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Friday, March 18, 2016
Chilean President Bachelet: Put Down Your Weapons and Stop Targeting My People Group, by Rebecca Kiessling
Yesterday, crosshairs were
placed over the lives of innocent children like me who were conceived in rape
or given a fatal fetal impairment diagnosis -- Chile’s Cámara de Diputados
(House) approved a bill to legalize abortion in these cases. The Senate will be voting on this deadly bill,
and if approved, it will go to the President for signature. In 1989, abortion was abolished in Chile, but now, with an aggressively pro-abortion
President, Michelle Bachelet, Chile is now facing the unthinkable – a culture
of death which preys upon innocent children in the womb.
As someone who was conceived
in rape, I take this assault on my people group quite personally. Some may say, “It’s nothing against you
personally,” or, “It’s not about YOU Rebecca.”
Well, easy for you to say because this does affect me personally, along
with the hundreds from my global organization, Save The 1 – Salvar El 1 in
Spanish, who were also conceived in rape and the hundreds of mothers who became
pregnant by rape – most of whom are raising their beloved children, or the
birthmothers who chose adoption after being raped, as well as the post-abortive
women who deeply regret their abortion after rape.
I was born just 4 years
before abortion was declared legal by the United States Supreme Court. In my home state of Michigan, abortion was outlawed,
even in cases of rape. My birthmother
actually went to two illegal abortions and I was nearly aborted, but she backed
out because of the fact that it was illegal, and because she was afraid for her
own safety. When we met when I was 19
years old, she shared with me how she had been abducted at knifepoint by a
serial rapist, and even though she was very happy to meet me, she told me that
she would have aborted me if it had been legal.
I literally owe my birth to the law being there to protect me!
I feel like my life was
spared from a burning building, and as I have the opportunity to go back and
save others, I’m going to do it! The
most selfish thing to do would be to sit back and say, “Oh well, at least my
life was spared.” And others didn’t? I can’t do that, can you? I’m alive because of the others who were
willing to protect me because they recognized that every life matters and that mine
was a life worth saving.
I did not deserve the death
penalty for the crimes of my biological father.
It is absolutely
President Bachelet – I say
to you: Punish rapists, not babies! For all of your rhetoric of allegedly caring
for rape victims, where do you stand on punishing the rapist? Does he deserve the death penalty? You speak of how you care about women, well,
I’m a woman! Now tell me, what good are
any of my rights as a woman if I don’t have my right to life?! You cannot answer that question because all
other rights are worthless if you don’t have your right to life.
I co-founded Hope After Rape
Conception, using my expertise as a family law attorney to create model legislation
and to testify before legislative bodies to pass laws which protect rape
survivor mothers from the rapist having parental rights. We’ve been getting our model legislation –
The Rape Survivor Child Custody Act -- passed all over the United States, and
even in Congress, using the “clear and convincing evidence” to terminate the
parental rights of rapists. I suggest to
anyone who actually cares about pregnant rape victims – focus your efforts on
something positive for rape victims and their children instead of seeking to
punish the innocent child, leaving the rape victim yet vulnerable to the
rapist.
Women who are post-abortive
after rape overwhelmingly express that it was far more difficult to overcome
the abortion than it was the rape. The abortion
is just more violence in her womb after already having been traumatized. After the abortion, she’s no longer dealing
just with what was done to her, but now she has to suffer with what she knows
she did to her own child.
Studies here in the United
States have shown that a rape victim is four times more likely to die within
the next year after the rape. They have
a higher murder rate because the abortion often helps perpetuate an abusive
relationship. They also have a higher
suicide rate, drug overdose, depression, domestic violence and on and on. Dr. David Reardon from the Elliott Institute
wrote a book called Victims and Victors which cites much of this research. So if you really care about a pregnant rape
victim, you should want to protect her from the rapist, and from the abortion –
and NOT the baby! The baby is not the scary
enemy, and I resent being characterized as such. A baby is not the worst thing that could ever
happen to a rape victim – an abortion is.
Just know that anytime you
target a people group for destruction as President Bachelet is doing in Chile,
you are sending a message to every child born – and to every mother raising
that child – that the child is worth less than everyone else in your
society. If you heard that some other
nation passed an abortion ban, “except in cases of Hispanic babies,” what
message would that send to every person in Latin America about the value of
your lives? Would not such a measure be
met with absolute outrage? President
Michelle Bachelet has
placed gun sites – crosshairs -- over the lives of every
innocent child conceived in rape or given a diagnosis of “fatal fetal
abnormality” – many of which in fact end up not being fatal. President Bachelet, take them off – put down
your weapons and stop targeting my people group! Don’t create an open hunting season on people
like me. My life matters every bit as
much as yours.
Today, my birthmother and
I are both thankful we were both spared the horror of abortion. She says that I’m a blessing to her. I honor her and I bring her healing. On my birthday 2-1/2 years ago, my birthmom
called to wish me happy birthday and to tell me my grandmother died. I was born on my grandma’s anniversary, and
she died on my birthday. My birthmom and
I had a long heart-to-heart conversation.
At the end of our phone call, we were about to hang up and she stopped
me and through her tears told me – “Rebecca, Rebecca! I just want to say, I’m so glad I had you.” That was the best birthday gift ever!!! Don’t destroy the hope and beauty that a child
brings and that the future holds.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Sept. 6th, the Senate Health Commission voted this abortion bill out of committee. Right now, Chile needs the full support of the entire international pro-life community!
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Sept. 6th, the Senate Health Commission voted this abortion bill out of committee. Right now, Chile needs the full support of the entire international pro-life community!
http://www.salvarel1.blogspot.com/2016/03/presidente-bachelet-baje-sus-armas-y.html
BIO: Rebecca Kiessling is an international pro-life
speaker, writer and attorney, as well as a wife and mother of 5 – two adopted
and three biological children, as well as another adopted child born with
special needs who died in her arms at 33 days old. She’s the founder and President of Save The 1,
co-founder of Hope After Rape Conception, co-founder of Embryo Defense, and on
the Executive Committee of Personhood Alliance.
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1 comments:
Who are Rebecca's "people group"? Savethe1 represents almost 500 members who are conceived in rape, mothers of rape conceived, the "hard cases" which includes those conceived in rape, fetal anomaly. How many? More than 500 "official" members of Savethe1, but THOUSANDS of others! I am just one of the thousands of people who are grateful to be alive today because my mother chose LIFE for me after she was the victim of rape.
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