Heisman Trophy Winner Tim Tebow Could Have Been a Victim of Abortion

by Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com Editor

December 9, 2007

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became the first sophomore in the history of the NCAA to win the coveted Heisman Trophy as the best football player in the nation. However, Tebow's accomplishments may never have been supported had his mother followed a doctor's recommendation to have an abortion.

With 29 passing touchdowns and 22 rushing touchdowns, Tebow displayed the kind of versatility that has become more valued at the quarterback position.

Pam Tebow and her husband were Christian missionaries in the Philippines in 1985 and they prayed for "Timmy" before she became pregnant.

Unfortunately, as the Gainesville Sun reports, Pam entered into a coma after she contracted amoebic dysentery, an infection of the intestine caused by a parasite found in a contaminated food or drink.

The treatment for the medical condition would require strong medications that doctors told Pam had caused irreversible damage to Tim -- so they advised her to have an abortion.

As the Sun reported, Pam Tebow refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her son would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted.

Pam ultimately spent the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and, eventually, gave birth to a health baby boy in August 1987.

As she told the newspaper, Pam was not surprised that her son would be up for the Heisman despite no underclassman receiving the award since its inception in 1933.

"The combination of Timmy's God-given talent, hard work, character and leadership have made a mark on and off the football field," she said.

As prominent researcher Joel Brind writes in a new LifeNews.com editorial, doctors are frequently telling women they should consider abortions when confronted with various medical situations affecting their health.

Yet, as he notes, physicians can successfully treat both mother and child without suggesting that the baby be killed to spare a mother's life.

Because Tim Tebow was spared, he's wowed a nation by his athletic skill and, at his younger age, has an opportunity to become the second person to win two Heisman awards.

Massachusetts Becomes Latest State With Abortion-Sex Abuse Coverup

by Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com Editor

November 21, 2007

Cambridge, MA (LifeNews.com) -- Massachusetts is the latest state to have an abortion-sexual abuse coverup as a gymnastics coach has been indicted on charges that he repeatedly raped one girl and took her for an abortion. Abortion centers nationwide have been under fire for doing abortions on teenagers who are victims of sexual abuse.

In this latest case, a grand jury in Middlesex indicted 51-year-old Steven Infante of New Milford, Connecticut on various charges of rape and assault and battery.

Infante appeared in Middlesex Superior Court on Wednesday and was released after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors say Infante had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl that began at that early age and continued until she was 21. When she turned 17, the girl became pregnant and Infante drove her to a local abortion business, according to court records.

He is also accused of sexually molesting a second teenage girl.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone talked with the Associated Press about the case.

"We allege that the defendant, Steven Infante, took advantage of his position of authority to exert control over, manipulate, and sexually assault these young vulnerable girls," she said.

"We also allege that the defendant engaged in a pattern of 'grooming' the young victims in an effort to gradually make them more accepting of his escalating, inappropriate, and ultimately criminal sexual contact with them," Leone added.

Peter Russell, Infante's attorney, told AP that his client is innocent.

Infante "absolutely denies these allegations ... and he looks forward to fighting these allegations in court," he said.

In May, the employee of an abortion facility in Connecticut issued a guilty plea in a case involving the sexual abuse of three teenage girls.

Former modeling agency owner Michael Britt, who worked as a janitor at the abortion center, was accused of sexually assaulting three teenagers from Norwalk who went to his modeling agency.

He took a 14 year-old to the Summit Women's Center abortion facility, where he worked and which was located in the same building as his agency.

The Britt case followed just weeks after another abortion-sexual abuse case prompted observers to wonder why abortion facilities are not contacting authorities about the actions.

Kevon Walker, 22, was charged earlier this month with getting his then 14 year-old girlfriend pregnant. He got the unnamed girl pregnant three times in six months and the girl wound up having three abortions as a result.

However, abortion businesses failed to report the statutory rape to authorities and officials only began investigating Walker's actions when the victim's mother contacted them.

Jesse Ramirez Wakes From Coma as Terri Schiavo-Type Battle Rages

by Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com Editor

June 28, 2007

Phoenix, AZ (LifeNews.com) -- Arizona resident Jesse Ramirez was severely injured in a car crash in a May 30 car accident and a legal battle ensued over the man's life. It pitted his wife and family against each other over whether his life support should be maintained but now Ramirez has awaken from the coma appears to be on the road to recovery.

Ramirez, 36, suffered traumatic brain injury in the accident and he had been in a minimally conscious state for just over a week when doctors told his family he may never recover.

His wife made the decision to have his feeding tube removed in the same way Terri's former husband made the decision for her.

Ramirez, a Gulf War veteran, and his wife had been arguing in the car over a cell phone number of another man that Ramirez found in her cell phone when the rollover happened.

Ramirez's family filed legal papers asking for his feeding tube to be reconnected with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life law firm.

Maricopa County Superior court Judge Paul Katz on June 13 ordered that Ramirez be put back on life support and assigned a guardian ad litem as his advocate while the legal arguments were sorted out.

Ramirez’s wife responded by petitioning the court again asking to remove him from life support.

Now, three weeks after the accident, Ramirez has regained consciousness and recovered to the extent that he can interact with visitors.

The case is drawing national attention to the plight of such patients, whose loved ones are sometimes too quick to join doctors in giving up hope and withdrawing food and water or lifesaving medical treatment.

Pro-life attorney Rachel Alexander has been monitoring the case.

"This miraculous recovery reinforces the importance of using caution when taking incapacitated relatives off life support," she said. "In too many cases, it is impossible to determine when or if someone in a coma will come out of it."

"Had Jesse been removed from life support on June 9 as his wife requested, he would have been dead within a few days of starvation and dehydration," Alexander added.

The case points to concerns over family members who may have other agendas or something other than the best interest of the patient in mind when making the medical decisions.

"Because of their tumultuous marriage, his wife was not in the best position to make a determination as to whether he should continue on life support," Alexander said. "His aunt has said that she suspects his wife was trying to get rid of him. Ramirez had long suspected that his wife was having extramarital affairs on him."

Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother who also works with the foundation that bears her name, said the medical establishment is also too quick to declare patients hopeless in certain cases.

"What is the rush?" he told the Arizona Republic newspaper. "This is not the first time we've heard of cases like this where doctors want to write off the chance of recovery, and the family, when they're told this, will make a decision to end a person's life."

"In the case of Mr. Ramirez, he'd be dead now."

Poland Man Awakens From 19 Year-Coma, Doctors Said He Would Die

Warsaw, Poland (LifeNews.com) -- A Polish man who doctors said would survive only two to three years after an automobile accident in 1988 has awaken from a 19 year coma. Wheelchair-bound Jan Grzebski, a 65 year-old former railway worker entered the coma during a time of Communist rule in his native country and woke to find it a democracy and to see lots of other changes. "When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere," Grzebski "When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere," Grzebski said. He credited his caring wife Gertruda with his revival. "It was Gertruda that saved me, and I'll never forget it" Grzebski told news channel TVN24. His physician, Dr. Boguslaw Poniatowsk, acknowledged the man's wife's actions as well. "For 19 years Mrs. Grzebska did the job of an experienced intensive care team, changing her comatose husband's position every hour to prevent bed-sore infections," he said. Grzebski awoke to find his four children had all married and produced 11 grandchildren during his years in hospital. He said he vaguely recalled the family gatherings he was taken to while in a coma and his wife and children trying to communicate with him.

Ireland's Largest University Prevents Abortion Survivor Speaking

DUBLIN, Ireland, November 28, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Gianna Jessen, a 28-year-old woman who survived a saline abortion when she was 7 months in utero, has been prevented from speaking at Ireland's largest university - University College Dublin (UCD).

Despite her cerebral palsy, which she has described as a gift and is a legacy of the abortion, Jessen has traveled the world with her powerful testimony. She is living evidence of the humanity of the unborn child and the fact that abortion takes a human life.

'Ultrasound', the pro-life student network formed by the pro-life group Youth Defence, was delighted when Jessen agreed to undertake a tour of Irish colleges. Bookings and arrangements were made and materials printed and distributed in Ireland's largest universities.

However, while students across the country gave Gianna a rapturous welcome, Youth Defence suggests that forces within Ireland's largest university were determined to prevent students at University College Dublin (UCD) from hearing her testimony. Ultrasound leaders were told by UCD's administrators that they had to provide insurance for the event, which they arranged. On the morning of Ms Jessen's talk, however, the pro-life group was told the insurance did not meet requirements and that the talk could not go ahead.

Despite every effort of Ultrasound, UCD's would not let Ms Jessen speak. It then transpired that no insurance broker could provide the sort of insurance demanded by UCD for this event, since they were requiring insurance cover which would be necessary to facilitate a extreme risk event.

"This sort of insurance has never before been demanded by UCD to allow a speaker and it would seem that this obstacle was raised to prevent Ms Jessen's story being heard," commented Youth Defence. "Universities are meant to be places of discussion and learning; it is to UCD's shame that they effectively banned this young woman and her amazing story."

Milton Madonna bathed in color
by Jessica Van Sack
The Patriot Ledger
July 10, 2003

    Milton - "A window image that some consider a likeness of the Virgin Mary has taken on an iridescence, convincing some of its heavenly origins and others of an earthly explanation," reports Jessica Van Sack. "The 'Milton Madonna,' a monochrome silhouette that has enraptured 50,000 visitors to Milton Hospital since it was first noticed on June 10, now has small patches of green, blue, yellow and red. [See image]

    To believers, it is another sign that the mother of Jesus has come to reassure the church, the nation or the world.

    To skeptics, it's just more evidence of a faulty window seal."

    At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, when a security guard removed the blue tarpaulin to reveal the image for its daily viewing hours, the regulars squinted, pointed at the iridescent spots, and chattered about "another miracle."

    ''I want to cry,'' said Krystyna Mateli, 24, of Dorchester, surrounded by her extended family.

    Doreen Gianci, 46, of Holbrook said she goes to see the image almost every day. She brought her seven children with her on Tuesday.

    ''I feel like it's a magnet like I'm drawn to it,'' she said. ''The people are really hungry for God here.''

