“The abortion felt like I was being raped again, but I consented to it.” Nicole Cooley speaks through tears as she recalls her decision to abort her child conceived during date rape. Years later, she had healed from the rape, but emotional healing after the abortion was harder to find. She suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome after the birth of each of her three children. After much counseling, and loving support from her husband, Nicole finally found herself in a much better place.

At a young age Rebecca Kiessling knew she was adopted. On her 18th birthday she began searching for her birth parents. As she read paperwork provided by the caseworker, she asked, “Was my mother raped?” The caseworker quietly said yes. That response redefined Rebecca’s life purpose. She knows her mother tried three times to abort her, but abortion was illegal in the late ’60s and she didn’t go through with it. Today Rebecca speaks out against abortion, especially in the case of rape.

Also in this episode, Amy Sobie of the Elliot Institute dispels some misconceptions about rape and abortion. Research involving post-abortive women who also had been raped revealed that 93 percent regretted aborting their babies conceived in rape. Like Nicole, many agreed the abortion was like being raped a second time.