Abortion attempt survivor. Voice for the voiceless.

While my website is under construction, I wanted to make sure to have a list of resources available to anyone who is in need of resources and supports in the face of pregnancy, abortion, adoption, and adoption search and reunion.  These resources will be soon moved to a specific page on my website.  Until then, these supports and resources can be found in the post below:

PREGNANT?

No matter what you are facing, there is hope and there is help!

These sites/organizations can put you in touch with Pregnancy Resource Centers and local providers who can be of support and assistance to you and bring you the hope and help that you deserve.

If you are pregnant, please contact one of the following sites/organizations:

• Option Line: Call: 800-395-HELP or visit: www.pregnancycenters.org
• Heartbeat International: www.heartbeatinternational.org
• Care-Net: www.care-net.org

IN NEED OF HEALING?

Even though my life was supposed to end by abortion, I have nothing but love for anyone who has made the decision to have an abortion.  Likewise, I have nothing but love for anyone who has coerced or simply failed to be a support to someone who was considering having an abortion. There is hope and there is healing for ALL who are impacted by abortion–women, men, family members, friends.

These sites/organizations can put you in touch with post-abortive healing resources and supports:

• Rachel’s Vineyard: www.rachelsvineyard.org
• Silent No More:  www.silentnomoreawareness.org/about/
• Abortion Recovery, Int’l:  www.abortionrecovery.org/
• Care-Net: www.care-net.org
• Heartbeat International: www.heartbeatinternational.org

ADOPTION IS A LIFE-AFFIRMING OPTION:

Adoption is a choice that EVERYONE can live with.  I believe that giving life is one of the most beautiful and important things a woman can do, and if need be, making an adoption plan for a child, is one of the most beautiful and selfless decisions that a woman can make.

The following sites/organizations can be of assistance to anyone considering making an adoption plan for a child or considering adoption.

• Bethany Christian Services:  http://www.bethany.org/
• Christian World Adoption:  http://www.cwa.org/
• Alliance for Children:  http://www.allforchildren.org/

ADOPTION SEARCH, REUNION AND HEALING RESOURCES:

I am often asked what tips or tools I have used or know about that can be of assistance to adoptees, adoptive parents and birth parents when we consider the adoption search and reunion process and healing for all who are impacted by adoption.

Here are a few resources that I hope you find helpful:

Websites:

Sherrie Eldridge-Your Adoption Coach: http://www.sherrieeldridge.com/index.cfm
Great site with helpful tips, books and workbooks for adoptive parents and adoptees.

Books:

For Adoptees:

• Twenty-Life Transforming Choices Every Adoptee Needs to Make. Sherrie Eldridge.
• Questions Adoptees Are Asking.  Sherrie Eldridge.
• Twice Born: Memoires of an Adopted Daughter. Betty Jean Lifton
• Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self.  Brodzinsky, Schechter,  & Henig
• Journey of the Adopted Self.  Betty Jean Lifton

For Adoptive Parents:

• Twenty Things Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed. Sherrie Eldridge.
• Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wished Their Adoptive Parents Knew.  Sherrie Eldridge.
• Forever Fingerprints.  Sherrie Eldridge.

For Birth Parents:

• The Other Mother.  Carol Schaefer
• Out of the Shadows: Birthfathers’ Stories. Mary Martin Mason
• May the Circle Be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey into the Heart of Adoption.  Lynn C. Franklin

Search and Reunion, The Adoption Triad:

• Lost and Found.  Betty Jean Lifton.
• The Adoption Reunion Survival Guide. Julie Bailey & Lynn Giddens
• Search: A Handbook for Adoptees and Birthparents.  Jayne Askin

As NARAL’s website announced recently:

On January 21, 2011 – the Friday before the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade – we invite pro-choice bloggers and activists to join us for Blog for Choice Day!

Blog for Choice Day is in its sixth year – I know, it’s growing up so fast. Today, we’re able to get even more people writing about choice through Facebook and Twitter. But what hasn’t changed is that Blog for Choice Day still gets more people reading and talking about reproductive rights online on one of the most important days surrounding a woman’s right to choose: the Roe anniversary.

And Blog for Choice Day couldn’t have come at a better time. We truly need people talking about choice now that anti-choice John Boehner is speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Joe Pitts is in charge of a panel that oversees many women’s health programs, and the freshmen class in the House has 79 anti-choice members.

At the state level, as a result of the 2010 elections, the number of anti-choice governors increased from 21 to 29. Plus, 15 states not only have an anti-choice governor, but anti-choice politicians also control the legislature.

That’s why our Blog for Choice Day 2011 question is: Given the anti-choice gains in the states and Congress, are you concerned about choice in 2011?

