A month away from graduating high school, Michelle Greco’s unplanned pregnancy led her down a path of abortion, destructive behavior, an abusive marriage, a divorce… and later, a mission to help other women heal. 

Greco told Live Action News, “I was going through a breakup with my former boyfriend and partying with another guy who had been my best friend. I didn’t have a regular menstrual cycle and was raised in a strict religious home, not being educated on the reproductive process — so I was pretty ignorant about sex.”

A friend took Greco to the local health department where she took a pregnancy test. “It was positive,” Greco said. “I scheduled an appointment with Planned Parenthood to determine my options.” 

A second-trimester abortion

To her shock, she was informed by Planned Parenthood staff that she was 20 weeks pregnant and was advised to schedule an abortion quickly.

“When I told my ex-boyfriend… he freaked out,” Greco said. “He did not want our child and told me I’d have to pay for the abortion if I waited any longer.” Greco felt even more pressure when he informed her he’d resent her and would cease to love her if she didn’t get the abortion. 

When she arrived at the facility in Nevada with her boyfriend, he remained in the car. She was ushered into a waiting room and was asked if she was certain she wanted the abortion — not a typical question asked by abortion facility staff. 

Greco said, “The ladies were so nice, it felt like I was in a doctor’s office rather than an abortion clinic. Once in the procedure room, they gave me some medication to relax me.” She remembers a nurse standing near her head, comforting her while the doctor in a surgical mask who never looked at her turned on a suction machine. 

“I saw a whirling mobile of birds above on the ceiling,” Greco said. “I felt very weird, like I was going to pass out. I couldn’t seem to get my breath.” Afterward, the nurse helped Greco get up and as she did so, she could see a bucket filled with blood on the side of the exam table. “I was told I’d have some bleeding and that I would need to go to the ER if it got bad. I stayed in the dark recovery room to eat some fruit before leaving.”

Greco has little recollection of her actual abortion procedure beyond these flashes of memory, but at that stage of pregnancy, a D&E abortion (which involves the use of forceps as well as suction) would have likely been committed.

Greco said that upon returning home, her boyfriend dropped her off at her grandparents’ home, told her she was a whore, and said he never wanted to see her again.

After that, Greco learned that one of her male friends had been looking for her. “He knew what happened and was upset,” she said. “He told me he would have helped me raise the baby even though it wasn’t his. Hearing this just broke my heart.”

But Greco still did not comprehend she had been carrying a living human being. Her friend compassionately explained to her what she had done. “I felt so much remorse,” Greco said. She turned to alcohol and drugs to numb her emotional pain.

A Never Before Seen Look At Human Life In The Womb | Baby Olivia

Another pregnancy, an abusive marriage… and a mission

Despite the cruel treatment she received from her boyfriend, she reunited with him a year later and again became pregnant. This time, she gave birth to a daughter.

“My parents forced us to marry,” Greco said. “I got pregnant with our third child just 18 months later — and this time, it finally hit me about the abortion because I started reading more about fetal development. It all became real.”

Greco had difficulty coping with the reality that she had actually aborted her child.

She connected with a woman at her church who also had an abortion — and through that conversation, she was led to six more ladies who were post-abortive, and a new mission was born. “We started a small pregnancy support center in the basement of the church as a confidential resource for women in crisis,” Greco said. “We were open for five years when a lack of funding forced us to close.”

While helping to run the center, Greco came across a Christian post-abortive counseling workbook — and soon, 12-15 women began meeting once a week to go through the chapters. “Using the workbook allowed us to process what we had done and get to a place where we could learn to forgive ourselves,” Greco said. “We wanted to honor our children as well so we each created something unique to remember them.”

That fall, Greco bought some balloons and went down to the river, releasing the balloons into the sky, inscribed with love messages to her daughter, whom she named Emily Rose. “It forced me to grasp the pain I had endured and had caused my daughter.”

It was at that time that Greco came to understand how much anger she had towards her husband who, years earlier, had coerced her into ending the life of their first child. The couple had three daughters together but eventually divorced. “He was abusive, both emotionally and physically,” Greco said. “I had always carried around these deep-rooted wounds and had just wanted someone to love me. The ones I wanted to love me had hurt me the most.”

One night while lying in bed, Greco experienced a spiritual encounter that she couldn’t explain. “I felt Emily being laid on my chest and a spotlight lit up in the corner of the room. She was wrapped in a pink fuzzy blanket. A voice said, ‘Here is your daughter; she’s whole, she’s safe, and she forgives you.’ Then, hands came back and took her away.”

Years earlier, Greco’s name was added to a declaration that included women harmed by late term abortion as part of The Justice Foundation’s amicus brief in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the Supreme Court — the case that overturned Roe v. Wade.

“I will continue speaking out against abortion and to help any way I can,” Greco said. “I know one day I will see Emily and she will be whole.”

