Even CNN has picked up this story, so it must be real, though it is unimaginably barbaric: A woman scheduled to have an abortion gives birth to a live child because the abortionist was running late. So the clinic gathers up the baby, with the placenta and afterbirth, into a biohazard bag and throws it in a trash can. The baby dies. The mother sues the clinic for murder.
On Tuesday, January 27, 2009, the Thomas More Society in Miami filed a lawsuit on behalf of Shanice Denise Osbourne, an infant girl who was allegedly murdered in July, 2006. A teenage woman (Sycloria Williams) was pregnant and sought an abortion. Abortionist Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique “inserted laminaria sticks to dilate the cervix and prescribed additional medication to be taken that night in preparation for the procedure the next morning at a Hialeah clinic.” Then:
Williams arrived at the Hialeah clinic on the morning of July 20, 2006, feeling ill and in severe pain from the medication the night before. Despite the fact that the doctor nor any other licensed health practitioners were present, the abortion center’s receptionist gave Williams Cytotec, which induces labor and also dilates the cervix. Williams, however, began to feel even worse with nausea and cramping. According to testimony, the staff had her sit in the clinic’s recovery room area where she waited for hours in severe and increasing abdominal pain without medical staff available.
The woman gave birth without the abortionist present. Pandemonium ensued, and one of the clinic’s co-owners used a pair of shears to cut the baby’s umbilical cord. The lawsuit notes that the co-owner “then scooped up the baby and placed the live baby, placenta and afterbirth in a red plastic biohazard bag, which she sealed, and then threw bag and the baby in a trash can.” The Miami-Dade County medical examiner’s autopsy confirmed that the baby was born alive (lungs filled with air), but (inexplicably) the examiner blamed the death on “extreme prematurity,” setting off a controversy and eventually a lawsuit. The AP News broke the story nationwide yesterday, and today CNN reports that the doctor in question, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique, has had his medical license revoked in the state of Florida. No criminal charges have yet been filed in the case, but AP reports that the state attorney’s office is investigating.
It is remarkable that the mother (who had wanted to abort her child)–she herself pursued the lawsuit (via the Thomas More Society). I’d guess she’s pro-life now. And I suppose this is why Planned Parenthood is no fan of the ultrasound machine. This case is a vivid reminder that the Born Alive Infant Protection Act is anything but a mere academic matter.
HT: Jill Stanek