Survivor champions right to life

By Mary Beth Kelton

On the night of Aug. 29, 1977, Melissa Ohden’s mother was having an abortion at St. Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City, Iowa.

Over one billion babies have been aborted since the 1970s, but Ohden is one of eight known babies to survive the experience.

Her biological mother had a saline infusion abortion. This procedure was common in the ’70s, but is no longer performed.

By Tim Lytle

“The doctor takes out amniotic fluid from the womb and inserts a salt solution to burn the unborn baby from the outside to the inside,” Ohden said.

“My mother was then induced to have labor, and I was delivered.”

When Ohden was born, her two-pound body was supposed to be dead. After a few seconds, she began to make small, grunting sounds and demonstrated noticeable movement.

Even though the medical staff was not required to care for the barely alive baby, the staff transferred her to another hospital and checked her into neonatal care.

Carefully observed by nurses, the baby girl continued to grow stronger. On Oct. 17, 1977, Ohden was adopted. Doctors warned her new parents that she could have mental and physical disabilities from the attempted abortion.

The family welcomed her with open arms, and when she was 5 years old doctors assured the family that she was going to be healthy.

“I grew up in a loving home , ” Ohden said.

“My parents did not tell me I had been adopted until I was 14 years old. My older sister had become pregnant , and my parents told her about my abortion survival. That was the way the Lord intended me to find out.”

Ohden had support from her family but said she felt angry, confused, sad and scared after discovering her true past.

“I began to feel guilty for those emotions because it was a miracle that I was even alive,” she said.

University chaplain Dr. George Loutherback heard about Ohden’s amazing story and invited her to speak on campus.

On Nov. 11 she shared her testimony with students during chapel.

Sophomore nursing major Ashley Filippuzzi is vice president of Cru 4 Life, a
UMHB group dedicated to the pro-life movement.

“I am greatly appreciative of Melissa coming to speak with us,” she said. “I hope students are more aware now on the issue of abortion.”

Sophomore elementary education major Amanda Willey is also an advocate for pro-life.

“I hope that people heard her story and see how abortion affects so many lives, not just the woman having the abortion,” she said. “We have a responsibility to speak out about the abortion.”

Ohden said she has lived an “amazingly wonderful life” and thinks the Lord intended to spare her life so she could share her story with the world.

She continues to speak in the United States about the pro-life movement. She has her story at melissaohden.com and has recently created the
Web site foroliviassake.org as a tribute to her first child, Olivia, who was born in 2008.

“My sites were developed to share with others about the impact of abortion,” Ohden said. “By doing what I can, it’s a blessing if I can change one person’s belief at the end of the day about abortion, and spare the life of a child.”

Everybody’s talking at me.
I don’t hear a word they’re saying,
Only the echoes of my mind.
People stopping staring,
I can’t see their faces,
Only the shadows of their eyes.

I’m going where the sun keeps shining
Thru’ the pouring rain,
Going where the weather suits my clothes,
Backing off of the North East wind,
Sailing on summer breeze
And skipping over the ocean like a stone.

I’m going where the sun keeps shining
Thru’ the pouring rain,
Going where the weather suits my clothes,
Backing off of the North East wind,
Sailing on summer breeze
And skipping over the ocean like a stone

—Harry Nilsson

Although the interpretation of this song varies from person to person, I have always interpreted these lyrics as describing what it’s like to have people always talking about you; talking at you as if you aren’t there, standing right in front of them; having people staring at you; and about how you, personally deal with all of this; finding your own peace and solitude in the midst of it all.

Have you ever felt like people are talking at you, talking about you, even though you are standing there right in front of them? I feel that way each and every day.

A typical day for me goes something like this:

I get out of bed, and if I’m lucky to have a few minutes to myself, I turn on the tv to catch the morning news while I am getting ready. Some days, I can avoid hearing about myself, but in recent months, it’s been day after day that the news is about me, although I remain nameless in the broadcast. The healthcare bill and whether coverage of abortion is included in it, George Tiller murdered, Abby Johnson resigning from Planned Parenthood after viewing an abortion, the newsfeed goes on and on. The major newsmakers involved in each story may change, but the one constant in each of these stories is the unborn children that are killed by abortion. Having survived an abortion, myself, at approximately 24 weeks gestation, I consider myself one of these unborn children.

