Adopted at 3 months old, Juda Myers didn’t know the violent circumstances surrounding her birth until she met her birth mother, Ann, more than seven years ago. Ann had been gang-raped by eight men while walking home one night. Though her mother wanted Ann to abort the baby, she found a safe place to give birth with the help of clergy.
For 48 years, Ann prayed that she would meet Myers, and the two finally came face-to-face in 2005. For Myers, learning the circumstances of her own birth inspired her to start Choices4Life, a group devoted to supporting victims of rape and their children.
“There was no other organization attending to the specific needs of those with rape conception stories,” Myers says, adding that many rape victims are shunned and insulted for wanting to keep a child conceived by rape.
“What society doesn’t realize is that baby is the mother’s baby,” Myers says. “The rapist stole from her what was not his, and he will not steal her child, too. Society needs to know the truth and stop the prejudice against mothers and children of rape conception.”
Choices4Life was founded in February 2011 with an intent to restore honor and dignity to women and children of rape conception while promoting the value of every human life and raising awareness of the multitudes living in shame from sexual abuse.
Myers tells the story of her journey to forgiveness in Hostile Conception: Living With Purpose.
