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Join me at LifeNews

I am excited about this opportunity to work with LifeNews to share a perspective on building a culture of life and working in the pro-life movement that is unique—that of an abortion survivor. I am equally excited about how my regular blogging here will provide readers of LifeNews with more knowledge of survivors and our experiences, which I hope will provide readers with real-life examples to strengthen their position on life and motivate them to keep moving forward in creating a culture of life.

What Would You Say?

As published in National Right to Life News Today on May 30, 2013: If you had to stand before a child who was condemned to die simply because of who they were, what would you say if you heard…. “I’m sorry you were a girl, I really wanted a boy.” “The women are only...

I am not a myth

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 epiphany

That’s what hit me so strongly at today’s rally. I am no longer just a voice for the voiceless children in the womb. Like you, I am a voice for the children who survive failed abortions like me but are rendered voiceless by the actions (or inactions) of abortionists like Santangelo. I am a voice for those children who miraculously survived an abortion but who are not aware of their own stories of survival or don’t feel called (or courageous enough) to share of it publicly

Awareness is Growing About Abortion Survivors

Knowing this, we could then estimate that minimally there are 75 children who survive abortions in the U.S. each year. Forty years of legalized abortion with a minimal number of 75 children surviving would equate with approximately 3,000 survivors in the U.S. alone. Minimally.

My experience with survivors, however, tells me that the number is much greater than this, and even more so, that the stories of our lives and what we’ve experienced, is something that can’t be measured. Over the past 5 ½ years I have heard from or met other abortion survivors continuously. I have now been in contact with over 127 other survivors, with the majority coming from here in the U.S.

Seeing “us” again on a flight

As I watched all of this occur, I couldn’t help but think about how our world today views lives both inside and outside of the womb that are “different” or disabled. We know that as many as 90% of children with Down syndrome are aborted. We know that children with even suspected medical issues are targeted for abortion, whether it’s a simple cleft palate or a complex heart problem. Anyone who may not fit the mold of society’s “normal” are, by and large, aborted.

Not only is this a tragic loss of human life, but I believe that this is a tragic loss to our world. By ending these lives, we surround ourselves, more often than not, by only those lives that are largely similar to our own. When we are surrounded by such sameness, it becomes more and more difficult for many to be appreciative and simply, even tolerable, of those who are different than them.

The Culture of Life and the Culture of Death: dueling conversations

After 40 years, the language and therefore the discussion has shifted. Yes, there are many who are still uneducated or under-educated about human development and the dynamics surrounding abortion. But while there are many who want to deny the truth about abortion–because the truth is hard to bear–overall, there appears to be a new conversation that has developed about abortion.

The paradox is at the same time the conversation/dialogue/discussion moved past the old euphemisms in the direction of life, the inner logic of death has also moved on to claim new victims.