Follow Save the 1
Friday, August 25, 2017
Interview of Save The 1 President Rebecca Kiessling conducted by David Arboix from Salvar El 1
Rebecca,
it is unusual to meet a person who has been conceived in rape. Could you
explain the influence that this discovery had on your understanding of yourself
and your life?
When I first learned how I
was conceived, I instantly felt targeted and devalued by so much of society
because I had heard what people say about abortion in cases of rape. My very soul
cried out for my worth. I was wounded by what people said, but I have never
been one to crawl into the corner and just give up.
I am safe. I'm alive. But
there are others who are yet at risk and the most selfish thing for me to do
would be to just say, “Oh well, at least I got to be born.” I can't do that. 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.
Can
you explain the origin of the name of your organization? What is Save The 1 and what is its role
within the broad pro-life world?
The name Save The 1 comes
from two places. First of all, there is a sad motto within
They will claim that they
simply don't have the votes from politicians to be able to save 100%. But the
reason they don't have the votes is because they keep supporting rape exception
politicians. So in the burning building scenario, what's really happening is
that you have firefighters who are coming in for job interviews before the fire
chief and they tell the fire chief, “Just so you know, I discriminate. When I
go into a burning building I am not going to save them all. I don't want to
save children who will be a ‘horrible reminder’ of the fire, and if you try to
force me to go in to save them all, then I won't go into save any.”
Now what fire chief in his
right mind would hire that firefighter?! But in the United States, the fire
chief who is the pro-life leader not only hires the one who promises to
discriminate, but when they in fact fail to save the innocents, the leaders
give them a hefty bonus in the form of a political action endorsement.
So this is the corruption
we have in the United States and it is the majority voice within the pro-life
movement here. If you wonder why the United States can't end abortion with so
many pro-life organizations and such huge budgets with their fundraising, I am
telling you this is why.
Whenever I hear the
saying, “Save the 99 in exchange for the 1”, I can't help but think of the
Parable of the Lost Sheep, because Jesus left the 99 to save the 1. In
context, Jesus was talking about the little children. He said, “See that you do
not despise any of these little ones for I tell you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my Father in heaven.” And then He goes right into
the whole Parable of the Lost Sheep, explaining how the Good Shepherd leaves
the 99 to save the 1 lost sheep, and He finishes the parable by explaining it’s
point: “For in the same way, your father in Heaven is not willing that any of
these little ones should perish.” And neither should we!
This is why I gave our
organization the name Save The 1. I founded it because I had my website rebeccakiessling.com for many years
and was continually adding other people’s stories to my website, but I was
concerned that if something ever happened to me, then all of those stories
would be lost forever. I wanted something which would endure, and I wanted a
legacy which would not be under my name. A neutral place was needed for
everyone with these stories to feel like we are all part of something greater, and not
just belonging to me.
Today we have a global
network with a database of over 500 who were conceived in rape or mothers who
became pregnant by rape, as well as hundreds from our carry to birth division
who were given a challenging prenatal diagnosis and told to abort, or their
parents had been told to abort them.
We have a Spanish division, Salvar El 1, which has the largest following on social media which is almost 35,000 on Facebook, as well as a Portuguese division, and we are still in
We have a team of
translators from all over Latin America as well as Spain and I knew that if
these stories were translated, then others who speak Spanish would come forward
to share their stories. Sure enough, we now have stories of women from all over
Latin America and their stories are having to be translated into English for us
to share with the English-speaking world!
It is
clear that Save The 1 fulfils a clear informative and formative function within
the pro-life community. Do you also carry out some kind of support and
counseling activities for women who are in a situation similar to that of one
of your speakers?
We have many private
groups on Facebook for people with the difficult stories. But our Spanish group
has not grown like the English groups have. For example, for men who were
conceived in rape who speak English, we have almost three dozen members in our
private Facebook group for them. We have a few dozen women who speak English
who are in our private group for birth mothers who became pregnant by rape. We
also have groups by state or region.
Our Spanish network just
has not grown like that yet, but we do hope that, as people know that we have a
support network specific to these stories, then they will spread the word and
recommend these people to get in contact with us so that we can connect them
all together, because no one should have to be alone in this. Even still,
what we hear most commonly is that just reading other people's stories, being
able to understand what brought them healing, is very comforting – especially
to know that you are not alone.
You
were conceived after a violation. Why do you think that the life of the
conceived in these circumstances is often considered as a mistake? Why do so
many countries’ legislative systems struggle with the introduction of the
exceptions clause?
I think the biggest problem
has been that we are nameless and faceless to most people. We know that in war,
it is always easier to kill the enemy when you dehumanize him or her. As long
as we remain merely a concept, it is easier for politicians to sweep us under
the rug like we are just dirt of the earth and to consent to us being killed.
This is why I feel so
strongly that our stories need to be told, our voices need to be heard so that
others would have to look us in the eye before consenting to our people group
being killed. I have changed the hearts of many, many politicians throughout
the world and here in the United States, including two presidential candidates
during their campaigns. They said they could not look me in the eyes and
justify the rape exception any longer.
