Linda Heffernan

Senate Judicial Committee

February 19, 2009

 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

My name is Linda Heffernan from Kalispell and I support SB 406. I have personal experience to share concerning this issue. I was a freshman in college the year Roe v. Wade was passed and I made some choices that I sincerely regret. I went to the local Planned Parenthood for the DES (Morning After Pill) but still found myself pregnant. Now I am confronted with the what to do...with very little information and fear connected with DES, I had my first term abortion.

These poor choices caused much sorrow for myself and future members of my family. Some consequences as a result of not considering the life in my womb from the time of conception are these:

• I had infertility issues and had surgery directly related to it.

• Five years of marriage before we were able to adopt our first child.

• DES was found to cause a very high rate of cancer in the reproductive systems of females born to mothers who had used DES.

• I most certainly have the responsibility of murdering my own child however small that child was.

Thank God for his mercy and forgiveness. I married a wonderful man and we adopted our first son and then had three more sons in the next few years. We were blessed with a little girl through adoption at a latter date. Please consider SB 406 as life does begin at conception.

Thank you for your time,

Linda Heffernan