Category: Sexual Assault Victims

Jennifer Christie was brutally raped and became pregnant. She saw her baby on the ultrasound at 6 weeks:

“I saw a little dot, and it flickered… and I knew what that was. And for the first time since I had been raped, I felt that light inside me again. And I smiled, because that little flicker on the screen, to me, was hope and joy and light.

At a moment where everything was so dark and so painful, I remember thinking that I couldn’t protect myself. I fought and I tried, but I couldn’t. But on that screen there, that little guy blinking at me with that tiny, tiny heart — him, I could protect. I called my husband and I said ‘Are you sitting down? I’m pregnant.’ … He said, ‘This baby is something beautiful from something so terrible and painful.’…  He said, ‘We can do this.’ And I said, ‘Ok, we can do this.’”

We had so many doctors and nurses tell us, “You do not want this. You do not want a child from rape. You will always have this reminder hanging over your head, this reminder — if you keep it –” And they say ‘it,’ they don’t call it a child because then it’s real. They don’t wanna make it real. “If you keep it you will never be able to move on, you will never be able to forget.

Guess what? No woman is ever gonna forget what happened to her. Whether she has the baby or doesn’t… you are changed forever and that’s just a fact. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t become a better person than you were before…..

[My son] is a reminder that good can come from evil every time. He is a reminder that love is always stronger than hate…. He is a reminder that who we become as human beings is not determined by how we start.”

Kelli “Rape survivor says son, conceived in rape, is proof that ‘good can come from evil’” Live Action News December 18, 2018

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Marie Rodier, pregnant after rape, told her story.  She became pregnant before Roe v. Wade, but her state allowed abortions in case of rape:

“My immediate feeling was anger; there was never a moment when I thought of the baby as mine. I was as disgusted with the thought of it as I was of the rapist, and I wanted to get rid of it…

My feelings changed from anger into a very withdrawn depression. I had morning sickness and was tired. I felt under pressure internally to abort. I was also influenced by my feminist friends who approved of abortion…

I planned from early on to get rid of it. I decided out of anger, wanting to rid myself of the “filth” of this child. Before this I had given no thought to abortion. If it hadn’t been that I was raped, I would not have considered abortion, because I did not believe it was moral to abort for convenience. Besides, the state law allowed abortion in cases of rape.”

The abortion, however, was a horrible experience:

“During the abortion I woke up in pain, screaming, “What are you doing to me?” I felt like they had sucked out my guts. The staff was very rude to each other, yelling over the vacuum to hurry up. Afterwards I felt totally empty and stripped of any bit of value in my life.”

She suffered emotional distress:

“The abortion had negative effects for three years afterwards. Even though I was trying to gain respectability on an outer level, I was also drinking heavily, smoking marijuana, and being promiscuous, even getting involved in three adulterous affairs. It was very depressing.

Another possible effect is that it made relationships with men even more difficult. It took me 15 years to get married. Then when I tried to conceive a child, I discovered I am not able… This has been a very sad thing to face – that I may have killed my only child…

Far from helping me deal with the rape and incest, the abortion just covered over the issue… It took me 17 years to deal with the abortion…

Abortion is not helpful; it only obscures the areas that need healing by placing a huge wall of guilt between the real issues and the woman’s conscience.”

David C Reardon, Julie Makimaa, and Amy Sobie Victims and Victors: Speaking out about Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault (Springfield, Illinois: Acorn Books, 2000) 61-62

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Jennifer Christie is a mother from rape. She says:

“People will tell you that a raped woman who conceives will feel rage and anger and disgust toward her baby. And I’ve spoken to hundreds and hundreds of women, and that is just not true.”

Kelli “Rape survivor says son, conceived in rape, is proof that ‘good can come from evil’” Live Action News December 18, 2018

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Ruby Westmoorland — a mother who conceived a child in rape — and her granddaughter Veronica appeared in the documentary “Pro-Life without Exception.” Westmoorland was raped two weeks after her 17^th birthday. After confirming her pregnancy, she told her mother, who urged her to have an abortion. Westmoorland explained:

[I] found out eventually that I was pregnant and was devastated and scared and confused. My mom was there for me. She told me she would support whatever choice I made, but had a friend come over and kind of do an intervention, where they counseled me to go for an abortion, and strongly encouraged it. And [they] already had a plan in place for finances and travel and everything – they were gonna take me to Dallas.

Westmoorland was not sure she wanted an abortion and wanted to pray about the decision. However, her mother made the option of abortion sound very attractive:

I told her I needed to think about it and immediately went to my room and started praying. They made it sound really good, because I could go to college, which was a dream, pursue my art career, and do the things I already had planned to do.

After taking time to pray, Westmoorland decided against abortion:

It didn’t pan out that way because when I got alone with God, I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t in me. I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t the baby’s fault. I told my mom that, sink or swim, the baby and I were in it together. She didn’t argue. She didn’t throw anything, she said okay.

Westmoorland struggled with emotional trauma from the rape, but was not traumatized by her pregnancy. Abortion supporters who claim that pregnancies conceived in rape are a constant reminder of the rape and are always emotionally traumatic are wrong. In fact, Westmoorland’s daughter had the opposite effect – she inspired Westmoorland to keep going:

I wasn’t devastated about the baby as much as I was devastated about the rape. The baby was the highlight. … It was something to hold on to, to stay in the here and now, and to deal with and to stay strong for.

Having her in my life gave me a reason to keep moving forward, and a purpose for not sitting down and giving in to self-pity or fear or anger. There was a lot of anger, a lot of rage. But it wasn’t towards her, it was towards the fact that she and I both were in a situation that neither one of us asked for.

