A Part of Me Died With You': Mom Writes Moving Apology Letter to the Baby She Aborted

Editor's Note: Hannah Rose Allen, the woman who authored a letter of remorse and apology to Luke, the baby she aborted, has come under scrutiny over allegations of plagiarism after her note was published and covered on various news sites over the past few days.

The contents of her letter, which has some similarities to another note written by a woman named Carla Stream about her own past abortion experience, are now being questioned.

In a post on her Facebook page Saturday, Allen admitted to "copying a few ... sentences and ideas" from Stream's letter, noting that she is "genuinely sorry" for what she described as a "hurtful blunder." Allen's complete statement is below:

"While I was in the midst of writing a long letter of love, from my grieving mother's heart, to Luke Shiloh in February 2013, I Googled "letters to aborted babies" and came across a sweet letter written to "Aubrey" in 2008 from her grieving mother, Carla Stream (https://outcrywisconsin.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-girl.html?m=1). The letter deeply resonated with me because I had felt and expressed some of the same words about my beloved baby that she wrote in her brief letter to her beloved baby. I realize now that I crossed the line of simply being inspired by her letter to the point of actually copying a few of her sentences and ideas. I want to apologize for making such an unwise choice. Even though I shared some of her thoughts and feelings, I should have clearly expressed them in my own words, rather than using someone else's. I am genuinely sorry for my hurtful blunder. I think it would be best for my letter to be removed from the news sources where it's been shared, and I will post my original letter on my personal blog."

Allen also published a blog post offering similar sentiment, expounding upon the scenario.

"I want to apologize for making such an unwise choice. Even though I shared some of her thoughts and feelings, I should have clearly expressed them in my own words, rather than using someone else's," she wrote. "I am genuinely sorry for hurting Carla and taking some of her words to her daughter."

Stream reached out to TheBlaze and shared the portions she felt constituted plagiarism -- and Allen also shared these sections on her blog in addressing the issue:

1st example: From Stream's letter:

I was distraught even as you grew. I was distraught before the vacuum suctioned your body from mine. I was distraught after. Regret hardly conveys the depth of my emotion. A grief and a sorrow that consumes me at times. I can hardly bear it because I did not fight for your life. Fight to protect you. Fight for your right to live and grow and be. I did not place your life before my desperate thoughts of self-preservation. I was deceived into thinking you were a clump of cells, tissue, you were nothing, you were not even a baby.

1st example: From Allen's letter:

Regret barely conveys the depth of my profound emotion. At times over the past five years, the deep grief and sorrow has threatened to consume me...I was distraught as you grew, distraught as I took that little pill that I thought would “fix things” and distraught afterwards. I can hardly bear it that I did not fight to protect your life, like a mother should. I did not place your life before my desperate thoughts of self-preservation. I was deceived into thinking you were not really a baby yet at that gestation (6 weeks), so what I was doing was perfectly okay.

2nd example: Stream's letter:

The grief I feel is hardly as big as the love, Aubrey. The love I have for you knows no bounds.

2nd example: Allen's letter:

The grief I feel is hardly as big as the love, dear Luke. This love I have for you knows no bounds.

Read the original story below (and read Stream's letter here):

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A woman who aborted her unborn child five years ago has posted a public letter apologizing to the baby and detailing the regret she has felt ever since.

"You should be here. You should be close to 4 1/2 years old ... playing, laughing, learning, growing ... a part of my every day, my life, my family, my all," wrote Hannah Rose Allen, who is now a pro-life advocate. "Instead, I must carry the weight of your absence for the rest of my days on earth."

Allen said she's been full of regret, grief and sorrow since she made the decision to terminate her pregnancy at six weeks.

She also told the child, whom she referred to in the letter as "Luke," that "a part of me died with you" when she chose to terminate on Feb. 6, 2009.

Hannah Rose Allen wrote an open letter to the baby she aborted (Image source: Hannah Rose Allen via Facebook)

"I was distraught as you grew, distraught as I took that little pill that I thought would 'fix things' and distraught afterwards," she wrote. "I can hardly bear it that I did not fight to protect your life, like a mother should."

In the letter, Allen told her son that she tries desperately to imagine what he would have been like, as she imagines him playing and enjoying life. But the finer details are difficult to discern.

"I don't know how to picture your nose or hair or the color of your eyes. My mind just freezes when I try to go to that place," Allen wrote. "All I have of you and will ever have of you is the one single ultrasound photo."

She thanked him for teaching her life lessons and said she knows Luke is "resting in the tender care of Father God."

Watch Allen share her story below:

"The grief I feel is hardly as big as the love, dear Luke. This love I have for you knows no bounds," she wrote. "I am just so sorry I discovered the love too late."

Read the entire letter here and learn more about Allen's abortion story.

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Featured image via Hannah Rose Allen/Facebook