In 2012 the movie October Baby was seen on big screens across America. The story of a girl named Hannah who discovered her lifelong medical conditions were linked to surviving a failed abortion was an eye opening hit. The story was based on the life of Gianna Jessen, a pro-life speaker whose cerebral palsy came as a result of surviving a late term saline injection abortion. Audiences found the film compelling because many had never heard the story of an abortion survivor. In our country we hear stories from women who’ve chosen abortion, men who’ve paid for it and doctor’s who’ve performed them. Rarely do we hear the true stories from the children who survived death by miraculous intervention.
‘My name is Courtney. I’m sixteen years young. When I was 14, I was told that I am adopted. When I was 14, I also learned that there was much more to the story of my life. Not only am I adopted, but I am an abortion survivor. When my birth mother was somewhere around 7 weeks pregnant, she had an abortion. Five weeks or so later, she went for a post-op checkup, and it was discovered that I was there in the womb. She didn’t know that she was pregnant with twins when she had the abortion.’
Tragically Courtney’s twin was aborted. Thankfully her mother refused the option of having another abortion to destroy Courtney. Instead she chose to place her in a loving adoptive family. On June 19, 1996 the adoptive family got a phone call saying Courtney’s birth mom was having pains and didn’t think her daughter would survive.
Courtney was born at 27 weeks. Doctor’s didn’t think she would live much longer after birth. She spent three months in the hospital and was sent home, weighing just one pound and two ounces. Courtney says the doctors didn’t even send a sleep apena machine home with her because they didn’t think she’d make it through the winter. Courtney is a fighter who proved them wrong. She was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and Right Hydronephrosis. She’s had four foot surgeries. Aside from that she is alive and well through the help of her loving family and friends.
In Jan 2013 Courtney began sharing her story publicly. She hopes to change the lives of people when it comes to abortion. Courtney writes:
‘It’s a choice–a choice between life and death for a child. A baby is a gift from God and NEVER a mistake. I am a miracle and I believe God put me here for many reasons. I think two of them are to change lives, and to help people who need it’.
“Trust me, they will be adopted. My adopted family has twelve children, ten of which were adopted! They will be adopted! I mean, if we would stop funding the stuff to do abortions and put it towards making adoption fees lower, many would adopt because many who want to adopt can’t afford the high adoption fees and therefore can’t adopt.”
Josiah has a heart to defend the children who are being aborted. He says: ’What makes them any different from us besides the fact that they are innocent and can’t defend themselves against these huge abortion bullies killing them?’
He believes abortion is wrong because we are killing our completely innocent offspring. For those who don’t believe fetuses in the womb are human beings worthy of protection, Josiah says, “Well, I differ with that thought because it was that same thinking that almost ended my life 15 years ago”.
For more abortion survivors stories or to share your own survival story, visit theabortionsurvivors.com.
Editor’s note. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.
By Christina Martin, NRL News
