From the Pathway:
Amy Knudsen, a 42-year-old mother of two and a member of Calvary Baptist Church here, supports Senate Bill 264, which would criminalize coerced abortions, because she believes that she herself was coerced into an abortion 28 years ago by her mother and her doctor.
“Coercion played a huge role in what happened to me,” she said. “Both my mother and my doctor told me I was going to have the abortion. I was never even told what an abortion is.”
It was the summer before her freshman year in high school. She was 14—a self-described emotionally neglected girl who was seeking love in all of the wrong places. Unaware of what a period was, she was “completely oblivious” to what was happening to her body when she ended up pregnant.
“To say that I was naïve is an understatement,” she said.
She complained of stomach aches, and the pediatrician ordered a series of x-rays. In looking back on it, she suspected he knew what was happening; he did a pregnancy test that came back positive. Eventually she went to Kansas City to have the abortion.
She said she was coerced into having her abortion because her doctor and her mother convinced her that because of the x-rays she had, the baby would be potentially deformed.
“I was told this was the only answer,” she said.
See the latest action for life alert on SB 264 which would make coerced abortion a crime in Missouri. Contact your Senator and let them know about Amy’s story and the importance of this legislation.