{"id":2171,"date":"2011-03-06T14:36:10","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T19:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/?p=2171"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:47:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:47:33","slug":"lived-to-tell-the-astonishing-story-of-an-abortion-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/03\/lived-to-tell-the-astonishing-story-of-an-abortion-survivor\/","title":{"rendered":"Lived to tell: the astonishing story of an abortion survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

She\u2019s now sharing her story with the world \u2014 and seeking others who have also survived abortion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From the Des Moines Register<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

The defining moment of Melissa Ohden\u2019s life arrived five days before she was born.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her biological mother entered St. Luke\u2019s Medical Center in Sioux City on Aug. 24, 1977, as a pregnant, 19-year-old college freshman.<\/p>\n

She must have been scared. The teen from South Sioux City, Neb., was administered a saline infusion abortion \u2013 a salt injection designed to poison and burn the fetus as well as to induce labor.<\/p>\n

Yet Ohden survived and eventually was born at 3:40 p.m. Aug. 29 with a weak cry, weighing in at just 2 pounds, 14 ounces. Her skin was \u201crelatively pink\u201d with some bruises.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Ohden\u2019s unlikely (she would say miraculous) survival more than 33 years ago that fuels her global anti-abortion activism today. In one speech and interview after another, Ohden recounts the details of her own brush with death in the womb, which left emotional scars but no tangible physical or mental disabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through her work, Ohden says she has become aware of only 13 other abortion survivors around the globe, including fellow anti-abortion activists Gianna Jessen, Claire Culwell and Brandy Lozier.<\/p>\n

Medical records from St. Luke\u2019s outline how Ohden \u201cwas delivered spontaneously in bed by a nurse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the space on a form that asks for \u201ccomplications of this pregnancy,\u201d the entry reads dryly: \u201csaline infusion.\u201d (Instillation methods such as the saline infusion that Ohden survived now represent fewer than 1 percent of abortions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)<\/p>\n

\u201cLegitimate?\u201d the form also asks. \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one day old, the infant Ohden \u2013 still nameless at this point \u2013 was determined to be \u201cdoing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActive. Color good. Slight jaundice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ohden\u2019s mother initially reported herself as 18 weeks pregnant, but doctors later estimated the newborn\u2019s gestational age to be closer to 31 weeks.<\/p>\n

Ohden was placed in the care of the old Iowa Department of Social Services and transferred to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City. Nurse Mary Schmelzer lovingly bestowed the infant with a temporary name: Katie Rose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any children. That\u2019s what I would\u2019ve named them,\u201d said Schmelzer, adding that Ohden is the only abortion survivor she\u2019s come in contact with in 42 years of nursing.
\n When Ron and Linda Cross of rural Curlew drove to Iowa City to look at Katie Rose (Ohden) in 1977, her head was shaved from temple to temple where IVs had been inserted. She was still too weak to suck down liquids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they put her in my arms, I just knew everything was going to be OK,\u201d Linda Cross said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest<\/a><\/strong>.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She\u2019s now sharing her story with the world \u2014 and seeking others who have also survived abortion. From the Des Moines Register: The defining moment of Melissa Ohden\u2019s life arrived five days before she was born. Her biological mother entered St. Luke\u2019s Medical Center in Sioux City on Aug. 24, 1977, as a pregnant, 19-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[62,11195],"class_list":["post-2171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pro-life","tag-abortion","tag-pro-life"],"yoast_head":"\nLived to tell: the astonishing story of an abortion survivor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"She's now sharing her story with the world -- and seeking others who have also survived abortion. 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