Celebrate Life After Rape
Tomorrow is my birthday. When my mom was 15 years old, she was raped. When she found out she was pregnant with me, she said, “We’re in this together.” She immediately recognized that I was a second victim of his crime. He’d convinced her that he’d ruined her, so amidst social pressure, she married him. After two years of brutality, on the verge of suicide, she got away from him. Pregnant again, from spousal rape, she had trouble bonding and took care of us dutifully.
She couldn’t fathom the idea that he would rape children, but he did. We were sent to his mother’s for weekends. Our paternal grandmother dressed us up in frills and paten leather shoes, clothes we did not own, for his pleasure. He sexually abused us from toddlerhood. We were groomed by them and didn’t tell. There were signs, if someone would have known what to look for, but my mom had no idea.
When I was old enough to refuse to go, I stayed home alone a lot. We had a tumultuous lifestyle with people coming and going from the apartment. I was molested by a maternal uncle at 13 and that’s when I rebelled. Out in the neighborhood, I met Ace. He was a body builder in the small city where we lived. He was also a pimp. It wasn’t long before he controlled me. He first sold me on my 14th birthday to a business man, who was giddy with the knowledge that it was my 14th birthday. I was about 100 pounds and still shaped very much like a child.
In just four years, I’d been so brutalized and tortured that I agreed to be sold to one man as a house pet, but if I got pregnant I would have to abort. I didn’t think that would be a problem, because I hadn’t gotten pregnant in four years of sex trafficking. Right before my 18th birthday, I found out I was pregnant. He said he’d kill me, if I didn’t abort. I faked the abortion to get free from him.
With the help of a social worker and a home for unwed mothers, I kept my baby. Truly, saving my baby saved my life.
Tomorrow, I will celebrate my birthday. I will celebrate the birth of my first child, who was born as a result of sex trafficking. I will celebrate the births of my other four children, as well as two grand children. I will celebrate the 25+ years of marriage to my wonderful husband. I will celebrate the children conceived in rape that have brought so many blessings to my life and the lives of others in Washington, DC.
At the March for Life, I will mourn those who’s lives were cut short by abortion. I will mourn the exceptions in pro-life legislation that teach that my life and that of other children conceived by rape, incest, and sex trafficking or those with a poor in-utero diagnosis are not worth protecting, not worth celebrating.
If you’re at the March For Life, come by the Expo and say, “Hi” at the Savethe1 table. I would love to celebrate with you too.