The Daily Signal - Why She Gave Her Baby Life After Being Raped at 14

Episode Date: August 2, 2022

Eve Nunez’s life was turned upside down in 1969, when she was raped. She was only 14.  When Nunez became pregnant, a relative encouraged her to have an abortion, concerned that her pregnancy would bring shame to the family. Nunez chose life.  “I had a grandma that passed away when I was 6,” Nunez says, “and she always taught me the importance … of wanting to live, and the importance of life.”  More than 50 years after giving birth to her son, Nunez continues to act on behalf of the unborn.  Today, she is a minister and an advocate for life who volunteers her time and resources to help women facing crisis pregnancies.  Nunez joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to share her story and why she is so committed to standing for life.  Also on today’s show, we cover these stories: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi begins her trip to Asia, which may include Taiwan despite China's fierce objections. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis encourages his state agencies to ignore directives from the U.S. Department of Education. Kansas voters head to the polls to vote on an abortion-related amendment to the state constitution. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, August 2nd. I'm Doug Blair. And I'm Virginia Allen. Eve Nunes's life was turned upside down when she was raped at the age of 14. When she became pregnant, some people in her family encouraged her to have an abortion. Concerned her pregnancy would bring shame on the family. Eve chose life and delivered a healthy baby boy when she was only 15. Today, Eve is not only an advocate for the unborn.

born, but also volunteers her own time and resources to help women facing crisis pregnancies. She joins the show today to share her story and why she's so committed to standing for life. But before we get to Virginia's conversation with Eve Nunes, let's hit today's top news. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi began her trip to Asia on Monday with a visit to Singapore. Pelosi joined a congressional delegation and met with Singaporean President Halima Yaakov, as well as the country's prime minister and foreign minister. In addition to Singapore, Pelosi's public itinerary includes Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. Notably absent from that list, however, is Taiwan. China has been increasingly aggressive in recent days as the Speaker Molls making a postponed

visit to Taiwan. On Friday, a commentator with Chinese state media, Hu Xijin, tweeted, if U.S. fighter jets escort Pelosi's plane into Taiwan, it is an invasion. The Chinese military has the right to forcibly dispel Pelosi's plane and the U.S. fighter jets, including firing warning shots and making tactical movement of obstruction. If ineffective, then shoot them down. CNBC reported that according to two sources familiar with Pelosi's itinerary, she will visit Taiwan. Do the Department of Homeland Security try to withhold information about the situation at the southern border from the agency's office of Inspector General? Republicans on one House Committee are trying to find that out. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have sent a letter

to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking about an internal memo. Republicans say that a memo was circulated among DHS employees that told Customs and Border Protection employees how to impede investigations by the agency's own Inspector General. If the reports are accurate, Republicans say in the letter, then DHS leadership is deliberately undermining the mission of the Office of Inspector General. Republican lawmakers are asking DHS to turn over copies of all memos that tell personnel how to interact with the Office of Inspector General. DHS has until August 12th to hand over the requested documents. To be continued. Florida Governor Ronda Santis is encouraging his state's agencies to ignore directives from the U.S. Department of Education.

Last Thursday, the Florida Education Department sent out a memo urging state schools to ignore guidance on LGBT youth. The memo reads, Nothing in these guidance documents requires you to give biological males who identify as female access to female bathrooms, locker rooms, or dorms, or to allow biological males who identify as female to compete on female sports teams. The governor's office expressed its support for the Florida Education Department in its position on these proposed rule changes, and stands with Florida Education Commissioner Mani Diaz and refusing to allow the federal government and the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture

to hold vulnerable students hostage to their political agenda. Today, Kansas voters are headed to the polls to vote on an abortion-related amendment to the state constitution. During the Kansas primary election today, voters will be given the opportunity to vote yes or no on what is officially called the value-them-both amendment. A vote yes means adding an amendment.

that specifically states that the Kansas Constitution does not include a right to abortion and does not require government funding of abortion. A yes vote also gives the Kansas legislature the go-ahead to pass laws regarding abortion. Voting no on the proposed amendment affirms a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in 2019 that found a right to abortion in the state constitution. Polling shows that this is going to be a tight vote. A coefficient poll. reported by Kansas City's KMBC News found that 47% of Kansas voters planned to support the pro-life amendment, while 43 planned to vote no and another 10% remained undecided. Kansas is the first state to consider the issue of abortion on a ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roeby

Wade on June 24th. The Daily Signal will be on the ground in Kansas City on Tuesday and Wednesday to report on voters' decision. You can follow along with the state. our reporting at DailySignal.com. And that's all for headlines. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Eve Nunes, as we discuss how an unplanned pregnancy changed her life forever.