Westmoorland gave birth to a little girl. Years later, the young girl found out how she was conceived by overhearing a conversation. She asked her mother, “How can you love me?” Westmoorland says:

I told her – and I believe this with everything in me – that she was not a mistake, because God doesn’t make mistakes.… I told her that she was a gift to me, coming out of [a] really bad place, so that I could get through what happened. I really believe that’s why He gave her to me, because when I see her, I just see beauty. I see love. I see hope.

Eventually, Westmoorland’s daughter gave her grandchildren. Reflecting back, Westmoorland is thankful for her daughter, saying,

“She gave me strength… I’m very thankful, because without her, life would have been a whole lot different. I wouldn’t have my grandchildren. [I] wouldn’t have my daughter.”

Westmoorland’s story proves that a baby conceived through rape can help a mother heal and give her strength to become a survivor.

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Andrea Villegas, mother of twins conceived during rape:

“My story is a bit sad. I was drugged and raped almost two years ago, and a few days later I realized that I was pregnant. It was very traumatizing, but I decided to get ahead with my baby who was not to blame for anything (so I didn’t know there were two). Three months later, after an ultrasound, the doctor told me: there are two, so I felt that the world was coming over me once more. I didn’t know how I was going to do from that moment and once again, I gathered up courage and thought that God had a very important purpose for me and my children. I have lived the most wonderful moments next to these little ones who have already turned one year old. I do not regret anything. It wasn’t the prettiest way they came into my life, but here they are always inspiring me to get ahead and to not give up, just for them. Sara and Ezequiel are the most wonderful thing that has come to my life and I love them with all my heart.”

Andrea Villegas, mother of twins after a rape, from Spanish division of Save the 1, Salvar El 1.

Shared by Rebecca Kiessling Pro-Life Speaker on March 3, 2020
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Pro-choice Glamour magazine did an article where they interviewed women and their adult children conceived in rape. The writer wrote:

“It is a stunning fact of these stories that in each case, the mother was able to overcome her loathing for her rapist and instead find joy in her love for her child.”

Jennifer Braunschweiger “My Father Was a Rapist” Glamour August 1999, 251

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A woman who was raped and became pregnant describes her abortion:

“The clinic staff made me feel not only like I was on an assembly line, but if I stopped to look at information, or if I looked like I was scared, and/or having second thoughts, they became impatient. One nurse even raised her voice to me; like how dare I question her.

I barely whimpered — almost like a sad little kitten — and this woman berated me and made me feel so scared and lost…

Physically, the abortion hurt almost to the point [where] I was seeing little white spots on the ceiling and the operating room was beginning to softly spin…

I wanted to scream out, “No!!! Stop!!! You’re hurting me, and you’re killing my baby!!! Please stop!!!”

… Fourteen years later, and I still don’t know if it was a little boy or girl baby I aborted. I’ve often suspected “it” (my baby) was a girl …. I ache to hold my baby. And ache that I cannot.”

This testimony originally appeared on AbortionConcern.org

Quoted in Sarah Terzo “Women pregnant by rape: Abortion ‘just added more layers of trauma’ Live Action News April 18, 2019

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Rape victim Jackie Bakker, who aborted her child conceived in rape:

“I soon discovered that the aftermath of my abortion continued a long time after the memory of my rape had faded. I felt empty and horrible. Nobody told me about the pain I would feel deep within, causing nightmares and deep depressions. They had all told me that after the abortion I could continue my life as if nothing had happened.”

David C Reardon Aborted Women: Silent No More (Chicago, Illinois: Loyola University Press, 1987) 206

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Lianna Rebolledo was 12-years-old when she was raped by two men and became pregnant. Lianna decided to keep her baby after she asked the doctor if abortion would ease her pain and he replied ‘no.’

Now Lianna, 35, says she has no regrets about choosing life for her child and that her daughter has helped her overcome suicidal thoughts.

“If abortion wasn’t going to heal anything, I didn’t see the point. I just knew that I had somebody inside my body. I never thought about who her biological father was. She was my kid. She was inside of me…

It was really hard, but just to see that little person telling me how happy she was that I gave her her life. When she said that — and she was only four years old when she told me: ‘Mommy thank you for giving me life’ — I realized that she was the one who gave me my life back.

In my situation, two lives were saved. I saved my daughter’s life, but she saved my life. Even though [the rape] was a very hard moment, if I had to go through that [again] just to know and to love my daughter, I would go through that again. She’s always been there for me. She’s the only person who has shown me a real love. And I always will be grateful.”

SARAH ZAGORSK “12-Year-Old Bravely Rejected Abortion After Rape, She Has No Regrets 23 Years Later” FEB 27, 2015

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Tricia Allen became pregnant from rape. She writes about giving birth to her son:

“The day my son was born, the nurses placed him in my arms, and he latched on and nursed right away.  I gazed at him and my son was just perfect.  I didn’t give one thought to the man who raped me.  My son was mine and mine alone.  And it turned out that my dearest child was the greatest gift I’ve ever been given.  He has beautiful green eyes and adorable red hair….

After a year, I met my husband. … We married a first months later, and now we’ve been married for 15 years and have three children we’ve raised.

My son just turned 16, and he is one of the most empathetic people you’ll ever know.  He’s a senior level Boy Scout — receiving many honors. He’s on the robotics team and he speaks German….

I do have flashbacks sometimes, but not as often now because I only see the beauty of the amazing child I was given through the worst day of my life.”

Tricia Allen “My Amazing Child Who Came From The Worst Day Of My Life” Save The 1 Blog September 7, 2018

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