I speak at a multitude of pro-life events, and meet all kinds of wonderful pro-life people, including grass-roots activists, clergy, politicians, and celebrity emcee’s. But Thursday, April
21, 2016, I had the pleasure of meeting someone who really surprised the whole audience with her very own pro-life story at the annual Spring Banquet for Pro-Life Mississippi: WLBT Jackson Meteorologist Heather Sophia. Heather was asked to substitute in last-minute as Master of Ceremonies. It’s nice to know that television personalities are pro-life supporters, but no one knew she actually had her own powerful story to tell, because she had never shared it publicly before.
As the fundraiser was wrapping up, just before giving the financial appeal, Heather began to tell the tragic story of a 16 year old girl who came home from school one day to find her 42 year old mother dead in their home from a massive heart attack. Two weeks later, the teenage girl found out she was pregnant. She talked it over with her family and she was contemplating aborting her baby. But she ultimately decided to choose life, and that baby is now Meteorologist Heather Sophia! The audience was in tears hearing her story – after all, they’d watched her share the weather forecast daily, not knowing how she was almost never born.
After the banquet, Heather allowed me to film her story – a
38 second video now on YouTube. Sharing her story of survival, she explains why she is 100% pro-life, with no exceptions. Here’s a beautiful, young woman and an articulate media personality who is willing to boldly proclaim her own pro-life story of survival. Within a matter of hours, there were over 13,000 views of the Facebook video!
Heather has since detailed more of her history to me so that I may relate it to all of you. Her mom was actually five months pregnant when she finally took a pregnancy test and realized she was pregnant with Heather, so it would have been a dangerous and more expensive late-term abortion. But it was in the South – in Louisiana, and at that time (1980’s), having a child out of wedlock was scandalous. With the love and support of her family however, her mother ultimately made the right decision. Heather doesn’t remember exactly when her mother told her about being nearly-aborted, but she says she just remembers thinking, “Wow, I’m so glad I’m here and that God showed her that life was the only choice.”
Heather’s Mom and Dad married each other and stayed married for 17 years, never having had any other children. So if she’d been aborted, her mother would have aborted the only child she’d ever had.
From the age of 5, Heather had wanted to be a Meteorologist. She says that she has always been inspired by the weather. When growing up in Louisiana, her family had to evacuate from many hurricanes. She recalls going to bed each night right after the evening newscast, having been fascinated by the meteorologist’s weather forecast.
Heather has followed her dream ever since. She’s been blessed with an Edward R. Murrow
Award, twice nominated for an Emmy, and named Feature Reporter of the Year by the Associated Press. How interesting that just as she recalls the meteorologist from her childhood helping to keep her family safe, Heather now helps other families to face the storms in life. And now her personal pro-life witness will likewise do the same.
Upon visiting her
Facebook page, you will find that she not only shares the daily forecast, but she regularly posts Scripture verses as well. When I asked Heather, “What is God’s purpose for your life?,” she quickly responded: “To be in His will and to glorify Him!”
BIO:
Rebecca Kiessling is a pro-life speaker, writer, attorney, and President of
Save The 1 – an organization which educates and inspires on all of the so-called “hard cases” in the abortion debate.