At the Heritage Foundation, we believe that every single policy issue discussed in D.C. tells a story. So we want to tell it well. On the Heritage Explains podcast, co-host Tim Desher and Michelle Cordero, take one policy issue a week, mix in a creative blend of clips

narration and hard-hitting interviews to equip you on crucial issues in under 20 minutes. So get your story straight. Subscribe to Heritage Explains wherever you listen to podcasts. It is my pleasure to welcome to the show today, Reverend Eve Nunes. She is the founder and president of Help for Kids and is the president of the National Latina Latino Commission, which is a nonprofit agency dedicated to mentoring youth, Reverend Eve is also the recipient of the National Service Award from former President George W. Bush and the Volunteer Service Award from former President Barack Obama.

Reverend Eve, thank you for being here today. What a privilege to be here, Virginia. Thank you for the invite. Oh, my goodness. We were just so excited to have this conversation. When I heard just a little bit of your story, I was really blown away. Of course, we're at a moment in history where everyone is talking about the life issue and about abortion and Roby Wade has just been overturned. This is an issue that began

touching your life in a really personal way when you were just 15 years old. Could you share just a little bit of your own story? I would love to, but first I have to say that the day that it was overturned, I had to go to the Supreme Court because for over 40 years I was there crying, praying. My children, grandchildren would go and pray with me during all times of the years. I was going to be. I was there crying, And I just had to go back. And I remember that morning, like at 10 o'clock when I heard the news, it was like, I have to go thank Jesus. I didn't want to be one of those leopards. You know, he healed 10 and only to came back.

So I wanted to be one of the first ones to go back and thank him. So I do want to say that first. I want to thank Jesus for that miracle. Yeah, yeah. And I had been an advocate for life, my whole life. I was raped at 14 when I was a sophomore in high school. and I was not a Christian, but I had Jewish grandparents and parents that taught me the important of life. My name is Eve, which means life giver.

And when that happened to me, when I went through that trauma, being raped and going to high school, which was like in 1969 and 14 years old, I had like my whole life and I love school. And everything was turned upside down. I decided when I found out I was pregnant that I was going to keep the same. baby. The young man that raped me that was about 10 years older than me only did six months in jail for statutory rape. And those were our laws back then. And I couldn't go back to high school. I loved high school. I just wanted to finish high school. And I couldn't. It's like my whole world was turned upside down. But I was willing to give anything up. I was not going to give the baby up. I did have an aunt at the time that was not a Jewish that married my uncle that was and said,

we need to take you to Mexico to abort this baby. And I said, I'm not going to abort this baby. I'm going to keep this baby. And she said, well, you'll bring shame to the family. And I said, I won't to my Jewish family. What year was this? In 1969. Okay.

So I said, I won't. So my dad. took me to California and took care of me and kind of hid me from the one family member that wanted me to have an abortion. And it was tough. It was really hard, you know, to be 14 years old and pregnant and delivering a baby at 15. But I'm so glad that I fought because my son is the biggest blessing. But you just have to disappear in the early 60s, late 60s, you just disappear.

You just can't go to school. You can't be around. A lot of friends you grew up with. You know, you just have to kind of hide. What were the thoughts and feelings that were running through your mind as you're a teenager? You're watching your stomach get bigger and bigger and bigger. And your baby's your body's changing. Well, I can always remember my grandma.

I had a grandma that passed away at 106. And she always taught me the importance because Jewish people had gone through the Holocaust and died. and she taught me the importance of wanting to live and the importance of life. Had I not been taught that at the age of 5, 6, 7, and 8? I was 10 years old when my great grandma passed away. And I would always remember, you just have to live. Your name is important, but the importance of life

as a young Jewish girl made me realize that God was trusting me, even though it was something horrible. A crime had been committed against me. I was determined because of what my dad taught me, what my great-grandma taught me, my parents, the importance of life. And I was willing to suffer the consequences of not seeing my friends, not being able to go back to school. And I had to choose an alternative education. So my dad took him to a school where I, a cooking school where I was able to go to cooking school and became a chef. Went through three years.

