Face the Choice - Melissa Ohden - Feminists For Life

[puffyclouddd1]

This is a amazing story thank you so much for sharing!

[ryddelwearsahat]

Still pro-choice, still healthy, still happy, and still a loving mother. If I get an abortion, it will not be a late-term, it will be in the first trimester, when the zygote/embryo is developing jelly. I'm still NOT sorry for aborting when I did, and.. really, I think people should mind their own business- this is a petty existential crises.. if she'd been aborted, she'd never have known or cared. She only cares LATER when she has memories, thoughts, feelings, an actual soul.. not just meat.

[bluepuppyboy]

Wow... everyone in the country should watch this. UGGHHH!

[Vrijheidx]

I am an anti-abortion feminist. My mom made an appointment to have an abortion but backed out at the last minute. I have been raised by a single mother and my life isn't perfect but I'm happy I'm alive. No one has the right to take someone else's life.

[aeronauta50]

Incredible experience.

Say YES to life!!!!!

[ladyEulaelie]

Glad to see females womening up and taking responsibility for the lifes they create.

Melissa Ohden...thats a real women and I'm proud of her for speaking up.

[42suzy]

God says in his word I knew you before you were born. Every human has a purpose here. Our country values the eggs of a bald eagle and protects them more than a human life. Something is very wrong with this picture. I dont care if your 1 hour old or 100 years old, life is life and you can in no way make it what you want it to be for your own convenience. We are the only creation who kills it own young, most animals die trying to protect them.

[cjs33139]

@42suzy Ummmm.. you need to read books on infanticide and animals because there ARE animals that EAT their own young. ok? I am pro life as well, but don't give out misinformation.

[JAYDcougar]

If you think about it. We as americans/canadians have been total hypocrites when it comes to human rights. How on earth can we walk around saying we live in free countries when right under our noses unborn childrens rights are violated?

[orgelbot]

Great video! It is incredible to see these abortion survivor testimonies. I always thought that the crowd of people born in 1977 (same age as myself) was in my experience, unnaturally small and I still feel that there are many missing people from this particular age group, I even remember wondering this as a kid before I even knew anything about abortion. I don't know what the stats are for that year in terms # of babies aborted (perhaps being on the higher side?) but I definitely miss them.

[MaiaRikae]

I'm a liberal and an atheist, and simply don't see how people can support such late-term abortions... when the fetus is viable, can feel and suffer. There may be a point before which the unborn doesn't count as fully alive (before brain activity, for instance) but it's incredibly illogical to claim that point is birth. It would be convenient, but the ends don't justify the means.

And, FTR, I'm a woman who experienced THREE birth control failures under bad circumstances. I've walked the walk.

[cjs33139]

@MaiaRikae i am also a liberal and an atheist and pro life... but hearing your experience, as a man (gay too), it pisses me off that women STILL to this day carry the burden of birth control. Women, always have to seek out the Pill (and its side effects) and men just stick it in and forget it. They could care less what happens after their woman gets pregnant and some walk away from their responsibilities. Why hasn't science come up with a male birth control pill? Women, demand it!

[Minxcomix]

@cjs33139 An even better solution is Natural Family Planning. Better for the woman, better for marriage (couples who practice it have a 4% divorce rate as opposed to 50%) and when used properly (something which the Pill requires too in order to keep it's 'effectiveness rate') it has a 99% effectiveness rate when used to avoid pregnancy. It also has a high effectiveness rate when used to attempt pregnancy, something the Pill cannot do. Real Family Planning. It is very empowering for women AND men

[SuperHappyPuppy]

The problem is that most prolifers are more interested in punishing women than in helping them. Make it easier to be a mother, especially a single mother, and you will see fewer abortions. But most prolifers have no interest in helping mothers.

[ScarlettKnights]

Very impressed 5 stars.

[Jitpring]

Eternal blessings, Melissa. Keep up this wonderful work.

[myangels7]

Oh my dear! You are very near to God! You are now the voice for the unborn! God Bless!

[nanabonniez]

What a moving message. She is beautiful and I love that she "has chosen" not to be bitter or angry. I have shared this with lots of people already..

[TheBrassHole]

It is so important that more men get involved and support these brave women in every way. The best way to curve high birth rates is not abortion, but rather pulling poverty out of the world. Research birth rates and poverty to see the disturbing truth. The time to act is now, and abortion misses the point and is not the way.

[Merlin2Stage2Speed]

Wow. What an incredibly poignant and powerful message from such a brave and lovely lady!

God Bless!

[SNUFFsurgeryNEWS]

You are beautiful. God always throws away the mold on His human creations. I am glad to see you weren't thrown away by man.

