I have to fill the lighter once a week,'' she said, pointing to a hidden expense.

More than than 60,000 people demonstrated today in the cities and towns of New Zealand against the national rugby team's proposed tour of South Africa. The marches were generally peaceful, but in in the small town of of Matamata about 50 protesters were confronted by 200 people supporting the tour by the New Zealand All Blacks.

The World Medical Association says it is canceling plans to hold its annual assembly in South Africa.

Sixteen prominent opponents of the Government won a protracted legal battle today to obtain their release on bail. They are to be tried later this month on charges of high treason. Defense lawyers, however, said the terms of bail, set by a Supreme Court judge at the equivalent of $85,000 for the group, resembled house arrest, since the dissidents are required to report twice daily to the police, stay away from political gatherings and remain home between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M. The 16 are all members or supporters of the United Democratic Front, a nonracial opposition alliance that says it has 600 affiliate groups and a following of over 1.5 million. It is the biggest extra-parliamentary opposition organization in the country The dissidents had been refused bail since the police, invoking security laws, began detaining them in October for what is expected to be the biggest political trial in South Africa in a quarter of a century. At one point, the Attorney General of Natal Province issued an order forbidding bail altogether, but a Supreme Court judge overruled it, enabling them to apply for bail again today at the Supreme Court in Pietermaritzburg.

The International Federation of Journalists cabled Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India today to protest what it called the continued harassment of a reporter for The Associated Press, Brahma Chellaney, and to ask for the free exercise of journalism in India. The Brussels-based organization, which has a membership of more than 105,000, also protested ''the refusal by Indian authorities to return his passport and renew his press card.''