Modern Day Hero
by Ted Harvey
Printed with permission
I want to share with you an awesome experience
I had in the
Colorado House of Representatives on May 8. It is
a humbling
experience to look back and realize that God used
me to play a role in
His divine orchestration.
I was leaving the House chambers for the
weekend when our Democrat
speaker of the House announced that the coming
Monday would be the
final day of this year’s General Assembly. He went
on to state that
there were still numerous resolutions on the
calendar which we would
need to be addressed prior to the summer
adjournment. Interestingly,
he specifically mentioned that one of the
resolutions we would be
hearing was being carried by the House Majority
Leader Alice Madden,
honoring the 90th anniversary of Planned
Parenthood of the Rocky
Mountains.
As a strong pro-life legislator I was
disgusted by the idea that
we would pass a resolution honoring this 90-year
legacy of genocide. I
drove home that night wondering what I could say
that might pierce the
darkness during the debate on this heinous
resolution.
On Saturday morning, I took my 8-year-old son
up to the mountains
to go white-water rafting. The trip lasted all
day. As we were driving
home, exhausted and hungry, I remembered that I
had accepted an
invitation to attend a fundraising dinner that
night for a local
pro-life organization. One of my most respected
mentors had personally
called me several weeks earlier and asked me to
attend, so I knew I’d
have to clean up and head over.
After our meal, the executive director of the
organization
introduced the keynote speaker. I looked up and
saw walking to the
stage a handicapped young lady being assisted to
the microphone by a
young man holding a guitar. Her name was Gianna
Jessen.
Gianna said “Hello”, welcomed everyone, and
then sang three of the
most beautiful Christian songs I have ever heard.
She then began to
give her testimony. When her biological mother was
17 years old and
seven and a half months pregnant, she went to a
Planned Parenthood
clinic to have an abortion. As God would have it,
the abortion failed
and a beautiful 2-pound baby girl was brought into
the world.
Unfortunately, she was born with cerebral palsy
and the doctors
thought that she would never survive. The doctors
were wrong.
Imagine the timing! A survivor of a Planned
Parenthood abortion
arrived in town just days before the Colorado
House of Representatives
was to celebrate Planned Parenthood’s “wonderful”
work.
As I listened to Gianna’s amazing testimony,
the Lord inspired me
to ask her if she could stay in Denver until
Monday morning so that I
could introduce her on the floor of the House and
tell her story.
Perhaps she could even begin the final day’s
session by singing our
country’s national anthem!
To my surprise she said she would seriously
consider it. If she
were to agree, she wanted her accompanying
guitarist to stay as well.
A lady standing in line behind me waiting to meet
Gianna overheard our
conversation and said that she would be willing to
pay for the
guitarist’s room. Gianna then said that she would
think about it.
As I was driving home from the banquet, my
cell phone rang. It was
Gianna, and she immediately said, “I’m in, let’s
ruin this
celebration.” Praise God!
When Monday morning came, I awoke at 6 a.m. to
write my speech
before heading to the Capitol. As I wrote down the
words, I could
sense God’s help and I knew that this was going to
be a powerful
moment for the pro-life movement.
Following a committee hearing, I rushed into
the House chambers
just as the opening morning prayer was about to be
given. Between the
prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, I wrote a
quick note to the
speaker of the House explaining that Gianna is an
advocate for
cerebral palsy. I took the note to the speaker and
asked if I could
have my friend open the last day of session by
singing the national
anthem. Without any hesitation the speaker took
the microphone and
said, “Before we begin, Representative Harvey has
made available for
us Gianna Jessen to sing the national anthem.”
Gianna sang the most amazing rendition of The
Star Spangled Banner
that you could possibly imagine. Every person in
the entire chamber
was completely still, quiet and in awe of this
frail young lady’s
voice.
Due to her cerebral palsy, Gianna often loses
her balance, and
shortly after starting to sing she grabbed my arm
to stabilize
herself, and I could tell that she was shaking.
Suddenly, midway
through the song, she forgot the words and began
to hum and then said,
“Please forgive me; I am so nervous.” She then
immediately began
singing again and every House member and every
guest throughout the
chambers began to sing along with her to give her
encouragement and to
lift her up.
As I looked around the huge hall I listened to
the unbelievable
melody of Gianna’s voice being accompanied by a
choir of over 100
voices. I had chills running all over my body, and
I knew that I had
just witnessed an act of God.
As the song concluded the speaker of the House
explained that
Gianna has cerebral palsy and is an activist to
bring awareness to the
disease. “Let us give her a hand not only for her
performance today,
but also for her advocacy work”, he said. The
chamber immediately
exploded into applause — she had them all in the
palm of her hand.
The speaker then called the House to order,
and we proceeded as
usual to allow members to make any announcements
or introductions of
guests. For dramatic effect, I waited until I was
the last person
remaining before I introduced Gianna.
As I waited for my turn, I nervously paced
back and forth praying
to God that he would give me the peace, confidence
and the courage
necessary to pull off what I knew would be one of
the most dramatic
and controversial moments of my political career.