[sandrajune910]

What a brave woman! And her last comment is my biggest point: Her biological mother "deserved so much better than abortion also." I agree with Melissa that her bio mom shouldn't have had to decide between her life as she knew it and her unborn child. A decision that I know firsthand "she has to live with still to this day."

SPEAK OUT WOMEN!!!

SAY NO TO THE STATUS QUO!

[Lorra41]

Yes, bless you for speaking out. What an amazing story. I'm so glad I chose this video to watch. Thank you. May God continue to bless you and your loved ones.

[sarakai]

Fact: a fetus between the gestation of 18-22 weeks weighs between 6.7 and 15.2 ounces NOT 2lbs 14 ounces (about 28 weeks almost a full month between 18 and 22 weeks and almost two months between 22 weeks and the actual 28 weeks that this woman would have to have been born at to weigh that she said), so someone lied, WHY WHY must people feel the need to lie, to these people?!

[TheAliceKate]

Melissa's hospital records say: "According to the mother's hospital record, her last menstrual period was 5/01/77, however, she reportedly stated she had had no period in March or April. She was estimated to be about 18 weeks pregnant. On August 24th, saline infusion for an abortion was done but was unsuccessful."

In other words, if the biological mother's last period was before March, the 18 week estimate was incorrect and Melissa was older when the abortion was attempted.

[lovely88rugby]

Bless u for speaking! God bless u and Feminists For Life, the TRUE feminists! I would like to work with u and the Nurturing Network.

[fuuinekusu]

How can PLers be a feminist when they revoke the basic right for women that all others have? Sorry, that just doesn't compute.

[MaiaRikae]

How is killing a fetus a "basic right", or one any others have?

[kuchikoo]

I would have been touched by this story had it not been riddled with spin, presented to an audience of weak minds, and then presented here by an organization whose name itself is an oxymoron.

Shame on anyone who would put higher importance on an entity that has never thought nor breathed nor felt than on the life of a grown woman, and then have the audacity to call yourself a feminist.

[FollowTheCrossFTW]

The fetus's brain develops fast.If breathing determines whether or not you are human, then all of those who are on breathing machines are not human and may be killed at your leasure. no way.

also, the statistics are different than what you think. less than 1% of births are fatal to the mother, and the abortion almost always has moderate to severe side effects. Abortion doesnt save anything. it harms the mother and Kills the baby. they're being feminist: trying to save the millions of baby girls.

[Progo35]

I often think about abortion issues, based on the fact that I was born to a teenage mother who was undergoing domestic abuse and drug problems at the time, yet was adopted and have grown up with a family who loves me. I feel similarly to many such individuals, that we were vulnerable to abortion yet are here and must contemplate the idea of ourselves or someone we love not being here.

[leiapeison]

if you had been aborted you would not have cared. so what if someone desides to abort? you only speak of a potential. i know many adoptees who are pro choice. some of whom have had abortions themselves. i wouldnt want to be born against someones will. the only value of a life is the one in progress, the womans.

[xtchsbrlx]

I think the idea is to change the situations facing women so that these birth will no longer BE against the mother's will. Also, don't you think it a bit naive to think that awareness is relevant to the ethical question (after all, we don't have the right to kill unconcious people - but they wouldn't know any better). We also honor the lives of the deceased, though no longer in progress. And potential is a beautiful thing (like "hope" and "change"?)

[FollowTheCrossFTW]

so why does the "fetus" not have any rights? he has the same human DNA, and is in even more progress than the woman. she has no right to the "fetus's" body as it is not her body. otherwise she would not "need" the abortion, as there would be no change in her body. the above video is proof that the "fetus" is alive. and sadly, i have met abortionists who knew that they were "killing babies"(in their own words), as they saw the full baby when they put it back together to check if it was all out.

[prolifepinay]

You say that cause you weren't aborted. What of the millions of children who are now silenced forever? What about the many countless women who are now suffering from abortion?

"Life is a journey too special to not be able to experience, no one deserves to be robbed of what could be."~Alisha

[MaiaRikae]

Since she was a viable, 3rd trimester fetus at the time, I think she'd have cared as much as any newborn who would be "scalded to death" - that is, she would feel pain and suffer, and have some instinct to survive. Both lives are "in progress" at that point in a pregnancy, inconvenient as that may be.

[mevideotaping]

Awesome. So glad she survived. Abortion is the end of a unique human being. Small and very young but human and unique. Every baby, fetus, embryo, clump of cells that is killed during an abortion is lost forever. It can never, ever be recreated again. Life is a gift of nature and for those who believe, a creator. If you are pro-choice and believe in God, when do you think God created you?

[kc4wq]

AWESOME!  If this abortion would have been successful, what would the world have missed? Love your children and love yourself enough to treat yourself with respect.