The only difference between myself and the others who have been aborted is that I was blessed enough to survive, have a voice, and now lend it to them in return. I honestly believe that all of us, as fellow humans, are just like my fellow unborn brothers and sisters whose lives have been ended by abortion. We are all human; we are all made from the same fabric of life. The only thing that sets us apart is one decision-the decision that some make to end a life. Far too often I see people avoid this true reality about abortion. We were all one step, one decision away from being an aborted child. This is the reality of my life that I’ve had to face, and it has certainly not been easy, but far too many people seem to be complacent with the fact that their mother chose life. I don’t wish the reality of my life on anyone (although I have come to the point in my life where I know that it is an absolute blessing and gift, not a hardship), but I do wish that more people could walk in my shoes for just a day to truly feel, to truly understand the reality of abortion and not take the so-called “choice” of life for granted.

But I digress…..

After getting myself and Olivia ready for the day, I drop her off at daycare. And although our music of choice during our trip is children’s music or a movie, after I have the car all to my lonesome, I turn on my satellite radio. Typically, I listen to EWTN, but sometimes I listen to XM’s Catholic Channel, and still other times I catch up on the news with CNN Headline News. No matter the station, however, the talk again always turns to abortion, to pro-life issues, to unborn children.

While at work, I typically check my personal email on my Blackberry a couple of times a day, and check out the news on the local and national fronts, and also the newest updates from friends, family, and colleagues on Facebook and Twitter. Obviously, because of my pro-life beliefs and interest, I receive emails, inspirational quotes, and news links on abortion and pro-life work throughout the day. And obviously, that is my choice to do so, as it is so many other people around the world, but the difference between 99% of the rest of the world and myself is that once again, whether it’s the satellite radio station or the news links and emails that I receive, I am one of the unborn children that are being talked about.

And so my day continues….my trip home is much like my trip to work. I listen to satellite radio on my way to pick up my daughter from daycare, and once again hear about abortion and the unborn children just like me that are killed each and every day. When my husband and I turn on the evening and nightly news, there are the day’s stories again, almost always touching on abortion. Before I go to bed at night, and I check out my emails and updates from Facebook and Twitter again, there are more stories, more news about abortion.

And yes, I know that I could turn it all off-the tv, the emails, the Internet and it’s applications, which truthfully, many days I do, and frankly, I would encourage everyone to do, to shut out the noise of the world that we live in and just focus on ourselves and our families (kind of like Harry Nilsson does in his lyrics, finding some peace and serenity amongst it all), but that’s not my point here.

My point is that like the survivor of a traumatic experience often has to relive it over and over again, both in their mind and through it playing out in the media, I live out my “status” as the survivor of a failed abortion attempt each and every day, and will do so for the rest of my life.   I can turn off the radio or the tv, but I can’t turn off the truth.

I simply can’t say it enough—I know that my life is a blessing, but I don’t know that I can truly tell you how it feels to have people “talking at you” all day long, and wondering if they understand what they are saying, who they are really talking about; whether they ever hear a word that I am saying.  I hope that you do.

As for me,

“I’m going where the sun keeps shining
Thru’ the pouring rain,
Going where the weather suits my clothes,
Backing off of the North East wind,
Sailing on summer breeze
And skipping over the ocean like a stone.”

Today may have seemed like just any other day to anyone who had the opportunity to run into my daughter and me today at the indoor waterpark we visited in Storm Lake, Iowa, where my in-laws live, but to me, this wasn’t just any other day, it was a celebration of life and love.

Let me build up to my point here. For the record, I really do miss snuggling with a newborn and cuddling up with an infant, but to me, nothing tops the expressions of love that a toddler gives. Olivia just turned 19 months old on Thanksgiving Day-I can hardly believe that our little girl is almost two already! (Sigh). Olivia’s always been a snuggler, a cuddler, and an all-around Mommy’s girl, but there is just something so heartwarming (and sometimes heart-wrenching, depending on the circumstances, like leaving her at daycare) about a child who suddenly doesn’t just NEED YOU but WANTS YOU and isn’t afraid to let you or anyone else in the world know it.

Our girl gives the best squeezes (hugs), and pats you on the back whole-heartedly as she does so. She gives wonderful, sloppy, (and unfortunately, most of the time, also snotty) kisses, and she now says “I l-o-o-o-v-e y-o-o-o-u.” (Another big sigh). She melts my heart every time! If all of that outward expression of love wasn’t enough, Olivia always starts her day off the same way, (no matter how early in the day it is, much to my chagrin) singing, and her new favorite song goes a little something like this, “Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy!” Second verse, same as the first. My words definitely don’t do her little melody justice, but I hope that you can get the sense of Olivia’s deep love and affection for my husband and me, and her unabashedness in sharing it with the world.

