Now a mother, herself, Melissa Ohden has experienced first-hand what she calls the “intergenerational impact of abortion.” The reality is that abortion doesn’t just impact a woman’s life; it ends a child’s life. It forever changes the lives of everyone it touches, including women, men, extended family members, friends, and our communities.
In 1977, Melissa’s biological mother was a 19 year old college student when she had a saline infusion abortion that was meant to end Melissa’s life. Although her biological mother thought that she was less than five months pregnant when she had the abortion, the fact that Melissa survived and weighed almost 3 pounds indicates that her biological mother was much further along in her pregnancy than she realized. In fact, when Melissa obtained her medical records in 2007 that detail the abortion procedure that she survived, one of the first notations by a doctor after she survived was that she looked like she was approximately 31 weeks gestation! Despite the initial concerns that doctors had regarding her ability to survive, and the quality of life she would experience if she did, today Melissa is a healthy 34-year-old woman.
Although Melissa grew up knowing that she was adopted and loved, she didn’t find out the truth about being an abortion survivor until she was 14 years old. Needless to say, finding out the truth about her life changed her forever, and now the world also. Melissa, ultimately, went searching for answers about her survival and her biological family, and since 2007, she has had contact with both sides of her biological family in varying degrees.
Copies of Melissa’s birth records, which chronicle the abortion attempt that was meant to end her life and more information about Melissa’s survival, her ministry, and her work to extend love and forgiveness to all who are impacted by abortion, including her own biological family, can be found on her personal website: www.melissaohden.com.
Melissa is a pro-life speaker and advocate who often appears on television and radio shows such as FoxNews, Focus on the Family, The 700 Club, 100 Huntley St., EWTN, Life News, and others. She is the subject of the award-winning documentary, A Voice for Life (see the Abortion Survivors in the News page for more information about A Voice for Life).
Read Melissa Ohden’s amazing story in her new book: You Carried Me
