 County right to life chapter I'd like to welcome you here this afternoon for our life rally 2011 it's a great day a great day to be alive and a great day to celebrate life There's just one piece of information If you have these little pieces that were paper that were in your program If you could have that take it out fill it out and put it in the offering plate at the end of our Service today that would be great. It will help us to stay in contact with you in a lot faster Fashion, but also it'll cost cut our costs in having to do mailings if we could do it via email. That would be great Thank you very much At this point what I'd like to do is have Pastor Steve Peterson from Zion Covenant Church come up and offer prayer and at that point We will do a little bit of shuffling today These are turbulent times politically as all of you are aware and we have some Political representatives that may be here. We're not sure But we're we're praying for all of them for their safety as well And right now pastor Peterson for our prayer. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Oh God we come to you this afternoon Remembering that you are our creator The one who knit us together in our mother's womb We are wonderfully and Fearfully made and we thank you for the gift of life All of life is in your hands Lord From the moment of fertilization until the moment we breathe our last on this earth Lord Jesus You chose to enter our world through the loving body of your mother Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit Give us the firm belief and conviction to uphold the rights of the pre-born as They rely on the mercy and protection of those who know and love you Holy Spirit you are the promised spirit of truth Constantly revealing the splendor of truth to your people and leading us deeper into the truths of scripture Come to us today and deepen in our minds and hearts the truth about life its greatness its dignity its reflection of the eternal God Make us appreciate ever more the truth that life is always a gift And that every life is of equal dignity Despite all the different characteristics people have Or the different circumstances under which they come to be So come to us Oh Lord free all your people From the falsehoods that lead to the evil of abortion Free them from the false and harmful ideas which make a God out of their own choices Or which fail to recognize the right of life for children in the womb In your mercy Convert our elected leaders judges and legislatures into the way of life Come to us gathered here father son in holy spirit and as you immerse us in your truth and your love So make us effective witnesses of that truth within our families among our friends In our state and nation in all the world Bless every presenter here today Bless us as we hear their story of your grace and giving them life We pray this to Christ our Lord Amen I'd like to have the following people come on up for a Presentation on the right to life Bolethon first of all I'd like to have Marley Harmeling and Sam White and also Bethany Berg Also, Alyssa and Ben come on up First of all, I want to just address Bethany Bethany Berg is a junior at Lutheran High and She has taken over the directing of the Right to life Bolethon at Lutheran High from her sister Mary Who took it on for a year or two? last year in 2009 her sister led an effort that was a thousand dollars that were raised was raised for the right to life Bolethon and this year Bethany took over and did it again and and in honor of that I presented to the student body Lutheran High School an award that we call a grand effort for life. It did not win The the most money raised because the home schoolers did it again But we wanted to recognize Lutheran High and Bethany for her efforts and hopefully we'll do that again next year Please join me in Okay, now the group in front of me here These guys are pretty amazing too this will be the third year in a row and This is the cup of life championship trophy We've had it for five years now and for the third year in a row The home school group has come through this year. They raised just over $2,000 and of our total was just over four which was a record so four thousand dollars raised this year For the right to life Bolethon and these guys were so instrumental in raising over two of that Let's give them a great round of applause I'm not aware that we have any legislators here at this point So we're going to continue with our program and Jim if you could let me know that would be great Tracy White Had an abortion early in her life And instead of having it devastate her for the rest of her life She has chosen through God's power and God's grace to make it Her effort and her mission in life to make sure that young women Who have either had an abortion or those who are considering it that she works with them and tells them exactly? What's happened to her? it's been an amazing mission and Right now she is going to be coming up in advance of her coming up to make a presentation There is going to be a short skit of that is called an American tragedy Chocolate milkshake, I thought you needed your beauty sleep. Go back to sleep anyways. I'm supposed to be pretty quiet I'm going to sleep in on Saturdays. I'm going to be outside playing with cinnamon My dog a golden retriever Yeah, every boy has a puppy when he's fine Cinnamon will be my best friend well except for that of course There's nobody here but us See ya kid. Yeah bosom bodies till the end Monday August 15th Today they were aborted a few years ago. I went through the book do hard things with my high school Sunday school class in this book Alex and Brett Harris Challenge teens to join the revolution they combine the words rebellion and Revolution to form a new word Revolution which they define as teenage rebellion against low expectations This book challenges teens to break the mold of how society sees them They are challenged on every page to do hard things After introducing the book I passed out a note card to every student and I asked them to write down one hard thing that they would like to do Speak at high schools. Those were the words I wrote on my card at that time I really had no intention of ever sharing with the kids what that meant nor did I know what kind of an impact That book would have on my own life After reading the last page I closed the book and I told them the story of another girl. I told them my story I Told 12 Loudmouth teenagers what I had written on my card a few weeks ago I told them how this book had not only changed their lives, but it had changed mine, too And I was ready to do my hard thing Today I want to share with you my story a story that began with me as a teenager a Story that I first shared with teenagers and a story. I share that thousands of teenagers can someday hear I Have four scenarios I would like to share with you and you ask yourself in any of these situations if you would consider abortion The first a girl is only 19 and she's found out. She's pregnant. She has her whole life ahead of her She feels that she can't talks to it talk to her parents Second the father and mother Both have TB they have four children the first and second are deaf The third also has TB and she's pregnant again if she had another child with this child also be sick Should she consider an abortion? The third a white man raped a 13 year old black girl and she got pregnant if you were her parents What would you have her do? The fourth a teenage girl is pregnant She's not married her fiance is not the father What should she do? Let's go back to the first scenario and I'll come to the others later. The girl is 19 and found out she's pregnant That girl was me 21 years ago. I had an abortion I was brought up in a Christian home and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior at a very young age It was evident through most of my school years that I loved Jesus. I was very involved and very active in high school I was on the honor roll I was a student council member a cheerleader a member of the band in the choir a state runner in track And I was very active in our church youth group. I graduated from high school in 1989 It was in 1990 when I became pregnant. I told myself there is no way this could be happening to me First of all, I'm a Christian. What are my parents going to say? What is everybody? I know gonna think of me. I didn't tell my parents. I was afraid. I was ashamed I kept my pregnancy a very well-hidden secret. I was then posed with the question. Are