When the Colorado House of Representatives decided to honor the ninetieth anniversary of Planned Parenthood’s presence in the Rocky Mountains, one pro-life representative decided to bring along a special guest for the occasion. State Representative Ted Harvey asked Gianna Jessen (pictured at left), a singer, pro-life activist, advocate for those with cerebral palsy, and — oh, yes — an abortion survivor, to help him mark the event. Harvey first introduced Ms. Jessen, told the House of her victory over her disability, had her sing, then lowered the boom by telling "the rest of the story":
[Harvey said to the House]: "The cause of Gianna’s cerebral palsy is not because of some biological freak of nature, but rather the choice of her mother.
"You see when her biological mother was 17-years-old and 7-and-a-half months pregnant, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic to seek a late-term abortion. The abortionist performed a saline abortion on this 17-year-old girl. This procedure requires the injection of a high concentration of saline into the mother’s womb, which the fetus is then bathed in and swallows, which results in the fetus being burned to death, inside and out. Within 24 hours the results are normally an induced, still-born abortion.
"As Gianna can testify, the procedure is not always 100 percent effective. Gianna is an aborted late-term fetus who was born alive. The high concentration of saline in the womb for 24 hours resulted in a lack of oxygen to her brain and is the cause of her cerebral palsy.
"Members, today, we are going to recognize the 90th anniversary of Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood…"
BANG! The gavel came down.
(In the Giving-Credit-Where-Credit-Is-Due Department, nod to The Sacred Weblog of the Universal Inquisition for the link.)
For more information about Gianna Jessen, CLICK HERE.
Deep down, most of the “pro-choice” advocates know abortion is really homicide. They think it is justifiable homicide, but their convictions simply cannot be rationally justified. And since they, also deep down, realize this, the only way to continue thinking the way they do is to avoid examining the issue. “Bang” goes the gavel.
That, that is a great story. Thanks for sharing it!
Michelle, your best post ever. Thank you for spreading this story. I am thunderstruck by it.
we need more politicians like him.
For ‘a piece of flesh’, Gianna looks very human!
Cooooool!
Fight the power!
Brilliant!!!!!
all glory to God!! forever!
Funny, I don’t remember seeing any videotape of this on any news networks. Or seeing this story in America’s “Paper of Record”(by their own admission). You know, the paper whose motto is: “All the news that fits, we print”. Can’t imagine why.
Bill, that’s why God created the internet.
Amazing! This is one brave girl, and one courageous politician.
Gianna Jessen, as one Former Fetus to another, I salute you!
It’s SO ironic to hear pro-aborts complain that it was a dirty trick. “Putting a human face on the story” was something they did over and over again with their propaganda/art films and movies-of-the-week.
Thanks for posting this, Michelle.
This reminds me of a recent story in England, where a 74 year-old man called Edward Atkinson, a devout Catholic, was jailed for sending pictures of aborted foetus’s to staff at his local hospital. It seems that abortion is ok, but pictures of it are not.
I had to smile at the majority leader’s “amazingly rude” line. I’m sure Gianna thought it was “amazingly rude” of abortionists to try and burn her to death with saline solution.
Liberals always behave like Victorian maiden aunts in need of the smelling salts, when confronted with the disgusting facts about abortion.
Michelle, THANK YOU for passing this along. Kudos to Ted Harvey and Gianna. Best thing I’ve read in a while.
I’ve linked to a few msm follow-ups to the event here. Rep. Harvey’s facing some animosity from within his own party because of this.
This story was buried; I’m a local, and I didn’t hear about this until yesterday. A local Catholic democrat, who seemed to be pro-life, is running for governor and has pledged to fund Planned Parenthood.
cool
I sent an email to Mr. Harvey and received a lovely reply. I suggest that all of you do, too.
‘thann
I hope this story get’s major coverage this weekend on the morning news. Tim russert and fox news should have some good coverage–hopefully.
Joe, “Great is thy Faith!” But I hope you’re right.
Here is the link to the Denver Post article:
http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_3800240
And here’s the priceless quote:
———-
But Kate Horle, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said “There’s no statistical evidence that cerebral palsy has been caused by failed abortions.”
