{"id":2020352,"date":"2023-09-02T14:59:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T18:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-abortion-survivor-cited-by-desantis-pushes-back-on-media-scrutiny\/"},"modified":"2023-09-02T15:03:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T19:03:52","slug":"in-depth-abortion-survivor-cited-by-desantis-pushes-back-on-media-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-abortion-survivor-cited-by-desantis-pushes-back-on-media-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Abortion survivor cited by DeSantis counters media scrutiny."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fin-depth-abortion-survivor-cited-by-desantis-pushes-back-on-media-scrutiny%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2020352&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>As a mother of two and grandmother\u2063 of seven, Miriam \u201cPenny\u201d Hopper of Lake Placid, Florida, is as\u200b real as can be.<\/p>\n<p>And \u200bnormally, that\u2019s a fact that need not be \u200bstated. But Ms. Hopper\u200b has been asked \u2062to prove her existence\u2014among other facts of her personal history\u2014over and over in the wake of the first GOP presidential primary debate.<\/p>\n<p>That night, Florida Gov. \u200bRon DeSantis shared her birth story of miraculously surviving not just one but two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sasse-reintroduces-infant-protection-bill\/\" title=\"Sasse Reintroduces Infant Protection Bill\">abortion attempts<\/a>, unexpectedly thrusting Ms. Hopper into the spotlight.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/abortion-survivors-speak-out-we-are-just-as-human-as-you-4824798\">Abortion Survivors Speak Out: \u2018We Are Just as Human\u200b as You\u2019<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">10\/27\/2022<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/abortion-survivors-speak-out-we-are-just-as-human-as-you-4824798\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/at-gop-debate-2024-candidates-all-pro-life-but-differ-on-details-5479719\">Candidates Divided on National Abortion\u2064 Ban at GOP Debate<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/23\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/at-gop-debate-2024-candidates-all-pro-life-but-differ-on-details-5479719\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Since then, words like \u201cimprobable\u201d and \u201cuncorroborated\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/article\/2023\/aug\/24\/untangling-ron-desantis-debate-anecdote-about-an-i\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">have been used<\/a> to cast \u200bdoubt upon Ms. Hopper\u2019s story, with some media outlets even calling it an <a href=\"https:\/\/jezebel.com\/asked-about-abortion-ron-desantis-tells-bizarre-story-1850768981\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outright lie<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But in an interview with The Epoch Times, she sought\u200b to set\u200b the record straight\u2062 based on\u2064 what \u2062she has \u2063learned from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/its-getting-harder-to-hide-theres-something-not-quite-right-with-biden\/\" title=\"It\u2019s Getting Harder to Hide There\u2019s Something \u201cNot Quite Right\u201d With Biden\">multiple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-michigan-house-member-files-to-impeach-governor-gretchen-whitmer\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Michigan House Member Files to Impeach Governor Gretchen Whitmer\">family members<\/a><\/a> and historical records.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018She\u2019s \u2062Alive!\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Growing up, Ms. Hopper\u2062 was always \u2062told that she was a miracle.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>On Nov. 29, 1955, she was born at only 23 weeks\u2019 gestation in the little town of\u2062 Wauchula, Florida. She weighed just 1 pound, 11\u2062 ounces.<\/p>\n<p>Her father had \u2063rushed \u2064her mother to \u200cthe local infirmary in \u2064the middle of the night after a risky home abortion attempt \u200bwent awry.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:442px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A picture of the Wauchula Infirmary where Miriam &#8220;Penny&#8221; Hopper was born \u200con Nov. 29, 1955. (Abortion Survivors Network)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ms. Hopper was always told\u200c that the doctor, who had\u200b gone home for the night, arrived at the \u200dclinic \u201cin \u2063his pajamas and house shoes,\u201d and that when he\u200b checked for her heartbeat, he heard none.