Michele Bachmann Talks Miscarriage, Foster Children

Michele Bachmann has talked openly about the miscarriage she suffered after having her second child, and in the new issue of MORE magazine she explains that the loss helped cement her anti-abortion views and inspired her and husband Marcus to take in foster children:

That was really the moment when we opened ourselves up to the reality of how important children are. Not that we didn't think the first two were important or the baby that we lost. It changed our thinking in that we wanted to be open to more. Maybe that's what it was. We didn't get married saying we're going to have two kids and that's it. We really didn’t even think about how many children we would have. But I think when that happened we were just profoundly struck by the value of every human being, and we wanted just to be open to have them.

Bachmann first went public about her miscarriage on the House floor in 2008 during debates over an abortion bill.

"I thank my husband, who stood by me with our five babies and who stood by me when we lost a baby," she said. "I thank you for standing by me when we didn't know if we could go on anymore, and I thank you for stepping up to the plate, my husband, for being willing to bring 23 foster children into our home."

Bachmann's staunch pro-life record separates her from opponent Mitt Romney, who has supported abortion rights in the past.

Marcus Bachmann, meanwhile, is embroiled in a dispute with a gay rights activist over an unpaid bill for a "pray the gay away" therapy session.

Read the entire MORE interview, in which Bachmann talks about parenting, Sarah Palin comparisons and her appearance, here.

Comments

[Luv2Purple]

12:37 PM on 11/24/2011

Michelle Bachmann should be thrown in JAIL....her womb held a fetus - with full GOP voting rights and lifetime tax cuts....but she FAILED to deliver - so she is GUILTY of child murder or negilgent manslaughter isn't she? By her own and the GOP rhetoric?

[pdx12345]

01:24 AM on 11/21/2011

everyone stop choosing what's right for your family! it's ok, Michelle Bachmann will take care of them for a few months in foster care, so...no problem.

[still hopeful at 55]

09:45 PM on 11/18/2011

i have experienced both an abortion and a miscarriage...one was my choice and the other wasn't...one is still very sad to me, the other is not.

[ladycrisperfst]

09:29 AM on 11/19/2011

Then, whichever one you are still sad about, take it out of your hands and give it unto the Lord in pray. Jesus Christ our Lord is faithful. I am sorry for your pain and lost. Peace.

[still hopeful at 55]

10:34 AM on 11/19/2011

thanks for your kind words.

[ladycrisperfst]

06:10 PM on 11/18/2011

First, let me say, that I am truly sorry for Mrs. & Mr. Bachmann’s lost and I know that the child is in the hands of the Lord. However, my question is, if it’s God’s choice not to let some children come to full term, isn’t it His decision to allow for women to use their God given freewill (choice) to do the same for personal or health reasons? It is okay and of God to be antiabortion; nonetheless, it is not okay or of God to be anti-choice. Isn’t this the reason we are not still in The Garden of Eden? Choice? God did not force us to obey Him then as it is now. Who are we to trump God in the area of freewill?
Romans 9:11 King James Version
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ;)
The naturally or the choice aborted child is His.
Even so let the will of God be done and God bless America.

[lodkia]

05:30 PM on 11/18/2011

You don't get my vote because I have known "foster" children and those "foster" children are some one's sister, brother, child, niece, nephew!

[Okiemama]

05:20 PM on 11/18/2011

I have had a miscarriage. I have had multiple children. I am adamantly pro-choice. Fifty percent of all fertilized eggs fail to implant in the uterus. Of those that do, 40% will be miscarried, usually in the first three months. Bachmann was obviously able to have children so her playing this as a tragedy is just another attempt to draw attention to herself.
And she wanted to foster pregnant girls but was given girls with eating disorders. And she says 23 but the agency who sent the girls to her says it was 20 and the longest anyone stayed was one year. And she never had more than two girls at a time over 7 years.

[Justdontgetit]

04:57 PM on 11/18/2011

I had 2 miscarriages. My last pregnancy was twins. One baby didn't make it. I have 4 healthy, productive children.

If anything, those miscarriages and the loss of a baby made me appreciate MORE the difficulty a decision to abort is.

That is a moral and medical decision. The government has no right sticking their nose into either choice.

[Djelem]

03:59 PM on 11/18/2011

Actually the "damaging event" was when she was dropped on her head as a child.

[taddles]

03:25 PM on 11/18/2011

I thought she was going to say something about taking a line drive to the melon when she played shortstop in high school. That kind of headword can certainly change your thinking.

[pappyvet]

03:21 PM on 11/18/2011

I was wounded in my legs in Viet Nam , I dont see using this as an excuse to force others to go to war. Our family will decide our issues thank you very much Ms. Bachman.

[Sharon Hunt]

03:03 PM on 11/18/2011

where are her foster kids? why don't they speak out for her?

[Justdontgetit]

04:53 PM on 11/18/2011

That's a question a lot of us are asking.

[wonderfullone]

06:36 PM on 11/18/2011

They must be embarrassed------------------Would you blame them?

[ruthtruth]

02:58 PM on 11/18/2011

Well isn't she just so wonderful. PU Saying anything to get a rise in the polls are we Michele?

[photobug90802]

02:50 PM on 11/18/2011

My wife had a miscarriage on her first pregnancy and yes it was a big deal, but, two healthy kids later I don't think we dwelled on what might have been. If you can't move on without imposing your beliefs on everyone else then you probably need professional help. Maybe she should see a shrink (a real one)

[msbeal]

02:29 PM on 11/18/2011

Just as it's immoral to force a woman to abort, it is equally immoral to force a women to continue an unwanted pregnancy.

I was of legal and productive age when abortions were illegal in this country. The absolute best the right could ever hope to accomplish is forcing poor women to full term. You didn't have to be rich to fly to the Mexico or the Islands to get an abortion back then.

Outlawing abortions is immoral, impractical and unworkable. But hey, does that describe the right to a tee or what?

[steinpiaz]

03:43 PM on 11/18/2011

I don't know. Making drugs illegal has worked out pretty well. It's not like you can just go over to your neighbors house and buy pot or anything. Oh wait, I can. Never mind.

[msbeal]

01:46 AM on 11/19/2011

Shhhhh,. There may be mj drones overhead.

[vinnieboiblue]

02:19 PM on 11/18/2011

One would think, after having go through a miscarriage, she would have more of a understanding, why some women have to have that decision to abort. Sure there are some women who abuse the abortion process, but majority who have had, have thought long and hard about the consequences both to themselves and the pending birth. She also forgets, that women who have had abortions, carry that sense of guilt with them for the rest of their lives, but it was the right decision at the time, due to circumstances she could not control.

[Radx28]

03:00 PM on 11/18/2011

Reality benders (aka conservatives, particularly religious conservatives) live only inside their own reality and they insulate themselves from the world by bending all reality that does not conform to their preconceived view :-) That is exactly why they foster self serving, self righteous, narcissistic solutions to all problems. Their view of the world and people of value only includes them, their relatives, and their pay-to-play friends :-)

Religion is dangerous when in the grasp of a narrow mind!