January 2011 – It was 1.21 million in 2005, 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000, 1.36 million in 1996. Between 1973 and 2005, over 45 million. Those are more than just numbers. Those are lives lost, one every 22 seconds since 1973, to abortion. There are several pro-life organizations and movements across the country that are making headway to make abortion illegal in the U.S. However, many of them allow exceptions to death by abortion. Many bills and measures allow for abortion in the case of rape and incest.

What if a child, conceived in rape, survived an abortion attempt? What if the child, who was considered unworthy of living even by some pro-life groups, was able to speak out after knowing her mother was raped and tried to have an abortion, twice? The answer can be found in Rebecca Kiessling.

Kiessling was adopted as a child. When she reached age 18, she sought out her birth mother. It was during that time she learned how she was brought into this world.

“When I was 18,” she said, “I discovered I was conceived by rape at knifepoint. When I was 19, I met my mother and she filled me in on the horrible details. A few weeks after our reunion I got the courage to ask about abortion. I wanted to feel safe; I wanted to know I wasn’t targeted. That is when she told me if abortion had been legal in Michigan at the time, she would have aborted me.”

Kiessling’s mother tried not once, but twice, to have an abortion. Her mother, Joann, went to two back-alley abortion clinics. After seeing the conditions there and fearing an unsanitary procedure, she left with her child still in her womb. After giving birth, Joann gave Rebecca up for adoption.

The abortion survivor spent many years dealing with feelings of low self-worth. Part of her pain was brought by the abortion rhetoric on the pro-life side. “The abortion rhetoric,” Kiessling stated, “says we need to make abortion legal for rape victims because a real rape victim would want to kill her child. The rhetoric also says that you are the rapist’s baby.

“But the fact of the matter is that only 15-25% of rape victims want an abortion, depending on the study you look at. And as for being the rapist’s baby, the truth is that he doesn’t even know about you. Most rapists do not know about any conceptions. I had to learn that I was not created in the rapist’s image and neither were the other children conceived by rape. We were created in God’s image to do good work.”

But before Kiessling could get busy doing the work God had laid out before the foundation of the world for her to do, He first had to bring her closer to Him. When Kiessling was in law school she was beat up by her boyfriend. After Kiessling was treated for a broken jaw, a friend invited her to church. It was there she was given a revelation about how one finds a relationship with God.

“As I went through the process to become a church member,” she recounted, “the first Scripture introduced to me stated that it is in the spirit of adoption that we are called to be children of God. That was revolutionary for me. I had always thought of adoption as a last resort. Why would anyone want to adopt if they could have their own children? I was only adopted because my parents were infertile. I was brought into their lives to meet a need they could not meet on their own.

“So by being adopted, I felt second best and last resort. Society told me I was garbage and worthless because I wasn’t even worth being protected from abortion, but the Bible said God chose me because He wanted me. He wanted an intimate, father-child relationship with me. I wasn’t second best to Him, I was and am priceless just like all those babies who are not being protected right now.”

After realizing her worth was neither given nor stolen away by the method of her conception, Kiessling wanted to pass on God’s love to those who dealt with similar feelings.

“There are people who have been utterly forsaken by their parents,” she said. “There are no human words that could be spoken to them that could make up for that, but when I read God’s word, Psalm 27:10 says, ‘Though my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me.’ Those precious children are not worthless; Jesus paid an infinite price for them. He thinks we are pretty valuable – not worthless, but priceless.”

To further meet the needs of abortion survivors and those conceived in rape or incest, Kiessling participates in several support groups. One is a Yahoo group called Stigma Group. She also started a private Facebook group where hurting souls can find a place of refreshing.

What is often forgotten in the abortion debate is the fact that there is a group of people who are often judged by the pro-life side and discarded by the pro-choice side. At least, that is how mothers who have had abortions may feel. They feel as though every glance, every nod in their direction is a direct judgment of their act. However, they will not receive much help from the pro-choice side because those who believe so strongly in abortion believe there is nothing to feel bad or guilty about.

It may be surprising to know just how many mothers who have had abortions participate in pro-life rallies. Some come seeking solace, hoping that by furthering the pro-life message they are paying a type of penance or keeping someone else from feeling their pain. Others come to talk to someone who has survived an abortion attempt.

Kiessling said, “I’ve had women who have had abortions come to me telling me their story. They aborted their baby. Through tears they ask me, ‘Do you forgive me?’ I first tell them that of course I forgive them, but that is not really my place. However, if they feel they need the forgiveness of a surrogate, of course I will be that for them. Many times, they feel like if someone who was almost aborted can forgive, maybe their baby can forgive as well.”

Then she shares a very personal story. Kiessling had severely hurt a friend, and she could not forgive herself. When she related her feelings to another friend, he had a series of questions for her. He asked, “You believe God sent Jesus to die for your sins, right?” Kiessling nodded in the affirmative. Then he asked, “Do you believe Jesus has come into your heart and forgiven you?” She stated she did. He followed by asking, “Do you believe He can and has forgiven you?” She thought about that and finally said yes, so he made his final statement, “By not forgiving yourself, what you are saying is that what God did by sending His Son to die on the cross isn’t good enough for you. That is a worse sin than whatever you did in the first place.”