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat \u200cmy father told me \u200bwas the doctor said, \u2018I do not\u2064 hear a heartbeat. We\u2019re going to have to abort,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n<p>At that time, abortion was\u2064 illegal in most areas of the United States, including \u2063Florida.<\/p>\n<p>In Ms. \u2062Hopper\u2019s case,\u200b the doctor \u200bdid\u2064 not order a surgical abortion but \u2063rather induced labor. She \u2064said\u200c she wasn&#8217;t sure if he was aware of what her mother had tried to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe might have thought it \u200dwas a miscarriage. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After inducing labor,\u2064 the doctor reportedly left her\u200c mother in the care of\u200c a nurse. \u2062But before he left, he instructed the nurse to \u201cdiscard\u201d Ms. Hopper\u2019s body\u2014even if she\u200d was born alive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe \u2062doctor said, \u2018You do not want this\u200b baby to survive. \u200cIt will\u200c be a burden on you all your life,\u2019\u201d she\u2062 said. \u201cAnd he also said that \u2064the baby would not live long. \u200dYou know, \u2018It\u2019s going to die anyway. Just discard it out there \u2062on the back porch \u200bof the \u200bclinic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that is where \u200dMs. Hopper\u2019s grandmother found her the next day, wrapped in a hand towel and lying in \u2063a pan.<\/p>\n<p>In the words \u200cof Ms. Hopper\u2019s father, her grandmother \u201cwent into \u2063orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s alive!\u201d her grandmother\u200c reportedly yelled before calling the \u2063police.<\/p>\n<p>As no ambulance was available, the infirmary nurse drove her and her grandmother to Morrell Hospital in Lakeland, \u2062now Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.<\/p>\n<p>There,\u2063 she \u2063was placed in an incubator, where the oxygen eventually turned her hair\u200c a coppery red, prompting nurses to call her \u201cPenny.\u201d But even after she arrived at the hospital, her life was still \u200cin \u200cdanger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe doctor who\u2062 was on call when I got there, I \u200cguess he did not think I needed\u2064 to survive,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was very \u200cmean\u2014that was my dad\u2019s words\u2014he was very mean and didn\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under that \u200bdoctor\u2019s care, Ms. Hopper contracted pneumonia\u2063 and bronchitis,\u200c leading her mother to\u2063 switch doctors.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Ms. Hopper\u2019s father was conflicted about whether \u200dhe wanted her to\u200d survive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would go\u200c up there and try to remove me [from the incubator]. And they put a restraining order against him so he couldn\u2019t \u2026 \u200bvisit me without \u2062supervision.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:519px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A picture in Miriam &#8220;Penny&#8221; \u200bHopper&#8217;s baby book shows the first time \u2062her mother held her outside Morell Hospital in Lakeland, Fla., on March 12, 1956. (Abortion Survivors Network)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A little\u2062 over three months later, on her\u200b original due date of March 12, 1956, Ms. Hopper finally \u2062left the hospital in\u200b her \u200cmother\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat \u2062was\u2064 the first time my mother\u2062 ever held\u2064 me,\u201d she said, noting that had been\u2062 written\u2062 in her baby book.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Search for \u2062Truth<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ms. \u2063Hopper learned many\u2064 of the details of her\u200b birth in 2010, when she realized \u2063her father was nearing the \u2062end of his life.<\/p>\n<p>Feeling \u201cpressed by God\u201d to obtain answers \u2064before it was too late, she asked her father why he tried to end\u200c her life.<\/p>\n<p>Apologizing, he explained that he had feared the financial burdens of\u2062 another child, given that he and her mother already had one, her brother.<\/p>\n<p>He also revealed that she was not the first \u200cchild they tried to abort. He said that, before Ms. \u2064Hopper was\u2063 conceived, he and her \u2063mother had\u2062 successfully \u200baborted multiple \u2064other children at home using a coat hanger.