Melissa Ohden

Early life

According to her medical records, Ohden was born during a failed saline abortion on August 29, 1977, at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City, IA. Ohden's adopted mother reports that medical staff said that Ohden was originally placed aside after the procedure, but that a nurse later noticed Ohden making small movements and grunting noises and sought medical attention for her. In her political advertisement, Ohden says she was "discarded" after birth. Josh Hicks, writing for the Washington Post disputes that Ohden was "discarded" or placed aside, noting that her medical records do not specify she was placed aside and indicate an APGAR was performed. Ohden weighed 2lbs 14 ounces at birth. One of the doctors estimated her to be at 31 weeks gestation; however, Ohden’s birth mother, a 19-year-old unmarried college student, was believed to be around 18 weeks pregnant at the time of the attempted abortion. Ohden was transferred to University of Iowa Hospital, where she was treated in the neonatal intensive care unit for seizures, as well as respiratory and liver problems. In October 1977, she went home with her adoptive family, suffering no long term health problems.

Ohden grew up knowing she was adopted, but at age 14, she learned she survived an abortion attempt. Ohden reported she was initially devastated by this information. She says she later found healing through Christianity and felt called to go public with her story in hopes of influencing the abortion debate.

Career

Ohden has worked as a public speaker with Feminists for Life, and she has appeared in a political advertisement sponsored by the Susan B. Anthony List, which aired during the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The advertisement criticized Barack Obama’s voting record on legislation intended to protect infants born alive during abortions. In September 2015, Ohden testified at a Congressional hearing investigating Planned Parenthood's practices regarding fetal tissue donation, following the Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy. She testified: "I have long believed that if my birth mother’s abortion would have taken place at a Planned Parenthood, I would not be here today."

Ohden has been featured on television and radio programs including: American Family Radio; The 700 Club; Fox News; Catholic TV’s Facing Life Head On; Cumulus Media Network’s Mike Huckabee show; and EWTN's programs: Life on the Rock and Defending Life. Additionally, Ohden’s life story is told in A Voice for Life, a pro-life documentary.

She has founded two non-profit organizations: The Abortion Survivors Network and For Olivia’s Sake. The latter is intended to "raise awareness of the 'ripple effect' that abortion has on men, women, children, families, and communities.“ Ohden says "parents of an unborn child often fail to consider how their decision affects others" saying, "my daughter would have never had life if that abortion had succeeded”. “My husband, he never would have had a wife.” “My adoptive parents never would have had a child."

Ohden has a master's degree in social work and has worked in the fields of substance abuse, child welfare, mental health, domestic violence and sexual assault.

Literary works

Ohden is the author of You Carried Me: A Daughter's Memoir set to be published on January 9, 2017. The book recounts her story of searching for her mother and their eventual re-uniting.

Personal life

Ohden and her husband Ryan have two children. Her oldest daughter, Olivia, was born at the same hospital where in 1977 Ohden survived the abortion.

Ohden is a convert to Catholicism.