I know what some of you must be thinking. Big deal! Every toddler begins to develop emotions, a sense of empathy, of love. Toddlers do everything in grandiose, including showing their emotions. True, true, I will admit, but when you consider the life that I have lived and wasn’t supposed to live at all, and therefore, the life that my daughter almost didn’t get the chance to live, there is something so special about my daughter and the overwhelming strength of her joy and her love.

Which brings me to today….my husband headed home earlier than us (to put together his early Christmas present-a new flat screen tv that he didn’t really need), so it was just Olivia, me, and Olivia’s godmother who went swimming. It certainly was a good time; Olivia loves the water, loves being around other kids, and loved getting to spend with her godmother, but to me, the best part of the day was seeing and feeling just how much Olivia loved me and loved spending time with me.

I am sad to admit that I like the me that is present on holidays and weekends so much better than the me that is present during the week when I am exhausted and being pulled in a million different directions. I am even sadder to admit that I know that my daughter certainly can tell the difference between the mommy who sometimes has to squeeze time in for her versus the mommy who has all the time in the world for her on her days off.

I know that I am not alone in this experience, but the very foundation of my relationship with Olivia, knowing that my life was almost taken from me during that abortion attempt and therefore that I would never have lived, never become a mother, has forged an even deeper love and understanding of the fragility of human relationships, of the importance of motherhood, of unconditional love in me and makes me strive to be the very best person, wife, and mother that I can be.

So today, when the onlookers at the pool saw this beautiful, joyful toddler throwing her arms around her mother’s neck, when they saw her yelling out, “mommy, mommy” anytime I wasn’t right there with her, when they saw her smattering my face with sloppy, wet kisses, when they saw my eyes dancing with delight as I took in every new experience that she had today, when they felt the joy that we shared together today, it may have seemed like any other day to them, a mother and child enjoying their time at the waterpark, but it was so much more than that.

It was another living example of the celebration of life and love that Olivia and I experience each and every day. Each day is a gift, and although I certainly long for more time with my daughter, I can honestly tell you that each day I wake up to her beautiful face and hear her melodious voice calling my name, I thank the Lord for the gift of our lives and the gift of His love and the love that we share with one another. And that, my friends, IS something truly special.

Here’s another article, written by Dolores Cullen with the Storm Lake Times, whose link hasn’t been working properly.

Abortion survivor found loving family in Storm Lake, Iowa

Melissa Ohden becomes a political pro-life advocate

‘I started to make sounds and movement and that’s when they stepped in to save me.’

by dolores cullen
Storm Lake Times

Thirty-one years ago at St. Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City, Melissa, at  2 pounds, 14 ounces, fought to survive. Nurses were attending to her mother, who had had an abortion. After five days in the saline, caustic solution injected into her mother, the baby emerged – and was thought to be dead.

“I started to make sounds and movement,” said Melissa, “and that’s when they stepped in to save me.”

So began the life of a Melissa Ohden, the international pro-life speaker who now lives in Sioux City. She will be hosted by St. Mary’s Pro-Life Club to speak next Sunday and Monday in Storm Lake.

She was so unwanted that her mother chose abortion, but here’s the rest of the story: Baby Melissa was adopted by a couple who brought her to Storm Lake at age four. She graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1977 and from Buena Vista University in December 1999.

Love at first sight

Melissa’s adoptive mother Linda Cross, who moved from Storm Lake to Ida Grove a few years ago, remembers seeing “Missy” for the first time. She and her husband Ron, now of Sioux Rapids, had traveled to Iowa City where the baby had been transferred.

“A nurse there felt bad for her because she didn’t have any parents,” said Linda. “She got her a little outfit and gave her a name, because she didn’t want to  just call her ‘baby’.”

The Crosses had been told about the medical issues that could accompany the child, born between 18 and 22 weeks. Retardation, sight problems, emotional and physical disabilities were possiblities.

But, “the first time when they put her in my arms, I just knew,” recalled Linda, “I knew she was an awesome baby.” She can’t think back without choking up. Part of the baby’s dark hair was shaved to allow for intervenous feeding.