you going to keep it? Keep it. I hadn't honestly thought about what I was really going to do Was I going to place the baby up for an adoption or was I going to have an abortion? Abortion was a very tough word for me to swallow. I didn't know much about it All I knew is that to me it seemed like the safest and the easiest decision Because nobody would ever have to know I was pregnant. Problem solved. I Talked to a doctor at Planned Parenthood who assured me that the child I was carrying was a mass and that it wouldn't feel anything They told me it would be safe to abort the child before week 12. I was at week 11. I made the appointment. I Numbly walked into the abortion clinic and I was sent to a counselor who explained to me that this child I was carrying couldn't feel any pain The reality is at 10 weeks a baby can feel comfort and they can feel pain I was told that it was a blob or a tissue mass The reality is at 12 weeks a baby is fully formed. They can suck their thumb. They can smile. They can make a fist. I Was told I would feel little or no pain at all I wasn't informed that abortions could cause death due to hemorrhaging and other complications I wasn't informed that abortions could cause breast cancer or cervical cancer I wasn't informed that they could ever prevent you from carrying a child again I wasn't informed that not only would I experience pain, but that my baby would too Today partial birth abortions are being performed on babies on babies that have been in the womb for five months Being performed on babies up until their full term of nine months The baby will go through a live delivery up to his or her head The delivery is then stopped the head is punctured which drains all the fluid from the brain So this makes for an easier delivery I lay on the table and I was put into what they call the twilight sleep I was told that I would hear noises, but I shouldn't feel any pain The procedure was very short. I Remember hearing a suction noise like a vacuum cleaner And then I heard that vacuum cleaner sucking up pieces of something. I didn't know what I was hearing They never explained this procedure to me in detail. There was no doctor communication patient communication at all And then I saw it I saw what I did How could they let girls see their babies like that I Saw the remains of my baby That day something took over in my brain Something that protected me from that horrific sight. I lied to myself. I Buried the memory The memory is seeing parts of my baby in a container a cylinder right at the end of my bed in broad daylight It wouldn't be until 19 years later that I remembered what horrific sight I had seen that day The recovery was painful at the time. It was more physical pain for me than emotional pain I hadn't told my parents. I hadn't told anybody I remember lying on my apartment floor bleeding For days. I was in so much pain that my roommate stayed with me there on that floor I to this day. I don't think I have experienced a pain that I felt that day I was scared to go to a doctor and the clinic said that they didn't want to see me anymore. I Wasn't their problem anymore is what they told me The consequences of my abortion were not only physical, but they were also emotional. I Can't tell you how hard it is for me and how sick and guilty and ashamed I would feel when I would hear people say That it disgusted them that somebody could do that to a baby or how pathetic does one have to be to have an abortion? There was one day. I will never forget. I was driving down the main street of the town I grew up in and I saw signs after sign being held by pro-lifers It was signs of dismembered babies Signs of babies still healthy in their mother's wombs Signs of babies that look like little jigsaw puzzles that needed to be put back together And that day I realized I took a life. I didn't take a tissue mask, but I took a life In this country we declare one is alive or dead by the activity in their brain or the beating of their heart 18 days from conception that little heart starts beating Five weeks after conception the brain is active There is life in the womb People who commit heinous crimes are given food and water and comforts in this life until it's their time to pay for their crime What is it that these unborn living babies have done to deserve a death sentence? According to our medical community if your heart is beating and your brain is active, you're alive Follow me back to my story. I have a part that is Very hard for me to say it's special though to me. I was adopted also when I was four days old I Was given the chance by a woman who knew for whatever reason that she could not raise me I don't know her circumstances. Maybe she financially couldn't afford me. Maybe there were people swaying her decision I don't know her reasons All I know Is she chose to give me life she carried me for nine full months She chose to give me to a couple that she didn't even know I'll never know how hard that day was for her But I have to thank her for giving me life I Attended a 40 days for life with my daughter who was eight at the time. We were signs that day the one I wore on my shoulders I'm our words that I will never forget. It's an adoption the loving option That day was special to me in a bittersweet way Being a woman who was adopted being a woman who had aborted And being a woman able to walk with that sign on my shoulders with my daughter Excuse me two years ago I was doing some research on the internet and I came across a video and it was by far the most horrific piece of video I have ever seen to this day It was a video of a baby who is being aborted That night. I realized babies feel pain I saw with my own eyes babies trying to squirm and get away from prodding and poking and sectioning I Saw babies being murdered and these were babies that look like babies. They were fully formed I remember going into our bathroom. I locked the door I turned on the fan. I turned on the water any noise I could make and I curled up in the corner of our bathroom I don't think to this day. I've ever cried that hard I was in hysterics. My response scared me so much that I had to call my husband Who couldn't understand me on the phone I literally felt at that moment. I was losing my mind I found myself cradling my arms as though I was rocking a baby and then I realized something I was rocking my baby you see Years earlier. I realized I had taken a life And throughout my healing process. I never really addressed the feelings that I had repressed Feelings that of grief that I didn't even know existed inside of me That night 19 years after my abortion I allowed myself To mourn the loss of my child and I experienced a feeling of peace A feeling of peace that only my heavenly father can give me through his forgiveness In the fight for life sometimes women who have had abortions feel trampled on Knowing we made a huge mistake. We hide in secrecy and shame We don't look at ourselves as murderers Who just ended the life of a baby most look at it as just terminating a pregnancy I've been around many pro-life men and women whose intentions are anything but hurtful But at times seem a little insensitive And the fight for the unborn it seems that the mother's feelings don't matter or are forgotten about That is anything but the truth If you're sitting here today and you've had an abortion Can I please tell you that you have value? For you there's forgiveness and there's healing There is redemption There's peace and freedom God's grace is so sufficient to deal with bad memories wounds And failures from the most scarred pasts One in four women experience abortions The woman sitting next to you could be a statistic Your friend may be a statistic The woman who sat next to you in church this morning might be one of those statistics The real truth is though that our church is not just filled with statistics But women like me who have had abortions Churches what can we do to help and encourage these women? Women who hide their abortions because they're afraid they're going to be judged Women who hide their abortions because christians shouldn't have a sin that big Or women who don't want to expose their past because it's just too painful How sad to know that these women hear of god's love and forgiveness, but they've never felt it If you've had an abortion talk to somebody, please feel free to talk to me. I have cards with my information You need to heal and find forgiveness Can I tell you that his forgiveness will set the captive