But during this whole time, it was, you know, I had a child. Wow. And my dad helped me raise my child. My family did. But it was very hard, but I chose. So I tell this story, Virginia, to young ladies. I've been saying this for over 40 years since maybe like 1978. My son was born in 1970, but I remember going on the streets and sharing my story, saying, it's a blessing.

you know, you can't kill. And I was even a Christian at the time that, you know, I got saved later, but I even remember advocating for life before I knew Jesus. But once I knew Jesus, I had like that fire within me. And then I had the word of God that I could share the importance. And, you know, and one of my favorite ones is Psalm 8 that says, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings,

thou has ordained strength because of our enemies. that has might as steal the enemy and the adventure and the Lord has perfected praise in the mouth of babes and sucklings. That means in our womb, in our stomach. You know, they're being perfected by the Lord. And so when I begin to hear the word and the importance of life and, you know, thou shalt not kill. You know, the enemy comes to kill, steal, and to destroy it. I mean, life, who's going to protect those innocent children, those babies? Had I not chosen that, I wouldn't have had one of the biggest blessings in my heart.

life, a son that loves me. And so I've been able to tell that story. In fact, I went on, I think, May 2nd outside of Supreme Court when there was maybe five of us pro-lifers against a mob, hundreds of protesters. And we just prayed. In fact, the crowds have gotten very dangerous at times. I literally have gone out there, you know, just with the armor of God and to say, God really protect me because people can be very violent. capital police said the people that were here before you about a dozen of them all got beat up. Are you sure you want to stay here? And I said, yes, because if we can even save one life, and I was able to talk to some of the

young ladies that were talking about, this is my body, and I just began to tell my story. But there's a baby in there. Yeah. How do those on the pro-abortion side respond when you share your story, when you say, I was raped at 14, and I chose to have that child, I chose life, what do they say? They'll listen for a few minutes. And it's like they're come. First, they're very angry and they'll listen.

It's like I get their attention for a couple minutes. And, well, I can't do what you did. And, you know, this is my body. And I don't want to be pregnant. But it calms them down for a few minutes. They're very angry. And they'll cuss a lot, a lot of words. And in fact, one last told me when I was at the May 2nd, what if I have an abortion?

We used to love me. I said, I will love you, but don't have an abortion. Give me your baby. Yeah. I'll take care of you, take care of your baby. And one thing I tell them is one thing that I'm praying the faith-based community does more of is that we adopt more babies. Yeah. That we not only tell young ladies don't abort your babies, but care for them during their abortion.

And I can tell you, there's two girls out there named Eve that I brought into my home and took care of. An 18-year-old and a two-year-old that I was able to help. There was a young lady that was going on in Arizona, an abortion, took abortion clinic. And I drove around in my car while I was doing outreach until I changed her mind, buying her ice cream and everything. And she said, my dad's going to kill me. They were from American Samoa if he finds out I'm pregnant. And I said, well, I will take care of you. And she says, well, well, you take care of my family too.

She just didn't tell me she had like 10 Samoans in her family. So I brought them all and I took care of the whole family and helped her to school. she had her baby and her babies name Eve that lived. But it was one of those sacrifices. I just didn't have to take care of the mother and her baby, but like the whole family. And I took him in and I did it again.

So there's two babies alive today. I pray, Virginia, that more than two babies have been saved with over 40 years of advocacy that more of listen because I'm always out there. And not only during the pro-life marches every time I get an opportunity. I share the importance of life. Reverend Eve, I think that what you're saying is such a rallying cry for the whole pro-life

movement right now because while you're going out and you're advocating for your life and speaking to individuals, you're then willing to bring people into your own home that need that support that you're putting action behind what you believe. That takes a lot of courage and a lot of boldness. It takes time. It takes money. it takes dedication. That's incredible.

And a lot of patience. Yeah. You know, to bring families in and mothers and, you know, and just. But you know what? It wasn't only me. It was my family. I think the Lord for my children that were, they're never selfish. They were always thinking about others that have lived in my home.

