My Pro-Life Story

My pro-life journey began when I was about 7 or 8 years old and stumbled across some Right To Life brochures  lying around my family home. One of the brochures contained diagrams of an abortion procedure. I was so shocked: I remember thinking, ‘How could a mother do this to her child?’

The impression never left me - of the disassociated mother (there was no head, just the mother’s pelvis in the diagram), and her passivity, of the disassociated doctor, (only his hands and instruments were visible) and the clinical representation of this horrific procedure.

The experience served me well when, many years later, I found myself facing an unplanned pregnancy.

I was 20 years old, and not a practising Catholic. For many years, I attended Mass at Christmas and Easter and received the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin, but that was not practising my Faith.

By the time I realised I was pregnant, I had taken LSD on several occasions. That, in addition to my regular diet of marijuana and binge-drinking. But an abortion was out of the question: I knew it meant killing my unborn baby. Other people came forward to suggest abortion to me - the sister of my baby’s father told me that another sister had just aborted her baby, and I should also consider it. A couple told me how they had aborted their baby because the mother had taken malaria tablets when pregnant - they assured me it was for the best.

But I knew it was wrong - why should I kill an innocent child because of the reckless lifestyle I had chosen?

Many people say they are in favour of abortion because they don’t want to see babies brought into poverty or unstable family situations. In my case, had I aborted my child, I would have gone on to a career much worse than any of that. I was planning to go to film school and finance my studies by selling drugs. Having a baby, although she was unplanned and I was single, stopped me from becoming a drug-dealer. I am so very grateful for that. So very grateful for that little baby who became the focus of my life, and drew me away from despair, selfishness and practical atheism.

I gave her life, and she brought me back to life.