   But Joe Nickell, senior researcher fellow for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, and author of "Looking for a Miracle" calls the image in the window a simulacrum, a random image the resembles something recognizable.

    He attributes the perception that the image is Mary to a phenomenon called pareidolia, a psychological term for the mind's obsessions with finding patterns in essentially random objects, from clouds to wood grain. '

    Nickell traveled Tuesday from the committee's base in Amherst, N. Y., to view the image, which he admitted was "stronger than I thought it would be". . .

    As for the iridescence, Nickell calls it "very mundane and very expected." He said it is caused by the age of the glass, which is at least five to ten years old.

    'Old bottles have an iridescence.  One sees iridescence on glass,'' Nickel said. ''It's obviously nothing very mysterious.'' The newspaper reports, however, that while "product technicians at Andersen Windows said cracks in double-pane windows often cause a large, circular, cloudy formation on the windows that can be permanent, like a greenhouse effect, they could not explain the colors."

    Patricia S. Brown, director of the Architectural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said there are many variables that could contribute to effects in the window.

    She added she's never seen such a discoloration in glass, but wouldn't rule anything out as a possibility until she had seen the image. . . .

    The window is in the rear of the ophthalmology clinic at a medical office building. It is covered by drywall that blocks the light and frustrates further study, but which also eliminates any possibility of a hoax.

    The large crowds of the first few weeks have subsided, but hundreds of regulars still visit to sing hymns, say prayers and gaze longingly at the image.

    Theories abound. To some, the appearance has a healing influence on an archdiocese wounded by a clergy sex scandal. To others, its placement in Milton, the birthplace of former President George Bush, is a sign for the nation or the world. "The hospital is still awaiting guidance on how to proceed from the Archdiocese of Boston.

    The iridescence is not the only perceived addition to the Milton mystery. Last week, gazers spotted a cross in a faint discoloration on the chimney bricks, and around another corner, talk circulated of another window image looking like Jesus."

*       *       *       *       *       *       *
"Catholics" for a Free Choice Celebrates Easter by Attacking the Church

The Christian world is poised to celebrate Easter, our holiest day when
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The pro-abortion
group "Catholics" for a Free Choice is celebrate this precious time by
attacking the Catholic Church. We report on their latest shenanigans.

Spread the word.

Yours sincerely, Austin Ruse, President

Action item: Throughout this Easter time, pray fervently for Frances
Kissling and all those attached to "Catholics" for a Free Choice.
_________________________________________________

       As Christians the world over prepare for the Easter holiday through
the season of Lent, dissident pro-abortion group "Catholics" for a Free
Choice (CFFC) has used this time to redouble its attacks on Catholic
Church teaching, even claiming that the Catholic Church has initiated a
"crusade against reason and science in the modern world" and that
Church officials, presumably even the Pope, are motivated by "cruelty,
obsession and hatred."

       In an April 1 press release, CFFC attacked a new Church document
that catalogues various strategies and verbal sleights used by anti-family
groups to expand the sexual revolution through such means as "safe sex"
education for children, the legalization of abortion and the legalization
of
homosexual "marriage." For instance, the Vatican document, entitled
"Lexicon on Ambiguous and Colloquial Terms and Family Life and Ethical
Questions," chronicles how poorly defined phrases like "reproductive
health services" allow abortion proponents to fight for abortion rights,
without having to use the controversial word "abortion" itself.

       CFFC president Frances Kissling says the Lexicon "give(s) new
and disturbing meaning to what has become a Vatican crusade against
reason and science in the modern world. This document is a throwback
to the days when church leaders disregarded scientific advances and
ignored the suffering caused by abstract application of so-called
principles and values in the face of human tragedy and need."

       Kissling seems most incensed about passages in the Lexicon
relating to "safe sex" and condoms. Kissling charges Church authorities
with hypocrisy; "Church leaders claim to foster a culture of life, yet the
lexicon contributes to a culture of death when it condemns the use of
condoms to prevent the transmission of AIDS."

       Kissling does not mention that current social science scholarship
appears to vindicate the Catholic position. For example, a comprehensive
report from the UN Population Division concludes that the enormous
"safe sex" campaign in Africa has largely failed in its efforts to raise
condom use. In another report, the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) has found that Uganda is the only country in
sub-Saharan Africa to successfully combat the spread of AIDS, and it
has done so primarily through abstinence training.

       Kissling also objects to the Lexicon's description of
homosexuality,
saying "This document resorts to long-rejected pseudo-psychology in
characterizing homosexuality as an 'unresolved psychological conflict'
…Authors of the lexicon should consult any standard dictionary for
definitions of abuse, cruelty, obsession and hatred, which are the major
characteristics displayed by those who promulgate this lexicon."    

       The tactics described in the Lexicon are commonly seen during
United Nations negotiations, where the Catholic Church has fought
successfully against efforts to recognize abortion as an international
human right. Not coincidentally, CFFC is continuing its campaign to have
the Church's Permanent Observer status at the UN revoked.


*       *       *       *       *       *       *
FIJI - WOMAN NEARLY DIES FROM BOTCHED ABORTION

Suva, Fiji -- A twenty-year-old girl is in serious condition at
the Suva Private Hospital after she almost bled to death
following an abortion on last Tuesday. This comes on the heels of
a young woman who died following a legal abortion last month.

Acting Police Commissioner Moses Driver yesterday said
preliminary investigations had revealed that the second year
University of the South Pacific student had undergone the
abortion at a Suva abortion practitioner's office.  "The information
so far shows that it was an abortion," Driver said.

Driver could not say who the doctor was but police spokesman
Inspector Isikeli Sauliga said in a police statement that the
girl had visited Dr. Sachida Mudaliar's office with her boyfriend
on Tuesday.

Mudaliar is currently on trial charged with manslaughter for
carrying out an abortion on another USP student a month ago,
which led to her death.

Source: Pro-Life Infonet (ertelt@prolifeinfo.org)

*       *       *       *       *       *
WALES - PRO-LIFE CANDIDATES ARRESTED

Two pro-life candidates standing in the forthcoming elections to the
Welsh national assembly were arrested and charged with a public order
offence yesterday for showing a picture of an aborted 21-week-old
foetus. Fiona Pinto and Joseph Biddulph, who are standing for the
ProLife Party in the South Wales East region, were arrested in Newport
town centre under the Public Order Act after passers by complained
that the picture was causing distress. They were detained for three
hours and have been ordered to appear before Newport magistrates'
court on 1 May - the day of the election.
                Ms Pinto, aged 23, commented: "It was a busy street
and there were a couple of people who complained and said we shouldn't
be showing it because it's disgusting. But that's the point, and that's
what we are opposed to." A spokesman for the ProLife Party said:
"...political candidates during an election campaign have been taken
into custody for showing the reality of what happens to the unborn
child during an abortion operation, a procedure funded by the
taxpayers of this country. Such political censorship is normally
associated with ruthless totalitarian regimes, not a country claiming
to be one of the most democratic."

Source: SPUC (information@spuc.freeserve.co.uk)

*       *       *       *       *       *       *
Abortion Practitioner Loses Medical License After Botched Abortion

San Bernadino, CA -- A former California abortion practitioner's
medical license has been revoked by the state Medical Board as a
result of a 1997 abortion that nearly killed a 17-year-old
girl.The girl's uterus was punctured and 3-5 feet of her
intestines were removed during the abortion.

The teenager remained in the hospital for 12 days - nine in
intensive care, according to the Medical Board of California.

Philip B. Pierre-Louis, who was living in San Bernardino at the
time of the botched abortion, was charged with gross negligence,
incompetence, unprofessional conduct and failure to maintain
adequate medical records following the teen's abortion.

The Medical Board has been unable to locate Pierre-Louis to
deliver documents relating to the case, officials said.

Pierre-Louis was issued a license to practice medicine in
California in 1986. He is listed as a 1979 graduate of Howard
University's College of Medicine.

He was placed on four years probation and fined $5,000 for the
incident with the teenage girl, according to Medical Board
records. In February, the Medical Board reopened its case against
Pierre- Louis alleging that he had failed to comply with his
probation requirements.

Louis had been required to take and pass a remedial clinical
program, submit quarterly reports to the Medical Board, reimburse
the Medical Board for its investigation and probation monitoring
costs and to undergo interviews with Medical Board staff.

In November, the Medical Board sent a certified letter to the his
address identifying Louis' probation violations, but the letter
was returned to the Medical Board unopened.

San Bernardino County records show that the address he gave is
not listed under Louis' name, nor has it ever been.

According to other records, Louis has held more than a dozen
addresses throughout Southern California dating back to 1983,
including a house on Glenrock Place in Highland in 1994. County
records show that a person with the same last name owned the home
in 1989, but it was listed under new ownership in 1992.

Medical Board officials sent a second letter to what they thought
was Louis' current address in Riverside.

In March, the letter was again returned to the Medical Board
unopened. Because of Pierre-Louis' failure to reply to the
Medical Board, officials decided on April 24 to revoke his
license.

"Pierre-Louis will no longer be able to practice medicine in
California,' said Candis Cohen, a spokeswoman for the Medical
Board. "The decision is effective May 27.'

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Abortion Practitioner Loses Medical License After Botched Abortion
Source:   Associated Press; May 6, 2003


*       *       *       *       *       *
Man Kills His Girlfriend, a Child and Himself After Her Abortion

Milwaukee, WI -- A man, a woman and her 2-year-old daughter were found
dead last weekend, apparently the victims of a double murder-suicide,
police said.

The 22-year-old man, 19-year-old woman and girl were found lying in pools
of blood Saturday morning on the second floor of a home. Police said it
appeared the man shot the child and woman and then shot himself.

Police Capt. Linda Haynes said the motive remained unclear, except that
the deaths had something to do with the couple's relationship.

An aunt of the slain woman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the
man was angry because the woman had an abortion Thursday. She was
apparently carrying Hill's child.

Haynes said the woman was shot once in the head and once in the neck, and
her daughter was shot twice in the chest, while the man had one gunshot
wound to the head. Police had not determined when the deaths occurred.

