I recently testified before both the Ohio Senate committee and House committee in support of the Heartbeat bill as someone conceived in rape and as a pro-life attorney. In the Senate, despite being the last to testify after four hours of proponent testimony, I was asked questions by a pro-choice Democrat on the committee.
However, in the House, it was a much different scenario. For the roughly 10 other witnesses preceding me, the number one question asked of them was, “What about in cases of rape?”, with follow-up questions relating to specific types of cases. Several of the other witnesses assured the legislators that an expert was present to testify and would be able to thoroughly answer their questions, referring to me by name.
So I was eager for this opportunity. However, to everyone’s surprise, after my testimony, there was not one question for me. I spoke up quickly and pointed out this fact — that they finally have an expert here to answer those questions, and yet, there was not one! The committee chair responding by saying, “Rebecca, you are … I can tell, you are a very great debater. It doesn’t look like anyone’s willing to take you on today.” And the room filled with laughter. But one state representative asked, “Is that a challenge?” I thought I’d finally get a question, but no. None — which speaks volumes and just goes to show they don’t really want to know the truth of the matter.
Here is my full testimony before the legislative committee which had them so intimidated that they could not ask me questions:
My name is Rebecca Kiessling. I’m an attorney, wife, mother of 5, international pro-life speaker, and President of Save The 1 – a global pro-life organization of over 600 who were conceived in rape (like me) and mothers who became pregnant by rape, as well as hundreds who were told by doctors to abort. We value our lives and the lives of our children. I urge the Ohio House to pass the Heartbeat bill and protect human life without exception.
Abortion advocates will say that it’s barbaric to force a rape victim to carry “a rapist’s child.” First of all, I am not the child of a rapist – I am the child of a rape victim. My mother and I object to me being characterized otherwise. Secondly, it is simply barbaric to punish an innocent child for someone else’s crime. Justice dictates that in a civilized society, we punish rapists, not babies.
I did not deserve the death penalty for the crime of my biological father. My own birthmother had tried to kill me at two illegal abortions, and was pro-choice when we met 30 years ago. She said that if abortion had been legal in Michigan at the time, she would have aborted me. I literally owe my birth to pro-life legislators who protected me. I wasn’t lucky, I was protected. Legality matters. Today, my birthmother and I are both thankful we were both protected by law from the horror of abortion, just as you have the opportunity today to protect mothers and their children.
I am a person and deserve life and dignity every bit as much as anyone else. The targeting of life is dehumanizing and demoralizing, not just for those yet unborn, but for every person living who was conceived in violence. The sting of such hatred is palpable and life-long. Adding exceptions sends a message to our people groups that our lives are worth less than anyone else’s, and we ache from such malice and the reckless disregard for our lives.
Rape survivor mothers grieve how their children are systematically targeted and devalued. They suffer more because they are not believed they were raped since they did not abort and because they actually love their children. We appreciate concern for rape victims, but they are four times more likely to die within the next year after an abortion, as opposed to giving birth. In Dr. David Reardon’s book, Victims and Victors, he cites the research done on the subject. After an abortion, rape victims have a higher rate of being murdered, committing suicide, drug overdose, etc..
Rapists, child molesters and sex traffickers love abortion, which destroys the evidence and enables them to continue perpetrating. Oftentimes, a girl’s own mother has been either trafficking her or leaving her unprotected. It is always the baby who is the hero of the story, by exposing the rape, delivering her out of the abusive situation, protecting her and bringing her healing. So if you really care about rape victims, you must protect her from the rapist and from the abortion. The baby is not the scary enemy. It’s just absurd to suggest that any woman should have to be afraid of a baby.
In regards to a pre-natal diagnosis of “incompatible with life” – it is impossible for the baby to be such when that unborn child is still living. As long as there is a heartbeat, there is life and there is hope. Physicians who peddle abortion are truly the ones with fatal heart defects, often failing to treat the children of parents who refused to abort. A eugenics mentality becomes pervasive when you allow abortion for any reason.
I hear the language of the abortion lobby and how they try to demean pro-life legislators by characterizing them as antiquated, as if killing the most vulnerable is somehow “progressive.” The truth is, states which pass a Heartbeat bill are morally superior because you will establish the most important characteristics of a thriving state – one where people are loved, protected, and accepted. Child sacrifice is what’s antiquated.
The abortion forces merely use the rape issue to try to keep abortion legal, on demand for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy, through birth in fact, at taxpayer expense, just like they did in New York and several other states.
In Roe v Wade, Norma McCorvey – Jane Roe, was told by her attorneys to lie that she was gang-raped. They said this would make her case stronger. Many years later, she sought to have her own case overturned. Nearly 60 million children have been killed in the womb based upon a lie of rape. The abortion advocates know this and that’s why they exploit the violation of women to open the door for killing any and all unborn children.
I urge you to pass SB 23, The Heartbeat Bill, without exceptions. My heart beats just like everyone else’s.
BIO: Rebecca Kiessling is a wife, mother of 5, attorney, pro-life speaker and President of Save The 1.
