Showing posts with label Darlene Pawlik. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darlene Pawlik. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 26, 2017

The Child is Unexpected Joy After The Trauma of Rape by Darlene Pawlik

After the trauma of rape, Save The 1 moms experience unexpected joy. There are a number of
reasons, but one of the biggest is made possible by generous donors, like you.

We thank you.

Donors make it possible for new rape survivors to find us and to engage in a community of others who truly understand the many aspects of dealing with rape conception. It is with your help that we can reach those who need us the most.

The complexity of rape conception can only be understood by those who have actually experienced it. There is anger, misplaced guilt, imposed shame, denial, relief, frustration, revulsion, love, fear, and a myriad of other emotional states that fluctuate wildly at any given moment.

Each situation differs as well. For me, the culmination of a lifetime of sexual abuse meant that I would deal with complex trauma. My biological father sexually abused me from toddlerhood and that core violation made me feel worth less than other people. It was a perfect set-up for a pimp to notice me at thirteen years old. I survived four brutal years of juvenile sex trafficking. My pregnancy was not the result of one rape, but many.

I knew it wasn't the baby's fault. She was merely a second victim of the hideous crime, but many people in our society hold onto a confused compassion. They believe that rape victims who become pregnant should submit to abortion. Saving my baby saved my life and she brings me tremendous joy everyday.

Save The 1 moms are able to find joy in knowing that there are others, many others, who have come through similar experiences victoriously. Whether parenting or placing their children for adoption, we are a safe, understanding group with which to share trials and gain perspective. So, we can find joy, even in the midst of what would otherwise be so devastating.

For those moms who have submitted to abortion after rape, your donations help to reach out to bless them with peace and hope, and resources for dealing with the aftermath of the additional trauma that abortion imposed on them. Your donations mean they hear the love and kindness of our 100% pro-life-pro-love community of believers.

This year Save The 1 speakers, men and women who have been conceived by rape or incest, moms or post abortive moms from rape, and parents or children targeted for abortion due to a poor prenatal diagnosis, have reached around the globe. 

Our President, Rebecca Kiessling had a huge impact from Ireland and Rebecca traveled and spoke in a number of countries in Europe, as well as South America. That means that tens thousands of people heard her in person and millions through media coverage.  Lives were impacted and public policy affected.

Here in the states, Brad and Jesi Smith, whose daughter has Trisomy 18, spoke at a number of events, as did I and others. Our message, that the people called "exceptions" in pro-life discourse are actually human beings with names, faces, value and are worthy of protection. That is literally being heard around the world because of your generous giving.

Your gifts enable us to purchase booth space at events like conventions, physician's conferences, political meetings, community events, the March for Life, and many others where we meet people who either had no idea how public policy became the way it is.  Many politicians endorsed as pro-life and even several major pro-life organizations push exceptions into laws which might protect women and children from abortion.  Some hold to the discriminatory idea that rape-conceived babies are somehow different from any other babies, or less worthy of protection.

The blog and podcasts, social media presence, our appearances and dissemination of resources are making such a difference!  We've collaborated with other pro-life organizations throughout the U.S. and globally to share our stories through documentaries, tv and radio ads, billboards, and on other websites.  Our Spanish division is thriving, our Portuguese division is growing, and we are now launching a Polish and German division, to reach more people with our stories and so noone ever has to feel alone with a difficult history.

We hope you have experienced great joy this Christmas and we are expecting a tremendously influential New Year with expanded projects to reach more people with the vital message that every human life is valuable.

You can make a tax deductible, year-end donation here today and help reach more people and Save The 1 -- the least of these.


Thank you so much for all of your support and sharing the 100% Pro-Life message.


-- Darlene Pawlik, Vice President of Save The 1, Pro-Life Speaker and Blogger. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband of 27years.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Response to Elise Cooper About her article, The Rape Exception ~by Darlene Pawlik



American Thinker published an article by Elise Cooper. Her title, The Rape Exception, got attention. The message was that Republicans should leave the exceptions in laws. It is this thinking that has brought us abortion on demand.