free and you are that captive? Maybe someone here is pregnant or knows of somebody who is and doesn't know what to do There are alternatives to abortion. Please don't let anyone ever tell you that abortion is the best option Maybe you're pregnant and the doctors have told you that if you have this baby It will have health issues or birth defects and you feel you cannot handle a baby with medical problems Can I tell you I personally know of a family who just recently adopted a little baby boy with Down syndrome? They chose that baby Can I tell you the family? I know who has the daughter with Down syndrome Just today every Sunday. I'm so blessed by hearing her sing behind me in church And she brings such a smile to my face to come up and have back scratches or to say good morning to me Can I tell you of a family who knew that they're who was told their child was going to have Down syndrome? And when he was born he was perfect. He didn't have Down syndrome If they would have chosen abortion, they would have taken the life Of a healthy baby because why? Because a doctor advised them that this was an option for them Who are we to play god? It is our god who creates life And who are we to end something so precious even if in our own eyes it might not be perfect Guys you may be sitting there wondering what does this have to do with me? Well, I can guarantee you that in this crowd There will be one of you in this room or somebody that you know who will be put in a situation someday A situation that I guarantee will not have an easy ending A situation that because of your actions you will have to reap the consequences A situation that will put you in the place of making a decision that will affect your life The life of your girlfriend and the life of an unborn child What would you decide or encourage her to do? Would you push her into something she'll regret for the rest of her life? So you will just get off easy Girls my story isn't a rare one I guarantee also that this is going to happen to you or someone you know Don't sit there and say that's never going to happen to me because I tell you what I was that girl I sat in that chair and said no way If you're on the pill, which was my case, please don't think that that is safe sex The only safe sex is abstinence Check your relationships girls. Does he respect you when you say no? Are you doing it because if you don't he won't like you? Trust me. If that's the case, he's just not worth it A few moments of great sex can turn your life into a nightmare of pain regret guilt denial and depression But the sad part is the truth of it It won't be a nightmare It'll be your reality Let's go back to the four scenarios that I began with The second case of the father and a mother with tb in who already have four very sick children What did you decide? Would you have chosen to end the life of bae tolin? In the third case of a white man who raped a 13 year old black girl You would have killed ethyl waters the great black gospel singer If you would have said yes to the fourth case of a teenage pregnant girl Whose fiance is not the father? You would have just declared a murder of jesus christ Thank you Wow, it's hard to continue after that, but we are going to continue It has been a Very difficult time in our state politically for the last few weeks and I think possibly today for at least for the next hour It's a great break for a number of our state representatives and state senators who have made their way here to get away from the budget repair bill and And have an opportunity for us to recognize them and applaud them For the tremendous job that they do every day in madison on behalf of life So, uh, I don't know if the lights could come up a little bit, but we'd certainly like to recognize some of the Folks who are here and that would be state representatives dan lemahue Steve costel Mike ensley and state senators joe lippam and glenn growthman And if senator glenn growthman could come up and give us a legislative update Try to keep it under uh, you know under four or five minutes. That'd be great I just kid I just kid. Thank you so much um Well, I'm glad to be here Where what was the 25th or What rally is this are we number 25 number 26? We have a number 26 rally. Okay, which is pretty sad um Because we shouldn't be on the 26 rally should we? um I guess I'll I'll touch on a couple things here Uh, first of all, I guess is a legislative update. So one more time. We have a legislative agenda in madison Uh, the the first thing we're going to deal with in madison are the most important thing is we have a budget coming up And people have not picked through the most significant thing in that budget so far when when they get done picking through with it It'll begin to make the paper And that is to the degree possible. They can't do it entirely but to the degree possible We're going to try to defund plan parenthood in the state of wisconsin People got to know what plan parenthood stands for we're in the middle of a moral and spiritual breakdown in this country And it didn't just happen The primary engine fueling That moral and spiritual breakdown. I am convinced is plan parenthood That organization was found actually when the organization was founded up until the 60s the founder of that organization Didn't even like abortion. Do you know that? Because it was so barbaric abortion would have been so barbaric in this country 50 years ago That margaret sanger herself has quotes out there Saying that she wouldn't be for abortion because as evil as that woman was And that organization was founded to promote promiscuity among the youth that organization was founded To stop procreation among people who she considered her racial inferiors That that organization was founded to stop having children because she didn't like children But even she in the early 60s was against abortion because even in somebody as evil as her Couldn't get her couldn't get her mind around the idea that cutting apart a little baby was bad But nevertheless is that is that organization? Expands their touch they are destroying america's that's the first neat thing we're going to do in madison and we are going to do that this the second thing is of course the I guess what i'll call the anti christian atheist extremists They want to get a hold of the young And one way they get a hold of the young is of course through planpeer and their money But the other way they get a hold of them is through the schools And a year ago at this time one of their goals was to pass a sex ed bill that basically the proponents would say Required taking away the innocence of the kids down to the middle school Required i would say promoting a non-judgmental which is to say a favorable view of the world Of homosexuality which was even talked about 50 years ago And basically corrupting the youth we want to repeal ed bill this time around The third thing is you know under this obama care They're going to wind up funding abortion we want to opt wisconsin out of that we're going to opt wisconsin out of that And finally our goal is to strengthen the laws regulating abortion in the state of wisconsin So that we knock down that 7 000 figure Which is good too, you know positive But i always feel the biggest problem we have is not in madison and not in washington It's the hearts and minds of the people and that the churches are not doing a good enough job And i was reminded of that one more time this year now There's a bill up that's received a lot of publicity that says nothing to do with this crowd And that is that budget repair bill, okay? It's been on the paper blah blah blah blah blah and i don't even like dealing with it because there are a lot of Good christians on the other side of the issue and i don't like being on the wrong side of any good christians That being said On that bill there was one day in which 52 clergymen marched through that capital supporting that bill Which shows that it's not impossible for clergymen to find the state capital Last year when we had that what they call healthy sex act or healthy youth sex act or whatever it is It was like pulling teeth To get two clergymen to the capital To say that it's wrong to push a bill with what else can i call it graphic sex ed for sex graders Okay, now there's something wrong with the clergy of this state you know One gal once said when's abortion going to end it's going to end when the church says it's going to end The churches are not saying it's going to end right now Okay, because right now the