It was 1969. My mom and dad had been married about 15 years, and had a 12 year old daughter. They had decided that they were done having children. My mother went to see her doctor for what she thought may be the flu, but it turned out she was pregnant with me. At 44 […]
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 […]
I grew up in the township of Ntuzuma, in the city of Durban, in South Africa, with my mother and two younger sisters. I had a happy childhood, playing soccer and cricket with my friends in the yard, eating sugar cane. But most of all, my mother was my life. Both of my sisters knew […]
I grew between West Virginia, Ohio and Oklahoma. The first I can remember my dad molesting me is when I was four years old, living in Columbus, Ohio. It was Christmastime and my mom was with my younger brother who was in the hospital with asthma. We almost lost him. I was home alone with […]
Dear People Who Bullied My Unborn Child, I’m going to call it what it was — bullying. You thought you were so smart when you called my son “a spawn of Satan,” “Satan’s rape baby,” and “evil,” among other things. And you thought you were right to “warn” me of the dangers of bringing him […]
During my pregnancy, I read stories of other women who had become pregnant by rape, sometimes twice daily. Those stories were a source of hope and made me feel like I wasn’t alone and reaffirmed that it was normal to love my child. I’m writing my story now in the hope that other woman will […]
Last Monday, I received a call from the District Attorney’s office stating they did not have enough evidence to file criminal charges of any kind against my rapist. I literally collapsed on the floor upon hearing the news. The wind was knocked right out of me. That wasn’t enough, however. The story of my rape, […]
New Year’s Eve 1991, I was invited to go bowling with a small group of people who I hadn’t known for very long and didn’t know very well at all. We bowled and we drank, but I don’t remember much more. I don’t remember leaving the bowling alley, but I remember seeing headlights on our […]
I was conceived in 1974, in a little town called Newbury, in England. Abortion became legal in the UK in 1967, but it wasn’t as acceptable or as accessible as it is now. When my mum fell pregnant with me, she already had four other children to look after, and she was married to my […]