Abortion is a scourge against humanity. Not only does it hurt innocent babies; it hurts women and their future children.
At a recent rally outside of the Supreme Court held by The Moral Outcry, Lisa Stribling gave an impassioned speech about abortion’s impact in her life. Stribling has had a self-admitted rough past. The Kansas City, Missouri native struggled with drugs and had three abortions by the time she was 26 years old.
“I didn’t know Jesus and I didn’t care about right from wrong,” Lisa said to the crowd.She was four months pregnant when she was sentenced to jail.
Stribling recounted a horrific event while she was incarcerated. At seven months pregnant, she was given a sonogram. The technician noticed something wrong and went to get a doctor. The doctor didn’t speak English well and Stribling relays being very confused by what he was trying to tell her.
She said the doctor attempted to communicate in broken English that she was going to have an induction abortion because she had conjoined twins. Lisa didn’t understand what he was talking about and he was unable to explain it due to the language barrier. She went on to recount the traumatic and life-changing events that followed.
Stribling was put in a belly chain and her feet were shackled as she was taken to a hospital. At the hospital, she was given medicine to induce an abortion.
“It took three-and-a-half days. I was chained to a hospital bed. I wanted my babies,” Lisa added regarding the procedure she was subjected to without her consent.Three-and-a-half days later, she delivered two girls who were born alive. Heartbreakingly, the infants died an hour later.
“We didn’t have a conversation. I was chained back up and sent back to prison,” Stribling said.
Lisa as a young woman
“What they did to me was horribly, horribly wrong,” Stribling said. No one wanted to take responsibility for what happened because, “I was a drug-addicted, incarcerated person. Don’t write us off,” Lisa pleaded on behalf of other women in this position. “Don’t write our families off.”Every girl has had five abortions in the community she came from, she added. Sadly, she stated that their mothers, mentors, pastors and sisters would regularly say, “this was what you did.”
“I have five children that are missing from my dinner table,” Stribling shared in a recent interview with CBN News. “Every time I sit down to dinner, there’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about my children. … [abortion] has affected my other children as well, because they talk to me and they think, ‘How did I live through you killing five children?’ It was kind of Russian roulette—hit and miss.”Although the pain of abortion will never leave a woman or her family members who feel its effects, there is always hope. Today, Lisa has five children and has been a Christian for nearly thirty years. She and her husband founded a house of prayer and community center called Hope City which ministers to urban areas in Kansas City. The work they do helps the hungry and drug-addicted in their community, as well as at-risk kids.
Lisa and her husband Ray
We must speak up for those who don’t have a voice!