My name is Melissa Gallo and I am the mother of 5 wonderful children and the grandmother of 4 amazing granddaughters. However, when I was 27 years old, after having been married for only 2 years, I found myself considering divorce, and pregnant at the same time with what would have been our first child.  Because of my decision to divorce I decided to abort the baby.  No one in my family at the time had the courage to persuade me not to – neither my parents, nor my husband.  That was because all of us were erroneously led to believe that a woman could do what she wanted with her body, even if it meant killing the precious, new human life inside of her.

Consequently, I went ahead with the procedure. It damaged my health almost to the point of sterility and plunged me into incomprehensible mental anguish.  I have since become very religious and sincerely believe that God has forgiven me, but ever since that terrible day I have struggled to forgive myself! Even now, the horror of what I did – and it truly is a horror – will periodically and unexpectedly surge up into my consciousness and cause me the greatest sorrow…

What no one will tell a woman – not the media nor popular culture – is that not only can an abortion damage her health, but it will ABSOLUTELY cause her great emotional pain as well. The lie that your life will be better somehow if you have an abortion is just that – a terrible lie.  Yes, it might seem just too difficult to have that child for a lack of emotional and/or financial support.  The real truth is that if you stay pregnant and bring that baby into the world, you will be blessed in spite of what the world would have you believe.  What truly counts is what you do when that child is growing inside of you!

As a woman, it is our greatest privilege to give life to another human being, and to provide a little innocent soul a safe haven in which to grow.  We cannot get around this fact that no matter what current mores might teach, when we have an abortion, we shed innocent blood!  As much as we think it might ultimately make our lives easier, violence in the womb will never make us happy. Please, I implore you that if you are considering having an abortion that you not go through with it!  Even if you were to give that baby up for adoption, he or she will bring you great joy in inconceivable ways and you will have allowed a little girl or boy to live.

I hope that this letter will somehow save some little boy or girl’s life so that the death of my child will not go wasted.