Magaly: Michelle, I would like you to tell us how you came to have five abortions....How you felt about that....What you feel now.

Michelle: As we all know on January 22nd of 1973, Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land and in that year is when I graduated from High School. And all of us thought that was a great thing. We all thought that we had won women's rights, but of course I never ever thought that I would ever allow abortion to touch my life. And as I began to get older, when I was around nineteen, I began to get into very ungodly relationships that led me down the wrong road. And when I became pregnant with my first child I wanted to have that baby, but I was living with a man who absolutely did not want the baby. I let weeks go by and I kept thinking "maybe he'll change his mind", but he never did. And I ended up caving in to the pressure and having the abortion. I take full responsibility for that, I don't want to put the full blame on him. But I did go ahead and have it. And the one thing I remember about that first abortion was that it was in an old house. And as I sat on an old bench waiting for the abortion (I was with my girlfriend, who was about seven months pregnant),all I kept on thinking was: "How come she gets to keep her baby and I don't?" I don't remember anything about the procedure, but I do remember walking out of that center thinking "I'm not the same person. I am a hard, cold person and I'm never ever going to let this happen to me again. Never will I let that happen to me again."

And shortly after that, the relationship began to be very physically abusive to the point of my life being threatened. I had to leave the State of Alabama and come back to Florida, where I had lived originally. And I immediately got into another physically abusive relationship. I lived with another man and I got pregnant again. And this time I said: "I'm not gonna do it." And I called all my friends. I said, "Please help me!" And every one of them, the first thing they said was, "This isn't a good time, but I'll be happy to go with you to the abortion clinic to have it done. I'll even help you with money". So I finally decided to call my mom and my mom said "This would be an embarrassment to our family, but I'll be happy to go to the clinic with you."

So I ended up the next day driving to the clinic doing something that I did not want to do. I did not know God, but the whole way there I kept on saying "If there would only be somebody there that'll help me... that'll help me with what I want." When I got there, there was nobody there. My boyfriend put five Valiums in my hand and said "Bye-bye" and dropped me off. And I walked into that clinic and I said "I want to talk to somebody. I need to see a counselor. I need to talk to somebody." When I went into the office of the counselor, by the time she got through with me I remember looking up at the ceiling thinking: "I thought this was choice, but I have no choice at all". And I popped those five Valiums in my mouth. I took the rest of the medication that the clinic offered and I had it done. And when I left that clinic I was even colder and harder.

I began to really abuse alcohol and drugs. I had terrible dreams. I started having dreams, so many dreams about children being killed. But I never put two and two together, that it was from my abortions. And then that relationship ended right away and I ended up becoming engaged to another man and got pregnant and I was on the birth control pill. And the doctor said: "Well you must have an abortion or your child will be deformed". And believing the lie of the doctor and believing that he was God, just taking his word, I went ahead with another one, which was something I did not want to do. And after that we were married, but the marriage lasted eight months, and it was over.

My next two abortions all I can say is that I was in a really bad state. I didn't care about myself and I didn't care about anybody else. On the fourth abortion I was taken to the hospital because of hemorrhaging. I remenber sitting in the hospital all alone. I had called the abortion clinic for help and nobody returned my phone call. And I from there on it was just a dead-end street. I began to do a tremendous amount of Cocaine and drank a lot just to cover the pain.

A man that I had been friends with for many, many years, one day he was at the pool and reading a Bible. And I said, "Well Rich, why are you reading a Bible?" And I laughed at him and he said, "Well Michelle, I've rededicated my life back to Christ and I'm living for Christ now. And I never wanted to tell you that because I was embarrassed. And I laughed and I went on. And for the whole weekend I drank and I drank and I drank. And on Sunday, which was June 29th of 1986 at about four o'clock in the morning, I called him and I gave my life to Christ. From that morning on I never drank again; I've never done drugs again. And it's been a long, long road. It took me a long, long time. I mean, the Lord delivered me of the drugs and alcohol, but it took a long time for me to admit what I had really done. And that was: I took the lives of five innocent human beings. And if it wasn't for the grace of God forgiving me for that and giving me a new life, I would not be here because there were many times I wanted to kill myself. But there was always that sweet, small voice that gave me hope to go on. And my grandmother, my precious grandmother, who now sits in a nursing home from Alzheimer's disease, always read the Bible. And she told me about hell when I was a little girl. And the one thing that kept me from killing myself was that I knew I was going to hell. And that was the one thing that stopped me. And I knew that I didn't know how to get to heaven, and when I found out how I could get to heaven and the Lord forgave me and He gave me new life, that is the reason I am alive today. And I would just say that abortion is the worst thing a woman could ever do. I completely destroys your life and no matter how you want to cover it up it's always back in your mind what you did.

We know as women what we've really done. Abortion is destroying America. We've got a country that doesn't care about life. But for me now I have a wonderful, beautiful husband, who loves the Lord. And the Lord has blessed us with three children now. He healed me; He put me back together. And now my message is restoration for the women that have undergone the abortion procedure - to offer them hope and a new life. And also for the women that have been hurt physically, to get them help as well. So I just want to thank the Lord for my new life and for forgiving me and changing me.

Magaly: That was a beautiful testimony. I would like to ask you one final question. Do you believe there is any connection between contraception and abortion?

Michelle: Oh, absolutely. That's where it all started. Margaret Sanger introduced birth control in a sly way into our culture. And once we can accept birth control, then abortion is very easy to accept, because we are taking total control of our reproductive rights. No matter who we are - whether we're in the secular world or whether we're in the Christian world, we have all of the sudden demanded those reproductive rights. So if the birth control pill or any contraceptive devise fails, of course we've been numbed...we've been numbed, and now abortion isn't as bad as we would've once thought. So it was a numbing effect. First birth control was introduced and then abortion. It just followed, it was like a chain. It just came right in a row. And so, that's another message to me that especially speaking to the Christian world I would say: "Let us go back to the Bible and see what God really says about children...that they really are a gift and they really are a reward."

So often, even in the Church, I've heard remarks such as "Isn't three enough?" or "I don't have enough money for another one". But if we really trust the Lord don't we trust Him with providing for another child? So the Bible says "Judgement begins with the household of God", so really I would speak to them to the Church first. I want the world to change. But until we as the Church can change and show the world that we really, care about children, abortion will never end.

Magaly: You sound just like a Catholic. Are you a Catholic?

Michelle: No I'm not. But practically all my friends are! You know, I've been around the country and I've been blessed by my Catholic friends. I go to a non-denominational church. I just love the Lord,I want to follow what His Word teaches. That's how my husband and I want to live our life and we want to be the salt and light. We just want to give hope to people that are in a lost and dying world.

Magaly: How do you feel about contraception now? Do you practice contraception?

Michelle: Oh, no! No, no....no. We did at first and as I think I told you earlier, we listened to Joan Andrews, who I love; I admire; I respect. And after we heard her talk about birth control we decided to get the Bible out and see what God had to say about that. And immediately we just put up our hands and we said "Lord, we give You our bodies. We give You our reproduction and You do whatever You want to do with them, because we trust You. If we say we trust You with our finances and everything else, we're going to trust You with the number of children we,ll have. And a month after that our first son was conceived and two years later we were blessed with Rebecca and now we have Luke. And I just turned 40 so, if the Lord wants to give us any more, we'll be glad to have them.

Magaly: Beautiful! God bless you!

Michelle: Thank you.