May 4, 1985

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.''