[akittynamedbunny]

Most women who have abortions are already mothers. They have abortions to preserve the health of their already existing families. It is not just young women who choose abortion.

[ProLifeBryce]

You go, girl!

Life: What a wonderful choice!

[alichrsha1]

This is a terribly wonderful story. It gives abortion victims a face to the public.

[alljoy77]

When I found out I was pregnant, shortly after being raped, I was worried and scared. No act of abortion will take away the pain of rape. For really, isn't that what we want when we tell our sisters that they should get an abortion if it was a result of rape? Abortion and healing from rape are NOT linked.  And that's the greatest myth out there. Dont ask rape survivors to abort their pregnancies, ask rape perpetrators to be held accountable and society at large to join us!"

[eljagg01]

Actually, we tell our "sisters" that they should do what their heart dictates, since its their lives and their bodies. :)

[grandwolfe]

The fetus' body is unique to him/herself: different blood, heart, lungs...etc.  Besides what if your spous' heart tells him/her to have an affair. Will listening to the heart justify him/her in your eyes?

[bheffley]

@stlsoccer26 - Strongly disagree. The circumstances under which someone was conceived should have no bearing on whether or not they have a right to life. The violent tragedy of a rape should end there - and not come around full circle and fall on the child's shoulders. Find and read page 6 of the Fall 1998 issue of The American Feminist on FFL's site - can't link to it from here - pretty much sums it up.

[kc8186]

Disagree. Is it the child's fault that her mother was raped? Would Melissa be any less of a person if she were conceived in rape? No It doesn't help the mother either. In a rape, she was the victim, and in an abortion she becomes the aggressor. Also, notice that Melissa was adopted and her mother did not have to be emotionally ready to raise her, because someone else was more than willing to do it.

[stlsoccer26]

This is where I stand on this topic. Abortion should not be allowed except under EXTREME circumstances.

Rapings that result in a woman having to bear a child that she did not ask for, or perhaps wouldn't be able to emotionally able to have the baby. The other reason would be if the woman's life was at risk.

In most of the other circumstances, it is the uncaring, "younger" women who aren't being careful about sex, and end up getting pregnant in a one-night stand with some guy.

Agree/Disagree?

[sexypicklepanties]

I disagree. Abortion should be illegal, no matter what.

If a woman was raped and became pregnant as a result, she should not do something wrong as a temporary solution to a absolutely horrible occurance. Being raped is so horrible, but was it the baby's fault? Should the baby die because it was conceived through the selfish acts of the rapist?

And I apologize for being confused so could you please reword your last paragraph? Are you saying that those women are justified having abortions?

[queenblanche]

That's what constitutes most of the abortions out there. The sexually-charged atmosphere of our day makes so many (especially) young people rather flippant and careless about sex. They think that they can play now, and worry about the consequences later. And furthermore, it further adds to the image of seeing women solely as sexual objects, not as the nurturers of new life as we were designed to be.

[ZegatonZ]

sstlsoccer

then do not abort, when pregnant you are entitle to mandate on your body, no government entity, no person, no creed or organization should dictate what you should do.

[bheffley]

Absolutely true, but... your baby is not, and never was, your body. Different blood, different person, etc.; you wouldn't say that when pregnant you have 4 arms and legs right? Agree that no govt entity or organization can dictate what you do with your body, but they are allowed to take appropriate action to protect other people, even one who happens to residing within its mother at the time.

[grandwolfe]

the fetus' body is seperate from the mother. Many abortions are done against fetuses who could live outside the womb. What about their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? What makes them less alive than their mother?

[shannonchristy]

What an amazing story!

[TolsmaLMC]

Thank you Melissa

[mattmaes]

Only human life can come from humans having sex. Simple as that.

Scientifically, the "we don't know when life begins" viewpoint is impossible to argue; so instead people are resorting to trying to define when "personhood" begins. Some say that it begins when the fetus has "potential" to become a human.

Which leaves you wondering, according to that pro-choice viewpoint of personhood:

Is Melissa Ohden human?

[catiesmom]

abortion needs this human face. It ain't a blob being destroyed, but a real ,live human being.

[64eugenia]

Thank you, Melissa, for your courage in speaking on your life. I hope your words touch even the most hardened anti-life pro-choicer.

The truth of your witness can only show how callous and phoney we are when we talk about hope and change yet turn our backs on the nearly 4,000 babies a day ripped apart out of their moms' wombs and their mothers as well by offering them only death for their children as an option rather than real hopeful and helpful solutions.

[chaste4lyf]

Wow. Wow wow wow! Thank you so much for this testimony. My prayer is that the mothers who have aborted will see their sons and daughters all grown up and alive giving their testimonies not only to life, but to forgiveness and true love, that they are transformed and converted to a culture of life, bring pro life now. Thank you.