Rape Victim Says “I Would Go Through that Again Just to Know My Daughter”

When Lianna Rebolledo was only 12 years old, she was attacked and raped by two men near her home. After this horrific event, Lianna struggled with thoughts of suicide and shame. Not long after, Lianna tried to kill herself. She was taken to a hospital where a doctor told Lianna she was pregnant. The doctor encouraged her that she had the right to abort the baby, because “she didn’t deserve to have to live with the consequences of rape.”

But instead of scheduling an abortion, Lianna immediately asked the doctor if an abortion would ease the pain and make her forget what she went through. He told her, “no.”

A YouTube video of Lianna telling her story recently surfaced and is going viral.

Today, at 35, Lianna says, “I thought to myself, why should I have an abortion if it’s not going to help me forget the rape?”

Although very young, Lianna realized it did not make sense to punish her baby for the crimes of her rapist. “I thought I would be giving my baby the death penalty when it wasn’t my baby’s fault. My baby didn’t deserve to be punished for the rape because my baby didn’t have anything to do with that,” she says.

Lianna realized that her baby’s life was no less valuable than the life of a baby who was conceived under consensual circumstances. “She wasn’t lower class or second class because of how she was conceived; she was just like any other human being, and she didn’t deserve less than anyone else.”

Lianna explains that the situation of rape is by no means simple. For Lianna, giving life to her daughter also saved her life. She says, “We saved each other’s lives.”

She continues, “Even with all the suffering and pain, I would go through that again just to know my daughter. It wasn’t easy, but it was definitely worth it. In my situation, two lives were saved.”

“Abortion is not the solution,” she adds. “Not even for rape.”

Lianna’s story is tragic, but the outcome is beautiful.

Watch the full story here.