Kiessling also has a word for those who are considering abortion; “Please understand, no matter the manner of conception, that child is first of all your child. It was given to you as a gift to bring healing. Your child will be a blessing whether you decide to place him in adoption or raise him yourself. Of all the women I have talked to who became pregnant after being raped and then chose to have an abortion, the vast majority have told me it takes longer to overcome the feelings from abortion than from rape. You may think it will make you feel better, but all the research shows those who have abortions have higher rates of suicide, murder, drug overdose and abusive relationships. Aborting your baby is not going to make it better. It is not going to keep you from being a mother, and I say this with all the love of my heart, but it will only make you the mother of a dead baby.”

For many on both the pro-life and pro-choice sides, the abortion debate is a philosophical and moral argument. It is personal to the extent that those on the pro-choice side look to a teen mother who, they believe, will wreck her life by trying to raise a child on her own while the pro-life side looks at the child who will have his life ended should his mother have an abortion. However, there is a place where they find common ground. Many pro-life leaders are willing to make exceptions in abortions bans for babies conceived by rape and incest. In the vast majority of bills proposed, these exceptions are there.

The argument is that the compromise is necessary; we will save the 99 by sacrificing the 1. Kiessling said, “When they are talking about that, I think of the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus was all about going after the one.”

Kiessling does not just stand on a Christian foundation for her argument. She, along with many others, learned a valuable lesson about exceptions from the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion in America. The opinion expressed in footnote 54 stated that because Texas had exceptions in its abortion clause, the state did not deem each unborn child a person. Therefore, since the exception allowed some to be aborted, the law should allow any to be aborted. Kiessling said, “The truth is that when all are not protected, none are protected.”

It is because people took a stand in the state of Michigan to make abortion totally illegal, without exceptions, that Rebecca Kiessling is alive today. Her mother informed her that if it had been legal, she would not be here. How many children could have been saved today if more Christians were willing to take a stand and be heroes to the unborn?

Rebecca Kiessling looks to those who fought the good fight as her heroes today. There are countless lives being lived this very moment because those heroes stood up and refused to back down.

A group of heroes are making their way across the country today. They are called Personhood USA. Their idea is to see each unborn child as a person, and give them the right to life. Will you be a hero to someone today?   

For more information about joining a personhood movement in your state or starting one, contact personhood USA by visiting, www.personhoodusa.com, emailing [email protected], or calling 202-595-3500.

Contact Rebecca Kiessling by e-mail: [email protected]; through her Web site: www.rebeccakiessling.com; or on Facebook.

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Selected statistics: abortion’s harm to women
Source: Elliot Institute, www.afterabortion.org

▶ 62% higher risk of death from all causes, 2.5 times higher risk of suicide
Compared to women who give birth, women who abort have an elevated risk of death from all causes, which persists for at least eight years. Higher risk of death from suicide and accidents were most prominent. Projected on the national population, this effect may contribute to 2,000 - 5,000 more deaths among women each year.
Southern Medical Journal, 2002

▶ 3.5 times higher death rates from suicide, accidents, homicides 
Researchers examining deaths among the entire population of women in Finland found that those who had abortions had a 3.5 times higher death rate from suicide, accidents or homicides in the following year. Suicide rates among aborting women were six times higher compared to women who gave birth and two times higher compared to women who miscarried.
European Journal of Public Health, 2005

▶ Abortion linked to wide range of mental health disorders
A survey of 5,877 women found that women who had abortions were at higher risk for various mental health disorders. Researchers studied 15 different mental health problems, including anxiety disorders (panic disorder, panic attacks, agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress disorder), mood disorders (bipolar disorder, mania, major depression) and substance abuse disorders. Abortion made a significant contribution for 12 out of the 15 disorders studied.
Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2008

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SURVIVORS
There are many abortion survivors alive today. Tragically, others survived the attempts on their lives in the womb, but died shortly after entering this world.

Ximena Renaerts’s mother went to an abortion clinic. Shortly after, she was sent to a local hospital where the little baby was born. After birth, the healthy baby was placed in a “hat,” a plastic pot. She was then whisked away to a room where dead fetuses are stored. After hours left alone, a compassionate nurse heard her cries and removed her from the cold room. She suffered massive heat loss, leading to severe and permanent brain damage. Her adoptive family sued the hospital in order to ensure Ximena will have care for her extensive needs for the rest of her life.

Sarah Brown died at age five as a direct result of the abortion attempt on her life. During the procedure, Sarah was injected with poison three times: once above the left eyebrow, once on the top of her head and once in the base of her skull. Two days after the injections, she was born in Wichita, Kansas. Bill and Marykay Brown took Sarah within 24 hours and adopted her within 30 days of the little girl’s birth. She began to progress normally, although she was blind. At six months old, Sarah had a stroke. She never fully recovered. She also had a progressive airway disease as a result of ingesting the poison, which eventually took her life. Although she was not able to live long, she did learn how to smile and her story has affected many.

Ana Rosa Rodriguez was the victim of a suction abortion. At the beginning of the abortion, Rosa, Ana Rosa’s mother, told the abortionist she had changed her mind. He informed her it was too late to stop. The abortionist, using forceps first to make the body small enough to vacuum out, could only grab an arm. He then told Rosa to go home and return the next day to finish the procedure. Ana Rosa’s mother gave birth that night in a hospital in East New York City. Ana Rosa was born without her right arm. Today she is alive and well.