Louise gave birth to her rapist’s baby; she was raped by someone she knew. A man, who wasn’t supposed to hurt her, took advantage of her body and her womanhood.
Not only was she a victim, shortly after being raped, Louise found out she was also pregnant with her rapist’s baby.
Like so many women who unfortunately find themselves in her shoes, Louise had a choice to make: keep this baby, or have an abortion.
“I wasn’t going to let an innocent life pay for one man’s intent to hurt me,” she explains.
Louise knows that a common argument for abortion and why abortion is “needed” is in the case of rape. But as a woman, a survivor of rape and a mother of the product of rape, she disagrees.
“When people say abortion is needed in cases of rape, I feel that is very unfair. If your body has already started to create life, undoing that process seems very detrimental.”
She continues:
“I also knew that there’s already a heart beating. There’s already a life there. And for me to go and intentionally take away someone’s intent to life, that wouldn’t sit well with me for the rest of my life.”
Louise gave birth to a beautiful little girl, who she says is her “angel.”
“She’s provided me with healing and growth and new experiences that I never knew could happen in my life.”
She says her daughter brings her hope for the future, and serves as a daily reminder that not every “disaster” means suffering and traumatic pain. Louise says she’s learned to look for the “beauty in the disaster,” and that shift in perspective has made all the difference. “She’s my beauty,” the 24-year-old mama explains.
To other women, who are just learning that they are pregnant as a result of rape, Louise says “there is hope beyond just healing from the traumatic experience you’ve been through.” She encourages women to never give up, “because if you survived such a traumatic experience and you were GIFTED with a miracle, then you have more potential than you even know.”