I will take this apart paragraph by paragraph. Elise’s first assertion, in paragraph 1, is that rape conception is extremely rare. Rape is grossly underreported. Even so, the reported number of rape conception is significant. About 32,000 pregnancies per year are a result of rape.


Elise interviewed experts who have dealt with victims. That needs to be qualified. Were they first responders, investigators, or long-term healthcare workers? Dealing with rape is a process, not an event. Rape is a traumatic, core violation.

A first responder cannot have the same knowledge as a person who engages her over time. Trauma skews everything. Perspective, emotions, logic, attitude, perception of time, decision-making, and concentration are negatively affected.

In paragraph 2, Elise tells us that many Republicans are in agreement with the majority of Americans that exceptions should be made. The majority of the Early American South were said to approve of slavery. Does that make it right? Just because others believe something, doesn’t make it right.

It is objectively wrong to kill another human being. You would say it is wrong to kill you, right now. Why?

In paragraph 3, Elise talked to an unnamed psychologist. The title of psychologist is supposed to convey authority, but there are three completely disjointed sentences there. What does the death penalty and Second Amendment have to do with taking an innocent life in the womb on moral grounds? Guns are the great equalizer. Loss of life can occur? Victims of rape are not afforded the same parameters?  Wait what?

Is our psychologist suggesting the child deserves the death penalty for the crime of his or her father? Even those who rape do not deserve the death penalty, according to the Supreme Court. Only the most violent criminals are sentenced to death, but not without due process and among a jury of their peers. Is our psychologist suggesting the mother should be above the law? Should she be allowed to decide execution on her own?

What exactly is the psychologist saying here anyway?

Paragraph 4 emphasizes the trauma of rape, but concludes by suggesting that forcing children to carry their children to term is bad. The point is that she is already pregnant. She is already a mom. She knows there is a baby. It’s her baby. The police officer is quoted to say, “Would you force her to have the child of a horrible person?”

I know children of horrible people. I don’t think we should kill them because their parents are horrible.

She has been traumatized by rape. If you have seen what happens during abortion, you would agree that is another trauma. When she regains her ability to cope and she begins to heal from the rape, then the abortion, she will again be traumatized. She needs support and help to get through after rape. She does not need to be further victimized.

The police officer insists that choice is the key. What is the choice? Let’s be perfectly clear. The choice referred to is chopping up a baby and pulling that child from his mother’s womb. This leaves a mother of a dead baby. She is no less the victim of rape, but has compounded the impact to include the death of her child.

Elise tells us the officer has a good point. Then tells us that a UN report says that ISIS is torturing, raping and killing. Among those injured, was a nine year old, pregnant by rape. Why force her to relive nine months of torture? But, did she know immediately? One doesn’t usually know their pregnant for four to six weeks or more. So, it’s not nine months. That is disingenuous at best and a lie designed to cause confused compassion at worst.

She can be managed through her pregnancy with loving care and medical intervention that protects both patients, mom and baby. Caring for both, instead of intentionally killing.

Paragraph 6 is the only one that makes sense to me. I was conceived by violent rape, sexually abused as a child, sold into sex trafficking, and I conceived a child as a result. I have experienced this. If you have not, you cannot fully understand. That is why Elise should have interviewed people from this demographic.

Paragraph 7 takes us back to ‘her choice’. We must always define “choice”. This prosecutor deals with victims during their trauma. That is a temporary situation. Pregnancy is also always temporary. We must never make permanent decisions based on temporary situations.

In paragraph 8,9, 10 and 11 we are told the choice to kill the child is based on paternity. There are hundreds of thousands of men in prison. Should their children be killed? They are a reminder to their moms. Is the two-year-old child of a rapist on the table? They are more expensive. They need more resources. They aren’t as easily adopted as a newborn. Should she kill her?

