I heard a very moving talk from a rape victim this past weekend, which I’ll share in a moment. And what she said reminds me of the reason why abortion has gained such a stranglehold in America.
Rape is a horrible and violent crime. Interestingly, the allegation of rape is part of the reason America has embraced abortion so strongly in the last half-century.
Our founding documents embrace a culture of life, but abortion is at war with the right to life.
In months, we’ll be celebrating the life-affirming birthday of America. July 4, 2026, will be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which famously says, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life.”
Eleven years later, in 1787, the Constitution, predicated on the Declaration, opens this way: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice … and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
But in 1973, in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court famously voted in favor of abortion rights as they set out “to resolve the issue by constitutional measurement.”
Dissenter Byron Johnson called Roe (and its companion decision of the same day, Doe v. Bolton) an act of “raw judicial power.”
To gain sympathy for her quest to get an abortion, the plaintiff Jane Roe (who we now know was the late Norma McCorvey) claimed she was raped – gang-raped no less.
But years later, Norma McCorvey revealed that she had lied. She said, “Initially, I had told [attorney] Sarah Weddington that I had been raped – and I was not raped.”
In the mid-1990s, Norma had a come-to-Jesus moment and changed from being the poster child for abortion to being an avid opponent of it. She said in an interview on Christian TV, “I was a hippie of sorts and I sold drugs, and that’s what got me into so much trouble. I didn’t know how to respond to people and their problems. Since 1995, I’ve been walking with Jesus Christ, and I tell you: You can’t find a better life.”
Before her change, she had worked in an abortion clinic and saw firsthand what the industry can do to women. She said, “You are totally different after you’ve had an abortion. Abortion kind of sucks your soul dry; it makes you a very angry person inside, from what I’ve seen.”
Roe v. Wade ultimately resulted in the deaths of 63 million unborn babies. I wonder how many Americans realize that it was based in part on a lie. In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision. At least, that put the issue back into the hands of the states.
This past Saturday, I heard a powerful speaker named Lianna Rebolledo, who addressed the Broward Right to Life breakfast, for which I was privileged to serve again as MC.
Lianna told us that she was born in Mexico. But because of her parents’ divorce, she came to Los Angeles with her mother at the age of 11. When she was around 12, Lianna was kidnapped by two men, who raped her repeatedly and left her for dead.
This devastated Lianna. When she went to the hospital, they told her she was pregnant, and they wanted her to abort the baby. They told her that “she didn’t deserve to have to live with the consequences of rape.”
But she realized that abortion could not undo the rape or take away the awful memories. So, she chose life for her daughter, and for 25 years that daughter gave her meaning in life. Tragically, the daughter died of brain tumors, but Lianna was so grateful for the time she had with her. As she told her life story, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
Lianna shares such observations, as noted per writer Amy O’Donnell:
“I thought I would be giving my baby the death penalty when it wasn’t my baby’s fault. My baby didn’t deserve to be punished for the rape because my baby didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“[My daughter] wasn’t lower class or second class because of how she was conceived; she was just like any other human being, and she didn’t deserve less than anyone else.”
“Even with all the suffering and pain, I would go through that again just to know my daughter. It wasn’t easy, but it was definitely worth it. In my situation, two lives were saved.”
“Abortion is not the solution … not even for rape.”
To me, Lianna Rebolledo’s story is a powerful reminder of our need to get back to the goal of the right to life as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.