A woman who chose to have her baby after she was brutally raped at the age of twelve has said that she has no regrets, and that her daughter helped ‘bring healing to her life’.
Lianna Rebolledo was walking near her home one night when two men abducted her. The attack was so violent it left her fighting for her life.
“It was very violent. I honestly thought they were going to kill me,” she told LifeSiteNews.com in a video interview.
Pregnant
She later discovered she was pregnant as a result of the attack and a doctor advised her that abortion was her ‘right’.
But Lianna decided to keep her baby after she asked the doctor if abortion would ease her pain and he replied ‘no’.
“If abortion wasn’t going to heal anything, I didn’t see the point,” she said.
Healing
“I just knew that I had somebody inside my body. I never thought about who her biological father was. She was my kid. She was inside of me.”
She added that just knowing that her daughter needed her gave her motivation to get a job so she could support her.
Lianna, now 35, spoke of her misery after the attack and how she had contemplated suicide.
But she said looking back she realises how much difference her daughter has made to her life not least in helping her to overcome those suicidal thoughts.
Mommy
“It was really hard, but just to see that little person telling me how happy she was that I gave her her life. When she said that — and she was only four years old when she told me: ‘Mommy thank you for giving me life’ — I realized that she was the one who gave me my life back.”
“She’s always been there for me. She’s the only person who has shown me a real love. And I always will be grateful,” she said.
Choose Life
The Christian Institute has highlighted a number of stories from people affected by the life and death decisions of abortion in its Choose Life series.
These include an account from Gary Moore, who was conceived through rape and who expresses his huge gratitude to his mother for not giving in to pressure to end his life.