If it is the mom’s choice, without anyone else intervening, why couldn’t she kill her teenage son, if his father rapes her or someone else for that matter?

In paragraph 12, we are reminded that laws preventing rapists from getting custody need to spread across the country. A woman, who carried to term and raised her baby, was notified that he now wanted access to the child. This is a horrifying scenario on many levels. Even if he an adult-only rapist, mom would be terrified every moment her little one is with him. If not, the child would be subjected to incestuous sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse is a core violation. It has a lifelong impact.

Ms. Cooper concludes her article stating that all interviewed said that the exception should be based on a woman’s choice. She should have interviewed us at Savethe1.

She says that women who become pregnant by rape should decide if they want to continue or prevent it.

Sorry, Elise, if she’s pregnant, she has a baby. The choice was already taken away from her. Her choice now, is to be the mother of a live baby or a dead one.


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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Intellectual Dishonesty ~ by Darlene Pawlik


The Editors at National Review, not their real names, have decided that the pro-life candidates for president should back off from a 100% pro-life, no exceptions stand on abortion.

I do wonder if we were talking about their demographic, if they would have the same opinion. For example, if there were open season on reporters and someone wanted to outlaw the brutal way they were killed, would they suggest exceptions?

Let’s just say that it would be legal to take reporters into an abortion center and cut their arms and legs off and crush their sculls. Let’s also imagine that this is government-funded activity. Perhaps, we could imagine that the main company doing these horrific murders was allowed to promote their activity in schools and public advertising.

Which reporters would they decide were inferior? Which ones are not worthy of protection from such a law? Perhaps, they would choose the writers of gossip pages. After all, they are gaining from the bad news about other people. Or maybe it would be the ones who report on the police logs. They are connected with criminal activity, right?

Of course, this is ludicrous. They wouldn’t be of lesser value because they had some connection to negative events. The reporters that report on crimes are not the perpetrators of those crimes.

So, neither is a child conceived by rape or incest in any way complicit with the crimes of his or her father. Yet, these reporters think that those children should not be protected from this brutal form of death.

There is an ignorant, confused compassion that happens in the minds of people who have not had the experience of becoming pregnant by rape. They impose their own beliefs on women to society’s detriment.

Contrary to popular opinion, women who conceive by rape don’t always want to kill their children. Many know that their son or daughter is not the perpetrator. They know the child is not an aggressor, but a second victim of the crime. They know that pregnancy is temporary, but abortion is forever.

It is intellectual dishonesty to decide some babies are worth protecting and others are not. I thank the few candidates that hold the logical conclusion that if only some are protected, than none are safe. This is what has lead to our current state of abortion on demand.

 To the Editors, I say, “You are practicing intellectual dishonesty.” That tiny percentage of abortions that take place because of rape you mentioned is partially because women who are pregnant by assault are 50% less likely to choose abortion than women in other crisis situations.

I strongly believe that it is because they have been violated and they have an intuitive sense that they would be further violated in their conscience, by violating the right to life of another.


Society tells them that killing their child will somehow remove the stigma of rape. This is asinine.

The Editors also mention that abortion is enshrined in the law. This is a travesty. Instead of promoting this unjust law, a few candidates are taking a stand against it. These Editors are on the wrong side. Reinforcing injustice will never make it right.

In a grievous act of judicial supremacy, five unelected men told the country that our country’s preborn children would not be protected in the same way as born children. Thus, a distinction of class was enacted across the nation.

We have seen unjust laws that singled out a class of people to be held in low regard. The Native American genocide and the horrible treatment of foreign slaves were unjust. They had difficulty speaking up for themselves because of a language barrier.

The preborn class of people cannot speak up for themselves. It is only a level of development that separates us. The circumstances of conception should have no bearing.

They need society to change the unjust law. They need us to stand up for them. 





