Patti Harrison became pregnant when she was raped at the age of 14. Despite pressures from a member of her family and doctors, she refused to abort her child, Austin. “His love for me healed me so quickly.”
Patti Harrison, from Canada, who was gang-raped at the age of 14, has recounted how one member of her family disowned her after she refused to abort her resultant son, Austin, now aged 25.
Her grandfather broke contact with Patti after the birth of her son, judging her to be a “bad influence” for not aborting him. But her parents supported her pro-life decision.
But doctors attempted to pressure her into an abortion.
“They gave me every excuse not to keep him, but not one to keep him”, Patti says. She was told by doctors that her child would be horribly disabled and that keeping her son would be “cruel”.
The doctors did not even allow anyone else to attend the ultrasound. “They always made me go in by myself. And the doctors weren’t very nice.” They also pressured her to abort.
When Austin was finally born, he was perfectly healthy. And Patti has no regrets about letting her son live.
“You’ve got innocence and purity and everything, everything good about yourself staring up into your face… His love for me healed me so quickly…
“I don’t think for one second aborting him would’ve done me any good. Because it wouldn’t have stopped the fact that I had been raped… it wouldn’t have changed anything… The baby doesn’t deserve the death penalty for something somebody else did.”
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Although the treatment Patti received by doctors and is disgraceful, her love for her son is truly inspirational.
“No woman or child should be punished for other people’s horrific acts. But Patti’s case shows that love can overcome even the most despicable of crimes.”
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