church has considered this issue too Controversial or something to really dial it up and do something about it So what i'm going to ask you to do and i guess the reason they have me talk here is to encourage people like joe and steve Mike and dan To vote for these bills and we'll vote for these bills. Sheboygan county is a great county What i'm going to ask you to do in addition to showing support for your pro-life legislators and tell them how to vote Is tell your clergyman to get off his rear end You know ask your denomination To say it's time to start talking about the bible and time to start talking about living a christian lifestyle Because our country is going down the tubes unless we get god back on our side. So thanks You know, I saw him on fox news this week and man, he's better live than on tv We're going to take an offering right now to keep sheboygan county right to life financially viable It's been a great year and thanks to many of you who write checks during the course of the year Support people who are involved in the bolethon go to the the rummage sale do all those types of things. That's great If you can give a little bit more today, that'd be wonderful while this is going on while the That you guys can start the offering if you like We are going to have an introduction to 40 days of life by sarah gulky if you want to come on up that'd be great Um, please if you can We're not going to have any music during the offering if you can keep your talk down We'd like to have sarah come on up and and introduce us to 40 days of life. Let's give her a warm welcome I'd like to thank you first for giving me a few minutes of your time to speak about 40 days for life This semester my friends and I have been studying the book. How shall we then live? It is um by frances schaefer his book speaks about the worldviews of people all through the centuries Ending with where we are today and how we as christians have to act on what we believe to impact the culture for god These two things really inspired my friends and I to speak out against an issue that we were all very passionate about abortion That was when my mom suggested that we should host a 40 days for life in sheboygan for the first time 40 days for life is a national movement that started on march 9 and will be going through april 17 People are standing outside of abortion clinics and planned parenthood facilities holding signs speaking out against abortions We all decided to take on this project and make a difference Every day for 40 days We are trying to get people to sign up and stand in front of the plan pairing plan parenthood building on kohler memorial drive in sheboygan We are looking for people to fill two hour times slots during those days And anyone can sign up for whatever day or days that they would like to help out with Even though it already started. We still need more volunteers Last wednesday was the first day and it went really well 22 people showed up to kick off this project and we spent time praying and holding signs We received a lot of good responses from people driving by god has really worked in this movement in the past Through 40 days for life alone. It has been recorded that 3,599 lives have been spared from abortion And those are just the ones that we know of 43 abortion clinic workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry Nine abortion facilities completely shut down following a 40 days for life campaign In madison they were plans to start performing late-term abortions But because of people who continually held signs That spoke the truth of abortion others working to stop the plans and merciful god They decided not to click carry on with those plans We can see now that god has blessed this movement and we want to make a difference here in shabuagan This is a peaceful vigil and we want to bring hope to a hopeless place We will be holding signs and praying and if the opportunity arises Sharing with those passing by if you would like to help out We have a table set up in the foyer for anyone who has more questions or would like to sign up We can use all the help we can get we know that the lord will bless and use What goes on through this campaign and we are expecting great things. Thank you Pro life attorney and author You may have read a little bit of information about her on the flyers and the posters that were around town She wrote a book called conceived in a rape a story of hope And I think that in listening to uh to tracy and her story Of hope and redemption That rebecca has a very very unique and incredible story That we are going to be a witness to in just a moment. She's a been a guest on the 700 club She's been on cnn cbs and just a variety of other National networks She's also a mother of five a homeschooler And a pretty amazing woman Please give a warm welcome for rebecca keisling came right off earlier Well, I'm very glad to be here I was adopted nearly from birth and like many adoptees for years I dreamed of being able to meet my birth mother My search began on my 18th birthday and I was shocked and been told on that day that that door was closed That I would never have the opportunity to meet her and that was very difficult for me All these years. I just had this expectation. It was my information So at 18, I went ahead and I petitioned for what's called my non identifying information And when it arrived it had everything you can imagine about my birth mother except for her name It had her eye color hair color height weight age the age of my half brother and half sister who were 11 and 13 when I was born Her ethnicity religious background occupation educational level detailed medical history And I just hung on to every word But then for my father it said that he was Caucasian and of large build And that was it and I thought that sounds like a police description I mean come on. She couldn't even say his eye color hair color nothing And I thought it over I mean what could the possible explanation be? And I called up my caseworker and I asked her Was my mom raped And she said yeah, I didn't want to tell you and I was just Devastated I remember feeling so ugly and so unwanted and thinking Who would ever love me? Who's ever going to want to marry me and have a family with me because the explanation for my Adoptive brother growing up who had been in and out of jail and prison from the age of 16 was that Socially deviant behavior is genetic Well now what does that mean about me about who I am? Do I have this ugliness lurking inside of me if I would give birth to a son someday? Would he become a rapist? And I really believe that a nice guy wouldn't want to get involved with someone like me And then of course at the same time I thought about the issue of abortion Because that's what you always hear about right? Growing up abortion wasn't talked about a whole lot in my family when I was 12 my 16 year old cousin had one And I recall the discussions being that this was not a good thing In high school. I remember studying this issue and seeing photos of aborted babies and being horrified But I didn't identify with that. I didn't think oh that could have been me No, I thought it was just some sad story where she couldn't afford to keep me But abortion doesn't apply to my life I thought And I turn 18 I get this information and it has to do with my very existence And it was as if I could hear the echoes of all those people who would say Well Except in cases of rape Or especially in cases of rape And now all those people were talking about me about my life And I felt like I had at least half the world against me that there's all these people out there who don't even know me who are Standing in judgment of my life so quick to dismiss it just because of how I was conceived And I felt like I was now going to have to justify My own existence that I would have to prove myself to the world that I shouldn't have been aborted and that I was worthy of living And after a while had it all worked out in my head that if I could just meet in the certain societal standard That's out there that dictates what one's value is if I could just make myself Attractive and successful and if I could just find that relationship where someone would love me Then I could have value and I could feel good about myself And I figured people could then look at me and say oh well look at rebecca This nice young attractive intelligent woman clearly rebecca shouldn't have been aborted And then everyone would just see the light and single-handedly I