November 7, 2021

Melissa Ohden shares abortion survival story and message of hope

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

HOLYOKE – Abortion survivor Melissa Ohden shared her incredible story of survival and hope at the rescheduled Mass Citizens for Life (MCFL) Mother’s Day Dinner, Thursday, Nov. 4 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. Ohden, who wrote the book, You Carried Me, survived a saline infusion abortion attempt in 1977.  She explained how she was born alive and left to die.

“I am here certainly by the grace of God. Forty-four years ago, my biological mother as a college student had an abortion forced upon her by her family,” Ohden explained.

“She was engaged to my biological father but they weren’t married and faced with that back in 1977, her parents forced her to undergo a saline infused abortion which was meant to poison and scald me to death.”

Ohden told the 150 people in attendance that her maternal grandmother was a prominent nurse at the hospital where the abortion attempt took place.

“We know through my medical records that I was laid aside for a period of time. Within about five minutes, I was nearly dead. And we know from another nurse who reached out to me after my first book was published that a tall blond nurse was unwilling to leave me to die, like my grandmother had directed them to. And she whisked me off to the NICU and that’s certainly why I am here tonight,” she said.

Ohden, a national pro-life speaker who testified before Congress, is the founder of the Abortion Survivors Network. She said 403 abortion survivors have come forward publicly, but she said there are thousands of others who have similar stories.

“We know statistically that there are tens of thousands of people like me and that comes from the Centers for Disease Control themselves. They admitted back in 1981, they estimated between 400 and 500 live births a year after failed abortions. After 49 years that number is encroaching 20,000,” she said.

Ohden and her husband Ryan have been married for 16 years and have two girls. Ohden, who entered the Catholic Church in 2014, has since reconciled with her birth mother, who never knew she survived. She said her birth mother is now part of her family.

“I think we have to really educate ourselves on this issue and our culture really buries the narrative of anyone’s story who doesn’t fit theirs. So I think education is important and I do want to see people encouraged and inspired to fight and I think that’s why God gave me this life, not just to fight but to encourage and inspire other people to do the same thing,” she said. “And I do want to see lives saved both federally and on the state level. Unfortunately, until we embrace a culture of life, we need to have laws on the books that protect lives like mine.”

Last December, Massachusetts lawmakers passed the Roe Act which expanded abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy in Massachusetts. According to the Massachusetts Catholic Conference (MCC), the abortion expansion legislation allows abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy for certain circumstances, including a lethal fetal anomaly, and to “preserve a woman’s physical or mental health.” In addition, under the Roe Act, a doctor is no longer required to provide medical care to a baby who survives an abortion, but will be enabled to do so.

“First of all, if your patient ends up dead, you can’t very well call it healthcare, especially if that was your intent. And so many things related to abortion, there’s always one person wounded at the end and one person is dead,” said Dr. John Diggs, a primary care physician from Wilbraham who has long been involved in the pro-life movement.  

“When you devalue life, as you know there is life and you choose to end life and when you talk about choice you never want to name what the choice is. We are willing for you to have a procedure. The procedure is an abortion. Well, what are you aborting? You are aborting life. That’s a point doctors should easily make, but doctors shy away from,” he continued in response to the claim that abortion is healthcare.

Deacon Michael Forrest of the Christ the King Parish in Ludlow also addressed the crowd. Deacon Forrest was recently elected to the board of MCFL.

“I love this cause, I’m a convert to it. There was a time, I was never virulently so, but I was once pro-choice,” said the father and grandfather.

“The truth about the humanity of the unborn child has been hidden by the media and it’s important if we don’t stand up and speak out, nobody else is going to do it. So it’s important that we all speak out with love, of course, but never shy away from speaking the truth because many people don’t know.”

Currently, there is an effort underway to change the law in Massachusetts to ensure that babies who survive an abortion are given proper, life-saving medical care. The “Born Alive” petition needs more than 80, 300 signatures by Nov. 17 in order to move forward through the legislative process.

A video version of this story will be featured on an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel” which airs Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. on WWLP-22 NEWS.