The following is an excerpt from Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence.

Abortion survivors, their families, maternity nurses, and even clinic workers and former abortionists could all keep their abortion stories to themselves. They could decide to carry those untold stories quietly, privately. People must weigh their reasons for choosing whether to share such personal experiences, and I respect those reasons. But I also believe that abortion thrives in secret.  

Survivors’ life stories are often shrouded in secrets. Most of those secrets are intended to protect survivors from the pain of knowing their stories. But no matter how well intentioned, those same secrets can inflict even more pain as well as hinder healing. Yes, uncovering our stories can cause pain—for both ourselves and for others—but along with the pain of truth comes the freedom of understanding. Understanding difficult family dynamics. Understanding abuse and neglect. Understanding the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual suffering that survivors experience. And understanding those truths is what ultimately sets us on a path toward healing.  

Many voices, however, want to silence all of us who have an abortion story to tell. They say that speaking the truth about abortion is hateful and hurtful. I disagree. When done with compassion and care, sharing the truth is among the most loving things we can do. We have spoken the truth in this book, no matter how difficult it was, because we care enough to break our silence and expose our secrets.  

The rest of the world deserves to know the truth about failed abortions and the existence of survivors. This is one way to create a culture of life: no more secrets. Bring the truth to light. The more we acknowledge these experiences, the more people impacted by abortion will break their silence. That’s why I’m grateful to Steve, Jill, and all the survivors who allowed me to share their stories with you.  

The healing and support offered at ASN begins with sharing our stories. And sharing our stories requires us to find and use our voices. I’ve seen in my own life and work that having a voice goes hand in hand with healing. And using those voices to tell our stories can have a positive impact—on ourselves, on our loved ones, and on our culture.  

I trust that these stories of survival have shed new light on the humanity of the unborn and have provided a glimpse into the reality of failed abortions. The lives of survivors are not, as some claim, fabrications or some sort of political stunt. Nor is this book a work of fiction. Others like us continue to be born alive—even to this day. In fact, as I’m writing this, I know of an infant who recently survived a late- term abortion after his mother stopped the procedure when it became too painful. As a result he was born prematurely. Will his story someday be shared openly?  

My sincerest hope and prayer is that survivors and their families are supported to the extent that they never doubt their inherent value, that they know they’re not alone in their experiences, and that they can share their stories with confidence.  

Survivors have often suffered in shame, silence, and isolation. Our healing is further complicated by the secrets and hurts within our families, often very broken themselves. Even more complications arise because of the marginalization and stigmatization of abortion survivors—the fact that survivors have been declared nonexistent by our culture, mainstream media, and politicians. When these things are taken as a whole, you begin to understand why we’ve long kept our secrets to ourselves.  

This is my shout-out to the world and my appeal to you that the days of keeping our very existence a secret are over. We are stepping out of the shadows and into the light for all to see. But don’t let our seemingly sudden appearance lead you to believe that abortion survivors are somehow a new phenomenon. You now know that just as abortion has existed throughout time, so, too, have abortion survivors.

The Ripple Effect

A culture that embraces abortion is a culture that fails women. Our culture failed Rebekah when she took her first abortion pill. Our culture failed Priscilla when she believed that an abortion was the only way to keep her boyfriend. Our culture has failed unborn children, and it has failed survivors of abortion. When the solution to life’s difficulties and uncertainties is the taking of life, then the culture has failed us all.  

Surviving abortion has a lasting impact—not only on survivors but also on their biological parents, adoptive parents, siblings, adoption workers, doctors, and nurses. Abortion then has a ripple effect that includes children born to abortion survivors and beyond.  

Abortion is a thief. It steals not just lives but generations. It causes immeasurable suffering. No matter the procedure, no matter the circumstances, the mere act of abortion is the deliberate taking of a human life. Every life has dignity and value, meaning and purpose. Instead of throwing up our collective hands and saying “Abortions have always existed, so we should just accept it,” why don’t we instead ask what we can do to prevent women from feeling compelled to even consider this decision? As pro-life writer Frederica Mathewes-Green so powerfully stated, “No one wants an abortion as she wants an ice-cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal, caught in a trap, wants to gnaw off its own leg.” 

Abortion isn’t a sign that women are free, but a sign that they are desperate.  

So how can we turn the tide and shape a world where women are supported and abortion is unthinkable? How do we get there?  

We get there by listening to and sharing the stories of survivors.

Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence by Melissa Ohden and Cindy Lambert

How many survivors will it take for us to see the life behind the abortion?

Today’s culture would have us believe that abortion is simply a choice, a right, a controversial argument, and a religious and political issue of pro-life vs. pro-choice. It has become easy to think of the unborn as disposable products of conception—medical waste. But all of that changes when that “product of conception” defies the odds and arrives into this world as a living, breathing human being.

In Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence, we hear the true stories of abortion survivors whose resilience and courage humanize this discussion of “choice” and life emerging from the womb. They are flesh and blood people who, against all odds, survived abortion attempts and have dramatic, touching stories of their own. These stories often begin in shame and secret, but emerge to become inspiring dramas of hope, love, and forgiveness.