could bring an end to abortion this world And thank god I am not the savior of this world, and I couldn't even save myself But isn't that message so prevalent in our society that your value is based upon perhaps how you were conceived How smart what you do with your life how much money you make motivational speakers would tell you that If you could just make something out of yourself then you too could be somebody Well, you know not everybody has those opportunities or capabilities and people mess up in life And so what then they're not somebody Or they're nobody Where some people would tell you that your value is based upon the sum total of your successes versus your failures and if your success is in life outweigh your failures Well, then you're a person of value and you have something to offer this world But if your failures outweigh your successes if you've just messed up too many times in your life Or if your burdens outweigh your benefits then in the ledger sheet of life You're a liability and you're either not worth as much as everybody else or you're disposable And I guess I had really bought into that lie And I wanted to have all of my assets lined up So people could look at me and see me as being a person of value At a time in my life when I felt like I was being devalued every day And isn't that why so many young women choose abortion? Because they think that somehow their life is not going to be worth this much If they have this child out of wedlock that that would be seen as a failure Or they wouldn't be as marketable for marriage in the future Or they think that they couldn't get their college degree in just the right amount of time And they want to stay in the rat race and be a person of value and they buy into abortion as being their solution I understand when it's like to feel that way I settled in relationships like I should be thankful that somebody would want to be with somebody like me Jumped into relationships that became more and more controlling and abusive Until ultimately I was beat up by a boyfriend from law school He broke my jaw my front tooth was hanging I had to have all kinds of surgery to have it put back in root canal more surgery to try to save it I was told I could still end up losing my front tooth someday And after 13 years I had to have it pulled Which again was devastating But I was speaking at a banquet in alabama and an expert in cosmetic dentistry came up to me afterwards and offered to do all of my teeth for free And not just three with a bridge and four to match but eight teeth with porcelain veneers, so And I share that story with you Because it's another example in my life where there was something that happened that was Really really awful But then something beautiful came out of it And isn't that what god is famous for? The worst evil that man has in store god can take and use it for good for his glory It's the story of joseph in egypt What man meant for evil god can use for good and it's the story of our savior And the story doesn't have to end with the violence having victory Now I am very thankful for this nice new set of teeth But let me make one thing clear that does not make me pro domestic violence Just like being thankful for my life Does not make me pro rape But people actually say that to me Especially on university campuses during q&a they'll say oh, so what you're saying is that if abortion had been legal You wouldn't be here today. Well, you know if your birth mother hadn't been raped You wouldn't be here today either. So does that mean that you're pro rape? Actually say that to me And I explained to them that there is a huge moral difference because I did exist And my life would have been ended because I would have been killed through this brutal abortion I may not look the same as I did when I was four years old or four days old yet unborn in my mother's womb But that was still undeniably me and I would have been killed. That is a huge moral difference Now at the time I'd been beat up I had really hit rock bottom from all our appearances I had so much going for me. I excelled in academics and athletics. I was attending a great law school But I was totally deteriorating on the inside over this whole issue of value And that is when god called me back to him the first time I'd ever heard the mess of the gospel. I was 15 Up to that point. I'd had lots of friends who invited me to church over the years with them But no one ever shared their faith with me. I had been adopted and raised in a very secular Jewish household God was utterly irrelevant in our house. I never saw my parents pray. Although I was bat mitzvahed and everything And trust me. Jesus is not a popular subject in a Jewish household And I was amazed and I believe that night But after nine months, I've no longer had a ride. I felt forsaken by my church friends And I ended up spending some of those toughest years of my life away from god away from church I'm my own doing things my way and the world's way until he called me back And it's been amazing what he's done in my life since then But let me take you back to when I was 18 and I first learned how I was conceived Of course at that point I thought about my birth mother and I thought she must hate me This has absolutely got to be the worst thing that's ever happened to her in her life She's never going to want to meet me She probably wanted to abort me And then again after a while I had it all figured out that if somehow I could just meet her and if I could hear That maybe there was some mistake that this was not how I was conceived Then again, I could feel good about myself and I could feel safe Like I wouldn't have to still feel like I was a target I didn't want to be part of that classification Conceived in rape, you know who would so I ended up being one of the first people in michigan To allow my caseworker to try to contact my birth mother and see if she wanted to meet me And it worked. I was attending college out of state at the time I finally received a letter with my birth name, which was Judy and miracle, so I was a miracle baby I thought that was kind of cool And it had her name joanne with her phone number trembling. I called she said she was sorry to hear that I already knew But then she proceeded to fill me in on some horrific details that I was totally unequipped to hear She's 410. She weighed 90 pounds really petite A single mom heading to the grocery store at night right down the street from her home The guy jumped out of the bushes with a knife Abducted her and basically she went on to describe for me in graphic detail How he brutally raped her And that's how I was conceived That was so hard to hear For several reasons First of all to think that I was conceived out of a truly worse case scenario I just felt totally worthless Like garbage Because of people who would say that my life was like garbage that I was disposable Then I had to realize that my biological father was a really bad man She had gone to several police line-ups and stopped going because she wouldn't recognize his face But they knew that this was a serial rapist And then all these years I had really dreamed so much of meeting her I had written poetry about meeting her And so to hear that she had been violated like this really pained me We arranged for me to fly home and meet her on her 51st birthday And in the meantime she sent me photos and a letter And she wrote My dearest Rebecca Hoping by now that the shock of finding out all the details of your birth Are forgotten For that was not reason enough of having to give up something as beautiful as you were Nothing as precious as a baby Mostly when you carry one nine months and you go through the birth all alone feeling like no one loves you But you were so perfect and pretty all these years I had nothing of you nothing saying you were part of me Just the memory of carrying a baby that I hoped one day Would try to find her real mother as I always wanted to know my baby You were always with me in my thoughts. You were always with me in my heart mostly in july It seems like a lifetime. I know when I was sick two years ago. I thought I would never get to know my little girl Would you please even get me a copy of the letter you sent to the oakland county judge? It made me cry Also, I would like copies of your poems. These are things I would like to read It's been a long three weeks looking forward to our meeting. I didn't know how to express my inner feelings And then she put in caps It's so great big beautiful. It's