An estimated 17,000 babies have survived abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Roe v. Wade decision more than 40 years ago, an expert on the issue says.
Melissa Ohden, who survived an abortion as a baby and founded the Abortion Survivors Network, revealed the statistic Wednesday and said America “has been so impacted” by the “abortion agenda” that “stories like mine” and others are “pushed under the rug by the media and everyone else.”
Ohden made the comments during the virtual Values Voter Summit.
All total, she said, an estimated 17,155 babies have survived an abortion in the United States.
“That number is … the estimated abortion survivors since Roe vs. Wade, simply based on a number that the CDC threw out a long time ago saying that they estimated about one child a day surviving an abortion. Take that throughout the course of Roe versus Wade [and it’s] 17,155.”
Ohden’s comments came the same day President Trump said he would issue an executive order protecting babies who survive an abortion. Legislation that would require medical care for such infants has failed in Congress.
“People seem to think that this legislation is not necessary and [an] executive order isn't necessary, but I'm here to tell you that it is,” she said.
Abortion survivor @melissaohden gives reaction to the Executive Order President @realdonaldTrump announced today giving new protections for #bornalive abortion survivors. #prolife #VVS20 pic.twitter.com/2JCFyePCXU
— FRCAction (@FRCAction) September 24, 2020
Ohden survived a saline infusion abortion in 1977, weighing nearly three pounds when she was born. She was adopted. Medical records have confirmed her story.
Asked why the media and abortion supporters ignore the stories of abortion survivors, Ohden said, “Once you go there and realize that this is a problem, there's no going back emotionally or mentally. ... It is easier for people to believe that it doesn't happen.”
By denying the stories of abortion survivors, Ohden said, society is “denying the truth about the unborn.”
“When they deny our existence, they're [also] denying the experiences of our biological parents who have been harmed by abortion,” Ohden said. “They're denying the experiences of clinic workers and nurses who cared for us, who have never forgotten us.”
The mission of the Abortion Survivors Network, according to its website, is to “create a world where the incidence of failed abortions and the lives of survivors is openly discussed and accepted, and survivors and their families are supported and healed.”
Related:
President Trump to Sign 'Born Alive' Executive Order Protecting Babies Who Survive Abortions
Photo courtesy: Charles Eugene/Unsplash
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
