Melissa Ohden, left, who was the honored guest speaker at the 29th Annual Celebration For Life meets with Bishop Michael Mulvey on Sept. 6.
Photos by Rebecca Esparza and Margie Rivera for South Texas Catholic
Ohden was the honored guest speaker at the 29th Annual Celebration For Life, a fundraising dinner to support the life-saving ministries of the Corpus Christi Hope House and the Gabriel Project.
“The story of my life was meant to be short...just another life ended by abortion,” Ohden told a crowd of several hundred last month. “But God had another plan for me. Not only was it to give me the gift of life, but to share my story with the world in the hopes it gives Him glory and restores a culture of life to our society.”
The audience was visibly moved by her testimony, as Ohden shared her experiences with meeting her birth mother, missing the opportunity to meet her birth father and eventually learning it was Ohden’s own grandmother who forced her birth mother to proceed with the abortion that almost ended her life.
It was also her grandmother who wanted nurses to leave Ohden to die when the saline abortion failed and she was born clinging to life. Nurses would defy her grandmother’s orders and Ohden was rushed into the neonatal intensive care unit after her birth for life saving treatment.
“We live in a society that often wants to talk about abortion as a choice and a woman’s right, but when you peel back those words, listen to women’s experiences and read the statistics, what you often find is few women have a choice,” Ohden said. “The Elliot Institute reports that 64% of women identified being coerced into their abortion. Just one of the reasons why it is so important places like the Corpus Christi Hope House exists; so women can have true choices, support and resources.”
For Ohden, her story is not only one about the sanctity of life, but also about the power of forgiveness. She enumerated several times throughout her hour-long talk about forgiving everyone involved in her failed abortion, including her grandmother.
“My story is one about love and forgiveness. I truly believe it is the grace of God that has allowed me to love and forgive,” Ohden said. “I believe forgiveness is not a one-time event. We have to forgive time and time again. If you are struggling with the ability to forgive, pray to God for the Grace.”
The Gabriel Project provides assistance to needy pregnant women, single mothers and their children throughout South Texas. The Hope House assists women and their dependent children in need, serving as a refuge for women escaping domestic violence, homelessness or addiction. If you are a woman facing a crisis pregnancy or would like to donate in support of women who are pregnant with no place to turn, visit cchope.org/gabriel-project.