Linda describes Melissa as a child who always wanted to please her parents. That didn’t mean there weren’t conflicts in the house. When Melissa was in eighth grade she got into a fight with her older sister Tammy, who blurted out the hurtful words, “At least my parents wanted me!”

That night the girl questioned her mother. “Nothing could have prepared me for the words that came next,” writes Melissa in her blog. “Not an ounce of my being could have ever fathomed the great secret that the world around me had harbored the past 14 years of my life. ‘Your mother had an abortion during her fifth month of pregnancy, and you survived it.’

“All at once the wind was sucked out of my lungs and my stomach turned sour. Tears streaming, cries racking my body, my mother consoled me that night, and our lives were forever changed.”

Strength to face the truth

Melissa said she spent many years of her life being ashamed and embarrassed by the abortion attempt. “I was also very hurt, assuming that so little was thought of me and my potential for life. Of course, I would be lying to myself and everyone else, if I stated that I had never been angry with my biological mother for the decision that was made to end my life. Looking back on this now, I understand that this was all part of the grieving process that I had to go through.”

Others in Storm Lake knew Melissa carried a burden. Storm Lake Middle School English teacher Marsha Ingram remembers Melissa writing a paper about the abortion attempt and reading it in front of fellow eighth graders. “I know how much courage it took,” Marsha said.

Melissa credits Ingram as a teacher who was especially supportive of and  influential to her. When Ingram tells her students she isn’t there to judge, they come forth with personal stories,  like the boy who journeyed north on foot across the desert from El Salvador to the U.S.

Jim Nichols was another teacher Melissa praised: “In high school, I was very active in the Peer Help classes and in social service as a result of Mr. Nichols. He always encouraged me to use my experiences and my skills to help improve the lives of others.” Melissa became a mentor in Mrs. McKenna’s third grade class while in high school. She worked with one boy, in particular, who was struggling at home and school. Jim Nichols and Melissa remember clearly the high school awards ceremony where the boy surprised her with a dozen red roses.

“I believe I had great support growing up in Storm Lake,” said Melissa. She credits her parents for providing a loving environment. In addition to her sister Tammy, Melissa is close to her brother Dustin, who now lives in Storm Lake. (Ron and Linda had Dustin after they adopted the two girls, even though they thought they were unable to have children.)

Melissa recalled her confirmation at United Methodist Church. “I can still remember how much more it meant to me after learning about the abortion. While others picked out Bible verses like John 3:16, mine focused on God knowing me before I was born. My confirmation was definitely a celebration of faith and of life that year.”

Finding a calling

Armed with an undergraduate degree in English, education and Spanish, Melissa went on to teach one semester in the Okoboji schools. “I had a student there who changed my life,” she explained. “He stayed after class every day at the end of the day, and I later discovered that he had found his sister and mother shot to death a few months before that.  He taught me that I was meant to do more than just give kids homework.”

Melissa went on to work in a domestic violence/sexual assault shelter. She then pursued a graduate degree in social work.

She is now a Social Work Supervisor with the Department of Human Services for Woodbury and Plymouth counties. She is married to Ryan Ohden, whose parents Ron and Terry Behrens live in Storm Lake. The Ohdens are thrilled with their young daughter Olivia who was born last April.

It was only a year and a half ago that Melissa decided to come forward publicly with her story. She had wanted to make contact with her biological family. Her search ultimately led her just down the street, where she was reunited with members of her biological father’s family in Sioux City. She was saddened to read in the Sioux City Journal that her biological father died at age 50; she never met him.

“My own wishes to not be part of the rhetoric, but part of the solution, was one of the reasons why I did not come out with my story until recently,” she said.  “I still feel pressure from many to get involved in highly political and/or highly religious activities, and I refuse to do so.  I believe that it is my purpose to share my story with others and have them come to me with an open heart and an open mind; protesting, picketing and the like would only close hearts and minds, so I do not participate in them.”

Melissa doesn’t state whether she believes abortion should be legal or illegal. Instead she focuses on ways to make resources available to women and girls who are pregnant.

She has teamed with the group Feminists For Life since 2007. She has spoken at Capitol Hill, at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, the National Students for Life Conference in Washington, a few colleges in Ontario, Canada, and at a fundraiser in Ontario, in addition to the Sioux City Interfaith Prayer Service.

