You Have No Right to Live
The local Catholic churches had their annual Rose Dinner last night to raise money for the local crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life groups. Tricia and I attended with others at the Newman Center’s table. The speaker was Gianna Jessen, about whom many are familiar and of whom we have posted previously.
Gianna is an abortion survivor. Her biological mother, at 17 years old, went in for a late term abortion. Her abortion procedure entailed the injection of a saline solution into the placenta which was supposed to burn the baby inside and out and cause the mother to deliver a dead baby within about 24 hours. Gianna did not die, though the deprivation of oxygen and other damage from the saline solution and the early delivery left her with many medical problems including cerebral palsy. She is a courageous and very positive young woman and her medical difficulties have not stopped her from doing everything from pursuing a singing career to running several full marathons!
Gianna has a very positive and witty personality that charmed those gathered. Then she mentioned that earlier this year she was convinced to meet with her biological mother. She said her mother had wanted the meeting. In giving this part of her story, her bubbly personality changed for a moment. Even those of us not very sensitive to non-verbals could detect that this was a very painful experience for her. She did not go into much detail, but she summarized it with clearly the most significant event for her.
She said at the meeting she had offered her mother forgiveness and her mother rejected it. Her mother said she did not want her daughter’s forgiveness. I have thought about this for sometime and how one might take this rebuff…from one’s mother. Gianna was forgiving her mother for trying to kill her and her mother essentially seemed to be saying that she did not need to be forgiven. I would think that this is not much different than one’s mother coming out and saying to her child: “you have no right to be alive.” Gianna had briefly described the intense suffering that she has been through in her life dealing with the physical aspects of the abortion and the emotional aspects of knowing one’s mother not just rejected her but thought she was not worth giving life to. To have a mother’s rejection reconfirmed must be one of the most painful emotional experiences imaginable.
Gianna had earlier said that when women go in for abortions, due to various reasons, they see this decision as all about them. It is hard to know what her mother was thinking but its difficult not to imagine that her biological mom still seems to think that her abortion was all about her. I do not understand how one can look into the eyes of another human being that one tried to kill, one’s child no less, and not beg for forgiveness. To refuse forgiveness that is freely offered is beyond the pale.
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Does Gianna have a website? I’d like to link it to my website.
Comment by JohnT — October 27, 2006 @ 11:54 PM
The obstinate belief that “If it’s my right, it cannot be wrong” is why Gianna’s mom refused any culpability for Gianna’s situation.
Of course, I can imagine the indignation on her mom’s part, she having raised a child with disabilities and ailments, and the only thanks she gets is a condescending forgiveness.
Blessed Mother, pray for us.
Comment by St. Jimbob of the Apokalypse — October 28, 2006 @ 7:46 AM
That’s breath-takingly heartbreaking to read. Probably Gianna’s continued prayers for her mother, after even that, are worth more than we can even imagine.
Comment by monica — October 28, 2006 @ 3:08 PM
Monica –
Your comment reminds me of Gianna’s discussion of her suffering and how she eventually decided that she would no longer pray to be healed of her cerebral palsy. She discerned that this was God’s will for her. This is certainly not the standard Evangelical view of things and she says her friends just do not understand. However, because she is not Catholic she still does not seem to realize that she can use her suffering as an offering for her mother’s conversion and for the end to the scourge of abortion…at least she does not seem to have an explicit understanding of it…
Comment by David — October 28, 2006 @ 4:09 PM
Gianna was on a Relevant Radio program today, did you catch her? She mentioned that the meeting w/ her abortive mother was not arranged, that the woman just showed up at one of her events . . . so the lack of compassion was just the icing on the cake, it sounds like.
Comment by monica — November 1, 2006 @ 6:59 PM
Monica,
Unfortunately, I cannot pick up Relevant Radio here. Thanks for filling in the details. At the Rose Dinner, Gianna did not mention exactly how the meeting came about.
Since she just “showed up” wonder if Gianna is confident that the woman was really her mother and not an imposter?
Comment by David — November 1, 2006 @ 7:44 PM
David, she didn’t give any indication that she had any doubts about that – probably more to the story that she felt best left unsaid.
Comment by monica — November 3, 2006 @ 10:38 AM