Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2585

Tonight's special guest is Annie Margis from Long Beach, California, who grew up in a large Catholic family. Most of her five siblings fell victim to a variety of abuses. "My mother was very verbally abusive and harsh with me. My parents never made me feel protected and I sheer terror. I was a social misfit and had terrible social anxiety. My biological dad began molesting me at 3 years of age," she says. "I told the priest at confession that I had sinned against my dad but he told me to go back home and obey my dad. I felt caught in sin permanently and hopeless to get to heaven. I was doomed to go to hell." She remembers her mom telling her to take naps with her dad. "My boyfriend raped me at 18 and I became pregnant," she continues. "I gave the baby up for adoption but deep darkness and depression made me go back for my boy. I eventually married my child's dad, but he turned out to be verbally abusive and unfaithful." Now far into her healing and recovery, her therapist sent Annie to a peer 12-step incest recovery group. "I still see a therapist, psychiatrist and medical doctor for fibromyalgia related to my sexual abuse," she says. "Today I have no shame. My book is a non-graphic novel entitled 'The Ugliest Word'. I am doing research about what keeps people locked away from being able to discuss child abuse. We know how hard it was to live but we don’t know how hard it is for someone who has never had to face it as a reality in society before.