“I would be hard-pressed to believe that cerebral palsy was caused by a failed abortion. I have yet to see any justifiable medical evidence to that effect,” she said.
———-
Let’s all breathe easier — there’s no statistical evidence that links failed abortions to cerebral palsy. Probably because the vast majority of abortions are successful, and they cause death. It’s probably hard to get a good statistically reliable sample of botched abortions. Yeah, you got us Kate. Good one.
Let me paraphrase for Kate: “Don’t blame your cerebral palsy on us Gianna. When our procedure is successfully carried out, 0% get cerebral palsy — or any disease for that matter.”
Is it coincidence that this survivor of abortion came to be named for that great saint of life, Gianna Molla? Did someone mention this already? Did I miss this?
Have I mentioned how much I love that this gal is pretty?
That makes it really hard for folks to say she’s better off dead….
Is it coincidence that this survivor of abortion came to be named for that great saint of life, Gianna Molla? Did someone mention this already? Did I miss this?
I couldn’t find confirmation that Ms. Jessen was named for Gianna Beretta Molla, so I didn’t mention it. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a connection — if only in God’s providence — considering that Ms. Jessen was born fifteen years to the same month (April 1977) after St. Gianna died (April 1962).
“Have I mentioned how much I love that this gal is pretty?”.
I thought the same thing. She’s beautiful.
She’s also, apparently, of normal intelligence and talented, to boot, so she cuts off a number of shallow arguments.
What’s weird is, I thought that the left were all about acceptance and tolerance and all, yet they argue that it’s perfectly okay to NOT accept the mentally challenged (by killing them in the womb), or to NOT tolerate the sick (by killing them in their hospital beds).
Can’t tolerate the sick, can’t accept the brain-injured. Tolerance and acceptance are great, apparently, as long as it’s not too much work and doesn’t cost a lot.
This is simply a spectacular story. To think that a woman who as a child once slipped free from the jaws of death could rise to confront the very politicians who would have supported her would-be-murder.
Mr. Jones, liberals want we conservatives to tolerate *their* positions, even if we think them wrong. They, of course, need not tolerate any opposing view points.
Kevin,
I’m local too. I was happy to hear that an actual pro-life Catholic Democrat (like the Yeti, I’ve heard there really are such creatures) was going to run for governor of Colorado, much to the chagrin of Planned Parenthood, NOW, etc. It’s become clear though that he is of the persuasion who believe the PUBLIC protection and funding of infanticide is a personal moral issue and not in the scope of public policy. In other words, as far as being pro-life in any meaningful sense to a Colorado voter, he’s NOT. It brings little comfort to know that he would never choose abortion for himself. It carries just as much weight as if he said he was personally opposed to walking pet pandas down the middle of the freeway during rush-hour traffic. Who cares? What matters is whether he supports it in law.
I sense a growing strategy of the pro-choicers to shun the failing pro-choice label and apply the growing-in-popularity pro-life label and hope enough people are fooled. Unfortunately, many Catholic voters will use his meaningless private opposition to abortion (as a male he’ll never be eligible for one anyway) as justification to vote for him.
If you’re going to have a politician without integrity, would the pro-aborts rather have one who says he’s personally against making abortion illegal (he would want abortion to be legal if he ever needed one) but he doesn’t want to impose his morality on others, so he supports legislation making it illegal? Somehow I doubt it.
Anyway, I digress.
——
What’s weird is, I thought that the left were all about acceptance and tolerance and all, yet they argue that it’s perfectly okay to NOT accept the mentally challenged (by killing them in the womb), or to NOT tolerate the sick (by killing them in their hospital beds).
——-
And they better be careful about asserting that the “gay gene” exists (speaking of genetics, not the Episcopalian bishop) or they’ll really twist themselves into knots if people start aborting babies who have it. Any speculation as to which left cause will win? I mean, if parents don’t feel they are emotionally ready for the challenges of a gay child, then….”Blast it! Quit blowing at my house of cards!”
A person plus a disease does not equal a disease.
