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| Gianna
Jessen has become a prominent US pro-life speaker
partly because of her remarkable entrance into
this world. She was not born - she was aborted.
Gianna was in Canberra on 24 February 1996 to
speak about her experience and her pro-life message.
Her visit to Australia was sponsored by the Festival
of Light. |
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| Gianna’s
mother was 17 when in desperation she decided
on an abortion. However, the late-term abortion
did not go as planned. |
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| As
Gianna’s biography recounts, her mother found
that "... she was delivering a bawling, wiggling
baby. Eyes scrunched shut, squeezing out real
tears. A mouth open, roaring outrage. Tiny shoulders
and arms, no longer than a pencil. A slippery
body, little legs all perfectly formed; a little
girl - a daughter no bigger than a doll, she marvelled,
this is a baby." |
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| Now
17 years old herself, ACT
Right to Life spoke to Gianna during her visit.
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| Interview |
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| ACTRTLA:
Gianna, how do you feel reading that. Has the
impact of that gone after so long, or does that
still affect you to read about the way you were
‘born’ after the saline abortion? |
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| Gianna:
I think that ... I read that and it’s hard to
believe that it is actually me - as I read it
- that I was that little baby girl described that
way. I am so glad that I cannot remember any of
that and I am so thankful for my life. |
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| What
happened to you after that? Can you explain what
the procedure was after you were born? |
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| Well,
I am told that a nurse in that clinic called an
ambulance and had me transferred to a hospital.
This was a miracle because usually the baby’s
life is taken if the baby is born alive and I
was taken to the hospital and placed in an incubator
weighing two pounds and they said ‘she won’t make
it out of here alive’, but obviously here I am
and I spent several months there in the hospital,
then I was taken to foster care and that’s were
I was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy.
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| Now
the cerebral palsy was a direct result of the
abortion procedure. Is that right? |
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| Yes.
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| How
did that happen? Why did you get cerebral palsy?
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| Because
it was the result of lack of oxygen to my brain
and that is what causes cerebral palsy. |
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| I
believe that you were told that you would never
be able to walk or crawl or do anything. The doctors
had pretty much given up on you. |
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| And
they said that I was basically a waste of time.
I thank the Lord that I had a very persistent
foster mother who did not listen and worked with
me anyway. |
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| What
has been the reaction of women who have had abortions
[and who have heard] you speak? |
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| Very
emotional. You hear it very often in the States
and I am sure it is the same here in Australia
that abortion is not a big deal. It doesn’t really
affect the woman, it takes care of her problem
and women come to me daily and you know so much
that that is not true because they sob and they
say why didn’t anybody tell me that I would never
forget. They didn’t tell me that I would go through
all this because of what I have done. |
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| And
because I am a Christian I tell those women and
share with them about God’s forgiveness for them.
Because its not enough to say to them that you
will be OK. They realise what they have done.
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| Are
any of them angry at you, do they feel you are
a threat to their right to abortion in America?
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| No.
The ones that are angry with me are not the ones
that come to listen to me, the ones that are coming
to listen to me usually are craving healing and
wanting to be told that they can be set free from
such guilt. But the ones that oppose me and are
angry with me are ones that are the activists
for abortion in America. |
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| Why
do you think there is this reaction? Kate Michelman
from the [US] National Abortion Rights League
said that you were being paraded around like some
kind of sideshow freak. I mean, how does it feel
when people are calling you a sideshow freak?
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| It’s
kind of interesting when that is aimed at you.
I know it is the Grace of God that there is no
other answer to be able to handle such cruel things.
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| I
know that if I were standing up there in favour
of everything they were in favour of they would
not be calling me that. They would be saying that
I was the best thing in the world. Because I am
completely opposite to what they are saying -
that I am saying the truth - they cannot stand
it and you know it just goes with the territory
sometimes. |
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| Have
you had any sympathy or feeling of empathy at
all expressed to you by people in the pro-choice
movement or have you generally found that there
is anger and resentment at you and what you stand
for and the fact that you have survived an abortion?
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| There
is both. I make it very clear that I don’t debate
and argue with people - because there’s nothing
to debate - the fact is that I was aborted and
I lived through this. So they don’t get very far
if they are angry with me because I don’t argue.
Some of them are willing to listen and that is
all I’m asking for. |
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| What
do you say to those who pass doubt on your whole
story and they have called it right to life propaganda
and that this is a huge publicity stunt - what
do you say to them? |
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| They
can live with their consciences if they say that.
If they can convince themselves that what I am
saying is a lie then they don’t have to be held
accountable for what they do. I have medical records
that prove what I am saying and we have just used
copies of those. |
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| Some
people in the ‘pro-choice’ movement have also
said that you are being exploited by the pro-life
movement. Do you feel you are being exploited,
do you feel you have even been used to advance
the anti-abortion cause? |
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| Not
against my own will. I have chosen to do this.
I have chosen to share this story. Nobody is forcing
me. Nobody is doing any of that so that is foolish.
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| How
are you able to [forgive your birth mother]? Some
people would find [it] rather astonishing that
you are able to forgive the woman who tried to
have you aborted so late in her pregnancy and
who as a result of that has contributed to you
having a disability. |
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| Because
I am a Christian. That’s why - as simple as that.
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| But
you have not wanted to meet your biological mother
have you? And she has been found and you know
she is out there and I have read in your book
she was watching television one day and actually
saw you on television and knew straight away that
this was her daughter. You have not wanted to
meet with her. |
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| Not
at all, and you may be surprised at the amount
of pressure from the Christian community to do
that. Because people have this need or desire
to see like a TV movie ending - you know where
everybody cries and is happy and the music plays.
I don’t believe it would be that way. I’m not
angry with her and I believe that you can forgive
somebody without me having to actually meet with
her. |
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