Gianna Jessen
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Gianna Jessen (born April 6, 1977 in Los Angeles, California) is a pro-life advocate, symbol and a Christian recording artist.
Jessen was born over a month premature after a failed saline abortion. The doctor who had carried out the abortion was not present at the moment that Jessen was born alive, and the nurse called an ambulance and had the two-pound baby taken to hospital. Because of damage done during the abortion, Jessen now lives with physical disabilities and cerebral palsy. Doctors predicted that she would be blind, in a persistent vegetative state, or disabled for life — never walking. According to Jessen, some even suggested that she would not want to live in such a condition. However, she views her condition with humor and acceptance, once saying, "Sometimes I'll be walking up steps, and I'll just fall right over."
Jessen's biological parents, who were both seventeen, put her up for adoption. When she learned from her adoptive mother the truth behind her premature birth, she became an advocate against abortion. She begins her speeches with this statement, "I was aborted and did not die." She is a Christian, and credits Jesus with preserving her life. Gianna: Aborted...and Lived to Tell About It by Jessica Shaver gives a more detailed story of her life.
Jessen testified before the United States Congress on April 22, 1996 against partial-birth abortions and again in 2000 in support of the Born Alive Infant Act. She has said, "My biological mother thought she was making a decision affecting only her. If abortion is merely about women's rights, then what were mine?"
Despite her physical handicaps, she has trained to become a marathon runner. In 2005, she ran one in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, and in 2006 she entered the London Marathon.
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[edit] Planned Parenthood Anniversary
In May of 2006, Colorado State Representative Ted Harvey attended a pro-life rally where he heard Jessen sing and give her testimony. Recalling that in a few days the Colorado House of Representatives would vote on a resolution honoring the 90th anniversary of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, he asked Jessen if she would be willing to sing the Star-Spangled Banner to begin the last day of the General Assembly Session. To his surprise, she agreed to sing on May 8, 2006.
After she sang the National Anthem, the Speaker of the House explained Jessen's condition and stated that she is an activist to bring awareness concerning cerebral palsy. "Let us give her a hand not only for her performance today but also for her advocacy work," he said.
When the time came for Harvey to officially introduce Jessen, he spoke as follows:
"Members, I would like to introduce you to a new friend and hero of mine-- her name is Gianna Jessen. She is visiting us today from Nashville, Tennessee where she is an accomplished recording artist. She has cerebral palsy and was raised in foster homes before being adopted at the age of four."
Harvey told Jessen's story, omitting any reference to her survival of her biological mother's late-term abortion. He concluded by praising her physical fitness and work for cerebral palsy awareness. The chamber applauded, and as the House Majority Leader and sponsor of the proposed Planned Parenthood Resolution was congratulating Jessen, he went on:
"Please let me tell you the rest of the story. The cause of Gianna’s cerebral palsy is not because of some biological freak of nature, but rather the choice of her mother. You see when her biological mother was 17 years old and 7 ½ months pregnant she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic to seek a late term abortion. The abortionist performed a saline abortion on this 17-year-old girl. This procedure requires the injection of a high concentration of saline into the mother’s womb which the fetus is then bathed in and swallows which results in the fetus being burned to death, inside and out. Within 24 hrs the results are normally an induced still-born abortion. As Gianna can testify the procedure is not always 100% effective. Gianna is an aborted late term fetus that was born alive. The high concentration of saline in the womb for 24 hrs resulted in a lack of oxygen to her brain and is the cause of her cerebral palsy. Members, today we are going to recognize the 90th anniversary of Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood,"
Harvey was gaveled down by the Speaker of the House who openly rebuked him for, as the Speaker put it later to the Denver Post, "[using] a human being as an example of his personal politics."
Harvey has replied at his website by saying that "Yes Representative Madden, Gianna Jessen is a human being. She was when she was in her mother’s womb and she was when she sang the National Anthem on the Floor of the Colorado House of Representatives."
Jessen later stated to the Denver Post that she was glad Harvey told her full story. "We need to discuss the humanity of it. I'm glad to be able to speak up for children in the womb," she said. "If abortion is about women's rights, where were my rights?"
[edit] Sources
- Sarah Womack, "Churchmen back woman who survived being aborted", Daily Telegraph (London, England), December 7, 2005, Pg. 11.
- Staff, "Abortion survivor gives talk", Daily Mirror (London, England), November 19, 2005
- The Pilot, Boston, May 2005.
- Gerald R. McDermott, "The U.S. Senate Should Act To Ban Partial-Birth Abortions- Many Giannas Can Be Saved", Roanoke Times (VA), March 13, 2003, Sec. Editorial, Page 15.
- Pamela R. Hale, "Woman To Tell Abortion Story - Event: Gianna Jessen, 25, Survived Procedure, Speaks On Alternatives.", Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA), January 25, 2003, Sec. Religion, Pg. A13.
- Chris Frates, "Abortion Jab Earns Rebuke", Denver Post (Denver, Colorado), May 9, 2006.
