Abortion survivor: ‘Jesus changed the course of my life’

An abortion survivor has spoken of her journey from an abusive home to finding Christ.

In an interview on Focus on the Family’s podcast, Sarah Zagorski explained that a doctor claimed when she was born from a botched abortion at just 26 weeks old that she would be a “mental vegetable” and should be left to die.

But her mother refused to listen, leading Sarah on a journey from a home of poverty to foster care, adoption and her encounter with the “suffering Saviour”.

‘Radical change’

Sarah, who is now Senior Director of Public Relations & Communication at Americans United for Life, debunked pro abortionists’ claims that it would be better to be aborted than to experience a difficult childhood.

She emphasised that it was through her suffering, where she had to scrounge for food and was abused, that Jesus “reached out to me in a radical way” and “changed the course of my very life”.

“In that place of vulnerability in that place of pain, I learned Jesus in his humanity really understands this suffering.”

The Cross

Sarah stressed the importance of helping mothers in crisis situations, not just speaking about the morality of abortion, but exploring with them how they can be supported to raise their child.

Her mother had been in multiple abusive relationships, suffered with schizophrenia, and regretted two previous abortions. Although Sarah emphasised that such “oppression” can never justify abortion, she believed that it caused her mother to be deceived and that “she had no other choice”.

Sarah explained that the guilt only exacerbated her mother’s “mental decline”, and it was “very challenging for her to come to peace”, but she did turn back to Christ at the end of her life.

Speaking to any mother who wonders how she can bear the guilt of a past abortion, Sarah said: “It’s just the simple fact of the cross. The cross that Jesus died on. He died for the sins of humanity. Whatever that sin may be, it covers it. It’s erased. She’s white as snow.”