Darlene Pawlik, VP of Savethe1 and Chair of NHRTL Educational Trust, was conceived by rape and now works every day to stand up and speak up for those who are not able to speak up for themselves. 

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Monday, June 1, 2015

President Signs Rape Survivor Child Custody Act Into Law! by Rebecca Kiessling

After passing the U.S. Senate 99 to 0, our model legislation from Hope After Rape Conception -- the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act (H.R. 1257) -- was signed into law by President Obama on Friday!  Our co-founders from HARC, Shauna Prewitt and Analyn Megison worked very hard on this, working closely with House sponsor  Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D) and Senate sponsors Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R).

The Act provides an incentive to states to pass legislation providing for a means to terminate the parental rights of rapists, using the "clear and convincing evidence” standard from the U.S Supreme Court case of Santosky v Kramer.  25% of the grant funds are to be allocated to the STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program, and 75% of funds go to the Sexual Assault Services Program.  The text of the Act reads that it:  "Directs the Attorney General to make grants to states that have in place a law that allows the mother of any child that was conceived through rape to seek court-ordered termination of the parental rights of her rapist with regard to that child, which the court shall grant upon clear and convincing evidence of rape."
 
In Analyn's home state of Florida, she got the legislature to pass this legislation unanimously, which is how Wasserman-Schultz heard of our model legislation.  Several states are currently working to pass this law, including Michigan and Maryland, while some states' legislation, like Pennsylvania, are insufficient because those bills require a rape conviction. 
 
Both Shauna and Analyn had to fight their rapists for custody.  Shauna is a practicing attorney who I met when I spoke at Georgetown Law while she was attending.  Analyn is a law grad too.  
 
Another board member, Angela Grogg, has been working on getting our model legislation passed in many states, ever since her family endured a court battle fighting her 14 year old daughter's rapist for custody.  
 
Several members of Save The 1 who were conceived in rape suffered molestation by their rapist fathers because they were not protected by law, including Darlene Pawlik and Rowena Slusser.  Other women from our organization, such as Robyn McLean and Darlene Pawlik's mom, were repeatedly raped as their rapist used contact with the child to continue raping her.  As you may expect, women associated with our organization are celebrating as this news came out!
 
We encourage every pro-life organization to get behind this legislation, as Right to Life of Michigan is currently championing this bill.  Not only is it pro-life in effect -- because pregnant rape victims will be more likely to choose life if they know they'll be protected from the rapist, but you'll be able to demonstrate that you really care about these women and their children, and you'll also have the advantage of seeing rape survivor mothers testifying before the legislature at a time when legislators walls are down. Just think of how powerful it is for rape-exception legislators and pro-choice legislators to hear the testimonies of these rape survivors and the love they have for their children -- just wanting them to be protected. 
 
Only a couple of states have this clear and convincing evidence standard, and many states still have nothing at all.  With this new law from Congress, it's the perfect time to begin working with your state legislators to properly protect rape survivor mothers and their children.
 
BIO: Rebecca Kiessling is an attorney and national pro-life speaker who was conceived in rape.  She's the president and founder of Save The 1 and co-founder of Hope After Rape Conception.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Use Your Power to Stop Abortion ~by Darlene Pawlik

Restored Colonial One-Room Schoolhouse

One of the ways anyone can educate the public and those in positions of power is to write a letter exposing the facts, mingling them with real people’s stories and putting out very specific actions that you want the educated to take.  This can take many forms. 


 A letter to the editor may be to get regular people to think a certain way.  The same is true of a blog post or other social media.  If you have a school board member who wants to bring abortion vendors into your school, you would write to the Board member, but then try to get it published as an open letter.  

This is also effective for putting pressure on legislators and other officials, such as the zoning commission of your city or town.  If a letter is strong, many outlets will publish it just to incite discussion and call attention to their publication.  They are not necessarily going to be on your side, but that doesn’t matter if you get the word out.  Write it in such a way that the public will help to give voice to the conversation. 