I've had many, many children live in my own and many, you know, single young mothers. But I believe that had I not had the family God gave me that they were. never complained about having to give their bed up, having to give their room up, their show their, you know, their socks or clothes and stuff. But God really bless me with a wonderful family. And I thank the Lord for my youngest daughter, also Hannah, who, you know, has helped so much and would get shoeboxes and would go with me and buy socks and underwear for these children. We would have 10, 12, 15 in our home at a time. But, you know, but to have a family that loved also and had compassion and they never felt inconvenience. In fact, I was thanking the Lord for them

today I said I could only do what I do and help save lives because of the children the Lord gave me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously right now we're having conversations at this moment in history like, you know, really never before about these kinds of topics about, you know, policymakers are making decisions about abortion laws. And, you know, we've seen recently in the news the story of a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who

was raped and then got an abortion and, you know, there's really challenging hard conversations taking place. What is sort of your insight, your advice, your wisdom for how with, you know, with a heart full of compassion, we can talk about some of these really, really challenging things and come up also with policy solutions that protect life? Well, a doctor told me when I was 14, this could risk your life. You're too young to have this baby. And I said, well, I choose for you to save the baby's life.

I was 14 years old. And I said, if it ever comes to the point where it's me or the baby, the baby has to live. And I was... Where did that conviction come from at the age of 14? For my grandma. I had a grandma that was Jewish, the top of the importance of living. And I spent a lot of time with her in Montana. And I think my parents, you know, I'm one of 18, but I think they taught me to love.

And, you know, as a Jewish woman, I just knew that. We just, you know, we just had to live and have babies. We had to multiply. Okay. When you lose over 6 million people in the Holocaust. Yeah. And you're just taught the importance of life and do everything. And I thank the Lord that I chose that.

But with these laws that are. are a passing. Isaiah 101 says, woe unto them the decree, unrighteous decrees, and that right grievousness, which have, they have prescribed in the writing,

we have lawmakers and policy makers of writing laws, you know, about the life of a child and, you know, decreeing death instead of life. You know, Jesus came to give life and to give life more abundantly.

And he's a giver of life, you know, and who are these lawmakers? who do they think they are saying they can take life? And then when they plant parenthood has been selling baby body parts, I pray for David a lot. I think he's that journalist that they want to call him a felon and give him all types of felonies because he explodes Planned Parenthood

when they were plotting and selling baby body parts. And I say, oh, my God, have mercy on us, forgive us. And now with them wanting to codify abortion to where the baby up to the time of birth, a full-born baby can be murdered, you know, and torn apart. And I'm just saying, Lord, that, I mean, that's torture. I mean, it just breaks my heart that people can be so evil is a word and corrupt minds to allow that to happen to a baby. I'm saying we need to have more people rise up and speak up and pray more. You know, I've been praying nonstop for life since I, you know, even when I was in a baby.

a Christian, you know, I would still say, you know, God help us. Yeah. That someone would want to kill a baby inside of a woman. Yeah. Now, I've watched videos of you going out and you speaking with those on the pro-choice, pro-abortion side, who, you know, kind of say, well, you know, you made your choice and that's fine, and it's fine that you made your choice, but, you know, we should be able to make our choice. how do you kind of respond to that, especially when you're talking about an issue as sensitive as rape?

Well, I think to me I spoke of what a blessing it was in my life, and you have a choice, but the baby's a human and the baby has a choice and the baby wants to live. I mean, I say that so many times. Yeah. The baby wants to live. Yeah. The baby does not want to die. The babies are inside of the womb when those tools are going after them to rip them out of the womb, and they're moving. They're moving away from a baby, you know, just weeks old is going away from these instruments.

They're going in there to tear their bodies apart. And I'm just saying this baby is running away from those instruments that are trying to kill them, tear them to pieces. If they could only see those ultrasound and just see, this is a baby that's alive. This baby wants to live. Yeah, yeah. And I know, I mean, for you, obviously, your world changed. And you mentioned, you know, you had to leave your high school. And, you know, I think so many, so many women, you know, say, well, you know, I'm not going to be able to pursue, you know, the dreams in my heart.

