Planned Parenthood, Abortion Enabled My Abuse; Now I’m Pro-Life

Opinion   |   Kristan Hawkins   |   Apr 1, 2011   |   11:05AM   |   Washington, DC

As the CR vote comes to a climax again next week, I wanted to share an incredible story with the LifeNews blog readers.  We’ve seen the Live Action undercover videos of Planned Parenthood’s protection of racists, rapists and sex traffickers but their movies come to life when SFLA directly works with Planned Parenthood’s victims.

Melissa Pereira, a pro-life student leader at Caldwell College in New Jersey, sent me her story last week after winning the “Tell Congress” video contest and her interview with the National Pro-Life Youth Podcast. It is so powerful, I want to share it with you. As you read it, remember that this is not a single case, but stories like this are generated everyday that Planned Parenthood is open.

We must de-fund this abortion Goliath, and reach out to women who are victims of the abortion industry.

—-

Why? Why me? Why did I have to learn at an extraordinarily young age how to make 911 calls? Why did I have to experience the trauma of threats? Why the screaming, the psychological manipulation, the constant fear as if my life were a big, ugly mine field? What did I do to deserve this? Looking at my peers, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why did I have to be born with this kind of life?”

After a lifetime of asking these questions it became very clear; as vivid as the days when I came close to death itself. I was born into this situation because three of my siblings could not be born. They became victims of abortion and I, then, had to become a victim of child abuse. It was all part of the vicious cycle where violence breeds violence. My life and that of my mother are living testimonies of the death of three children and a family.

People may think that the taking of the lives of my siblings created a void. I tell you, in this world, there can be no voids. From the laws of nature to the deepest recesses of the human mind and heart, there can be no voids; something has to fill it. The emptiness created from the murders of my three siblings was instantly filled with years of abuse and exploitation. Why did it take that route? Why couldn’t it have led to a sense of remorse, healing, or respect? Because Planned Parenthood is the Great Enabler that not only allows for the cycles of exploitation and abuse, but feeds it with their lies and what they do not say. Because Planned Parenthood’s idea of a “final solution” leaves no room for personal responsibility and accountability. Vulnerability is their target, from the innocent defenseless life in the womb to the fearful young girls and women caught in abusive relationships. My life testifies to this as that of my mother.

Twenty-six years ago my mother was forced into a Planned Parenthood facility with her supposed husband. As they entered the clinic together, my mother was pushed and verbally abused as her husband exclaimed that this was her only choice right in front of a clinic worker. Rather than defend the woman and her rights, one of Planned Parenthood’s champion causes, the clinic worker not only ignored the abuse, but proceeded to lie about her pregnancy. My mother was 5 months pregnant, but she was told it was just a “blob of cells”. There was no counseling, no chance for my mother to make an informed choice with the guidance of informed educators as Planned Parenthood claims to be. That day was empty of truth as my mother’s womb was emptied of a person too small and vulnerable to defend himself. It became a void for my father to quickly fill with more sexual abuse.

A year later my mother was pregnant again. At this point her abuser knew where to take her to find solace…for himself. After continued abuse of her body and I dare say, her very soul, once again, hand in hand with the Great Enabler, Planned Parenthood, they took advantage of my mother’s vulnerability. She was speedily referred to a nearby hospital that performed abortions. Where were the other options that Planned Parenthood speaks about? It was clear my mother had only one option as another sibling was taken and another void created for my father to intensify his insatiable sexual drives.
 
Again, my mother found herself pregnant. Obviously what Planned Parenthood had to offer as a solution was not working. My mother realized it, he didn’t want to. With the support of my grandmother, she mustered the courage to go forward with the pregnancy and keep the child. I was that child. Though my physical life was spared, I was born into the vicious current of abuse established by my father through the empowerment of Planned Parenthood. My life became a reminder that he was defied and therefore I had to pay. The tyrant did not like the void created by the word “no”, so he filled it with child abuse. I was no stranger to life threatening injuries.

My mother would find herself pregnant once more and again, she refused a trip to Planned Parenthood. My father took matters into his own hands, or shall I say fists. Following the example of his informed educators, he removed “the contents” himself by repeatedly punching my mother’s stomach. Before he could cut the phone line, as he did in the past, I found myself frantically dialing 911 and one more time left without a sibling.

We became part of the statistics that Planned Parenthood never records or admits. Studies have shown that abortion increases the chances of abuse because if a parent can choose to abort their child, an ultimate act of violence, then when a child is born they are capable of continuing that violence outside of the womb.

As life went on, the domestic violence and child abuse increased and so did my questioning of why things were the way they were. Then in 8th grade the truth of those questions came into the light. A nearby high school pro-life group came to give a presentation that would change my life forever. It was a presentation on abortion and nothing was spared. We were told about the methods of abortion and saw actual footage of an abortion. It was at that moment that I realized the pain my mother had gone through as I could visibly see what happened to my siblings. At twelve years old I was starting to understand the impact abortion had on my family. I later went on to that high school where I joined the pro-life group wanting so much for other girls to learn the truth like I did. Once my father found out about this I was told I had to leave the movement. For two years, fear of my father kept me away from the pro-life group on campus, but by the time I was a Junior I just couldn’t deny my convictions anymore and re-joined. It was through this group that I had the opportunity to participate in the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at the Planned Parenthood and abortion clinic where my sibling’s lives were taken. Having the option to sidewalk counsel girls before they entered the clinic and seeing them turn away was a true victory.

I believe that no matter how bad things are, there is always something good to draw from it, always for the purpose of helping others. Upon entering college the pro-life mission had truly become a passion for me. I had the opportunity to help start a Students’ for Life chapter on my campus.  Since I was given the opportunity to live, I am an abortion survivor. I want others to hear my story so that they understand the gravity and effects of abortion and the reality behind the abortion business.

Recently my mother had the courage to seek a divorce. Years of death threats no longer caused her to cower in fearful submission. She has had to bear the health consequences directly related to the sexual abuse of my father and the abortions, a hysterectomy among them. She lost her job in the process and incurred medical fees and lawyer fees. It was worth it. It’s what it took to break from Planned Parenthood’s solutions to her problems. Now she has freedom and the chance to restore her dignity. Now she can make her own choices and none of us live with the fear and confinement of living with a tyrant.

The solutions offered by Planned Parenthood finally caught up with my father. He was placed behind bars for a good while and he is now a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

After putting my testimony on YouTube, some people have commented that it was not Planned Parenthood’s fault that my father did what he did and that Planned Parenthood does good work. I can tell you from experience, no organization can do good work when they lie, cover the truth, destroy innocent human life, and feed promiscuity at the cost of abuse of young girls. No organization can do good when it endorses “sexual freedom” but does not address the psychological and relational aspects of a person, especially girls. No organization can do good when it offers birth control to minors while remaining silent about abuse. And how can any organization do good when it destroys entire families, as I myself have experienced?

This is a message to anyone and everyone who is resorting to Planned Parenthood. Abortion, birth control and promiscuity are not answers. And while they tell you on their web site to “take care down there”, I tell you take care of you, your whole person, your mind, heart and the life you may carry within you.