always been my dream. I am so happy. I'm crying Then she wrote closing a love that aided me for 19 years My daughter at last With love your mom joanne Well, that was just all my dreams come true I felt so affirmed and I felt like Yes, I was wanted I flew home had a wonderful reunion weekend with her the next day. She had a huge family reunion for me I got to meet my half brother, which was really weird to think we could have grown up together Six years later. I flew down to florida for a five generation photo got to meet my half sister It was the fourth time around they had five generations of women alive I got to room with my grandmother at the time, which was so cool But after this initial reunion weekend, I flew back to college went to a few meetings of students for life I didn't get involved at that point because I didn't feel like I fit in anywhere But it gave me the courage and support I felt I needed to finally call her and ask her about abortion Because I still needed to know And she told me that if abortion had been legal in michigan at the time That she would have Aborted me I said, you don't mean if you had to do it all over again, right? And she said no And I said, well, what about everything you said in that letter? And she said to me, you don't know what it was like And I know that that's true But I also know that today she's okay. In fact, she's doing great She has a wonderful husband a beautiful home despite the utter horror of her saying that to me I still chose to nurture a relationship with her To honor her for the role that she did play in my life And frankly, I just thought that if I was good enough That she changed her mind Well by the time she did change her mind I was at a really good place in my life where I no longer needed to hear that from my own well-being But it was still great to hear I was with her when she was making baby clothes for my niece in florida Who was in a crisis pregnancy with her first great-grandchild She said to me, no, I'm really glad that she decided to have this baby And I've changed my mind about all that Two days later Norma McCorvey, Jane Rowe from Roe v. Wade Announced the very same thing to the nation that she had changed her mind about abortion After years of having worked in an abortion clinic yet never actually having had one herself And how nice that she could do that change her mind about abortion and still have the opportunity To enjoy a relationship with her daughter from that case People forget she had a daughter Who was targeted for abortion in that case not some fictitious theoretical Philosophical legal entity called a fetus, but a real person Don't ever let people forget that we're talking about real people, especially in the case of Roe v. Wade Her daughters around my age the trial date in texas Was held Exactly 10 months from my birth date The u.s supreme court decision was exactly three and a half years to my birth date So I just barely made it And so did her daughter This issue would come up quite a bit in law school as you can imagine I'd share a little of my classmates at how I was conceived and explain to them the truth that whenever you Identify yourself as being pro-choice Or whenever you make that exception for rape That what that really translates into And this includes let me just add supporting exceptions for rape legislators Because supporting an exception equals allowing for exceptions equals making exceptions. It's all the same Or when you say that Your for abortion, especially in cases of rape what that really translates into Is you being able to stand before me? Look at me in the eyes and say to me I think that your mother should have been able to abort you Which is a pretty powerful statement And I would never say anything like that to someone. I would never say to someone If I had my way you'd be dead right now But that is the reality with which I live It's like describe for me how it's not It's not like people say oh i'm pro-choice except for that little wind of opportunity in 1968-69 so that you or Rebecca could have been born No, this is the reality of it and I can tell you that it hurts and it's mean But I know that people don't put a face to this issue For most of the concept a quick cliche they sweep under the rug and forget about it And I do hope that my story and the multitude of other stories On my website of people conceived in rape Or who became pregnant by rape can help to put faces voices stories to this issue In response I'd have people say well I'm not saying that I think that your mother should have aborted you I'm just saying I think it should have been her choice Yeah, but her choice was to abort me You don't really know that Well, no, I do know that How can you really know something like that? Because she told me Well, maybe she might not have but she said she would have and it's like wait a second This thing you say you believe in why all of a sudden I was standing here before me Are you so uncomfortable with the truth that you now have to create this fiction in your mind that Maybe she might not have in order to try to absolve yourself of any sense of responsibility The fact is that I am alive today Because of pro-life advocates and pro-life legislators in Michigan Who without even knowing of my exact existence yet recognized that mine was alive were saving And they made sure that abortion was illegal in Michigan Even in cases of rape 100 pro-life no exceptions. No compromise They are my heroes and I owe my life to them and that is why I in turn do the same for others You know and they talk about how much they care about women. Well I'm a woman And they could care less about me. What good is my right to anything if I don't have my right to life And then I'd have people just try to blow me off with oh, well, you were lucky And I explained that this has nothing to do with luck This has to do with decisions that were made choices that we all make every day Whether we get involved how we vote and don't tell me that our brothers and sisters who are being aborted every day are somehow unlucky What a cop out My birth mother went to two back alley abortionists and I was almost aborted For the first she said was the typical back alley conditions that you hear about as to why she should have been able to Safely and legally abort me She said there was blood and dirt on the floor and on the tables And those back alley conditions and the fact that it was illegal caused her to back out As it did with most women And then she got hooked up with a more expensive abortionist once again through the rape counselor that the police had referred her to She said there were no pregnancy resource centers back then But if there had been she would have gone And this time she was to meet someone in detroit at night Someone would approach her say her name Blindfold her put her the back seat of a car then take her and abort me Then blindfold her again and drop it back off And you know what I think is just so pathetic Is that I know that there are an awful lot of people out there who would hear me describe those conditions And their response would just be oh Like it's just so awful that your birth mother should have had to have gone through that In order to have been able to abort you Like that's compassionate Because understand that they think that they're being compassionate But that's pretty cold-hearted from where I stand. Don't you think because that is my life that they're so callously talking about She's okay life went on for her, but I would have been killed through this brutal abortion Well the night that she was to have me aborted. She was prepared to go through with it My aunt was to drive her And she spoke with this abortion doctor on the phone expressed concern for her safety He told her she was being stupid She said okay, you're gonna call me names. All right, just forget it Well, then he went on to swear at her profusely and she finally just hung up the phone on him He called her back the next day to try to once again talk her into allowing him to take my life And the same kind of conversation took place I can't even tell you what it feels like to know that somebody wanted to take my life so badly That he would even call back the next day You know for some people their near-death experience is waking up out of a coma To find out that they were almost killed in an automobile accident for me This is my near-death experience And the fact that I was younger Doesn't make it any less real or any less significant I wasn't lucky. I