Abortion Survivor Shares Her Moving Story
Source: May 30, 1999, North Hills News Record
Pine, PA -- A 22-year-old woman who survived a saline abortion in her mother's womb but was disabled for life as a result shared her story - and faith - at North Way Christian Community in Pine.
Gianna Jessen, a singer and speaker living in Nashville, Tenn., said she was able to forgive her biological mother even though the teenager sought to abort her in a Los Angeles abortion facility in 1977.
"I was aborted, actually," said Jessen, who uses her background as a springboard to talk to teenagers about maintaining sexual purity and overcoming obstacles.
"I'm not angry. I really have forgiven her," said Jessen. "I guess it would sound odd. It's because I'm a Christian that I'm able to forgive her for what she's done."
Jessen, who grew up in San Diego and has appeared in pro-life television commercials, lived with foster parents until she was 3, when Diana DePaul of San Clemente, Calif., adopted her.
Jessen said the birth trauma left her with cerebral palsy. She walked with leg braces until she was 9. Her intellect, however, was unaffected. She anticipates a normal lifespan.
"I was never supposed to sit up," said Jessen, who credits God with a miracle. "They said all I would ever be was a vegetable," she said. "Not only did I survive this procedure, I also can take care of myself and can walk, with a slight limp."
Jessen's life began with a one-night stand. Her biological mother was 17 and from the San Diego area. The father 19 or 20. It was not a serious romance. The father left town before his daughter was born, DePaul said.
The mother, seven and a half months pregnant, was referred to an abortion facility by Planned Parenthood, DePaul said.
At the abortion facility, a salt solution was injected into the teen's womb, which usually results in a stillbirth, causing the abortion and death of the child.
Jessen survived. A nurse called a paramedic, and she was transferred to a hospital, DePaul said. At birth, she weighed 2 pounds, 1 ounce, DePaul said. She was in intensive care for three months.
DePaul said she told her daughter about her origin when she was 12. Oddly enough, because the baby was born alive, the birth mother was required to name the baby. She named her Giana. DePaul added an extra "n" later.
"I told her at that time that she shouldn't look at the circumstances of her birth," DePaul said. "Many people have traumatic births. I told her to look at the fact that God, in his grace, allowed her to live."
In 1992, DePaul hired a private detective to find the birth mother. DePaul knew her name because she had acquired the state's foster care records. The two women met for four hours and the woman told DePaul she had another abortion.
"She never said, `Oh, I hope Gianna forgives me for this.' " DePaul said. "She did say she was glad that Gianna was making the best of her life."
The woman, whom DePaul has not seen since, could not be reached. DePaul would not reveal her name. Jessen said she does not want to meet her.
Amy Scheuring of Richland, a member of North Way, said she admires Jessen, who she read about in an article. "You're looking at a young woman who in a way represents every aborted child," Scheuring said. "She just is very clear about the fact that there is forgiveness and healing. You can move on."
Because Jessen wants to practice what she preaches, she said she took a vow of chastity until marriage. "All I can say is that I'm so thankful for my life," she said.
"Your life can be taken away by bitterness, anger. If I just sat around and wallowed in self pity, I'd never get anything done."
GIANNA JESSEN
APPEARING AT PEOPLE FOR LIFE'S 26TH ANNUAL PRO-LIFE PRAYER BREAKFAST
January 17, 2004 - 9:00 AM
Avalon Hotel - Erie, PA
"God is using Gianna Jessen to remind the world that each human being is precious to Him. It is beautiful to see the strength of the love of God, which He has poured into her heart. My prayer for Gianna, and for all who listen to her, is that this message of God's love will put an end to abortion with the power of love." MOTHER TERESA
"I was aborted and I did not die," Gianna Jessen told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution in her opening comments on July 20, 2000, in support of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2000.
Aborted in the third trimester of the pregnancy, Gianna Jessen remained in a toxic saline solution for approximately 18 hours while in her teenage biological mother's womb. When she was finally delivered, to the surprise of the nurses and the other mothers waiting for abortions, she was not dead, but alive! An attending nurse immediately called an ambulance and had her transferred to a nearby hospital.
