Survivors of abortion have told their stories of how they were never supposed to be born alive and why they now speak out against the practice.
During a discussion at the US Values Voter Summit (VVS), the individuals shared their stories of how they survived.
Claire Culwell said she decided to speak out after meeting her birth mother. She said “no other woman should have to experience what my birth mother did”.
Problem solved
Claire’s mother was pressured into having an abortion as a 13-year-old and was told that having an abortion would solve her problems.
She underwent a late-term abortion, and a baby was removed from her womb, but doctors were unaware she was pregnant with twins and did not discover Claire’s existence until after the abortion limit.
Claire was born with a dislocated hip and club feet, but found a loving adoptive family who did not reveal that she had come so close to being killed.
Coercion
She discovered this, when, aged 21, she made contact with her birth mother and went to visit her, saying: “I never imagined I would find out something that was meant to take my life.
“But in the initial moment when she shared that with me, I felt so much sorrow and sadness for her when I knew she was 13 years old.”
Claire now travels the US speaking out against abortion and encouraging people to choose life even in difficult circumstances.
Pressure
Melissa Ohden, the founder of the Abortion Survivors Network, also told how her mother was similarly pressured into an abortion as a 19-year-old college student.
Melissa survived a late-term abortion and was born alive at seven months, and recovered thanks to the hospital’s intensive care unit.