An aunt of the slain man said he lived in the home with his mother, his
2-year-old daughter and his 7-year-old brother, and it was the 7-year-old
who found the bodies in a bedroom. Relatives say the victims were Quan
Hill, 22, Candice Farrington, 19, and D'Naja Morgan, 2.

"He talked about killing her," she said. "He was bad news. He threatened
her all the time. We tried to get her away from him. He just kept coming
back and sweet-talking her."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Man Kills His Girlfriend and Child After Her Abortion
Source:   Milwaukee Journal Sentinal; January 27, 2003

*       *       *       *       *       *
Doctor on Trial for Raping Patient and Forcing Abortion

Miami, FL -- Opening arguments began Thursday in the trial of a doctor
accused of raping a patient.

The prosecution's first witness was the alleged victim, who testified that
she went to Dr. Roland Rozas' office for a routine examination, but that
during the course of the procedure she lost consciousness. In tearful
testimony, the unidentified woman said that when she regained
consciousness, her skirt was wet and she felt that something was wrong.

The woman says Rozas, 52, assured her that there was nothing wrong.

But prosecutors charge Rozas drugged and raped the woman, and they say
Rozas later performed an abortion on the woman.

DNA evidence later proved that Rozas was the father, prosecutors said.
Rozas is charged with second-degree sexual battery.

Defense attorney Joseph Rosenbaum told the jury that it was a case of
consensual sex.

Rozas' wife was in the courtroom during testimony. She recently gave birth
to the couple's first child.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Doctor on Trial for Raping Patient and Forcing Abortion
Source:   NBC TV Channel 6, Miami; January 23, 2003

*       *       *       *       *       *
Elite Model Agency Founder Named in Abortion-Sex Abuse Lawsuit

Los Angeles, CA -- John Casablancas, founder of leading model agency Elite,
has been named in a sex abuse lawsuit by an aspiring model who says he made
her pregnant at the age of 15, and then arranged an abortion -- all more
than 15 years ago.

Casablancas, 60, whose Elite agency has represented supermodels such as
Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell, is accused of sexual abuse of a minor.
The plaintiff, whose name was not made public, is seeking substantial
damages.

Lawyers for Casablancas said the allegations were fabricated and were
confident the case would be dismissed.

The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, alleges that
Casablancas began sexually abusing the girl in 1988 when she was a finalist
in Elite's prestigious "Look of the Year" competition for fresh new faces.

The former model said she traveled with Casablancas to New York later that
year when it was discovered she was pregnant by him. She alleges she was
driven to a doctor's office and an abortion was arranged for her at the
behest of Casablancas.

Casablancas set up the Elite agency in New York in 1970 and made it into
one of the world's leading model agencies, guiding the careers of Linda
Evangelista, Andie MacDowell and Kelly Emberg and rivaling the
long-established Ford Models Inc.

The name of the plaintiff in the Los Angeles lawsuit is being withheld but
her lawyer said she was now in her 30s, married with two children, and
living in San Diego.

"What happened to me should never happen to any little girl. I hope that by
coming forward I can protect other minor boys and girls working for Elite
or any other agency," the plaintiff said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Her lawyer Raymond Boucher said that despite the years she was "still
grappling with the horrors of what happened."

Casablancas's lawyer Robert Wolf accused Boucher of trying to "drum up
business" for his law firm, which in recent months has specialized in
representing alleged victims in California of the Catholic Church sex abuse
scandal.

"California has no legal jurisdiction for this lawsuit and we are confident
it is going to be dismissed. The motivations of this plaintiff, who
discovers 15 years later in fabricated allegations that she has been
abused, are suspicious and driven by greed -- her greed and the greed of
her attorneys.

"There is no basis in fact for this lawsuit. We have no doubt that Mr.
Casablancas will prevail," Wolf told Reuters.

Casablancas left Elite in 2000 and now runs the John Casablancas Modeling
and Career Center in New York.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Elite Model Agency Founder Named in Abortion-Sex Abuse Lawsuit
Source:   Reuters; December 10, 2002

*       *       *       *       *       *
Misdiagnosed Disability Almost Prompts Woman to Have Abortion
 
London, England -- A British mother nearly had an abortion after apparently
being wrongly diagnosed with a rare blood disorder.

Francesca Mears, 23, made an appointment at an abortion facility after
doctors said the condition could result in the baby being still-born. But
after weeks of agonising she decided to go ahead with the pregnancy and was
left angry when doctors apparently admitted that she never had the
condition all along.

"I went though nine months of absolute torture and heartache wondering if I
had made the right decision. I can't begin to tell you what it was like,"
said Ms Mears.

"Then to be told three hours after my pregnancy, when I am still drugged
up, that I never had the condition in the first place is an absolute
disgrace. It's like being told you have got AIDS and then nine months down
the track, oh sorry, we got it wrong."

Ms Mears, who lives with her partner in Pontprennau, Cardiff, was diagnosed
as having Thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder which affects the level of
oxygen in the bloodstream.

It mainly affects people of Mediterranean descent, and patients with the
most extreme cases need blood transfusions as frequently as every two weeks
to survive.

Ms Mears was diagnosed as having the more serious "alpha zero" form of the
disease which, in the most severe cases, can even result in premature death.

Doctors at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales said that Ms Mears would
almost certainly have a stillborn baby if her partner had the disease -
which thankfully he didn't.

But they added that even if the baby was born alive, there was a high
chance he or she would inherit the disease.

"We went through so much agony," she said. "At one point I even made an
appointment at an abortion clinic, but didn't go through with it at the
last minute.

"I am furious they could make such a basic error. Apparently the blood
results were mixed up. So does that mean there is another expectant mother
who was told that she is fine when in fact she has Thalassemia?"

The blood tests were carried out at Llandough Hospital in Penarth, which,
like UHW, is governed by Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust.

The error, which apparently came to light when her baby boy, Jordan, was
born on September 13, has prompted an angry flow of letters from Ms Mears,
who is now considering suing the Trust.

"They have admitted to me over the phone that the error was made, but so
far refuse to put it in writing probably because they fear legal action."
said Ms Mears.

The first letter on behalf of Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust chief executive
David Edwards, dated October 25, promised a full investigation would be
complete within 20 working days. But as yet Ms Mears has still not received
a formal apology.

A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust was not available to comment.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Misdiagnosed Disability Almost Prompts Woman to Have Abortion
Source:   The Western Mail (UK); November 25, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *

Unborn Baby's Umbilical Cord Stopped Mother's Leukemia

Montreal, Canada -- In what might be a world first, doctors at Royal
Victoria Hospital in Montreal transfused a woman suffering from leukemia
with the umbilical-cord blood of her baby daughter.

Seven months later, 27-year-old Patrizia Durante is in complete remission
and credits her daughter with saving her life.

"I gave my daughter life, and then she gave mine back," Ms. Durante said
yesterday, cradling 13-month-old Victoria. "It's a miracle. She was meant
to be born to save me."

Umbilical-cord blood is usually banked for later use by the child should
she develop a life-threatening illness such as leukemia. Dr. Pierre
Laneuville, director of hematology at the McGill University Health Centre,
said he believes the offspring-to-parent transplant is the first of its
kind in the world.

Ms. Durante's case highlights the growing interest by doctors in using
umbilical cord blood as an effective alternative to bone-marrow
transplants. "We're elated," Dr. Laneuville said. "This is the best-case
scenario we could possibly have imagined.... From a doctor's point of view,
the chances are she's cured."

Umbilical cord blood is rich in hemopoietic stem cells -- the kind of cells
that can rebuild a blood system damaged by heavy doses of chemotherapy. In
Ms. Durante's case, the stem cells regenerated her blood system and
destroyed the residual cancer cells in her body.

"We are now in an era where we are realizing scientifically and medically
that we have sources of stem cells that can become other tissues and can be
used therapeutically," Dr. Laneuville said. "And the most accessible source
and the one we're throwing in the garbage all the time are these cord
cells."

Durante, a Laval financial advisor, learned she was suffering from acute
myloid leukemia when she was 26 weeks pregnant with Victoria, her first
child.

"It was terrifying," she recalled. "I was afraid for the baby. I was afraid
of dying and not being there for my daughter. It was very stressful and
difficult for my family."

Durante underwent moderate doses of chemotherapy while pregnant. She did
not respond to the drugs, so her doctors decided to induce labour so they
could switch to high doses without risking harm to the baby. On Sept. 2,
2001, Victoria was born two months premature, weighing three-and-a-half
pounds. She was placed in an incubator while her mother renewed her
chemotherapy.

At the time, doctors were looking for a suitable donor for a bone-marrow
transplant, even though Victoria's umbilical-cord blood had been frozen in
liquid nitrogen. But by last March, Ms. Durante was severely ill and she
could not wait any longer for a bone-marrow transplant.

Dr. Laneuville decided to infuse her with Victoria's cord blood, although
the procedure was risky because Durante's body might have rejected the
blood.

Ideally, individuals should be infused with their own banked cord blood.
Victoria's blood, however, was only a half-match, carrying her mother's
genes as well as her father's.

"But in this case, the incompatibility -- that is, the genes that the
baby's dad contributed -- theoretically could have been very beneficial in
this transplant," Dr. Laneuville said.

"Part of the blood cells include the immune system. There was the
possibility that the immune system of the baby may identify the leukemia as
foreign and attack. That's something that's beneficial."

The baby's cord blood did exactly that to her mother's leukemia. The stem
cells also flooded Ms. Durante's bloodstream and stuck to her bone marrow
-- the part of the body that manufactures the blood -- and began rebuilding
her blood system.

"So what is circulating in her veins now is actually her baby's blood," he
said. "She has her baby's blood system in her at the present time."

Dr. Laneuville said "mismatched" cord blood might be effective in
controlling Ms. Durante's type of cancer, but stressed cord blood
transplants should be used only as a last resort.

Scientists are also studying whether stem cells derived from cord blood can
repair damaged heart and brain tissue. Preliminary results from animal
studies are promising. Doctors are now carrying out clinical trials on
humans in the United States and Europe to determine whether such stem cells
can repair damaged heart muscle.