<\/p>\n<p>Since that conversation,\u2064 Ms. Hopper has researched her history\u2062 to the best\u2063 of her ability,\u200c though time has proven\u200b an obstacle on that front. While she \u2064could not obtain her birth and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-please-pardon-jon-woods-a-victim-of-process-crimes-like-michael-flynn\/\" title=\"President Trump, Please Pardon Jon Woods, a Victim of Process Crimes Like Michael Flynn\">medical records<\/a>, she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-abortion-survivor-cited-by-desantis-pushes-back-on-media-scrutiny\/\" title=\"Abortion survivor cited by DeSantis counters media scrutiny.\">found contemporary news reports<\/a> of her miraculous birth.<\/p>\n<p>One such article was published in the Nov. 30, 1955, edition of the Tampa Tribune. The article details a collision involving a police car \u2062that was escorting a \u201cWauchula premature baby\u201d weighing 1 pound, 11 ounces\u200c to Morell Hospital on Nov. 29.<\/p>\n<p>The article notes that \u200dthe baby was born early that morning \u201cand doctors advised incubation, which was not available in Wauchula.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:275px\" class=\"alignleft\"><figcaption>Miriam &#8220;Penny&#8221; Hopper&#8217;s account of her birth is corroborated by a Tampa Tribune article published Nov. 30, 1955. (Newspapers.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Meanwhile, a 1956 article\u200d from the Lakeland Ledger corroborates the date \u201ctiny Miriam Browder\u201d returned home from the hospital and details her \u200cmonths-long fight for\u2064 life. However, the article also claims doctors at the\u200b Wauchula Infirmary \u201cput forth greater efforts\u201d to keep her alive for nine days before she was\u2062 transported to the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>That claim, contradicted by both the Tampa Tribune article and the testimony of Ms. Hopper\u2019s \u2064family members, seems dubious.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Every \u2063Life Has a Face\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>At the\u200b Aug. 23 debate, Mr. DeSantis\u2063 shared an abbreviated version \u2062of Ms. Hopper\u2019s \u2064story\u200b in response to a\u200c question about his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/at-gop-debate-2024-candidates-all-pro-life-but-differ-on-details-5479719\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">position on abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know a \u2064lady in\u200d Florida named Penny,\u201d he said. \u2064\u201cShe survived multiple\u2063 abortion attempts. She was left discarded in a pan.\u2064 Fortunately, her grandmother saved her and \u2063brought her to a different hospital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re better than what the Democrats are selling,\u201d he added. \u201cWe \u2063are not going to allow \u2064abortion all the way up until birth, and we will hold \u200cthem\u200b accountable for their extremism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Ms. Hopper has fielded numerous calls from \u2064reporters digging into her personal history and \u2062fact-checking the circumstances\u2064 of her birth.<\/p>\n<p>As for the\u200d reason behind \u2064the sudden scrutiny, she said she believes the media is\u2062 out to \u201cdestroy\u201d not only \u200bthe governor but also the\u2064 value \u2062of life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re going\u2064 to pick anything apart \u200dthey can because they\u2019re so determined to destroy life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>As a survivor, she added that she felt it was her\u200c responsibility to \u201cseize the moment\u201d and stand \u200cup against those forces \u201cbecause every life has a \u200cface, and every face counts.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Raising Awareness<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Another person who shares that perspective is Melissa Ohden, \u200cthe founder of the <a href=\"https:\/\/abortionsurvivors.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Abortion Survivors Network<\/a>, a Missouri-based advocacy group that\u200c supports and connects those who have survived \u200cabortions around the world.<\/p>\n<p>The network currently consists of 684 survivors, of which Ms. Hopper is one. But the number of survivors out there, aren\u2019t the only people \u200bthe\u2063 organization helps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBehind every abortion survivor,\u200b there\u2019s a mom, \u2062there\u2019s a father, th<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miriam &#8220;Penny&#8221; Hopper, a resident of Lake Placid, Florida, is a genuine individual with two children and seven grandchildren. Despite being an unquestionable reality, she has repeatedly been required to verify her existence and personal background following a significant event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1226,"featured_media":2020353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2020352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}