Woman whose mother tried to abort her wows 1st Way banquet crowd
By Joyce Coronel | Nov. 18, 2009 | The Catholic Sun
SCOTTSDALE — Nearly 600 supporters of 1st Way Pregnancy Center crowded the Paradise Valley Double Tree ballroom Nov. 7 to raise money and hear the stirring testimony of Gianna Jessen, a woman whose mother tried to abort her in 1977.
Jessen, 32, received thunderous applause as she described surviving her 17-year-old biological mother’s saline abortion at a Los Angeles abortion clinic.
An injection of a saline solution was meant to kill her, allowing her mother to deliver a dead baby within 24 hours. But Jessen survived.
“Here he’s trying to kill me and he had to sign my birth certificate. What a vindication!” Jessen said to cheers and applause.
Born in a room at the clinic where other teenage girls awaited the outcome of their saline abortions, Jessen was rushed by ambulance to a hospital and eventually wound up in foster care.
She spoke of “the gift of cerebral palsy” she received from being born at just 28 weeks into her mother’s pregnancy. Although she walks with a limp, Jessen doesn’t let it slow her down.
The world-renown speaker is unapologetic and passionately defends the right to life of the unborn and the dignity of the disabled.
“I didn’t survive abortion to be a coward or an appeaser,” Jessen said.
She pointed to two crucial decisions she made early in life. The first was to follow Jesus Christ. The second was to refuse to see herself as a victim.
In spite of her limp, she has completed two marathons by running on her toes and travels the world putting a human face on the tiny victims of abortion.
Her testimony before Congress led to the signing of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act in 2002 by President George W. Bush. The act ensures that infants who survive abortion are entitled to the full protection of the law.
Jessen drew 1st Way’s largest crowd ever to its annual fundraiser, sponsored this year by St. Thomas the Apostle Parish and two anonymous donors.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted praised the work of the pro-life pregnancy clinic.
“It gives my heart a lot of hope to see this room filled with so many people committed to in a deep way to the Gospel of life,” he told the crowd.
“Trust in God’s love is not easy to come by,” the bishop said, “but it shines forth in spades at 1st Way.”
He cited the work of the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign as exemplifying the virtue of hope, saying the “people who hope see the same forces of evil in the world” but maintain confidence in God’s love.
In Bryan, Texas, where the prayer effort began in 2004, the longtime director of a Planned Parenthood clinic quit her job last month. She then walked across the street, and began to pray with those gathered.
Bishop Olmsted said that seven other abortion clinic workers similarly quit their jobs and that 542 lives had been saved.
Kay Allen, director of 1st Way, said the promise she made to supporters at last year’s banquet was brought to fruition in June. The Hope Mobile Unit, a clinic on wheels that parks in front of abortion clinics and offers free ultrasound exams to women, made its debut on Pentecost.
The motor-home-sized vehicle was parked in front of the hall where the fundraiser was held and a video tour of the mini-clinic played out on the large screens at the front of the banquet hall.
Allen said the Hope Mobile Unit is also a draw where young people gather, such as Arizona State University. The evening before the banquet, it appeared at the First Friday event in Phoenix.
“We saw 18 women last night,” Allen said, adding that it costs 1st Way about $75,000 annually to operate the unit.
Allen also told of the remarkable collaboration between denominations.
“Evangelical and Catholic pregnancy centers are journeying together for the first time in the U.S.,” she said.
She said that Catholic Charities Community Services is also working with 1st Way through its Adoption and Pregnancy Program.
“We are of one mind with these people and we are so thankful for our affiliation,” Allen said.