I have to lay all that down, you know, if I continue with this pregnancy, whatever the situation might be. And I mean, that's legitimately hard, right? It's hard to lay those dreams down or maybe push pause on them. You know, what do those conversations and those dialogues look like, you know, even as you have journeyed with women who I'm sure have had to do that, to push pause on those dreams? And, you know, I've also talked to a lot of young girls that have had abortions that have talked about the trauma they've gone through after.

And the torment, it's never right. And I tell them it's best, and I've had some that have gone through abortion, talk to those that are pregnant saying, trust God. God will take care of you, he'll take care of your child. But killing a baby, and I always use that as murder, that is never right. Yeah, yeah. And you obviously love the Lord, you're a Christian. Reverend Eve, the Lord has kind of giving you a picture of what you feel like one of your roles will be in heaven. and share a little bit about that.

Yes. Well, I want to share the scripture. I'm going to do that. And Jeremiah 1, 4 and 5 says, and the Lord said, Jeremiah, I chose you before I gave you life. I chose you, Jeremiah, before I gave you birth. Before you were born, I chose you. And I selected you to be a prophet to the nation. So the Lord has chosen these children, every single one before they were born.

So there's a destiny for every child. And Jeremiah is calling a prophet to the nations. And I'm thinking, the 63 million plus babies that have been murdered that we know of, right? And they had a destiny. Yeah. The Lord knew them. So I had a dream of the Lord where the Lord showed me my mansion in heaven. And as I walked into this place, my favorite room in my mansion, and I'll say real quickly,

I am a chef. So when I first walked into my mansion, there was a double, a gourmet kitchen, but it was a kosher kitchen than a regular kitchen. Then Jesus took me to a little room that was my prayer chamber, because I love to pray. It was a small room with two little candles like my Jewish grandma used to have for Shabbat and a little red velvet pillow. He showed me the bridal chamber where we're going to minister into Jesus and worship him forever. but my favorite room in my mansion is there was a big room the clouds there was no ceiling and it was all like glass

and when I went in there babies were being brought to me and I was walking with Jesus many many babies were being brought to me and in heaven I get to take care of some of these imported babies wow Jesus says I said what is their names because there were so many. And I was just excited. You know, like a little girl in a little dress shopper candy store? It was like my favorite room. I saw all these beautiful rooms in my mansion, but my favorite room was when babies were being brought, and I got to so many babies that I was thinking, I don't have enough arms to hold all these babies. But Jesus says, you get to love them. And I thought of how many times I would go out and pray outside of abortion clinics and trying to talk mothers out of not aborting

their babies. And how many nights my children came in and we were up for babies to live? And I'm saying, I bet some of those babies are going to be some of the ones I get to care for in heaven. And Jesus called them blessed. I said, what are their names? He says, they're blessed. And you get to love them. He didn't use the word care. He says, you get to love them. So I was just embracing these babies. So I know that I'm going to have a room in my mansion, the biggest room of my mansion, is to care for some of these babies. And it's been a battle. And I, you know, abortions are still happening. Babies are still being murdered. And I'm just praying that the overturn of Roe v. Wade is just the beginning of abortion stopping in America. But more people as myself will be that voice

one-on-one, wherever you're at. When you see somebody pregnant or somebody, going to an abortion clinic like I did is, you know, take action, do whatever it takes to save a life. Tell us how we can follow your work. You are so active and such an advocate for life. How can we keep up with what you're doing? Well, I do have a website called Help for Kids. It's H-E-L-P with the number four, k-idz.org. Excellent. Yeah. Great. Well, we'll check that out and make sure to link that in the show notes. But Reverend Eve, thank you. We really appreciate you just being willing to share your story and to be such a voice in an advocate, the unborn. Well, I love the Heritage Foundation, the work here. I've been a supporter, and I just

thank God for all the advocacy work. This organization is done. And so thank you for giving me a voice today. And I just pray that there's someone out there that we hear this message and fight for babies, fight for life, inside of the womb and outside of the womb. Amen. Thank you, Virginia. Thank you. God bless you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. If you haven't done so already, please be sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast on your podcast listening app of choice. That's Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeart Radio. Please leave us a review in a five-star radio on Apple Podcasts and encourage your friends and family to subscribe. Thanks again for listening.

We'll see you all right back here tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. The executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen, Doug Blair, and Samantha Rank. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.