REBECCA'S STORY: CONCEIVED IN RAPE
Rebecca Kiessling

I was adopted nearly from birth. At 18, I learned I was conceived out of a brutal rape at knife-point by a serial rapist. Like most people, I'd never considered that abortion applied to my life, but suddenly I realized that it has to do with my very existence. It was as if I could hear the echoes of all those people who, with sympathetic tones, say, “Well, except in cases of rape..."

Please understand that when you identify yourself as "pro-choice," or make that exception for rape, that translates into you being able to stand before me, look me in the eye, and say, "I think your mother should have been able to abort you." That's a pretty powerful statement. I would say never to someone, "If I had my way, you’d be dead right now."

I'm alive today due to choices made by our society, by people who fought to ensure abortion was illegal at the time—even in cases of rape, who argued to protect my life, and who voted pro-life. I wasn't “lucky." I was protected.

Although my birthmother was thrilled to meet me, she actually went to two back-alley abortionists and I was almost aborted. She was to meet someone at night. Someone would approach her, say her name, blindfold her, put her in the backseat of a car, take her and then abort me, then blindfold her again and drop her back off. And do you know what I think is so pathetic? An awful lot of people would hear me describe those conditions and would shake their head in disgust: "It's just so awful that your birthmother would have had to go through that in order to be able to abort you!" I realize they think they are being compassionate, but that’s pretty coldhearted from where I stand. That is my life they are so callously talking about and there is nothing compassionate about that position. My birthmother is okay—her life went on and in fact, she's doing great, but I would have been killed, my life would have been ended. I may not look the same as I did when I was four years old or four days old yet unborn in my mother’s womb, but that was still undeniably me and I would have been killed through a brutal abortion.

According to Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute, most women who become pregnant out of sexual assault do not want an abortion and are in fact worse off after an abortion. (See afterabortion.org.) So most people's position on abortion in cases of rape is based on faulty premises: 1) the rape victim would want an abortion, 2) she'd be better off with an abortion, and 3) that child’s life just isn't worth having to put her through the pregnancy. I hope my story, and other stories posted on rebeccakiessling.com, will help dispel that last myth.

I'm so thankful my life was spared, but a lot of well-meaning Christians say things like, "Well, you see, God really meant for you to be here!" But I know that God intends for every unborn child to be given the same opportunity to be born.

Won’t you join me in affirming others' value as well, in word and in action?

Learn more about Rebecca Kiessling, a family law attorney, pro-life speaker, and homeschool mother of five, at rebeccakiessling.com.

Adapted from the "180" Course Study Guide.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/official.Ray.Comfort5 Page Liked · 15 January ·