Doctors continually said that Gianna would never sit up, never crawl, and never walk. Gianna weighed only two pounds at birth, and she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which resulted from a lack of oxygen to her brain during the abortion. Placed, by the hand of God, says Gianna, into the hands of a dedicated and persistent foster mother, Gianna went from being completely limp to learning how to walk by the age of four. Today, Gianna runs, sings, and rock-climbs with only a slight limp as evidence that she was rescued at the brink of death.
When Gianna was legally released for adoption, her foster mother Penny, who Gianna refers to as her "Queen," legally became Gianna's grandmother. Penny's daughter Diana adopted Gianna. Penny has not only been a foster mother to Gianna, but to 56 other children as well. Most of the children she cared for were considered "unadoptable," and many of them were drug-addicted. Despite the odds, all have been adopted, including Gianna Jessen.
As a result of her cerebral palsy, Gianna naturally moves at a slower pace, which can be agonizing in the frenetic pace of American culture. Rather than giving in to frustration, Gianna rejoices in her "disability," which she affectionately refers to as her "gift." She finds that her daily physical dependence upon God serves as a beautiful reminder of her constant spiritual need for him.
Gianna favors excellence in her life and in her music, and she is willing to sacrifice time and energy for it. Gianna says, "God himself provides the hunger for excellence. By experiencing the excellent work of others such as Shawn Colvin, Annie Dillard, Vincent Van Gogh, and Andrea Bocelli, I realize I've only dipped my finger in the well in my quest for excellence. After seeing (through the beautiful examples of others) what can be achieved by grit and the grace of God, how can I lower my standard to mediocrity? It's like peering into a window of heaven and walking back to earth."
Her music is timeless in the sense that it refuses to come fast and time is never satisfied. Her unconventional lyrics speak to those who are dissatisfied with the surface of things, appealing to those who are not afraid of passion or honesty. Gianna sings to bring comfort to a tired world, fighting with itself, waiting for its rightful place.
"My genre might be contemporary folk," says Gianna. "Having said that, my audience is people-people who change like I do-people who prefer challenge over ease. So life and the people in it constitute my genre. Categories limit; creativity never does. Tomorrow I may be filk."
Gianna, through her music, sows seeds to remind people that they are immortal, to point to eternity, to cause them to examine and question and wonder-and finally have their longings answered in God. Her music's purpose is to glorify God.
Gianna's desire is to reach young people and to help clarify the different roles of men and women. By combining humor and honesty, she challenges youth and young adults with issues such as sexual abstinence, forgiveness, courage, perseverance, faith, and obedience to God. Gianna hopes her testimony, her song, and her spirit will challenge others to reach higher. While much truth is being taught in churches, her goal is to speak the truth outside the church-among the Mary Magdalenes.
Last year, Gianna received a standing ovation from a pro-abortion, predominantly anti-Christian crowd when she and former abortion provider Carol Everett (one of Gianna's modern-day heroes) debated Sarah Weddington of Roe vs. Wade.
Gianna twice has spoken before Congress-once in 1996 against partial-birth abortion and again in 2000 in support of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. Gianna Jessen proudly notes that she voted for George W. Bush. She prays regularly for the president, his family, and his cabinet.
Featured of Focus on the Family broadcasts, Family News in Focus, the G. Gordon Liddy Show, and other major radio programs, Gianna has been reminding the world for over a decade that life is precious and that unborn babies are more than a blob of tissue. She has appeared on local and national television including The 700 Club, The Maury Povich Show, and various news and cable programs. Gianna's story has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The San Diego Union, and other major print media in the U.S.A. and internationally.
"I am more than an abortion survivor," says Gianna, "More than a 'modern-day miracle.' I'm a woman who lives by faith, rescued by and surrendered to the Most High God."
Gianna doesn't simply teach what she knows; she imparts who she is. Full of life and full of passion, Gianna continues to speak out and sing and fight...until the battle is won!