was protected Legality matters Then people would say Oh, and let me just add, you know, I'm so thankful that my life was spared But a lot of well-meaning Christians would say things like Oh, well, you know, God really meant for you to be here But I know that God intends for every unborn child to be given that same opportunity And it's not like I can stand up here and say, oh well Look what I've done with my life I deserved it At least my life was spared. I can't do that Can you? Can you just sit there and say, oh well, at least I was conceived out of two loving parents At least I was wanted at least I'm alive or just whatever And then you hear people say things like Well, don't you think it's a bit extreme to force a rape victim to have to carry the rapist baby? Okay, first of all, I am not the rapist baby As in most instances the rapist doesn't even know of my existence And what an insult to the majority of rape victims who not only choose life But the majority of them choose to raise that child after everything they've been through You're actually going to say that that's the rapist baby And secondly, I think it's a bit extreme to tell another living human being that they're garbage That they don't deserve to be living that they weren't worthy of protection I think that's a bit extreme, don't you? We need to point out Who the extremists really are And then people would say, well Oh, well, if you had been aborted, you wouldn't be here today and you wouldn't know the difference anyway So what does it matter? And believe it or not, some of the top abortion philosophers use that same kind of argument that the fetus never knows what hits them So there's no such fetus to Mr. Lives Like I guess as long as you stab someone in the back while they're sleeping Well, then it's okay because they don't know what hits them And I'd explain how their same logic would justify me Killing you today because oh you wouldn't be here tomorrow and you wouldn't know the difference anyway. So what does it matter? And they just stand there with their jaws dropped like Gee, it's amazing what even just a little bit of logic can do When you really think this thing through and what we're really talking about that there are lives who are not here today Because they were aborted. That's like the old saying if a tree falls in the forest and no one's around to hear it Does it make a noise? Well, yeah Huh and if a baby is aborted and no one else is around to know about it Does it matter? And the answer is Yeah Their lives matter My life matters Your lives Matter and don't let anyone tell you otherwise The world is a different place because it was illegal for my birth mother to abort me back then Your lives are different because she could not legally abort me because you're sitting here listening to me today But you know, you don't have to have an impact on audiences for your life to matter And there is something that we are all missing here today because of the generations now Who have been aborted and it matters I was frustrated with people who would say things like well, I don't believe in god. I'm believing the Bible is like I'm pro choice So I wrote a 43 page essay the right of the unborn child not to be unjustly killed the philosophy of rights approach I took all the top abortion philosophers filed their argument show the clear air and their logic It's a very sound document love to challenge anybody too and it's on my website And you can google pro-life speaker in my website Will be the first to come up so it's easy to find me you don't have to remember how to spell my last name And um or google conceived and rape or pregnant by rape or philosophical abortion essay It's easy to find And I thought wow, you know, it'd be so cool to handle one of these kinds of cases But I figured you'd never be able to unless you work for the attorney general's office or the aclu and I wouldn't be caught dead working for aclu I had a professor in law school who was so proud that he Helped legalize abortion in kentucky One of the first states and I knew his family growing up and I knew that he'd adapted his daughter shortly before roe v wade So I went up to him after class and should have done it during class so everybody could see what a big jerk this guy was I said to him But professor settler What if your daughter had been aborted? And he just looked at me point blank without hesitation And said well We would have adopted someone else How would you like to have him for a dad? You're disposable You're replaceable Like it's just all about him as long as he gets to have a kid Kind of ignores the fact that's not so easy to adopt since there's been legalized abortion for a long time nationwide the statistic was that only 4% choose adoption in crisis pregnancies. I just saw the latest statistic last month. It's down to 1% now Kind of gives you an idea of what kind of a person would help fight to legalize abortion again pretty cold hearted I think especially when that's your own child that you're talking about But the truth is that whenever you have a parent who says they're pro-choice. It's really the same thing Well, I think that if I had wanted to I should have been able to I mean after all it is my body But no need for you to worry I wanted you You were convenient for me at the time You understand don't you? How messed up is that? Like your parent is the gatekeeper of your life and you get attitudes like I brought you into this world And I can take you out too And it's not like people really get that real with their children and have those kinds of conversations But that is the reality of it and you wonder why so many young people today don't feel valued Well that experience in my life with domestic violence give me a heart for families in crisis So I'm doing what I would said I would never do which is become a family law attorney and I was able to Help people my law practice every day when they had hit rock bottom and I had women coming in who were pregnant And being told all kinds of things that they could force an abortion force an adoption block an adoption They'll kick her out They'll get custody and the most common one is that this abortion money is the last dime you'll ever get from me Post-abortion support groups are filled with women who say that they were told that very same thing and that they felt like they had no other choice Women go into pregnancy centers and they typically say things like I just can't have this baby right now They know it's a baby. They don't sit there and say I just can't have this fetus right now They know it's a baby, but again they feel like they have no other choice And I don't think it's being much of a feminist to sit there and say you're right. You can't You couldn't possibly have the strength of character it takes to see this thing through You can't oh and I'm not going to help you and they take their abortion money Because it's an industry and they're nowhere to be found when they're dealing with the awful aftermath And I find it's so ironic that these so-called feminists are basically the First to argue that women are pretty much weak and pathetic and can't handle very much Oh, how can you expect a woman to have to carry a baby? You know like a baby is The scary monster and the enemy, you know, whatever happened to I am woman hear me roar And now a woman has to be afraid of a baby And so I educate and empower women like a true feminist and like pregnancy centers do And telling them you are stronger than you think you can have this baby and we will help you I had numerous photos Of babies and the tear jerking thank you letters that god used me a lot my law practice to save from abortion I represented them for free whatever their needs were if it meant sparing the life of that child I began doing workshops for pregnancy centers on an abortion minded clients life giving legal options And I thought this is so cool. I never knew by becoming a family law attorney. I'd get to do this kind of work It was totally in the desires of my heart from when I was in law school And then I had four cases that were national international news One of the kind cases in the country in the world to involve rape and abortion One was the frozen embryo case in michigan And these cases came to me not from any pro-life organization But from my yellow page ad under family law attorney because that's what they needed They didn't even know I was pro-life when they called me Let alone the rest of it And I just know as it says in scripture that