Below is a letter to a legislator concerning a recent public policy discussion. Notice the pattern: first, she thanks them for service, then points out positive(s), then intersperses personal information, it need not be yours, then addresses the problem head on, offers a different point of view and a potential solution.  

Hooray! You have educated the person who can make a difference.  If you get it published, you may educate many people, well beyond the scope of your imagination.  



Dear Congresswoman Ellmers,

Thank you for your service to our great country.  Thank you for your concern for trafficking victims, in particular.  In your statements, you and Ms Wasserman-Schultz both identified yourselves as women, implying that you were looking out for your demographic by introducing H.R. 398, a bill to Educate and Equip Healthcare Professionals to Recognize Signs of Human Trafficking So They Can Intercede on Patients’ Behalf.  This is admirable.


Sex trafficking is a very prevalent problem and teaching people in health care how to identify it,
is definitely one of the ways to combat it and rescue victims. 

I can more fully identify with the demographic of trafficked women.  I was conceived by rape and that knowledge made me vulnerable to traffickers. I felt worth less than others because of the continued sexual abuse and neglect.  I was first sold on my 14th birthday. Standing in three inches of slush that topped my sneakers, I met with the man who groomed me all summer long.

H.R. 36, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act specifically singled out trafficking victims, making them vulnerable to the abortion industry.  This further violation is abhorrent.  It would serve traffickers well, keeping their victims subdued and further subjecting them to constant degradation and often brutal rapes. Covering the crime of child sexual abuse is in direct opposition to your H.R. 398. 

H.R. 36 would ban the brutal practice of killing babies after 20 weeks gestation.  Even if one were to suggest that a rape victim is detrimentally impacted by the pregnancy, which is dubious at best, can you justify the affirmation that a rape victim’s baby is somehow less of a human being than a child conceived with wine and roses?  

Does the child’s existence warrant being hacked limb from limb and having her little head crushed or her heart being pierced and injected with potassium chloride to cause an excruciating heart attack or being burned, inside and out, with saline solution?  

When the women realize what they have participated in, what will you do?  As she is reaching adulthood and learns of the level of prenatal development; that her baby was fully formed and needed only weeks to grow before he or she could be delivered and given a chance for a fruitful life, are you willing to have her further torment on your conscience?  Or when she delivers that dead baby and the compounded trauma relegates her to a lifetime of PTSD, will you be able to ignore the effects on society?

The text of H.R. 36 reads, in part, (ii) the pregnancy is the result of rape, or the result of incest against a minor, if the rape has been reported at any time prior to the abortion to an appropriate law enforcement agency, or if the incest against a minor has been reported at any time prior to the abortion to an appropriate law enforcement agency or to a government agency legally authorized to act on reports of child abuse or neglect.

As a runaway, I was arrested numerous times, Child In Need of Service requests were made to the local authorities.  This is very common among trafficked children. There is a report of abuse or neglect by definition. I did get pregnant by a man who bought me as a house pet. He demanded I have an abortion and threatened my life, if I didn’t kill my baby.  This is also common among trafficking victims.  

I implore you to work to remove the rape and incest exceptions from H.R. 36.  If you believe, as I believe, that women and children who have been victims of rape should not be further victimized, then you will work against the exceptions in the bill.  You have already demonstrated the desire to protect your demographic.  Show your courage to be their advocate in this matter.

Respectfully Submitted,

Darlene Pawlik


Follow this kind of format for all of  your educational letters. 

