Rebecca Kiessling (born July 22, 1969) is an American

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

activist and attorney. Her advocacy is focused on criminalizing

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, including in the case of

pregnancy from rape Pregnancy is a potential result of rape. It has been studied in the context of war, particularly as a tool for genocide, as well as in other unrelated contexts, such as rape by a stranger, statutory rape, incest, and underage pregnancy. The ...

Early life

Kiessling was raised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

by Larry and Gail Wasser, who raised her and her adopted brother in the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

faith. She graduated from law school at age 23. During law school, she converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In the 1960s, Kiessling's mother was raped at knifepoint and fell pregnant following the assault. She then was advised by her rape counselor that she obtain an illegal abortion in back alley clinics since the elective procedure was illegal by Michigan law at that time, and consulting a legal physician would have been costly. However, she was deterred from obtaining an abortion due to the unsanitary area and practices there. After she gave birth to Kiessling, Kiessling's mother gave her daughter up for adoption. At age 19, Kiessling met with her birth mother, Joann, who had told her that her biological father was a

serial rapist A serial rapist is someone who commits multiple rapes, whether with multiple victims or a single victim repeatedly over a period of time. Some serial rapists target children. The terms ''sexual predator'', ''repeat rape'' and ''multiple offending' ...

as well as "Caucasian and of large build".

Anti-abortion activism

In March 2017, Kiessling spoke for the Irish

group

Youth Defence Youth Defence is an Irish organisation that opposes legalisation of abortion. It was founded in 1986 (during the 1986 divorce referendum), lay dormant, and was reformed in 1992 following the judgment in the X Case. It shared offices with the ...

at the

Citizens' Assembly Citizens' assembly is a group of people selected by lottery from the general population to deliberate on important public questions so as to exert an influence. Other names and variations of deliberative mini-publics include citizens' jury, ci ...

, which was debating Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion.

Efforts denying convicted rapists parental rights

Kiessling supports the termination of rapists' parental rights, both taking cases as a pro-bono attorney and advocating for the passage of laws requiring judges to terminate custody if there is "clear and convincing evidence" of rape. In 2008, she represented a mother from Michigan who had been raped at the age of 12, and her rapist granted joint custody of the then 8-year-old child. Upon reviewing the case, the judge rescinded his previous ruling granting convicted rapist Christopher Mirasolo joint custody, and furthermore pledged to take action to avoid a repeat of his controversial ruling. In 2019, Alabama passed a law requiring judges to end the parental rights of those convicted of first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and incest. Kiessling argues conviction-based parental right termination leave some women vulnerable, due to the low percentage of rape reports and furthermore, convictions. At the time, Kiessling stated "We need to mandate judges in family-law matters to immediately suspend any legal or physical custody or parenting time if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the child was conceived in rape." As of 2019, Minnesota is the only state to not have a law ending parental rights for those convicted of rape or incest.

Personal life

Rebecca married Robert "Bob" Kiessling in 1998 and the couple had three biological daughters. They also adopted three other children, including two brothers who shared the same birth mother. An adopted daughter, Cassandra "Cassie" Grace, who was born with a fatal fetal diagnosis, died in 2000 when she was just over a month old. In 2020, Kiessling announced that her adopted sons, Caleb and Kyler, died that same year at ages 20 and 18, respectively from an accidental drug overdose. Kiessling and her husband have since divorced. Initially raised in the Jewish faith, Kiessling converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

at age 23, following an invitation to attend

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

by a friend after suffering

domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...

from a boyfriend with whom she attended law school. In 2010, Kiessling severed ties to her adoptive parents, instead granting parental rights to her biological mother.

References

External links