A month away from graduating high school, Michelle Greco’s unplanned pregnancy led her down a path of abortion, destructive behavior, an abusive marriage, a divorce… and later, a mission to help other women heal. 

Greco told Live Action News, “I was going through a breakup with my former boyfriend and partying with another guy who had been my best friend. I didn’t have a regular menstrual cycle and was raised in a strict religious home, not being educated on the reproductive process — so I was pretty ignorant about sex.”

A friend took Greco to the local health department where she took a pregnancy test. “It was positive,” Greco said. “I scheduled an appointment with Planned Parenthood to determine my options.” 

A second-trimester abortion

To her shock, she was informed by Planned Parenthood staff that she was 20 weeks pregnant and was advised to schedule an abortion quickly.

“When I told my ex-boyfriend… he freaked out,” Greco said. “He did not want our child and told me I’d have to pay for the abortion if I waited any longer.” Greco felt even more pressure when he informed her he’d resent her and would cease to love her if she didn’t get the abortion. 

When she arrived at the facility in Nevada with her boyfriend, he remained in the car. She was ushered into a waiting room and was asked if she was certain she wanted the abortion — not a typical question asked by abortion facility staff. 

Greco said, “The ladies were so nice, it felt like I was in a doctor’s office rather than an abortion clinic. Once in the procedure room, they gave me some medication to relax me.” She remembers a nurse standing near her head, comforting her while the doctor in a surgical mask who never looked at her turned on a suction machine. 

“I saw a whirling mobile of birds above on the ceiling,” Greco said. “I felt very weird, like I was going to pass out. I couldn’t seem to get my breath.” Afterward, the nurse helped Greco get up and as she did so, she could see a bucket filled with blood on the side of the exam table. “I was told I’d have some bleeding and that I would need to go to the ER if it got bad. I stayed in the dark recovery room to eat some fruit before leaving.”

Greco has little recollection of her actual abortion procedure beyond these flashes of memory, but at that stage of pregnancy, a D&E abortion (which involves the use of forceps as well as suction) would have likely been committed.

Greco said that upon returning home, her boyfriend dropped her off at her grandparents’ home, told her she was a whore, and said he never wanted to see her again.

After that, Greco learned that one of her male friends had been looking for her. “He knew what happened and was upset,” she said. “He told me he would have helped me raise the baby even though it wasn’t his. Hearing this just broke my heart.”

But Greco still did not comprehend she had been carrying a living human being. Her friend compassionately explained to her what she had done. “I felt so much remorse,” Greco said. She turned to alcohol and drugs to numb her emotional pain.

A Never Before Seen Look At Human Life In The Womb | Baby Olivia

Another pregnancy, an abusive marriage… and a mission

Despite the cruel treatment she received from her boyfriend, she reunited with him a year later and again became pregnant. This time, she gave birth to a daughter.

“My parents forced us to marry,” Greco said. “I got pregnant with our third child just 18 months later — and this time, it finally hit me about the abortion because I started reading more about fetal development. It all became real.”

Greco had difficulty coping with the reality that she had actually aborted her child.

She connected with a woman at her church who also had an abortion — and through that conversation, she was led to six more ladies who were post-abortive, and a new mission was born. “We started a small pregnancy support center in the basement of the church as a confidential resource for women in crisis,” Greco said. “We were open for five years when a lack of funding forced us to close.”

While helping to run the center, Greco came across a Christian post-abortive counseling workbook — and soon, 12-15 women began meeting once a week to go through the chapters. “Using the workbook allowed us to process what we had done and get to a place where we could learn to forgive ourselves,” Greco said. “We wanted to honor our children as well so we each created something unique to remember them.”

That fall, Greco bought some balloons and went down to the river, releasing the balloons into the sky, inscribed with love messages to her daughter, whom she named Emily Rose. “It forced me to grasp the pain I had endured and had caused my daughter.”

It was at that time that Greco came to understand how much anger she had towards her husband who, years earlier, had coerced her into ending the life of their first child. The couple had three daughters together but eventually divorced. “He was abusive, both emotionally and physically,” Greco said. “I had always carried around these deep-rooted wounds and had just wanted someone to love me. The ones I wanted to love me had hurt me the most.”

One night while lying in bed, Greco experienced a spiritual encounter that she couldn’t explain. “I felt Emily being laid on my chest and a spotlight lit up in the corner of the room. She was wrapped in a pink fuzzy blanket. A voice said, ‘Here is your daughter; she’s whole, she’s safe, and she forgives you.’ Then, hands came back and took her away.”

Years earlier, Greco’s name was added to a declaration that included women harmed by late term abortion as part of The Justice Foundation’s amicus brief in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the Supreme Court — the case that overturned Roe v. Wade.

“I will continue speaking out against abortion and to help any way I can,” Greco said. “I know one day I will see Emily and she will be whole.”