I first started dating him when I was 18 and he was respectful for the most part. Initially we were just friends and when we were in a relationship, we weren’t intimate at all. We broke up after for a couple of years and started dating again. We became intimate twice, but otherwise, our relationship […]
Just a couple of days ago — the day after the anniversary of my rape, I testified before a House committee in the Wyoming legislature on a bill to protect women like me from their rapist having parental rights. I’m thrilled to report it passed nearly unanimously out of committee, but we still need it […]
He was my friend. He made me laugh. He was a very big guy about 6 foot 3 and 280 pounds. It was December 19th. I remember that distinctly. He was trying to cheer me up because it was the anniversary of my father‘s death, and he was visiting me at my apartment. I had […]
It was the summer of 1957. I was 17 years and heading into my senior year. I was at a dance hall with a bunch of friends. My parents had a curfew for me, so I needed to get home, but my friends who drove me wanted to stay. A young man who was a […]
On May 4, 2018, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the Heartbeat Bill into law which would protect unborn children who have a detectable heartbeat, except “when the abortion is medically necessary” and defines “medically necessary” as cases of rape, incest and fetal abnormality, making the abortion provider the sole arbiter of these determinations. These exceptions […]
I love storms — seeing the dark clouds, watching the storms roll in, and dancing in the rain. I love to see the lightning and hear the thunder roar, shaking the Earth. But this was a storm that I had no opportunity to anticipate. . . . About four years ago, I was studying Christian […]
It was the start of my junior year. I was a normal 16 year old teenager. Over the summer, my parents renewed their vows which was like a second wedding for them. I enjoyed going to the lake where my uncle lived. I did things with my friends, enjoyed my close-knit family, and was looking […]
Sometimes I feel like I am the person who fell between the cracks — the lost and forgotten. I struggle in silence. I’m sharing my story here because I want to raise awareness regarding spousal rape and how serious it is. Laws have been passed here in Florida and elsewhere to terminate the parental rights […]
Clergy need to get this one right! Save The 1 has published two recent stories in which the pregnant rape victims’ clergy not only advised them that’s it’s acceptable to abort, but actually encouraged them to do so. One rape victim went through with the abortion, and the other did not. In other words, a […]
Just touch one, Lord. . . . My repeated prayer ever since I first told my story almost twenty years ago has been the same — for the Lord to somehow use my saga of shame and regret to help someone else. He’s always answered. The first time I shared my testimony publicly, a woman came up […]