Unlike embryonic stem cells -- which have sparked a huge ethical debate --
stem cells from cord blood are free of any moral considerations.

Dr. Laneuville urged authorities to set up a public cord blood bank for
research and therapeutic purposes.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Unborn Baby's Umbilical Cord Stopped Mother's Leukemia
Source:   Montreal Gazette; October 26, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
ABORTIONIST HITS PRO-LIFER WITH CAR

OMAHA, Nebraska —An abortionist was arrested and charged with hitting a
pro-lifer with his car this summer.  C.J. LaBenz will face charges of
reckless
driving, theft by unlawful taking and disorderly conduct brought by
sidewalk
counselor Sharon McKee. McKee says on June 7, while she was on the public
sidewalk in front of the Women's Service abortion mill, LaBenz drove his
red
Jeep Cherokee over the curb and hit her.

When abortionist LaBenz noticed his attack was being videotaped by another
pro-lifer, he tried to take the camera by force.  LaBenz admitted to police
that
he hit McKee but claims he was distracted while talking on his mobile
phone.
McKee said LaBenz took her sign, clipboard, and cell phone, and that her
cell phone case had $350 inside. Police retrieved McKee's property from
inside the mill, but the phone had been destroyed and the cash was missing.

Local pro-life leader Larry Donlan told CCN, "He [LaBenz] is involved in an
accident, and not only does he not help the person or offer to help the
person, he robs them. It's kind of like a mugging if you think about it."

Source: Pro-Life E-News (enews@interlife.org)

*     *     *     *     *     *
Man Convicted of Having Ex-Girlfriend Shot to Kill Thier Unborn Baby

Canton, OH -- Responding to what is becoming an increasing trend of violence
by partners against pregnant women who refuse to have abortions, a jury has
convicted a man of scheming to end his ex-girlfriend's pregnancy by having
her shot during a staged carjacking. Jurors rejected a defense lawyer's
argument there was no proof her shooting was planned.

Sentencing is set for Nov. 1 for Paul Nino Tarver II, 29, who prosecutors say
arranged to have Keisha Lewis, 23, shot so he could avoid becoming the father
of her child. Lewis survived the March 7 shooting, but her 3-month-old unborn
baby did not.

The jury of six men and six women took less than four hours Thursday to
convict Tarver of complicity to aggravated murder and complicity to felonious
assault.

Ohio law allows for an aggravated murder charge for purposely killing an
unborn child outside the scope of an abortion.

Tarver faces a prison sentence of 20 years to life for the first charge, plus
three years for using a gun. Stark County Common Pleas Judge Sara Lioi could
add another two to eight years for the second charge, which dealt with the
shooting of Ms. Lewis.

Defense attorney Jeff Haupt called no witnesses, choosing instead to question
the evidence gathered and focus on the absence of the shooter and the gun.

A visibly upset Tarver muttered to his attorney and turned to glare at Lewis
as she sat in the back of the courtroom. A sheriff's deputy warned him to
stop.

"It's not right. It's not right. If you listen to the evidence you could see
that nothing was consistent," said Paulette Tarver of Canton, Tarver's sister.

Paul Tarver's attorney maintained he and Lewis were robbed, victims of a
masked gunman who surprised them as they sat in a truck at a restaurant
parking lot.

Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett argued the robbery was a
setup, and that Tarver's renewed interest in Lewis was part of a lie.
Hartnett said that Tarver wanted Lewis to have an abortion so he could be
with another woman. When Lewis refused, Tarver began threats that escalated
to the staged heist, Hartnett said.

Although the masked gunman has not been identified, his intention was clear,
Hartnett said in her closing argument. She said there was no other reason the
gunman would aim at Lewis and fire three times into her belly from inches
away.

When Tarver fled, the gunman fired once at Tarver's leg. He was wounded.

Haupt said that putting Tarver on the stand would have opened the door for
questions about past convictions for robbery and drug trafficking. "It was a
very, very difficult case," Haupt said. "I obviously fell short in presenting
the evidence to the jury."

Lewis uses a cane and said she still has pain and some loss of feeling. Two
bullets remain inside her.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Man Convicted of Having Ex-Girlfriend Shot to Kill Thier Unborn Baby
Source:   Associated Press; October 26, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *

Police Investigate Texas Abortion Facility on Statutory Rape

Lubbock, TX -- When police officers were dispatched to Lubbock's only
abortion facility last month to question two girls, Lubbock, Texas was drawn
into the latest skirmish between foes on both sides of the debate over
abortion.

At issue is a tactic used by pro-life advocates to force police
investigations of abortion providers by calling police to report that staff
at abortion facilities are not reporting suspected cases of child abuse as
mandated by law.

Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics Inc., based in Denton, said his
group has disseminated the tactic nationwide as a way of calling attention to
the sexual exploitation of minors at abortion facilities. While Crutcher said
he did not know specifics about the incident last month in Lubbock, he said
the caller was acting in accordance with his group's designs.

Calls to the abortion facility for information about the incident were
referred to the Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

Kae McLaughlin of the Austin-based pro-abortion group dismissed the group's
tactics as exploiting child abuse statutes to advance its pro-life agenda.

"They're undermining what (the laws) are written for," she said. Furthermore,
"they're bootstrapping law enforcement into running around taking cases,"
McLaughlin said.

Lubbock taxpayers "are not going to tolerate any abuse of their tax dollars,"
she said.

On Sept. 24, police were called to the Aaron Women's Clinic of Lubbock off
Indiana Avenue to investigate an allegation of child abuse, specifically
statutory rape, according to Lt. Lance Slack of the juvenile unit.

The allegations of statutory rape were based on the girls being pregnant, he
said. Police left after the girls' guardians said they did not want to
continue the investigation, Slack said.

The officers were required by law to check out the complaint. Under Texas
law, professionals are required to report every possible case of abuse, he
said. In the absence of a professional's report, police must take the report
themselves, he said.

Since the incident, police have worked with representatives from the abortion
facility to educate them on their state-prescribed reporting
responsibilities, Slack said. Police are helping the abortion businesses
create forms for health care professionals to report abuse allegations,
obviating the need for a visit by a patrol officer.

Slack compared the paperwork to forms created for convenience store employees
that allow them to report gas drive-offs on their own.

While police took no action at the abortion business, McLaughlin said she
feared a chilling effect caused by officers responding to similar calls.
"This is a strategy to intimidate clinics and women" seeking legal health
services, she said.

This new strategy comes at an especially dire time for abortion businesses in
the state, she said. In West Texas, the Aaron Women's Clinic of Lubbock
stands almost alone. An abortion business in Midland operates only one day a
week, McLaughlin said.

Her group has sent women as far away as Las Cruces, N.M., for abortions, she
said. She believes the newest strategy by abortion opponents ultimately will
backfire. It's not something "mainstream Texans are going to put up with,"
she said.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Police Investigate Texas Abortion Facility on Statutory Rape
Source:   Lubbock Avalanche-Journal; October 20, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
YOUNG MAN COMMITS SUICIDE OUTSIDE CLINIC

 A father who was grieving over his girlfriend's abortion of
 their baby boy, stood in front of the Planned Parenthood
 clinic in Overland Park, Kansas and killed himself on
 September 10, the day his son was due to be born.

 Brad Draper, 44, shot himself in the head in front of the
 Overland Park, Kansas Planned Parenthood clinic on
 September 10. He died later in the hospital. Draper was
 grieving the death his unborn baby son who was killed
 by an abortionist at that clinic.

 According to the family, Draper had seen ultrasounds of his
 son and was very excited to be a father until his
 girlfriend had the abortion without telling him. Family
 members say he killed himself on what would have been his
 son's due date.

Source: Elliot Institute News (dreardon@mine4ever.net)

*     *     *     *     *     *
Japanese Doc Kills His Daughter in Bothed Abortion

Tokyo, Japan -- A scandal-plagued Tokyo doctor faces charges after his
17-year-old daughter died on the operating table while he was performing a
late-term abortion on her, police said Saturday.

Prosecutors accusing the 57-year-old doctor of negligence resulting in the
death have been sent to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

Further charges may arise in the case, according to the police.

Police said that the doctor took his daughter to a gynecologist's clinic in
Fukushima Prefecture during May last year. His daughter was then six months
pregnant.

While performing the abortion, the baby' head destroyed the lining of the
womb. A dose of anesthetic the doctor gave his daughter lost its effect
while she was still on the operating table. The girl died of shock brought
on by a massive loss of blood.

The doctor had once operated the clinic where the fatal abortion took
place, but was embroiled in an insurance scandal and had effectively
stopped working in February 1999. He had neither the equipment nor the
support staff needed for carrying out abortions when he took his young
daughter in to have the abortion, police said.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Japanese Doc Kills His Daughter in Bothed Abortion
Source:   Mainichi Daily News; September 21, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Police: Baby Left in Trash Bin for 17 Hours

St. Petersburg, FL -- A newborn baby girl who was put in a garbage bag and
dumped in a bin survived for about 17 hours before a neighbor rescued her,
police said Tuesday.

The baby's mother, Stephanie Smith, told authorities she delivered the
child at home and dumped her in a bin across the street Sunday, according
to a police report.

A neighbor heard noise and fished the child out Monday, police said. She
was wrapped in a dirty towel with placenta still attached, but was in good
condition despite daytime temperatures of up to 90 degrees.

"It's very unusual for a baby to be born and put in that environment and
not have any problems," said Dr. Benjamin Torres of All Children's Hospital
where the child was taken.

Smith told police she dumped the full-term baby hoping no one would find
out she'd given birth, authorities said.

The 23-year-old was charged with attempted first-degree murder. She
remained hospitalized Tuesday for complications related to the delivery and
was not available for comment. A lawyer had not been appointed.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:  Police: Baby Left in Trash Bin for 17 Hours
Source:   CNN; August 7, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Tiny "Miracle Baby" Had the Will to Live

Rome, Italy -- A healthy 3 1/2-month-old girl who came into the world
weighing just 285 grams (just under 10 ounces) spent her first full day
home from the hospital Saturday, and her doctors said they believe she is
one of the tiniest human beings on record to live so long.