She has been asked by colleges in the U.S., plus Canada and  Ireland to speak and her story has traveled around the world. Her pregnancy with Olivia and now taking care of her has limited her speaking somewhat.

Responses to Melissa’s presentations indicate to her the deep damage abortion can cause. “I have heard from men who have arranged abortions for the women in their lives and have now felt great grief over the years as a result. I have heard from women whose sisters have had abortions, and they now grieve the loss of the nieces or nephews they never knew.”

Her talks are permeated with faith in God, and gratitude to those who have helped realize her self worth.

Her father Ron isn’t surprised by the success Melissa has made of herself. “She worked very, very hard to get where she’s at,” he said. He looks back on her birth and the survival of the tiny baby who was predicted to suffer from birth defects. “Definately a  miracle. It was the way it was meant to be,” he said.

Melissa hopes people come away with an appreciation of how fragile and precious each life is. “Even though my circumstances are truly unique, we can all relate at some level to what I have experienced and how I have survived and thrived.”

Source:The Storm Lake Times

Storm Lake, Iowa

Since I’ve determined that some of the media links that I have had on the site for awhile don’t always work, I thought that I would post some of the older articles that some people may not have had a chance to read.  This one is from January 2009, written by the Globe-the Sioux City, Iowa diocese.

ABORTED AND SURVIVED
Speaker tells emotional, personal story of abortion at interfaith pro-life service

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

Melissa Ohden wasn’t supposed to live a healthy life, get married and have a baby.

The fact is, she wasn’t supposed to live at all.

Ohden, the keynote speaker at the Siouxland Pro-life Interfaith Prayer Memorial, told her miraculous story to a full house at Central Baptist Church in Sioux City.

“Today is not only a chance for me to share my story and hopefully inspire all of you to remain true to what you believe,” said Ohden, who works for the Department of Human Services in Sioux City, “but in another sense, this is another piece of the puzzle for me. This is another part of my healing process so I want to thank all of you for being present with me today as I heal and move forward with my life.”

Over the course of the 36 years of legalized abortion, she mentioned that 50 million lives were ended through abortion.

Unsuccessful abortion
“I am a product of an unsuccessful saline infusion abortion back in 1977, right here at St. Luke’s,” she said. “For those of you who are not aware, saline abortions involve injecting a caustic saline solution into the amniotic fluid which causes the fetus to be scalded to death and then delivered dead.”

Over a course of five days, Ohden said she endured breathing in and swallowing that toxic salt solution while numerous rounds of pitocin were given to her mother with the intent to induce labor and expel her dead body from her mother’s womb.

“When I was delivered on that fifth day by a nurse, of course, I was believed to be dead,” she said. “Weighing a little over two pounds and suffering from jaundice and severe respiratory distress, my future appeared to be bleak but I was alive.”

Ohden said she was thankful to the medical staff at St. Luke’s who gave her the medical attention she needed to live. She acknowledged that oftentimes when the babies survive abortion attempts, they are not provided with medical care.

Her birth mother had been estimated to be between 18 and 22 weeks pregnant, but later review of medical records estimate the gestation at about 24 weeks.

“The doctors believed that I would suffer from any one of a number of physical, emotional or mental disabilities as a result of the abortion procedure and my subsequent premature birth,” Ohden said.

Wanted
Her voice filled with emotion and her eyes filled with tears as she said her adoptive parents took a chance on raising a child who might not live.

“I was wanted,” she said. “When people say that there are unwanted children or that unplanned pregnancies automatically mean that a child is unwanted, I know that is so untrue.”

Ohden pointed out that she has only spoken out publicly about her story in the last year-and-a-half. She has struggled with feelings of guilt, shame and anger.

“I know that I am a miracle and I know that I am supposed to be here with all of you,” she said.

The 31-year-old woman mentioned that she had searched for her birth records for 10 years and finally received them in the spring of 2007. She said she hadn’t wanted to share her story until she had made an attempt to contact her parents because there was a part of her that wanted to protect them.

“I wanted to let them know that I am alive, I am well and that I forgive them,” said Ohden, who added that she has not been able to speak with her biological mother in person but has been in contact with her grandfather through a letter. She learned some information about her biological parents, such as that they were college students and had been dating for four years. “I learned that my biological mother went on to have two other daughters and that she had never told anyone about me.”

