Survivors of Abortion Are Changing Hearts and Minds

Opinion   |   Kristi Burton Brown   |   Dec 30, 2011   |   4:57PM   |   Washington, DC

I’m guessing that, based on the title of this post, you think I’m going to talk about photographs of aborted children. Nope. I’m going to talk about the living faces of aborted children. They wield an incredible power all their own.

Take Alex for example. When she was only three years old, she heard her mom talking on TV about how she had had an abortion. At her extremely young and tender age, Alex understood enough to ask her mother why she had killed her brother or sister but not her. Today, Alex and her mother are pro-life speakers who spread the message of hope, love, and life for all babies. Alex is a living face for aborted children. She is a survivor. She could have been aborted.

My own mom is another example. My grandmother has publicly stated that she became pregnant with my mom by a man who date raped her. Although she gave birth to my mom, she had an abortion with my mom’s only fully biological sibling. Later, my grandmother had two sons, my mom’s half-brothers, but aborted the child she conceived after them. Today, my grandmother regrets her abortions and donates to the pro-life cause. My mom—and her brothers—are living faces for aborted children. It could have been them. They lost siblings to the horror that is abortion.

Of course, there are also the faces of men and women who have personally survived abortions. Gianna Jessen, a famous pro-life speaker, survived a saline abortion and was adopted. A biography about Gianna describes how, at the age of three, she was terrified of the crackling sound a campfire made. Her adoptive mother came to realize that this was the same sound saline solution makes in an abortion as it burns the baby alive. Clearly, unborn babies experience abortion. It’s something that is done to them. They feel pain. Their mind—if they survive—remembers. Gianna Jessen has been a powerful living face for aborted children for years.

Rebecca Kiessling, whom I’ve personally met and spoken with, is also an abortion survivor. Her mother was raped, and wanted to have an abortion. She tried to obtain one twice, but failed. Rebecca was adopted, and has gone on to reconcile with her birth mother, is a pro-life attorney, a national speaker, and a spokeswoman for Personhood USA, a rising organization in the pro-life movement. Only days ago, Rebecca spoke to GOP presidential candidate Governor Rick Perry and was instrumental in changing his mind on the rape and incest exceptions to abortion.

Governor Perry stated, “We had a fairly lengthy and heartfelt conversation about how she [Rebecca Kiessling] was conceived in rape. Looking in her eyes, I couldn’t come up with an answer to defend exceptions for rape and incest. Over the course of the last few weeks, the Christmas holiday, reflecting on that – I would suggest that my pro-life position has been rather strong as the Governor of Texas. But she made a statement to me that was really strong and pierced my heart…I will suggest to you that all I can tell you is God was working on my heart.”

What an incredible living face for aborted children Rebecca Kiessling is! We need to encourage abortion survivors to share their stories and be a face and a voice for those who have none. You can read more stories here. These survivors clearly have incredible potential to change hearts and minds.

LifeNews Note:  Kristi Burton Brown is a pro-life activist in her home state of Colorado, a pro-bono attorney for Life Legal Defense Fund, and a stay-at-home mom. This column originally appeared at the Live Action blog.