Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence by Melissa Ohden with Cindy Lambert (Focus on the Family, 2024)
“There’s no such thing as abortion until birth.” I’ve heard that time and again from legislators who resist “born-alive” bills that would ensure care for children who survive attempted abortion.
Melissa Ohden knows better. She survived an attempt to abort her, somehow emerging alive five days after her mother endured what was supposed to be a saline abortion. As an adult, when she learned that there were other survivors – when she experienced a life-changing “you, too?” moment – she founded the Abortion Survivors Network.
As of late 2023, ASN has worked with more than 700 survivors from all over the world. “In a world that has, by and large, turned a blind eye to abortion survivors, we desperately need each other,” says Ohden.
She has collected a few survivors’ stories in Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence. In the book, they share what they’ve learned about the attempts to abort them. Each has a unique story of discovery, struggle, and healing.
Some of the survivors bear physical scars. All have had to come to terms with invisible scars as well. The process of understanding and forgiveness between parent and child is complicated; the survivors in this book recount their varied paths.
There are also stories of the birth mothers, who made their abortion decisions under varied circumstances. Coercion, financial straits, abandonment by the child’s father, bad timing: for each abortion survivor’s story, there’s a birth mother’s story, too. That’s one of the strengths of this book.
Compassion informs every chapter. There’s no condemnation for the people involved in the abortion decisions. Ohden writes, “If, while you’re reading, you find yourself picking up a stone to throw – please, be sure to put it back down.”
The people whose stories are recounted in the book tell of how their Christian faith has helped them come to terms with the attempts to terminate their lives. Their candor about faith is hardly a surprise, after the candor it took to go public with their history of trauma.
Ohden’s book is a much-needed call to listen to survivors. Their stories can enlighten even pro-lifers who think they’ve heard it all. The book ought to be on the resource shelf of every agency and church engaged in outreach to abortion-vulnerable women. And yes, it belongs on the desk of every policymaker, even the ones who’d want to shove it into a bottom drawer and forget it.
I recall a committee vote a few years ago on born-alive legislation in my state. Before the vote, the committee chair took time to read a prepared statement – was she afraid she’d get the words wrong if she didn’t have a script? – elaborating on a core belief that she reiterated several times: “there is no such thing as abortion until birth.” She had to say it over and over, as though chanting the words could make the false assertion true.
That legislator prevailed that day. She’s still in office, still on the same committee, still defending abortion in the name of reproductive rights.
And at the same time, abortion survivors are speaking out, and they will not be denied a hearing. Look them in the eye and pay attention. Ready or not, they’re here to stay.
(Note: I received an advance review copy of this book.)
Ellen Kolb 
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