Claire Culwell knows the devastating impact of abortion better than most people.
She survived an abortion, but her unborn twin did not. Then, as a young adult, she learned how greatly her birth mother suffered from the whole ordeal, having only been 13 years old and coerced by her own mother into a second-trimester abortion.
Speaking with The Epoch Times in a new interview, Culwell explained how she discovered the truth about her tragic past and forgave her birth mother.
Adopted into a loving home, the 34-year-old Texan said she did not know the full history of her life until 2009.
“I was born ten weeks prematurely weighing 3 pounds 2 ounces,” she told the newspaper. “I was raised by a wonderful Christian couple … they adopted both my sister, Rachel, and me from different birth mothers. They raised us in a loving, forgiving home where they lived out their faith and poured encouragement into our lives daily.”
Culwell grew up struggling with physical health issues and spent the first two years of her life in body casts – problems likely caused by the abortion attempt on her life, according to the report. She always knew she had been adopted, but she did not know the circumstances of her birth until she was an adult.
Follow LifeNews on the MeWe social media network for the latest pro-life news free from Facebook’s censorship!
It began with a search for her birth mother: Tonya Glasby of Oklahoma. Through her parents’ adoption agency, Culwell said a case worker found her birth mother and connected the two of them.
When Glasby agreed to meet, Culwell said, “I was thrilled!”
After their first meeting in March 2009, she remembered: “I couldn’t believe how much we looked alike and acted alike, and I knew that I adored her. I couldn’t wait to be able to connect with her more, one-on-one, and be able to really thank her for my life, so we set a second meeting up in Oklahoma … in May 2009.”
During that second meeting, Glasby broke down in tears and told her daughter about the abortion and her twin. Culwell said the story came out after she gave Glasby a card with the message, “Thank you for choosing life for me.”
She “kept apologizing, saying, ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t choose life for you, your life is a miracle.’ None of it made sense. I was so confused. What did she mean, she didn’t choose life for me?” she told The Epoch Times.
Glasby explained how she became pregnant at age 13 and her mother pressured her to have an abortion. At 20 weeks of pregnancy, an abortionist performed the procedure and aborted Claire’s twin, but he did not realize that there was a second baby.
She felt “alone, unheard and scared,” Culwell said. “No one spoke to her or asked her what they could do to support her during her abortion, or during her delivery. Her mother made the choice for her to place me for adoption, and afterward, she had to go home and pretend like none of it ever happened. She cried because these decisions are her deepest and most painful regrets.”
Culwell told the newspaper that she was shocked but she also felt compassion for her birth mother.
“She was a victim in this situation, too,” she said. “It was also easy to forgive because of how I was raised on forgiveness and faith. I knew this wasn’t an accident, because the faith I was raised on meant God always had a plan, and His plan was good.”
Now, Culwell shares her story across the country and recently wrote a book, “Survivor,” about her family. She said she wants women and girls like her birth mother to see that there is help for them and their babies.
“No one has to walk alone, and women are all strong and capable of motherhood with the resources and support that is available to them,” she said in the interview.
