Even though abortion survivor Melissa Ohden’s right to life was not protected before birth, she hopes other unborn babies’ soon will be.
Ohden, the founder and CEO of the Abortion Survivors Network, expressed hope Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade this summer. Earlier this week, Politico exposed a leaked draft opinion from the court that would allow states to protect unborn babies from abortion again.
“If true, I am hopeful that the justices will not fold to the pressure of the abortion industry, who immediately came out in droves to protest the alleged decision,” Ohden said. “However, the unprecedented nature of this leak shows the significance of this case for the nation, the court and preborn.”
Speaking with Fox News, she said legalized abortion has caused heartache and trauma for countless Americans, including people like her who have survived abortion attempts on their lives.
“Abortion survivors in our community are hopeful at the news that the very ruling that attempted to take our lives and left so many of us with physical, emotional and mental traumas and disabilities may be overturned,” she told Fox News.
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Female abortion survivors, in particular, feel the weight of the issue, Ohden continued.
“Abortion survivors in our Network are both male and female and range in age from infants to their 90s, but for female survivors, this particular argument that overturning Roe is an attack on women’s rights rings hollow,” she said.
“And how can abortion supporters reconcile the current reality that as women who survived abortion attempts, we have the right to procure an abortion in our nation but we didn’t have the simple ‘right’ to be born in the first place?” Ohden added.
She said the right to life is fundamental because no other rights can exist without it.
Ohden’s organization has connected with nearly 400 other abortion survivors, helping them share their stories, heal from the trauma of their past and meet others like them. No one knows how many babies have survived abortions in the past 49 years under Roe v. Wade, but the limited state and federal health data on abortion survivors suggests the number likely is in the thousands.
However, millions of other unborn babies were less fortunate. The purpose of an abortion is to kill a baby in the womb, and most succeed. Since Roe in 1973, about 63 million unborn babies have been aborted in the United States. The infamous ruling forces states to legalize abortions for any reason up to viability, about 23 weeks, and allows states to legalize abortions without limits up to birth.
This summer, the Supreme Court may overturn the ruling through a Mississippi case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. If the justices do, the abortion issue would return to the states. According to the Guttmacher Institute, as many as 26 states could ban abortions, saving hundreds of thousands of unborn babies’ lives.
