I am not a myth

May 14, 2013

As published on Secular Pro-Life’s Blog on May 14, 2013.

“This idea of an infant being born alive in the process of a botched abortion and people not making efforts to resuscitate — I think that’s a myth they like to propagate. It’s just not something that really happens.” So said Jessica Arons, an abortion advocate at the Center for American Progress, in Sunday’s CNN piece on Kermit Gosnell.

The next day, Gosnell was convicted of three counts of murder in the deaths of born-alive infants at his “clinic.”

“The type of abortion where an infant would be delivered, those only happen in hospital settings and they’re incredibly rare,” Arons said. I’ve heard statements like those of Ms. Arons from the abortion industry and their supporters more often than I can count.I’ve also received her statement in the form of a question, by people around the world, more times than I can count. “Late term abortions only happen in hospitals and they’re rare, right?”

WRONG. Although the exact figure of late term abortions and late term abortion survivors is not clear, the truth is that late term abortions happen more often than most people want to think. We know that Gosnell’s abortion facility is not the only “house of horrors” in this country. Live Action’s recent Inhuman investigation has shed further light on the normalcy of the abortion industry’s practices, including late term abortions and infanticide. Try as abortion supporters might to deny the hard truth, I am not a myth.

My medical records state that a “saline infusion for an abortion was done but was unsuccessful” when I was approximately 31 weeks gestation. My birthfamily has shared firsthand the horrific details of what happened when my birthmother was forced to abort me 35 years ago. My birthmother has stated that it’s a miracle that I’m alive.
And I am not alone. Over the past five years, I have had contact with 131 other abortion survivors. Just this past week, I met survivor #130 of these 131, a beautiful 16-year-old girl, whose twin lost their life through the abortion. The abortionist didn’t realize that Courtney was there in the womb, too, which is why she’s alive to share her story today. Just yesterday morning, I heard from survivor #131—a 45-year-old mother who just recently learned about her survival.
Those 131 other survivors are not a myth, either. We are living testament to the truth about life in the womb and the horror of abortion. Just because the media and the pro-abortion industry doesn’t want to acknowledge the truth about our lives and about late term abortion, that doesn’t make us and what we’ve experienced less real.
Jessica Arons calls us a myth. Our very existence says otherwise.