Doctors at Careggi hospital in Florence sent the "miracle" baby home
Friday weighing two kilograms (4.4 pounds), saying she has a nearly 100
percent chance of enjoying a normal life.

"She really had the will to live, she was strong and lively," Margarita
Psaraki, the pediatrician on the baby's medical team, said Saturday. "She
was immediately lively, active. This helped us to help her."

Doctors said that at the parents' wishes, they were identifying neither
the baby nor the parents, who live near Florence. The medical team
nicknamed the girl "Pearl."

The baby was delivered by Caesarean section in early February during the
27th week of pregnancy. At that stage of prematurity, some babies do
survive, but they have weighed much more at birth.

"We were completely taken aback. The weight is usually double that" at the
27th week, said Psaraki, interviewed by phone at her home after finishing
her shift at the hospital.

Psaraki said the baby's survival "is an absolute record."

The previous record was set in the 1990s by a baby in Japan who weighed
300 grams (10.5 ounces) at birth, doctors said Friday at a news conference
in Florence. A low birth weight is considered to be 1.1 kilograms (2.5
pounds) and under.

Early in the pregnancy, "Pearl's" mother was diagnosed as having
arteritis, which is inflammation of the arteries, and at one point was at
risk of needing a leg amputated, the doctors said. That persuaded them to
deliver the baby early but at a stage when survival is possible.

Dr. Firmino Rubaltelli, in charge of the medical team that cared for her,
told reporters that the baby's survival was a "true and proper miracle."
He predicted that her chances for having a normal life are "nearly 100
percent."

When doctors saw how little the baby weighed, they asked themselves: "Do
we go on? And how do we go on?" with her care, Psaraki said in another
interview, on Canale 5, a private TV network.

"I was afraid of holding her," Psaraki told Canale 5. At birth, "she was
25 centimeters (10 inches) long. But that's when she was stretched out.
Normally babies curl up and then she would fit right into your hand."

After delivery, the baby's weight dropped to 255 grams (8.92 ounces), but
she rebounded. Her mother was allowed to nurse when the baby reached 700
grams (1.53 pounds).

Before that, the mother was only allowed to caress her child after donning
sterile gloves.

"Her skin was so thin," said Psaraki, adding that the baby "was struggling
to breathe" and had to be intubated at the beginning.

Doctors said that they asked a company to design special instruments, suc
as tubing, to help care for the baby because she was so small.
The parents, while shying away from publicity, wanted their baby's story
told to inspire hope in other parents, doctors said.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Tiny "Miracle Baby" Had the Will to Live
Source:   Associated Press; May 26, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
British Doc Does Abortion on Woman Without Her Consent

London, England -- A doctor was wrong to carry out an abortion on a woman
without her consent, his lawyer said during a disciplinary hearing.

Alan Jenkins, representing Reginald Dixon at a disciplinary hearing, said
with the benefit of hindsight, the course of action Dixon chose "was not
the right one".

Dixon said he originally did what he thought was for the best when he
aborted Barbara Whiten's baby.

The surgeon faces allegations of serious professional misconduct after he
carried out the abortion during a routine hysterectomy at the King's Mill
Centre in March 1993.

The 11-week pregnancy was only discovered after the operation began but he
was cleared of performing an illegal abortion in a landmark case at
Nottingham Crown Court in 1995.

Jenkins, addressing the General Medical Council Professional Conduct
Committee said his client was aware that Whiten, who was suffering from
endometriosis, had previously stated she did not want to have children.

But the committee panel heard that Whiten, of Jacksdale, who had no
children of her own, had intended to start a family when her two stepsons
were older. Dixon also took into consideration his patient's previous
psychiatric problems - she had taken an overdose following the death of
her father in 1992.

When he spoke to her before the hysterectomy operation, she said she did
not want a second operation, Jenkins said.

He added: "Mr Dixon accepts that it may have been possible to discontinue
the operation and return her to the ward so she could be informed that she
was pregnant and make a decision.

"He discussed it with the anaesthetist who agreed that, in all the
circumstances, to proceed with the operation."

Dixon also attempted to contact Whiten's husband Michael but after half an
hour he went ahead with the abortion and planned hysterectomy.

Whiten was diagnosed with endometriosis in 1989 and was told that,
although not life threatening, the disease had spread.

She took drugs, which stopped her periods, to control the pain, but
Dixon's team of doctors told her the only way to get rid of it would be to
have a hysterectomy. She said she went along with that decision, but did
not insist on the operation, as Dixon's legal team had earlier stated.

In a statement to the police Whiten said "I would have liked to have had a
child but the choice was taken away from me because of the disease.

"There's no way I would have authorised the pregnancy to be terminated,"
she said. "He should have stopped the operation as soon as he suspected
the pregnancy. I should have been allowed to make the decision in regard
to my body and my baby. The only thing I understood was that I would never
be able to bear children."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   British Doc Does Abortion on Woman Without Her Consent
Source:   Nottingham (UK) Evening Post; May 28, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Georgia Girl Killed Because Boyfriend Wanted Abortion

Athens, GA -- A 16-year-old girl in Athens, Ga., was beaten and stabbed to
death because her ex-boyfriend believed she was pregnant and didn't want
her to have the baby, police said.

An autopsy on Tuesday at the Georgia crime lab revealed that Stephanie
Nicole Burnett was not pregnant, Richmond County sheriff's Maj. Ken Autry
said.

Burnett told Matthew John Wiedeman, also 16, that she was pregnant and
wanted to keep the baby and marry him, but Wiedeman wanted her to have an
abortion, Autry said witnesses told police.

Wiedeman and his 17-year-old friend, Raymond Anthony Soto, were charged
Monday with luring Burnett out of her house Sunday night and killing her.

Burnett's brother found her body around 7 a.m. Monday in a parking lot
next to their south Augusta house, police said. She had been beaten with a
solid-steel dumbbell and stabbed repeatedly.

"I think it's one of the most gruesome ones I've ever seen," Deputy
Coroner Grover Tuten said.

Wiedeman, a high school dropout who lived with his father, was being held
Tuesday at the Augusta Regional Youth Detention Center on murder charges.
Police said they plan to try him as an adult.

Soto, another dropout who temporarily lived with Wiedeman, was in Richmond
County jail without bond, charged with murder and possession of a knife
during the commission of a crime.

Autopsy results were expected Tuesday afternoon, Autry said. If
investigators confirm Burnett was pregnant, Wiedeman and Soto could face
additional charges, Autry said.

Autry said the killing took place Sunday between 10 p.m. and midnight. He
said Soto knocked on Burnett's window and talked her into sneaking outside
to talk with Wiedeman.

She followed Soto to the parking lot, where Wiedeman attacked her from
behind with the barbell, Autry said. Police said they believe Soto used a
long-bladed knife during the attack.

Police said the murder weapons were found Monday beneath a nearby storm
drain.

Counselors were brought in Monday and Tuesday to Butler High School, where
Burnett was a student, Richmond County schools spokesman Justin Martin
said.

Burnett's family members said she loved animals and crafts, played soccer
and wanted to be a real estate agent. Her sudden death came as a shock,
they said.

"It's not something we ever planned on, especially for a 16-year-old," her
older sister Rebecca Burnett said. "We're thinking more along the lines of
buying her a car, not a casket."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Georgia Girl Killed Because Boyfriend Wanted Abortion
Source:   Associated Press; April 23, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Tiny Miracle:  Unborn Child Receives Rare Blood Transfusion

Sacramento, CA -- Isaac James Melendez is so young he doesn't even have an
age yet; he won't be born until July 21 or so.

According to the ultrasound pictures, he's a strapping little fellow. And
listen to his wonderfully strong and regular heartbeat as picked up and
amplified by ultrasound equipment: "VROOM VROOM VROOM VROOM VROOM."

Robust as he is, he was on the ultrasound screen at Kaiser Sacramento
Medical Center the other day for an emergency procedure to save his life.

Isaac's mother, Audrey Melendez, has Rh-negative blood and Isaac is
Rh-positive. Antibodies in her blood against the Rh factor are killing off
Isaac's red blood cells. He was anemic and getting more so by the day.

That's where Dr. Colleen Hendershott came in.

Using steady hands and a needle the length of a bicycle spoke, she pricked
a vein in the umbilical cord and drew off some of the baby's blood to
replace it with donated Rh-negative blood that will not be affected by the
antibodies.

Melendez, 35, was lying sedated but awake on her back, covered, except for
her abdomen, in green surgical drapes. At her left hand stood her husband,
Anthony, 39.

And by her left hip stood Hendershott. At her right hip was the ultrasound
technician and the ultrasound machine.

The doctor and the technician pushed and massaged the mother's soft tummy
as they watched the ultrasound image on the monitor, rotating Isaac until
he was in just the right position.

"Is the blood here yet?" someone asked, and as if on cue a gowned worker
entered with a little plastic bag of specially prepared blood that was
promptly hung from a hook above Melendez's right foot.

Then Hendershott went to work with her needle straight into the mother's
abdomen, making tiny movements with her gloved right hand to push the
probe ever deeper.

All the while she peered into the screen of the ultrasound monitor, where
the image was magnified greatly as a ghostly line intersecting the ghostly
cord like a grainy underwater video shot.

Then, with everything connected, the blood was pumped in, several samples
were collected and all the piping and machinery was unhooked with great
economy of motion.

Hendershott, 39, said afterward that she learned the procedure during her
fellowship at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California
Medical Center, where such cases are not uncommon

"I'll do maybe two of these a year now for all the Kaiser hospitals in
Northern California," she said. "But there, where there were always women
who'd had no prenatal care, the procedure was much more common," she said.

The condition can occur with women in their second and later pregnancies,
after an Rh-positive baby triggers the immune response, she said. Medicine
is used to prevent the reactions, but occasional cases such as Melendez's
occur despite the best of care, Hendershott added.

As for performing the intrauterine transfusion, she has an operating room
team of five who know their many jobs cold, and the whole hospital snaps
to attention when one of the procedures is done.

"But the blood center people are the key, of course, and they know their
stuff," she said.