Darlene Pawlik is a Savethe1 speaker, Chair of the Educational Trust for NH Right  to Life and long time homeschool mom.  She resides in New England and travels to speak about trafficking, coerced abortion, and discrimination of rape-conceived victims.
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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

There's a Person in There by Darlene Pawlik

In my experience as a nurse, there have been so many times that others in the medical field ignore the dignity of the person to whom care is delivered. For a supervisor, walking in on a bed bath or other personal procedure is no deterrent to getting their job done. “It’s just a body, I’ve seen plenty of them.” they reason. In truth, it is not just a body. There is a person in that body; a person deserving of recognition and respect.
In the ProLife arena, the same holds true. Too many see only a body count. They see mere bodies being brutally murdered. They are people, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these the Right to Life. If we are to be truly ProLife, we need to recognize and respect the fact that these are people we are trying to protect. There’s a person in that body.

To suggest that some of those people are worthy of protection and some are not, is completely illogical, unless you are forgetting that they are people and not just bodies. It is astonishing to me that so many in the House of Representatives are so disconnected to their own innate knowledge, so as to determine that only some babies are eligible for the right to life. They undermine their own credibility, becoming elitist for the sake of expediency.
If babies have been determined to feel pain at a particular stage of development and the goal is to protect them from being horrifically brutalized to their dismemberment and death, then how could it be that not all of the babies at that stage of development deserve protection? How could the mode of their conception be relevant? Why not their ethnicity or their economic status? The arbitrary conditions in the new Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act are illogical, immoral and should be rejected.
There is either a baby worth protecting, or there is not.
Why is it that legislators believe they can maintain credibility as a Pro-Life person when they are clearly elitists, deciding who deserves to be protected and who does not?  How do they rationalize the fact that a similarly developed baby should be torn limb from limb?  Is it that it is just a vote to them?
And what of the fact that a desperate woman, seeking abortion at 5 months is probably aware that she will kill her child. If she is so desperate, will she not lie and say she was raped?  Lila Rose and Live Action have produced numerous undercover videos exposing the lies of the abortion vendors.  Will they not encourage more lies to keep their business of killing babies profitable?  Can you really believe that?
The PCUCPA is terrible as it is written. Shameful.
I oppose the Government-sanctioned, government funded killing of our neighbors and I hope others who do will see the folly of this kind of legislation.
Respectfully submitted,
Darlene Pawlik,  Savethe1 Speaker and blogger, www.theDarlingPrincess.com, and Chair of NH Right to Life Educational Trust and NHRTL PAC a woman conceived by rape, abused, trafficked and restored by God to a life of purpose and grace. She has been married for almost 25 years, has five grown children and two grandchildren.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

How I Faked an Abortion and Escaped Sex Trafficking by Darlene Pawlik

I was trapped in the sex trafficking industry from age 14-17.  Trafficking in persons is not like any regulated industry.  It is unmitigated anarchy. There are no rules.  

I was conceived during a brutal rape and learned of it when I was very young. That knowledge and child sexual abuse by my own father and later by a maternal uncle had me feeling worth less than others and vulnerable.  I was 12 when my mother got her second divorce.  By thirteen, I’d been dabbling in drugs and alcohol, wandering the neighborhood and hanging out with a bodybuilder in a black Cadillac.  He was patient as he courted me and manipulated me into his bed.

I wasn’t held in sex trafficking with locks, bars or handcuffs, but by fear, threats and hopelessness.  I had no hope in the authorities helping me.  One apartment I stayed in was leased to the candidate for sheriff of that small city.  Some of the buyers were businessmen, a city councilman, professionals, as well as derelicts who thrived on violence and pain. 

He sold me for the first time on my fourteenth birthday. I stood in three inches of slush, my sneakers full of icy water, shivering in front of a local drug store at the end of the street where we lived waiting for Ace to pick me up.  The buyer was thrilled to know I was so young, awkward and afraid. 

Ace sold me for sex hundreds of times. He then sold me to another man who sold me for sex too. It was a quagmire of abuses, gang rape, attempted suicide, sleeplessness, huddling in doorways and church steps, drugs, drinking, arrests and foster care, and running away again.  At seventeen, I was sold to a man as a "house pet." I thought I’d be safer -- at least I would only have to serve him.  He dressed me up and took me to nice dinners.  I got a job.  Finally, I felt kind of stable, kind of normal.