She had sent a letter to her biological father but had not heard from him. Later, she learned that he died this last summer. His family had been unaware of the situation but found Ohden’s letter in his belongings after his death.

“It breaks my heart to know that my biological father passed on from this world still carrying that shame and that secret,” she said. But through her father’s death and with the secret uncovered, she meets regularly with her paternal grandfather and has communicated with her dad’s wife via e-mail.

While she could hold feelings of bitterness, she stressed the fact that she has chosen to be grateful. If her mother’s abortion would have been successful, Ohden said she would have died before she could have experienced the deep love and affection that a parent has for a child, gotten married or had the many other wonderful life experiences.

“On April 26 this past year, Olivia was born at the very same hospital where my life was supposed to end,” said Ohden of her daughter. “I think that was the way it was supposed to turn out. That place that was supposed to be such a horrible reminder is now a place of great joy for me.”

Despite her forgiving heart, she admitted that in the first weeks of her daughter’s life, she became angry over the thought that had her mother’s abortion been successful, her daughter would not be here.

Part of solution
One of the reasons why she wanted to tell her story, Ohden said, was to be part of the solution rather than just part of the rhetoric. That made it all the more important to join with a pro-life organization that she could be passionate about.

“I’m so glad I found Feminists for Life,” she said. “Our values are shaped by the core feminist values of nondiscrimination, nonviolence and justice for all. Established in 1972, Feminists for Life is a nonsectarian, nonpartisan group organization which seeks real solutions to the problems that women like my biological mother face.”

She said Feminists for Life is driven by the vision that abortion is a reflection that the needs of women have not been met.

“Due to its very nature, we know that abortion is a silent killer,” said the speaker. “Yet it’s not just unborn children that fall victim to the silent killer, it’s the women that have the abortions. It’s the men, grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, friends, the community. We are all attacked by abortion.”

If there were options and resources available to her biological mother, she said she truly believes that her mother would have made a different choice.

“As difficult as it is for me to tell my story, I know this is what I am meant to do,” said Ohden. “The secrets of that fateful day in 1977 end now. I cannot and I will not allow my voice to be silenced by abortion and I encourage all of you to leave today and share my story with others” so they will open their hearts and minds to every human life and the “power of unconditional love and forgiveness.”

She also encouraged those gathered to refuse to choose between women and children because “it doesn’t have to be either or, it is both and.”

Dr. Don Cork of Central Baptist Church, who was the master of ceremonies, summed up the keynote speaker’s presentation well with one word, “wow.” He encouraged those gathered to take up Ohden’s challenge to promote life.

Presentation of roses
Earlier in the program, the interfaith service featured the Presentation of the Roses, which has become a staple of this prayer memorial.

Thirty-six people representing each year from infancy through age 36 carried a rose to the front of the church as Larry Walsh, a member of the spiritual life committee at Trinity Heights, read Scripture verses, famous quotes and pro-life stats.

“These roses are the finest of God’s creation in the flower world,” said Walsh, after the final rose had been placed in the vase. “They represent 36 years of destruction of God’s finest gift to man, an innocent child, full of hope, full of promise – more than 50 million in the United States alone.”

He explained how the roses were to be placed on the Tomb of the Unborn Child to e left out in the cold to wither and die, just as the future sons and daughters of the world die through the cold reality of abortion.
FOCA and 40 Days

Mark Thomason, pro-life contact person for the Diocese of Sioux City, was also invited to say a few words regarding the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) and the new pro-life campaign that was introduced in the city last fall, 40 Days for Life.

“I address you as a fellow Christian and an American,” he said. “The days are upon us when we must stand up and fight for life in brand new ways because the threats on life are more formidable at present.”

Abortion, Thomason noted, in the past was something that people didn’t want to think about or talk about. Now, it has moved from something that one must put up with to something perceived as a personal right.

He warned of the dangers of FOCA, how it would remove abortion restrictions and would impact hospitals. He also reminded the people that the new president has said that he would sign FOCA if it came to his desk.
Thomason told them about 40 Days for Life and called it a great way for pro-lifers to voice their message to the people on the streets, which he believes is the best place to spread the word.

He urged them to become involved in the upcoming 40 Days campaign and the Fight FOCA postcard campaign.

“No longer can we as pro-lifers be the silent majority,” said Thomason. “We must become vocal. We must speak out and say no to FOCA and no to abortion.”

Father Brad Pelzel, diocesan vocations director, offered the closing prayer.