In Isaac's case, Hendershott needed about a half-pint of O-negative blood,
but it had to meet a host of other rigid standards as well, said Dr. Chris
Gresens, associate medical director at BloodSource, formerly the
Sacramento Blood Center.

"Most important is the donor, and we have several donors who can give
blood for fetal transplants," he said. Donors cannot have been infected
ever with CMV -- cytomegalovirus -- a common disease that can prove fatal
to the very young.

Even though blood can be kept for up to 42 days and still be used, fetal
transplant blood must be no more than 5 days old, Gresens said.

"And then we have hands-on work by 10 to 12 different people -- everything
from filtering the white cells from the unit to screening for sickle-cell
trait," Gresens said.

Being the donor in such a case shouldn't make much difference, but it
does, said Kendra Kelly, 27, a donor since her days in high school in the
Glenn County farm town of Corning and now an employee of BloodSource.

Identities of donors are not revealed, and the donor in Isaac's case will
remain a secret, but Kelly said she has O-negative and CMV-negative blood,
so her blood is sought for such infant and fetal transfusions.

"And it makes you feel kind of good to know they're depending on you.
You'll hear other donors who are CMV-negative who'll mention they're 'baby
donors' when they come in," she said.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Tiny Miracle:  Unborn Child Receives Rare Blood Transfusion
Source:   Sacramento Bee; April 20, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Couple Sues Doc for Wrongfully Aborting Healthy Baby

Akron, OH -- A Canton, Ohio couple has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit
claiming a doctor negligently aborted their living, unborn child.

Christine L. and Michael F. Sicker allege Akron-area obstetrician and
gynecologist Barry Fish erroneously determined that their unborn child was
dead and recommended the abortion.

The couple say Fish failed to perform additional tests that would have
shown the baby was alive.

Furthermore, they say Fish failed to tell them that the bothced abortion
removed only an arm of the baby, leaving Christine Sicker to deliver a
"well-formed" baby three weeks later at her home.

In their lawsuit, the Sickers say the 12-week-old baby was intact, except
for a missing arm. A pathologist later determined that the baby was viable
and healthy prior to the abortion, they say.

"They're emotionally devastated by what took place,'' said the couple's
attorney, Donald S. Varian Jr. of Akron. "They are strongly opposed to
abortion, personally and religiously. They feel their baby was terminated
when it shouldn't have been.''

Last week, the Sickers filed a civil lawsuit against Fish in Summit County
Common Pleas Court seeking more than $3.5 million in damages.

According to their lawsuit, the Sickers accuse Fish of "negligently and
carelessly causing the death of a living and viable fetus,'' and of
failing to tell the couple that the process to remove the supposedly-dead
child was botched.

Christine Sicker says in the lawsuit that she has suffered "great pain and
discomfort... and emotional distress.'' She declined comment when reached
at her home Friday.

Fish did not return a message left at his Medina Road office. Lori Rolenc,
his office manager, said Fish had not seen the lawsuit and could not
comment.

The case has been assigned to Judge Brenda Burnham Unruh.

Varian said Fish deviated from acceptable medical procedures by relying
strictly on the results of an ultrasound when he told the couple that
their unborn child was dead.

Fish's interpretation of the ultrasound showed no movement or heartbeat,
Varian said. However, he said, it appears Fish did not perform blood,
urine and pelvic tests that would have revealed a healthy, living baby.

"The family would have done anything to take their baby to full term. The
only reason they didn't is because Dr. Fish told them there was nothing to
go full term with,'' Varian said.

The Sickers have been married 11 years and have a 3-year-old son.

They thought they had conceived their second child in April 2001, Varian
said. Christine Sicker, then 36, had been a regular patient of Fish and
said she visited his office on May 24 to confirm the pregnancy. She
underwent an ultrasound.

During a follow-up visit a week later, Fish diagnosed her with a blighted
ovum, meaning the child she was carrying was not alive, according to the
lawsuit.

On June 18, Fish performed a dilation and evacuation at Akron General
Medical Center.

Despite the procedure, Christine Sicker "passed a well-formed fetus at
home, intact except for a missing right arm'' on July 6, the lawsuit
claims.

The couple had a memorial service and burial for the unborn child after a
medical pathologist's examination, Varian said.

The couple requested the exam "because they were so amazed and so alarmed
when the child was delivered and it appeared to be a full baby, healthy
and viable. They needed to know if the child would have lived,'' he said.

Varian says the pathologist's report suggests the baby was viable with no
genetic defects.

For several weeks after the abortion, Christine Sicker's body "continued
to develop as if pregnant,'' and on Sept. 19, another doctor performed a
dilation and curettage to return her body to "that of a nonpregnant
female,'' according to the lawsuit.

Varian said the couple has received counseling and guidance from their
church to deal with what occurred.

"They're just devastated as a family,'' Varian said. "They don't have any
personal animosity toward Dr. Fish, but they have a great deal of
emotional concerns and want to ensure that something like this doesn't
happen to someone else.''

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Couple Sues Doc for Wrongfully Aborting Healthy Baby
Source:   Akron Beacon Journal; April 21, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
ZIMBABWE - AIDS THERAPY OFFERS HOPE FOR NEWBORNS

HARARE, Zimbabwe, MARCH 25, 2002 (ZENIT.org-Fides).- Takunda, or "Victory,"
is the name of the first baby at St. Albert´s Hospital saved from AIDS by
preventive therapy.  "We will be certain that the therapy was successful in
November this year," Dr. Elisabeth Tarira told the Vatican agency Fides.
Tarira is medical director at St. Albert´s, which is run by the Association
of Women Doctors (AFMM), a Catholic secular institute
started in Italy.  "We began therapy for Takunda last May," the doctor
said. "It was his mother who decided her baby would have the therapy and
chose his name."

"The therapy is simple," she said. "As soon as the mother goes into labor
she is given a dose of 200 mg of Nivirapina, an anti-virus drug.
Seventy-two hours after the birth, the baby is given 0.6 mg per kilo of the
same medicine. However it will be 18 months before we can be certain that
the child is out of danger."

St. Albert´s hospital was founded by Jesuit missionaries in 1964. It is in
the Diocese of Chinhoyi. The AFMM took over in 1983.

Dr. Adele Pignatelli established the AFMM in 1954. Its members are lay
consecrated women doctors and nurses dedicated to serving people in Third
World countries. A beatification cause is under way for one of its members,
Dr. Luisa Guidotti, killed in 1979 in what was then Rhodesia, today
Zimbabwe.

Source: ZENIT News Agency (english@zenit.org)

*     *     *     *     *     *
British Woman Suffers Asthma Death Following Second Abortion

London, England -- A beautician from Worthing, England died from a severe
asthma attack minutes after having an abortion.

Maria Margaret Soule, 27, of Wigmore Road, Worthing, was talkative and
"euphoric" after the abortion. However, she suddenly turned blue and
suffered a cardiac arrest in the recovery room.

Employees at the Marie Stopes abortion facility in Brixton Hill, south
London, battled to revive her. She was transferred to intensive care in a
local hospital where she later died. Soule, a mother of one, had been
diagnosed with mild asthma and had suffered "wheeziness" following another
abortion five months earlier.

An inquest heard it was impossible to say whether the anaesthetic drugs
had led to the asthma attack.

Soule went to the abortion facility on December 12 last year and told
Gedela Rao, an anaesthetist for 32 years, her asthma was "not serious".
Soule arrived in the abortion facility at 3.22pm and the abortion took
eight minutes to perform, Rao said.

He told the hearing: "The recovery was remarkable. She woke up. Not only
did she wake up she was sitting in the middle of the trolley and was
making the most entertaining conversation with [abortion facility staff].
She was disappointed as she was having a beautiful dream which was
interrupted. How lively and entertaining that lady was. She wanted to go
home then and there."

But at 3.45pm Rao was called to the recovery room where Soule was
critically ill. He said: "It was a distressing scene. I found she had
suffered an acute to severe asthma attack." Rao gave her 15 litres of
oxygen, adrenaline, the muscle relaxant atropine and steroids but her
condition deteriorated.

Abortion facility staff attempted heart massage and electric shocks to
normalize her heart rhythm, but she lost consciousness. Rao said he felt
he and his staff had done everything to help her and an ambulance was
called to take Soule to Kings College Hospital.

She lapsed into a coma and was diagnosed as brain dead on December 13.

Dr. Simon Cotton, a consultant at Kings, said he would have used exactly
the same drugs as Dr. Rao.

Pathologist Dr. Debbie Hopster said the only abnormal finding was fluid in
the lungs. She ruled out anaphylactic shock - a severe allergic reaction
to the drugs - as the cause of death.

Dr. Hopster said in her experience five percent of adults who died
unexpectedly were asthmatics. She said: "It is well recognised asthmatics
can die suddenly." Hopster said asthma could trigger abnormal rhythms in
the heart.

Deputy coroner Dr. Adela Williams recorded an open verdict and said: "The
circumstances in Miss Soule's death are so unusual we have no reasonable
alternative."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   British Woman Suffers Asthma Death Following Second Abortion
Source:   Brighton and Hove Argus (UK); March 7, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Woman May Sue Abortion Facilities Anonymously, Court Says

Washington, DC -- Many women suffer severe injuries at abortion
facilities, but few take the abortion business to court because they don't
want to publicize their abortion. Now, a U.S. Supreme Court action could
provide some privacy for those harmed.

The Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling allowing a woman
using the pseudonym, Jane Roe II, to sue an abortion facility in Florida.
Michael Hirsh, the attorney representing Jane Roe II, described what
happened to the woman: "They punctured her uterus, lacerated her colon and
she was taken to the emergency room, finally, where the dead child was
actually removed from the uterus."

Ironically, Hirsh argued his case based on a law designed to guarantee
women the right to access an abortion clinic and billed as a law against
free speech rights of pro-life advocates.

"When they held my client down inside that abortion clinic and would not
let her leave, they violated this federal statute," Hirsh said.

Wendy Wright, spokeswoman for Concerned Women for America, said the
lawsuit reveals an abortion double standard.