While I waited, a prominent reporter from one
of the major Denver
newspapers walked over to Gianna and told her that
her rendition
captured the spirit of the national anthem more
powerfully than any
she had ever heard before.
Finally, I was the last person remaining. So,
I proceeded to the
microphone and began my speech.
“Members, I would like to introduce you to a
new friend and hero
of mine — her name is Gianna Jessen. She is
visiting us today from
Nashville, Tennessee, where she is an accomplished
recording artist.
She has cerebral palsy and was raised in foster
homes before being
adopted at the age of four. She was born
prematurely and weighed only
2 pounds at birth. She remained in the hospital
for almost three
months. A doctor once said she had a great will to
live and that she
fought for her life. Eventually she was able to
leave the hospital and
be placed in foster care.
“Because of her cerebral palsy, her foster
mother was told that it
was doubtful that she would ever crawl or walk.
She could not sit up
independently. Through the prayers and dedication
of her foster
mother, she eventually learned to sit up, crawl,
then stand. Shortly
before her fourth birthday, she began to walk with
leg braces and a
walker. She continued in physical therapy and
after a total of four
surgeries, she was able to walk without
assistance. She still falls
sometimes, but she says she has learned how to
fall gracefully after
falling for 29 years. Two years ago, she walked
into a local health
club and said she wanted a private trainer. At the
time her legs could
not lift 30 pounds. Today she can leg press 200
pounds.
“She became so physically fit that she began
running marathons to
raise money and awareness for cerebral palsy. She
just returned last
week from England where she ran in the London
Marathon. It took her
more than eight-and-a-half hours to complete. They
were taking down
the course by the time she made it to the finish
line. But she made
it, nonetheless. With bloody feet and aching
joints, she finished the
race.
“Members would you help me recognize a
modern-day hero — Gianna
Jessen?” At this point the chamber exploded into
applause which lasted
for 15-to-20 seconds. Gianna had touched their
souls.
Ironically, Alice Madden, the majority leader
and sponsor of the
Planned Parenthood resolution, walked over to
Gianna and congratulated
her. As the applause began to die down, I raised
my hand to be
recognized one more time.
“Mr. Speaker, members, if you would allow me
just a few more
moments I would appreciate your time.
“My name is Ted Harvey, not Paul Harvey, but,
please, let me tell
you the rest of the story.”
“The cause of Gianna’s cerebral palsy is not
because of some
biological freak of nature, but rather the choice
of her mother.
“You see when her biological mother was
17-years-old and
7-and-a-half months pregnant, she went to a
Planned Parenthood clinic
to seek a late-term abortion. The abortionist
performed a saline
abortion on this 17-year-old girl. This procedure
requires the
injection of a high concentration of saline into
the mother’s womb,
which the fetus is then bathed in and swallows,
which results in the
fetus being burned to death, inside and out.
Within 24 hours the
results are normally an induced, still-born
abortion.
“As Gianna can testify, the procedure is not
always 100 percent
effective. Gianna is an aborted late-term fetus
who was born alive.
The high concentration of saline in the womb for
24 hours resulted in
a lack of oxygen to her brain and is the cause of
her cerebral palsy.
“Members, today, we are going to recognize the
90th anniversary of
Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood...”
BANG! The gavel came down. Just as I was
finishing the last
sentence of my speech — the climax of the morning
— the speaker of the
House gaveled me down and said, “Representative
Harvey, I will allow
you to continue your introduction, but not for the
purposes of
debating a measure now pending before the House.”
At which point I
said, “Mr. Speaker, I understand. I just wanted to
put a face to what
we are celebrating today.”
Silence. Deafening silence.
I then walked back to my chair shaking like a
leaf. The Democrats
wouldn’t look at me. They were fuming. It was
beautiful. I have been
in the Legislature for five tough years, and this
made it all
worthwhile.
The House majority leader wouldn’t talk to me
the rest of the day.
Was it because I introduced an abortion survivor,
or was it because we
touched her soul? She could congratulate an
inspirational cerebral
palsy victim and advocate, but was outraged when
she discovered that
the person she congratulated was also an abortion
survivor.
The headline in The Denver Post the next day
read “Abortion Jab
Earns Rebuke”. The majority leader is quoted as
saying, “I think it
was amazingly rude to use a human being as an
example of his personal
politics.”
Yes, Representative Madden, Gianna Jessen is a
human being. She
was when she was in her mother’s womb, and she was
when she sang the
national anthem on the floor of the Colorado House
of Representatives.
The paper went on to quote Gianna, stating she
was glad I told her
story. “We need to discuss the humanity of it. I’m
glad to be able to
speak up for children in the womb,” she said. “If
abortion is about
women’s rights, where were my rights?”
All I can say is, “Glory to God!” He
orchestrated it all, every
minute of it, and I was so honored to have been
chosen to play a part.
May we all continue to be filled with and to fight
for the passion of
our Lord Jesus Christ!
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