To contrast the whole rhetoric of “Blog for Choice Day,” Jill Stanek and other pro-life bloggers have joined together to “Ask them what they mean by choice.”  I am happy to be joining my fellow pro-life bloggers to unmask this ambiguous concept of “blogging for choice.”

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Like many other pro-life bloggers, frankly, I find the timing of NARAL’s Blog for Choice Day particularly revolting.  As pro-lifers across the U.S. and the world are preparing to come together to peacefully and prayerfully acknowledge the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and how it has forever changed American society, it would appear that NARAL, despite all of the personal and research evidence that points to the contrary, is attempting to once again veil the truth of abortion under the guise of ‘choice.’

I plan to lift the veil off the rhetoric of choice this coming Monday, January 24th, when I speak at the Teen Defenders International Youth March, but to put it briefly, I have yet to find someone who can explain to me how it is that as a female child who was subjected to a failed abortion attempt, I am somehow supposed to be provided a better life, provided ‘choice’ by Roe v. Wade, when it was abortion that would have and should have taken my life before I could EVER make a single choice in my life.  NARAL, what DO you mean when you say CHOICE? You see, in my case, and the case of the tens of thousands of other aborted baby girls like me, you can’t have it both ways.  That CHOICE that you state improves women’s lives is actually OUR DEATH SENTENCE.

Let’s lift the veil off the rhetoric of ‘choice’ and call abortion what it really is.  As pro-lifers, we’re brave enough to call it what it is and courageously face the gruesome reality of what it truly looks like (which, as the survivor of a failed abortion attempt is not an easy thing for me to face many days), so how about stepping up, NARAL, and doing the same? Choice = my death and the death of over 50 million children over the last 38 years.  As a child who survived a failed abortion attempt, where was MY CHOICE?

It was announced to the public this week that I have became the patron of Real Choices Australia. I am excited about the opportunity I have to not only work with them but to work with individuals and organizations across Australia to provide real choices and support to women and men that are life-affirming and save more lives like mine. Once again, God had much greater plans for me than I could have ever imagined!

Real Choices’ Website introduction includes the following message from me:

We are thrilled to announce Melissa Ohden as our new Patron.

Melissa says…

The research is clear: when it comes to abortion, most women really don’t have much of a choice.

For the thousands upon thousands of women each year who find themselves driven to abortion due to a lack of social, emotional, or financial supports, where is THEIR choice?

For the thousands upon thousands of women each year who are coerced into having an abortion, where is THEIR choice?

As a woman who was aborted by my biological mother at approximately six months gestation (but who miraculously survived), where was MY choice?

It’s time we work together to provide REAL choices to pregnant and parenting men and women in need, that affirm the lives of unborn children like me and that provide both short-term and long-term solutions toward the well-being of men and women like my biological parents.

Whether it be through providing evidence-based services and supports through medically-enhanced Pregnancy Support Centres, providing information about the long-term physical, emotional, mental and spiritual consequences of abortion, providing information about and making referrals for adoption planning, or facilitating post-abortion healing, it is time we embrace ALL who are impacted by abortion.

Real Choices Australia truly understands the complex issues surrounding abortion. They understand the need to move beyond the rhetoric to a world that embraces REAL SOLUTIONS and REAL CHOICES.  Real Choices Australia is a life-affirming organization which seeks to improve the lives of children like me who face being aborted and women, men, families and communities who are all impacted by abortion.

I am proud to work with Real Choices Australia, and I hope that you consider partnering with us to move past the rhetoric and be REAL – Really honest, Really committed, and Really compassionate about abortion.

Exciting news, indeed.  The Lord has continued to bless me with opportunities like this to make a positive impact on others lives around the world, and I am forever grateful.  I look forward to keeping everyone updated with the accomplishments Real Choices Australia makes in collaboration with me, and that, likewise, we make in collaboration with all of the pro-life individuals and organizations across Australia.

Dr. Alveda King on King Day: The Dream Includes Us All, Born and Unborn

Priests for Life

Monday, January 18, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., released the following comments today on the celebration of her Uncle’s life.

“Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of a Beloved Community where all are treated with respect and dignity,” said Dr. King. “He fought against society’s exclusion of people who were treated as less than human because of their appearance. Today, we are compelled to continue Uncle Martin’s fight by standing up for those who are treated as less than human because of their helplessness and inconvenience.

“The unborn are as much a part of the Beloved Community as are newborns, infants, teenagers, adults, and the elderly. Too many of us speak of tolerance and inclusion, yet refuse to tolerate or include the weakest and most innocent among us in the human family. As we celebrate the life of Uncle Martin, let us renew our hearts and commit our lives to treating each other, whatever our race, status, or stage of life, as we would want to be treated. Let us let each other live.”

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, will join Alveda and her family as a program participant in the Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.