Woman Who Survived Abortion Confirms: “Abortion is Not Health Care”

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Oct 28, 2022   |   11:29AM   |   Washington, DC

As Americans prepare to vote for politicians and ballot measures that will affect the future of millions of unborn babies, two women who survived abortions want to remind voters that their lives matter, too.

Speaking with The Epoch Times, Jennifer Milbourn and Robin Sertell said their lives were just as valuable in the womb, and certainly no less so because of their biological mothers’ “choice.”

“I really desperately want to see a world where nobody ever has to go through what I went through again,” Sertell said, noting how the abortion caused permanent physical and mental trauma.

Milbourn, who was adopted, told the news outlet that she still struggles with trauma and feelings of rejection because of her biological mother’s decision. In 1978, she said her mother had a vacuum aspiration abortion, but the procedure failed because she was further along in her pregnancy than what the abortionist thought.

“They began the procedure and realized that my head was larger than expected,” she said.

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Milbourn lives in California where voters will be asked to adopt Proposition 1, which would establish an unrestricted “right” to abortion in the California Constitution. She and her husband, Noah, have been sharing her story publicly to urge Californians to reject the amendment in November.

“That baby growing inside that woman is not a disease,” Noah told The Epoch Times. “This is something that has a heartbeat, something that has the very essence of life. Calling an abortion health care is [like] saying that a child is a disease—that it’s something that can just be eradicated and no thought has to be given toward that child.”

“Usually, when doctors fail, somebody dies. But in abortion, when a doctor fails, people live,” he added.

In Montana where Sertell lives, voters will be asked to pass a pro-life ballot measure this fall: the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which requires medical providers to take necessary actions to preserve the life of a baby who survives an abortion.

Sertell told The Epoch Times that she feels “blessed” to have survived three saline abortion attempts on her life, because other babies have been abandoned to die.

“Many abortion survivors … have been laid aside on cold steel tables and declared medical waste and left alone, crying and screaming,” she said. “I was very blessed to not be in that situation because my dad was in the room and advocated for my life, but … there is an absence of proper legal protection, and that needs to change.”

“The detractors are saying this will force people to have unwanted care,” she told the newspaper. “There is no forcing. This is saying that they must be treated as a legal person with the right to medically appropriate and reasonable care.”

Sertell said the abortion attempts on her life left lasting physical and emotional scars, including numerous health problems with her hearing, skin, hair, legs and digestive system.

She and Milbourn share their stories and connect with other survivors through the Abortion Survivors Network, where together they hope to change hearts and minds about abortion.

“We are just as human as you and everyone else in the world, and the experience of having someone try to kill you before you were born makes a lasting impression on you—physically, emotionally and spiritually—that no other human should have to go through,” Sertell said.