A person with an abnormality is not himself an abnormality.
A person who sins is not sin itself.
Love the sinner, hate the sin.
Excuse me for the brief imposition of my morality.
We were blessed to have Gianna speak at our Youth Extravaganza this year (the eve of the Arkansas “March for Life”). She is an amazing speaker, fiesty and talented and smart. If you get a chance to hear her speak in person, GO and bring along the teens you love.
“Mr. Jones, liberals want we conservatives to tolerate *their* positions, even if we think them wrong. They, of course, need not tolerate any opposing view points.”.
For the record, I NEVER USED the “L” word (liberal)!
Someone got irritated at my using it, once… so I’m just sayin!
“I hope this story get’s major coverage this weekend on the morning news. Tim russert and fox news should have some good coverage–hopefully.”
Trouble is, it’s old news already. The Colorado Legislature adjourned weeks ago. Perhaps if Rep. Harvey could have gotten this out faster, it could have had even broader impact.
A GREAT Story, I LOVED IT
And there are a lot of pro-life Dems they are only Yetis on the national level and in the Senate
still some in the House and a lot on the local level
Although it certainly is fitting that she shares the name of St. Gianna Molla, it is actually a coincidence (though, of course, in God’s Plan are there really any mere coincidences?). In Jessica Shaver’s 1995 biography of Gianna Jessen (entitled “Gianna — Aborted . . . and Lived to Tell About It,” and published by Focus on the Family), on page 10, we find that Gianna’s name was chosen by her mother after the attempt to murder Gianna had failed:
“She remembered the daughter of a friend of her mother’s, a girl named Guyette. She liked the woman, but the name was too masculine. Perhaps just the Guy. And her mother’s middle name was Ann.”
From that, her mother came up with “Giana” (ghee-anna), which was later changed to “Gianna” (jee-anna).
That’s an incredible story. Anybody, perchance, have a link to a site with clips of her singing? Her own site is still under construction …
“Trouble is, it’s old news already. The Colorado Legislature adjourned weeks ago. Perhaps if Rep. Harvey could have gotten this out faster, it could have had even broader impact.”
Well, I still emailed the article to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck – you know, the ones that love to see someone get smacked in the face with the cold, hard facts that refute their ideologies.
I also emailed Rep. Harvey himself to thank him and to tell him to keep up the good work and the prayers that God will continue to lead him and the pro-life movement toward His victory.
btw, I just received a response from Rep. Harvey. I thought this was a telling section from his response:
He also mentioned that Gianna might also like to hear how we have been inspired by her actions. Gianna can be reached by visiting her website at http://www.giannajessen.com.
so… it is a mysterious surprise to hear about / see a pro-life Democrat (like the Yeti)…
but it is not to hear about / see a pro-choice Republican (Rudy Guiliani, Gov. Ahnold Schwarzenager)???????
you would be surprised to see just how things would fall differently if there were not only two accepted parties.
On Tuesday, June 20th,Barbera McGuigan interviewed Rep. Ted Harvey on EWTN’s Open Line program. Listen to it from their Audio Library or download the podcast. It’s very inspiring to hear Rep. Harvey tell the story.
“so… it is a mysterious surprise to hear about / see a pro-life Democrat (like the Yeti)…
but it is not to hear about / see a pro-choice Republican”
Mark Cameron, of the retired Mystique and Politique blog, noted how the Republican party and its boosters are quite accepting of disagreement on abortion, but when it comes to tax cuts or government spending or foreign policy, the debate is usually absent. Not quite as bad as Democrats, but still a weak position.
Great story!
Listen to Ted Harvey tell his story here…
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=119963
Roger,
I heard Ted Harvey tell that story on Barbara McGuigan’s Show on 6-20-06. It was one of the best interviews I ever heard.
However I tried pulling up the audio archives of the show and I cannot go that far back. Any suggestions?
To pull up Barbara McGuigan’s previous shows go to the link given and type in “Barbara” in the second search engine…
http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/intro.asp
Mike
Here’s a link to Ted Harvey’s story…
http://www.tedharvey.com/gianna.htm