god had a plan for my life From the time that I was conceived and I know that this was part of it God sent me a godly man of character who honored me throughout our courtship despite the horrible mistakes of the past My birth mother Was included in the wedding invitation as one of the parents and she was walked on the aisle in our wedding as one of the mothers If you ask her today If you if you ask her today she will say that I am a blessing to her And I think about how different our society would be if everybody understood that truth that we see throughout scripture That every child is a gift a blessing a reward Then when they'd hear a situation like mine Instead of saying oh how awful you mean to tell me that woman was raped and she was actually forced to carry that child Instead they could say wow how good is god You mean to tell me he rewarded her with the gift of that child's life to bring her hope and healing for the future All the major research done shows that to be the truth the ones who give birth express that there was something very healing Of having something beautiful come out of something really awful that it helped them to overcome the rape But the ones who had the abortion expressed that it was far more difficult to overcome the abortion than it was the rape That it was yet another violent intrusion into the room after already being traumatized There four times more likely to die within the next year after the abortion Because they have a higher murder rate the abortion often helps perpetuate an abusive relationship They have a higher rate of suicide drug overdose domestic violence divorce depression throughout their lives and on and on So it is not even compassionate for the rape victim We know with incest that it is always the perpetrator who is protected with the abortion Not only does the rape typically end for her when she gives birth But also for all the other young women in the household who are being raped But people just assume that they would be better off without ever having done the research If you really care about a rape victim You would want to protect her from the abortion and not the baby A baby is not the worst thing that could ever happen to a rape victim an abortion is one of my husband and I went on to Adopt not second best last resort, but God's first choice and meant for the body of Christ Our two boys have the same birth mother They would have been easy targets for abortion. They have powerful stories of their own Our then we adopted another child to actually our second adopted child Cassie to everyone surprise was born with a very serious genetic disorder She spent 12 days in children's hospital and 21 days in her home In researching this all I could find was how to Detect in utero so that you could have the opportunity to abort and most of those babies are aborted And I think it's so awful and tragic that people would look at Cassie and say that she wasn't as good Or that it wasn't worth going through that Let me tell you it was an honor to take care of her And I definitely had the sense that it was one of the most important things that I'd ever done in my life Then we went on to experience infertility didn't know we would but four years There I knew that there was no way I was going to a doctor who does IVF in vitro I learned from the frozen embryo case. They have their clients check off choosing to destroy embryos Choosing abortion selective reduction therapy. They call it even before a single child's been created total premeditated murder And there was no way I was going to go to one of them And then I found out there's such things as pro-life fertility doctors who do way more testing to find out what actually is going on And they have better success rates and they don't exploit people's ignorance and desperation to become pregnant And we got pregnant the very first month and now we have three biological daughters And they are all our second generation abortion survivors my birth mother's grandmother and to our children I won't get into why this was necessary except to say that my adaptive father had basically forsaken me and my family and There were some ugly situations and in order to protect my children four months ago 22 years from the day we met on her birthday My birth mother and her husband Legally adopted me And I am very pro Adoption, you know having a couple adopted children myself But for me, this was my fairytale ending and In my life, it was god showing him once again Showing himself once again to be a father to the fatherless One of the greatest things that I've learned is that the rapist is not my creator As some people would have me believe my value and identity are not established as being a product of rape But a child of god There are no words that any person could say to me that could heal me that could make up for what I've been through and what I learned But when I read god's word on it, it spoke to the depths of my soul Though my mother and father forsake me the lord will receive me Oh, who else is going to say that to me society will receive me And a father to the fatherless is god and his holy dwelling god sets the lonely in families We're told that it is in the spirit of adoption that we're all called to be god's children through christ Not second best last resort, but god's first choice and meant for the body of christ And most importantly, I know and I can teach my children that if you want to know what your value is You don't have to prove your worth to anyone But all you have to do is look to the cross Because that is the infinite price that he paid for your lives He thought I was pretty valuable And you are too I hope you know your own worth When you can say that you are pro-life without exception, it's like saying I get it You matter yours was a life worth saving And now I hope you will go forward from here And do the same for others Thank you Thank you, rebecca Amazing. We wish you god speed also and all the other traveling that you do and present this Some people work behind the scenes For causes that they believe in and others are right out in front This year's recipient of the friend of life award has been active in both places She has held up signs and defensive life outside of abortion clinics This year's recipient has given testimony in madison And made herself available to men and women who have been adversely affected by abortion She has taken on the responsibility of the pro-life booth at the shabuigan county fair and has helped in putting together This year's rally She has made it a mission to educate people about the reality of what abortion really does to women Please join me in welcoming the winner of this year's friend of life award D. McCoy. Hi. Thanks Speechless, but 2005 was when it all started for me Here when in 2003 I started healing for my three abortions in my miscarriage And I thank you for all your support because I couldn't do it without you And thank you so much Oh, we want to wrap it up tonight or this afternoon before it gets to tonight And I just wanted to mention a couple of things First of all, thanks for taking the time to attend. This is an annual event But we don't want to stay just an annual event one time you honor life I know that you guys do it in your own private lives. We need to get more public about this There is a 40 days for life booth outside This room if you could stop over there and talk to some of the people who are involved in that that would be wonderful You know, stay active stay vigilant Stay true We've heard a lot of references to God and you know, stay true to God's word. He talks about life It is all throughout the bible November 2010 Was pretty amazing For life It was an incredible election And now we hold our state representatives and state senators accountable Not only that we replaced Somebody in Washington We now have ron johnson there and that was a pretty incredible election But we have one more to go. We want coal out of washington, right? now one last thing and that is um The presidential election I know is you know a year and a half two years away. It's already gearing up We need to hold Conservative candidates accountable for life They cannot be conservative unless they choose life in the way that they vote. Let's make sure that we're vigilant on that The balloons up here for kids anybody who wants to come on up can grab one And and then can head back you are all invited to stay for refreshments out and back Thank you so much for coming to this year's right to life rally