"It's ludicrous to even think that an abortion clinic is arguing a woman
can't sue anonymously, because clearly the reason that they have
abortion-on-demand is because of (the original abortion-legalizing
decision) Roe versus Wade, where Norma McCorvey went to court
anonymously," Wright said.

Jean Sapp, of Counselors Corps, said the court, in its decision, upheld
that right.

"By being able to proceed anonymously, hopefully more women will be
encouraged to come forward with their stories of abuse in these terrible
places," Sapp said.

The case now resumes in federal district court in Jacksonville, Fla.

In Roe v. Wade, the "right to an abortion" was based on a so-called
constitutional "right to privacy." To find against Hirsh in this case, the
Court would have had to rule the right to privacy no longer existed -
which would have overturned Roe v. Wade.

Hirsh said he would have loved losing the decision.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Woman May Sue Abortion Facilities Anonymously, Court Says
Source:   Focus on the Family; February 26, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Single Mom Chooses Life Over Abortion, Still Aims for Goals

Albany, GA -- Patrina Flood wasn't planning to have a child without a
husband when she discovered she was pregnant at 21. A senior biology major
at Albany State College, she was planning to be a pediatrician.

Flood considered abortion. She had long talks with the baby's father, a
29-year-old Albany firefighter, and then with her mother.

Then Flood decided against abortion and gave birth to her son, Alexander
Dawson, who is now 2.

"I just didn't want to have an abortion," said Flood, 24. "And I'm glad
now that I didn't, because now that he's here he gives me a boost."

Like many of the other unwed mothers, Flood is young but not a teenager.
She's probably better off than most. She has a bachelor's degree, is
attending classes to earn a certification in medical assistance and works
in the biology lab at Albany State.

Flood, who lives alone with her son, says she has to work closely with an
extended network of family to juggle school, work and parenting. She gets
baby-sitting help, for example, from her mother and grandmother.

She also shares parenting duties with her son's father, who picks his son
up from day care and keeps him several times a week. Though the two no
longer are dating, Flood says she wants her son to have a close
relationship with his dad.

"My mother always says, 'You keep that father-son relationship going,' "
she said.

Flood had hoped to marry Alexander's father, but she broke off the
engagement after six months because, she said, "We weren't ready." She
believes she made the right decision, but sees drawbacks to single
motherhood.

"I feel like in the same household he would see more discipline in the
home," said Flood. "Right now he knows that when he's with daddy, daddy is
going to let him get away with more."

Flood expects to go on to medical school if she decides it really is the
right path for her.

She had to drop out of college her last semester, but returned later to
graduate. "Having Alexander just put me back some," said Flood. "But it
hasn't offset my goals."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Single Mom Chooses Life Over Abortion, Still Aims for Goals
Source:   Atlanta Journal-Constitution; December 8, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Man Murders Baby After Mother Refuses Abortion

Philadelphia, PA -- Montgomery County, Pennsylvania prosecutors yesterday
raised charges against a Montgomery Township man accused of killing his
infant daughter to first-degree murder after the mother told police he had
repeatedly tried to get her to have an abortion.

According to police reports, Henry C. Hohberger III, charged with fatally
beating and shaking 7-week-old Nicole on Nov. 2, was upset that the child
was female and also wanted to avoid paying child support.

He reportedly told a maternity nurse that "I already have a daughter. . .
. It's supposed to be a damn boy."

A coroner's report said the beating of his girlfriend's baby was so severe
that she suffered skull and rib fractures. She died five days later.

Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said it was the
first time in his 16 years in the District Attorney's Office that he had
seen first-degree murder charges, which carry a penalty of death or life
imprisonment, in a child-abuse case.

"I think the commonwealth has a pretty hard burden to meet with that
[first-degree murder] charge," said Marc Steinberg, Hohberger's attorney.

Hohberger, 40, of North Wales, scheduled four appointments at abortion
facilities for his girlfriend, Diane Grant, according to court records,
but she insisted on keeping the child.

Grant, who had been living with Hohberger at his house, went out to buy
groceries after the two had spent the day looking for a new house,
according to a police affidavit. After Grant left, Hohberger told police,
Nicole fell off the sofa while he was in the bathroom. Hohberger told
police he calmed the child down, fed her, and put her to bed before Grant
returned home.

The next day, Grant said Nicole did not look right. The couple took her to
Abington Memorial Hospital. From there, she was sent to Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia because of the severity of her injuries.

A Children's Hospital social worker called police. A doctor there told
police that Nicole's injuries were "diagnostic of physical abuse in its
most severe form."

"The story given to us by the father after the fact is false," Castor
said. "These injuries were inflicted by shaking and blunt force trauma."
An autopsy performed by Bennett Preston of the Philadelphia Medical
Examiner's Office confirmed this, Castor said. Preston ruled Nicole's
death a homicide.

Among her injuries were four broken ribs that were healing. Castor said
that he could not say for sure when those injuries were inflicted. Nicole
also had 11 newly broken ribs, two fractures to her skull, and multiple
hemorrhages to her head and eyes, Preston's report stated.

According to police records, Grant told police that Hohberger had
scheduled four abortion appointments for her and took her to three of
them. The other time, Grant said, he arranged for a limousine to pick her
up.

Each time, she said, she found herself unable to go through with the
abortion.

Police said that Beth Hohberger, his ex-wife and the mother of their
5-year-old daughter, Lauren, told them he did not want Grant to have her
baby and that he felt "trapped" by the pregnancy.

According to police, Hohberger told his ex-wife that he had said to a
maternity nurse: "You don't understand, I already have a daughter! It's a
boy. It's supposed to be a damn boy."

Beth Hohberger could not be reached for comment.

Hohberger also told Garry Newman, a longtime friend, that he was "freaked
out" by Grant's repeated refusals to have an abortion, police said, and
that he was upset at the prospect of paying more child support.

Hohberger's neighbors said that they did not know him well but that they
often saw him tending his immaculate lawn.

They said that Grant had not lived there since a memorial service for
Nicole on Saturday.

Two pumpkins remained on the front porch of the home yesterday afternoon.
A large one, painted green and blue, reads, "Lauren, Daddy, Diane,
Nicole." A second, smaller painted pumpkin, reads, "Lauren and Nicole."

Castor said that Hohberger's efforts to end Grant's pregnancy and the
length of time between the alleged beating and when she was taken to the
hospital were the factors that made him decide to charge Hohberger with
first-degree murder rather than the third-degree murder charge customary
in such cases.

Hohberger had been held in Montgomery Country Prison on $100,000 bail
after being charged last week with aggravated assault.

Hohberger, a tall, thin man who wore tortoise-shell glasses, appeared calm
at his arraignment yesterday before District Justice David A. Keightly in
Lansdale District Court on the new charges. These also include
third-degree murder and lying to police.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Man Murders Baby After Mother Refuses Abortion
Source:   Philadelphia Inquirer; November 15, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Canadian Woman Dies in Abortion Pill Test

New York, NY -- A Canadian woman died during testing of the abortion pill,
and enrollment in the study has been temporarily suspended, the
pro-abortion Population Council reported.

The Population Council, which has the U.S. rights to the dangerous
abortion pill, mifepristone, said in a statement Monday that the death has
been reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canadian
authorities. The FDA approved the abortion pill for use in the United
States a year ago; it has not been approved in Canada.

Initial reports indicated that the cause of death was septic shock
resulting from a rare clostridium infection. The woman's identity and
details of the testing and the death were not released.

``In over a decade's experience and over 500,000 medical abortions
performed with mifepristone and misoprostol in Europe, multiple clinical
trials worldwide, and almost one year of product availability in the
United States, there has been no previous occurrence of this type,'' the
council's statement said. ``We are deeply saddened by this tragic event,
and our thoughts and sympathy are with the woman's family.''

Population Council spokeswoman Christina Horzepa said late Monday that the
council is investigating to ``get a better understanding of the
circumstances surrounding her death.''

The Canadian study was testing mifepristone, also known as RU-486 or
Mifeprex, and a second drug used in tandem, misoprostol. Mifepristone
blocks the action of progesterone, vital for an unborn child to develop;
misoprostol causes contractions to cause a miscarrige of the dead baby.

Only women in the first seven weeks of pregnancy are candidates for the
drugs. Studies show the combination fails to produce an abortion 5 percent
of the time; serious bleeding is one of many problematic side effects.

The FDA approved mifepristone in September 2000, 12 years after European
women began using it and after years of opposition by pro-life groups.

The FDA instructs women to swallow three mifepristone tablets, return to
the doctor two days later to swallow two misoprostol tablets, and return
again within two weeks for the doctor to check that the abortion worked.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Canadian Woman Dies in Abortion Pill Test
Source:   Associated Press; September 11, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Tucson Boy Beating the Odds Following Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Transplant

Tucson, AZ -- A 13-year-old Tucson boy who sparked a citywide drive to
find a bone marrow donor reached the 100-day milestone Wednesday following
his April 16 cord-blood stem cell transplant.

Leukemia patient Carlos Valencia still has weak muscles and a bald head,
but he has gone without a medical crisis that could have taken his life
and his body is healing.

"Yes, I always knew I could . . . pass on - I knew that was a
possibility," Carlos told the Arizona Daily Star. "I did think about it
sometimes, and if He wanted me to go up there, I would go. I was not
afraid of that.

"But I just kept my faith in God, and somehow I always knew I would get
over this. It was never 'why me?' - I guess that's just not how I think
about it. Having leukemia, and having to go through all this, doesn't make
me mad or sad. It made me want to get well."

Carlos' doctors are encouraged by his progress.

"Getting through the first 100 days is a milestone," Dr. Michael Graham,
director of the pediatric bone-marrow transplant program at University
Medical Center, said. "If there is going to be a life-threatening crisis,
that is almost always when it will happen.

"Carlos has done about as well as someone can do at this point. He is
certainly past the biggest hurdles, and we can all breathe a little
easier. Right now, he looks like a success to us."

Stricken out of the blue almost a year ago with chronic myelogenous
leukemia - rare in children - his disease quickly deteriorated into the
acute phase, meaning only a bone-marrow transplant could save his life.