He’d told me that if I got pregnant, I would have to have an abortion.  It scared me, but I didn’t feel I had any choice.

After four months, I did get pregnant.  As he slammed his fist on the wooden arm of the couch, he shouted, “I want NO life!” It was terrifying -- his voice shot right through me.  The man was a small-time organized crime boss.  He said that I would have an abortion or he’d kill me, and I knew this was true.  One of his enforcers had been my trafficker and beaten and raped me numerous times.  I made the appointment in his presence.

That evening, I literally threw my hands in the air as I cried and prayed, “God, if you’re real, please help me!”  Somehow, I fell asleep and I had a dream of an abortion in living color from the perspective of inside of the womb.  I had no knowledge of abortion at the time, but I now know that it was accurate for the level of development in great detail.  Those little hands and feet, that tiny face, the ribs and blood -- it was horrifying!  I wanted to be a mom for as long as I could remember.  

When I awoke, I called everyone I could think of, going through old business cards people had once handed me.  I reached a social worker who had tried to help me as a runaway.  She found a maternity home that would take me.  Some friends would take my things to storage.  But how would I get away?  My captor insisted that we would go out to dinner after the abortion appointment.

So, the day came.  I left and made arrangements with the social worker, but I returned and got ready for dinner.  I’d been so scared that I was crying and near hysterical all day.  With my face swollen, eyes bloodshot, trembling and shallow breaths, I got into the car.  I fidgeted -- my breaths uneven.  I stuttered, as I told him that I wanted to go live with a cousin who would give me a job. “Something happened to me on that table,” I said, “I don’t want to be here anymore.”  I thought he would understand because he had told me of other girls who he’d forced to have abortions and they were let go. The whole evening, I couldn’t sit still at all because I was so afraid he’d find out.  I went to the bathroom frequently and cried through the meal, pretending to be nauseous and in pain.  On the way home, he said I could go, but if I came back to town, I would have to find him.

I moved quickly the next day.  I promised God that I would bring my children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, if my baby was okay.  She was, and I did.  People who know me today, cannot fathom that I had lived such a life.  I explain to them -- saving my baby saved my life.

BIO:  Darlene Pawlik is a wife of 24 years and mother of 5.  She's also an author, a practicing nurse, the Chair of the Educational Trust for New Hampshire Right to Life, an Executive Board Member of Personhood Alliance, the Vice-President of Save The 1, and a pro-life speaker and blogger for Save The 1.
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Thursday, June 5, 2014

