OCTOBER BABY - THE STORY OF AN ABORTION SURVIVOR
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| Gianna Jessen |
Gianna Jessen survived an abortion nearly 35 years ago. She was only two pounds when she was born with Cerebral Palsy, and doctors said she would never be able to hold up her head, crawl or walk. But she overcame all these obstacles.
Then one day she met her birth mom, who had tried to abort her but she had survived that saline attempt. The bitterness, however, lived on. Strangely, it was the mother who was bitter.
She told Jessen, “You are an embarrassment to me!”
Jessen was so hurt by those biting words that greeted her from her birth mother.
Fighting back the tears, Jessen regained her composure just long enough to tell her mother: “I forgive you.”
“I don’t want you to forgive me,” her birth mom responded. “I don’t want you to talk to me.”
And just like that, the conversation was over. Jessen has not seen her birth mother since.
She could have chosen to be furious with her birth mother but she decided not to hold a grudge.
“There was so much anger on her side,” Jessen said.
Instead, she decided to forgive, just as she has been forgiven by her heavenly Father: “Over and over, I’ve chosen to let the Lord define me,” she said. “The Lord spoke to me, ‘You have to let it go.’”
By age 3, she was able to walk with the help of leg braces and a walker and by age 28—April 30, 2005—Jessen completed her first marathon (Boston), then ran another one (London) the following April.
For Jessen, it’s been a long journey: “When your father and mother forsake you, God takes you up.”
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