A young woman discovered that her mother tried to abort her. Melissa Ohden, who is now 41 years old claims that her mother thought she was dead and that she was saved by a nurse who heard her crying in the garbage outside of the hospital.
Abortion Survivor
Melissa shared her amazing story with BBC news and recounted how she learned of her tragic beginning. In 1977, Melissa's 19-year-old mother had undergone an abortion which involved a toxic saline solution that lasted five days. Melissa was born prematurely at 8 months old and weighed less than 3 pounds.
Melissa was placed in medical waste when a nurse found the newborn crying and immediately had her admitted to the intensive care unit.
Doctors who tended to Melissa thought that she would be blind and would develop a fatal heart defect. However, the 41-year-old has lived a very healthy life. Melissa, who was adopted, stated that she learned about her origins when her adoptive parents let the information slip during a heated argument.
After learning about where she came from, Melissa stated that it led to a downward spiral in her mental health. After spending five years dealing with her pain, at the age of 19 years old, Melissa decided to track down her biological mother. After a decade of searching, Melissa found her mother and learned that she thought Melissa was dead.
A Surprising Reunion
Melissa stated that her mother was told that Melissa died and that it was a secret kept from her for 30 years. Melissa's birth mother, whose name is Ruth, informed Melissa that she was forced to have an abortion by Melissa's biological grandmother who was also a nurse.
Melissa went on to explain that her grandmother instructed her colleagues to leave the aborted baby in the room to die. Melissa stated that her biological grandmother confirmed these details to family members. Despite this, Melissa states that she is not angry at her biological grandmother's comments.
"My heart breaks for her because I will always wonder what it was in her life that made her take that decision on mine," she continued.
Melissa stated that she is close to her biological family and she feels like one of the luckiest people in the world to overcome what she went through. The Kansas City native wrote a book about her story.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, abortions are at a low for the first time in history in the United States; however, 20 percent of women will have one by the age of 30 years old. In 2013, an estimate of 664,435 abortions was reported in the United States, according to the CDC.