Hard Cases Unite to Make a Difference! by Rebecca Kiessling


How would like to be labeled  “a hard case?”  What if your class of people were systematically targeted for extinction within legislation?  What if political candidates felt quite comfortable with stating their position that you and your kind aren’t worth protecting and better off dead?  What if your child was regularly stigmatized by our society?  That’s exactly what it’s like for those of us who were conceived in rape, mothers from rape, and those given a poor in utero diagnosis.  But being branded as a “hard case” becomes easier when we all begin to unite behind our unique kinship.  And that’s what Save The 1 has been doing – drawing together perhaps the most stigmatized and marginalized members of today’s society.   
May 2014 was a very big month for Save The 1.  On Saturday, May 3rd, Mary Rathke and I both spoke at the 1st Annual International Pro-Life Leaders Conference in Rome, Italy – sponsored by Lifesitenews -- sharing our stories of having been conceived in rape.  Mary was a double-exception because her birthmother was raped after having been diagnosed as schizophrenic.   Pro-Life leaders from around the world received our message well – vowing to fight abortion without exception and without compromise.
The next day, Mary and I were introduced on stage at the Marcio Per La Vita – the Italian March For Life, which had an estimated 60,000 by the time we reached St. Peter’s Square, where the Pope came out and addressed us.  The theme of this year’s march was “Pro Vita Senza Compromesso,” which means “pro-life without compromise.”  During the march, thousands were chanting this theme!
 One woman – a nurse – came up to us and showed us a photo of a baby who was conceived in rape.  She explained that the pro-life activists at the hospital have been familiar with my story since it’s been translated into Italian, among many other languages.  So any time they have a patient who is pregnant by rape, they share my story on my website with the pregnant rape victim.  This nurse credited my story has having saved the baby in the photo.  What a wonderful example for every person with a difficult history to see how stepping out and sharing your story can make a difference across the ocean, for someone else who doesn’t even speak your language!
Upon returning from Rome, Mary Rathke spoke at Branch County Right to Life’s benefit dinner where she met a grandmother who shared that her grandchild was conceived in rape.  This grandmother was heartened to know that there are others who are paving the way for her grandchild to be loved and accepted in our society.  Several legislators and even judges shared with Mary how her story helps them to be able to articulate a defense of all human life.
On May 10th, I spoke at a Mother’s Day brunch at Gateway Assembly in Imlay City, MI.  After the brunch, a 16 year old girl named Sarah came up to me to share her own difficult story.  She was conceived when her birthmother was sexually trafficked by her own parents.  Not only was she conceived during unconsensual prostitution, but her birthmother had become a drug addict.  Sarah is now writing out her story and is our newest member of Save The 1!  The next day at the church, another family approached me whose young adoptive daughter was also conceived in rape.  They too were thankful for a support system for their daughter and their family.
A week later, on Saturday, May 17th, Save The 1 had its 3rd Pro-Life Speaker Training Conference, at the legislative offices of Right to Life of Michigan in Lansing, MI.  We had five adoptees who were all conceived in rape present – me, Mary Rathke, Travon Clifton, Sarah (these four are all from Michigan), and Darlene Pawlik from New Hampshire.  We also had one mother who had become pregnant from rape – Karyn Liechty, one post-abortive mother from rape whose abortion was forced upon her - Sheryl Williams, as well as Brad and Jesi Smith whose daughter Faith has Trisome 18.   In the morning, everyone had a chance to practice responding to impromptu questions often asked by reporters and during Q & A on college campuses, and in the afternoon, each member gave an 8-minute prepared speech.  We were blessed to have some family and friends there in support, as well as three of our friends from Right to Life of Michigan who helped with our critique – President Barb Listing, Ed Rivet and Genevieve Marnon.  As an additional treat, filmmaker Jim Hanon (End of the Spear) and his team were present  filming and we look forward to seeing the pieces he is putting together for Right to Life of Michigan in conjunction with Save The 1 members!
After a wonderful day of camaraderie, we had our first official Board Meeting, having just filed our 501c3 application!  Thank you to the Thomas More Society for generously sponsoring our filing and to Sally Wagenmaker for your wisdom and representation.  I’m proud to announce our stellar Board – Darlene Pawlik, Mary Rathke, Jim Sable (conceived in rape adoptee from IL,) Nick D’Angelo (conceived in rape from NY,) Brad Smith, Dyanne Gonzales from NM, and me – thank you all for your confidence in electing me as President of Save The 1.  I’m eager to see what God is going to achieve through us all!
 Our next Save The 1 speaker training conference is Saturday, September 20th in Akron, OH at the offices of Right to Life of North East Ohio, and our 5th Save The 1 speaker training  will be held at the offices of Georgia Right to Life in Atlanta on Friday, October 10th.  In 2015, we hope to have more conferences around the country, including in the Los Angeles area.
If you fall into one of the categories of “the hard cases” – those whom Jesus would call “the least of these,” we would love to connect with you!  You are not alone.  Connect with us on our Save The 1 Facebook page, and e-mail me.  We have a Save The 1 activism e-mail group, and there is also an e-mail support group for those who are struggling and/or who want to help others to know their incredible dignity and worth.
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