For most of her life, Victoria Robinson longed to be part of a loving family. She grew up in a chaotic household with an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who was emotionally distant. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old, shattering the young girl’s world. At 16, she married her 18-year-old high school sweetheart. But her dream of a loving family was still not fulfilled.
Robinson told Live Action News, “I was attracted to this popular, good-looking guy. He was the ticket, I thought, to the traditional family life I desperately yearned for. Here was the chance to escape a broken home and start fresh.”
Within two years, the couple’s daughter was born. When she became pregnant again, Robinson was filled with joy, seeing her most cherished dream coming to pass. But the dream quickly turned into a nightmare when her angry husband demanded she have an abortion.
“I was shocked that he wanted to abort our child,” Robinson said. “He was a good father and seemed to enjoy raising our daughter. He was adamant that I have the abortion; he did not want another child.”
Robinson begged her husband to reconsider, but he leveraged a deep-seated childhood fear against her; knowing she abhorred divorce, he threatened to break up the marriage if she didn’t yield to his directive.
Robinson said, “Under stress, I called the clinic and spoke to a woman named Helena. She seemed so kind and compassionate. She advised I go through with the abortion to save my marriage. Reluctantly, I scheduled the appointment.”
When the day came, Robinson awakened with a sense of dread. Her husband was participating in a softball tournament, so she had asked a friend to drive her to the abortion facility. She tried one last time to reason with her spouse.
“I tapped him on the shoulder and declared that married people don’t get abortions,” Robinson said. “I told him this baby might be his son. He grabbed my shoulders, put his face close to mine and began to bully me into submitting to his will.”
As she was about to leave, she turned around and asked him if he would really end the marriage if she didn’t comply.
Robinson said, “He pointed his finger at me and said I could tell our daughter I broke up the marriage because I didn’t respect his wishes. Taunting me, he claimed he had married me out of pity. Somebody must have been praying for me because I told him to pack his bags, that I wasn’t going to kill our baby.”
Furious, Robinson’s husband attacked her, kicking her hard in the stomach, screaming, “That ought to do it!”
Shortly after the violent assault, Robinson started bleeding. Her husband drove her to the local hospital emergency room where she worked as an attendant. Alone in the exam room with the doctor, also a coworker, Robinson revealed what her partner had done. He urged her to file charges with law enforcement, but she declined.
“The doctor walked into the waiting room, dressed down my husband, then threw him out of the hospital,” Robinson said. “Fortunately, my baby still had a heartbeat, so I was kept overnight for observation.”
But the next day, Robinson had no choice but to go home with her husband. Doctors told him it was critical she remain in bed for a week, and he would need to help with her daily functions. Robinson had arranged for their daughter to stay with her mother during this time. Once home, Robinson’s husband promptly left her alone. Robinson was forced to crawl gingerly on her stomach to the kitchen to get food and to go to the bathroom.
Robinson said, “I felt so humiliated and embarrassed to be in this situation. But I had to hang on for my baby. Eventually, he returned, albeit grudgingly.”
When their second daughter was nine months old, Robinson’s husband left her for good, moved to California, and launched a multi-million-dollar company. She never heard from him again.
Unplanned pregnancy results in abortion
Now a single mother struggling to balance two jobs, Robinson was dating a fellow worker at her health club when she discovered she was pregnant.
“It was such a distressing time,” Robinson said. “My car had been repossessed and neither of us was financially secure.” Robinson contacted the same abortion facility and once again, Helena answered the call.
Robinson said, “She had that syrupy, comforting voice as before. She told me it would be selfish of me to take away time from my girls with a new baby. She advised I take care of this.”
Her boyfriend out of town, Robinson drove herself to the clinic where she met Helena, a woman she learned was the “money taker.” Crying, with her hand on her stomach, Robinson agonized over her decision. Noticing her uneasiness, Helena grabbed Robinson’s hand, reassuring her she was making the right choice.
“After she took my money for the abortion, her demeanor suddenly changed,” Robinson said. “She poked her finger at me and coldly announced no refunds offered for a change of heart. I thought, I must go through with this, or I’d make my boyfriend and Helena very angry.”
Afterward, Robinson fell to her knees in deep regret, realizing she had made a tragic mistake. Her boyfriend later proposed but for Robinson, it was too little, too late.
Robinson said, “He failed me, and he failed our baby. For 10 years, I buried the pain and grief. I thought I didn’t deserve love or happiness because I killed my baby.”
A new calling arises out of a transformed life
In 1993, Robinson accepted Christ into her heart and attended a “Forgiven and Set Free” three-day retreat.
“I was doubtful I could learn to heal and forgive myself, but the retreat was powerful,” Robinson said.
Robinson knows firsthand the deep wounds inflicted from abortion and how years of pent-up shame and grief spurs self-destructive behavior and encourages self-loathing to take root. She founded ReASSEMBLE, a full-time ministry with a mission of “putting the pieces back together,” by helping those recover from abortion trauma through nationwide retreats.
Robinson also wrote “They Lied to Us,” and is planning a second book, “They Lied to Us, Too” about men impacted by abortion, as told by men.
Now twice divorced with four daughters, Robinson — an author, a leader, and a worldwide pro-life speaker — has never been busier.
Robinson said, “God gives us beauty for ashes. Out of my pain has emerged a calling to help others recover from abortion trauma and to promote pro-life causes.”