I understand that everyone
wishes to show concern for rape victims. My dearest friends on Earth are rape
victims. My own precious mother is a rape victim. I very much appreciate
people's concern, but they also need to understand that more violence is not the
answer. More violence does not bring her healing, and punishing the innocent
person is certainly not going to heal her.
I think sometimes it comes
down to worldview. If you don't believe in a Creator who designs people and has
special plans for each person's life, then you must think that the rapist is
creating children like me. For anyone who has ever experienced infertility, you
know that you can try to plan your parenthood, but you really don't have the
power you thought you had when you were younger. We are not the Creator.
But the real reason why we
have rape exception clauses being introduced is because abortion advocates know
that this is how they can make abortion legal on demand for any reason. They
use rape as merely an excuse to justify all abortions. They know that if they
can get abortion legalized in cases of rape, then the door will be open for all
abortions. This is how abortion became legal in the United States. In the
landmark United States Supreme Court case of Roe versus Wade which legalized
abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason, the pregnant
woman called “Jane Roe” whose real name was Norma McCorvey later changed her
mind about abortion and sought to have her case overturned. She filed a sworn
affidavit with Congress explaining that she lied when she said she was gang
raped because her lawyers told her to say she was raped -- that it would make
her case stronger.
Amnesty International has
been advocating to legalize abortion around the world using the rape issue, and
on the radio I have debated these advocates from Amnesty International and
from other abortion rights organizations. When I made this point that they will
use the rape issue to legalize all abortions, they denied that fact. Then I
asked the next question, are women going to be required to prove the rape? Will
they have to report it? Will there be a trial before the child is convicted and
sentenced to death? They always laugh and then say mockingly, you aren't going
to believe a rape victim?
They are so smug because
they will now play on people's sympathies that you should just simply believe a
woman if she goes into an abortion clinic and says she was raped. This is why
it will become abortion on demand for any reason. They will coach women to just
say they were raped just like Jane Roe was told by her lawyers to say she was
raped. Or, they can just coach the doctor to file the abortion as a rape case.
In Spain
and probably in other countries of our cultural environment, we feel that the
defense of life begins to be a lost topic. Do you also consider that this is
so?
Sometimes what I see is
much like what I once heard a religious leader refer to as a “holy huddle” -- like
how a sports team gets together in a huddle to cheer each other on and discuss
strategy. But then they never make it out onto the field to engage the opposition.
It is extremely
frustrating to see people of faith who participate in making some image or
video of a kitten or dog doing tricks go viral on social media, but when it
comes to raising awareness and defending the preborn from being slaughtered,
they aren't willing to share on Facebook, Twitter, etc.. This is very
disheartening.
In
recent years, the abortion lobby and other international organizations have
been pushing hard in Latin America to intrude the decriminalization of abortion
through exceptions. Little by little, it is getting the culture of death implanted
in countries where life has always been protected. How do you contemplate this
panorama?
Nations which have been protecting all children without discrimination are better people because you teach love and not hate. I was so impressed to see in the Spring of 2016, 700,000 people show up to the March for Life in Lima Peru, just one month after pro-life people there defeated the efforts to legalize abortion in cases of rape.
Nations which have been protecting all children without discrimination are better people because you teach love and not hate. I was so impressed to see in the Spring of 2016, 700,000 people show up to the March for Life in Lima Peru, just one month after pro-life people there defeated the efforts to legalize abortion in cases of rape.
Do you know how many
people came to the March for Life in the United States when states began
legalizing abortion in cases of rape in the mid to late-1960s? None! Noone cared
enough to organize a national march. There was no March for Life in the United
States until abortion became legal in all circumstances for any reason through
all nine months of pregnancy. And even then, we did not reach the number of
700,000 until the 40-year anniversary of the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court case
which legalized abortion in every state for any reason.
It took us 40 years to
have that many people care enough to sacrifice their time to attend our national
March For Life, and that's with over 1 million being slaughtered every year in
the United States! In Peru, abortion wasn't even legalized and the effort to
legalize it was “only” for the circumstances of rape, and yet, the good people
of Peru cared enough about the child conceived in rape to show up and March.
You are a different people. You have
more love. Do not become like the United States.
What
is the motivation that today, with so much scientific knowledge and
technological advances, still a significant number of the political and medical
community are so favorable to abortion?
Politicians and physicians
often like to control people groups. They can do this through abortion. There
are those who are often quite elitist, thinking only the so-called “right” kind
of people should be born, which is part of the eugenics mentality, which is
rampant in much of the medical community. They have become heartless.
What
would you recommend to the Spanish society and the Latin American society so as
not to give up in our struggle to defend the lives of all, without exception?
Fight like your own life
depended on it. Do not be selfish just because you were wanted by your mother,
or because you had the opportunity to be born.
BIO: Rebecca Kiessling is the founder and President of Save The 1. She's an internationalpro-life speaker, writer and attorney. David Arboix from Spain is a translator and editor for Salvar El 1 -- the Spanish speaking division of Save The 1.
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