With no matching donors in his family, and few Hispanic donors in the
national bone marrow registry, Carlos was forced to appeal to Tucson to
try to find a donor.

Captivated by this child's eloquent charisma and his terrible plight,
Tucsonans turned out by the thousands at the largest donor drives ever
seen in this city. But despite that overwhelming response, no bone-marrow
match was found, forcing his doctors to try a transplant using imperfectly
matching stem cells from an anonymously donated umbilical cord.

That dropped his survival chances from near 90 percent to around 50
percent. Those are the odds Carlos is now beating.

"Now we can say there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is an
absolution to the family to know that," Carlos' father, Ford Valencia,
said.

"There is finally a lifting of the great fear we have lived with. It's a
horrible fear that grips you - you think of it every single minute. You go
to the edge of hell every day with that fear."

Though the worst of the danger is past, the fight is not over. It may be a
full year before doctors can confidently pronounce Carlos cured, and
before he will one again feel and look like his old healthy self, Graham
said. Immature stem cells take longer to engraft and rebuild the immune
system than does actual bone marrow, he noted.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:  Tucson Boy Beating the Odds Following Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Transplant
Source:   Associated Press; July 25, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
African Country's Official Loses Job Because of Forced Abortion

The President of Guinea Bissau, Kumba Yala, has sacked his
  interior minister, Artur Sanha. Sanha is alleged to have had an affair
  with a young woman who died last month. The woman's family says
  she was forced to have an abortion by people close to Sanha.
  The sacked minister has denied any knowledge of her. Earlier this
  month thousands of young people demonstrated in the capital Bissau,
  calling Sanha a killer.
  (BBC; August 30, 2001)

*     *     *     *     *     *
CT Man Who Killed Mom and Unborn Child Convicted

Waterbury, CT -- A Connecticut drug addict who stabbed a pregnant woman
over a $410 cocaine debt was convicted Monday of killing both Demetris
Rogers and her daughter Antonia, who lived for six weeks after being born.

A three judge panel that heard evidence pronounced Robert Courchesne, 45,
guilty of two counts each of murder and capital felony.  It is a landmark
state case -- the first involving the death of a child who was born alive
after the mothers death.

Courchesne, a former aide at Southbury Training School, now faces a
penalty hearing by jury October 15 to determine if he will be sentenced to
death or life in prison without parole.

"We feel the three-judge panel ruled correctly," Waterbury State's
Attorney John Connelly said.  "The baby was a fetus when her mother was
killed, but she was born alive and lived six weeks.  Antonia was a
person."

Rogers was 28 when she died about midnight on Sept. 16, 1998, of stab
wounds inflicted by Courchesne.  Antonia was born eight minutes later at
Waterbury Hospital.

Courchesne was charged with the infant's murder after a medical examiner
ruled that the 6 pound, 10 ounce girl died from complications caused by
the lack of oxygen in the time between her mother's death and her birth.

Defense attorneys raised legal arguments about when life begins, arguing
that Courchesne should not be charged with the infants death because the
child was unborn when Rogers was slain and therefore did not legally
exist.

But a judge ruled in 1999 that such a charge was legal because the infant
was born alive, lived for 42 days and died as a result of her mother's
murder.

If Courchesne is sentenced to death, he will become the eighth man facing
execution in state jail.  Connelly secured the capital felony convictions
of five of the seven men now on death row.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   CT Man Who Killed Mom and Unborn Child Convicted
Source:   Hartford Courant; September 17, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Nationally Renown Pro-Life Nurse Fired From Christ Hospital Job

Chicago, IL -- Two years after she first ccame into the national spotlight
over her employer's "live birth abortion" policy, pro-life advocate Jill
Stanek said Sunday that she has been fired from her nursing job at Christ
Hospital and Medical Center in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Illinois.

Hospital officials said the discharge Friday had nothing to do with the
delivery room nurse's pro-life views, and Stanek declined to further
discuss what her manager or the human resources department head told her
Friday until she has a chance to talk with her attorney.

Stanek has criticized the hospital since 1999 and has continued to give
frequent media interviews to criticize the hospital's rare use of
labor-induced abortion. She was suspended once for leaking confidential
papers to the media, she said, and twice has been put on "final warning"
probation after breaking an unspecified rule in her employment contract.

A major turn of events took place in February of 2000 when Nurse Stanek
was forced to appear before a hospital Board of Review where she it was
alleged that she had, "contributed to a negative working environment
because of her pro-life activism." She responded that hospital policy,
"limited her rights and entitlement to free speech." She won that round
when the board agreed to revise her evaluation, but let stand an
admonishment.

As part of the abortion procedure, doctors artificially deliver an unborn
child in the second trimester if they detect a severe abnormality that
would prevent her from surviving. But the abortion procedure can also
occasionally result in unborn children living for as long as an hour
outside the womb and hospital staff leave them to die.

In July, Stanek testified on the issue before the U.S. House Judiciary
Committee in favor of the pro-life Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Two
weeks ago, a Chicago newspaper and the Pro-Life Infonet highlighted her
history of activism against the hospital.

When she returned to work Friday from vacation, Stanek was told she was
fired and escorted from the building, she said.

"It couldn't be coincidence this happened right after the article," Stanek
said.

However, hospital spokesman Michael Maggio said the article had nothing to
do with the decision to let Stanek go. "She was the main reason our
hospital became the center of attention in the abortion debate," Maggio
said. "But that had nothing to do with it."

"The article was no precipitating factor. I can tell you that much. ...
The article is a non-issue," Maggio said. "She no longer works at Christ
Medical Center. How that decision was reached, I was not involved."

Maggio declined to explain why Stanek was fired, saying that personnel
files are confidential.

Stanek said she had been on "final warning" at Christ Hospital because she
had encouraged people to picket a doctor who performed abortions. "I
suppose it was a surprise and not a surprise," Stanek said.

Stanek started at the hospital in 1993 and wasn't aware at first that the
hospital performed labor-induced abortions. When she witnessed an aborted
baby with Down syndrome that survived outside the womb for 45 minutes, she
alerted hospital officials, thinking something went wrong, she said.

In 1999, after consulting her pastor, she complained to the Illinois
attorney general's office. Investigators concluded that the hospital
violated no state laws.

But soon after, the hospital's parent, Advocate Health Care, tightened its
policies to no longer permit abortions on unborn children with non-lethal
birth defects like Down syndrome or spina bifida.

The controversy spurred pro-life state Sen. Patrick J. O'Malley of Palos
Park -- now a candidate for the GOP nomination for governor -- to
introduce a package of bills in the legislature that would have given
"born-alive" infants a right to life. After being passed in the Illinois
Senate, it was killed in a House committee.

"Jill Stanek is one of the most courageous women I have ever met," said
O'Malley, a former member of the hospital's governing council who resigned
his post because of the controversy. "I'm astounded they fired such a
talented professional. They're losing one of their best."

Christ Hospital has never performed elective abortions, Maggio said.
Currently it does the abortion procedure in cases of rape, incest, where
the health of the mother is threatened or if fatal abnormalities are
involved.

The hospital typically performs only 15 to 20 labor-induced abortions out
of more than 4,000 deliveries each year, said Rev. Larry Easterling, vice
president of Christ Hospital. But he claimed the practice is common at
hospitals across the nation.

Stanek said that her fight against abortions at Christ Hospital will not
end.

"I will continue to speak out on behalf of the babies who were aborted
alive at Christ," she said. "I'll continue to do what I can to stop the
abortions there."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Nationally Renown Pro-Life Nurse Fired From Christ Hospital Job
Source:   Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown; September 2, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
More DC Medics Say They Were Forced to Have Abortions

Washington, DC -- Three more women in the Washington D.C. Fire and
Emergency Medical Services Department say they had abortions because they
were threatened with job termination, in addition to a rookie who
terminated her pregnancy out of fear, a medic union official said
yesterday.

The three women said they were told as rookies that they could not become
pregnant and take leave, and they must have an abortion if they wanted to
stay employed, medic union leader Kenneth Lyons said at a news conference.

"This is disgusting to me ... that this could happen in this day and age,
in an agency that vows first and foremost to do no harm," said Lyons,
chairman of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3721,
which represents medics and emergency medical technicians.

The District's top public safety official yesterday said Fire Chief Ronnie
Few "is personally involved" in an internal investigation in the matter
and Mayor Anthony A. Williams "made it clear he wanted this investigated
and taken very seriously."

"The mayor is personally concerned that this be investigated fully," said
Margret Kellems, deputy mayor for public safety and justice. "We take it
very, very seriously."

Earlier reports indicated a 21-year-old rookie said she had an abortion
this summer after a supervisor told her she could not be pregnant and keep
her job because she was on probation. Lyons and five fire department
sources identified the supervisor as Samanthia Robinson, interim assistant
chief of operations for EMS. The threat of job termination and Robinson's
suggestion so frightened the woman that she had an abortion, even though
she is a Catholic, said Lyons and the sources, including one who has
spoken to her about the problem.

Just after assignments were made to in-field units, "one of the females
approached the interim chief of EMS operations, Samanthia Robinson, and
informed her that she was, indeed, pregnant and she wanted to start a
family," Lyons said. "According to the young lady, [Robinson told her]
that she had a choice to make and that choice will depend on whether or
not you maintain your employment with this agency. She then went out and
had an abortion," he said.

After having the abortion, the young lady requested time off to recuperate
and was denied leave and forced back on duty, said Lyons. "She was forced
to return to the street and started to hemorrhage," he said.

Kellems said the D.C. Office of Human Rights has been notified of the
situation. Federal and city law prohibit discrimination against pregnant
women. "This is not going to be a perfunctory examination," she said. "All
allegations will be taken seriously and fully investigated."

Kellems said she was not aware that other women in the fire department
said they too had abortions for fear of losing their jobs after they were
threatened. She said any other charges "would be part of an
investigation."

"If there is any indication there is a larger problem than an individual
circumstance, we will look into that ... until we believe we've addressed
the entire issue," Kellems said. She refused to provide details of the
investigation, such as who was conducting it, when it would be complete or
whether Robinson had been suspended.

"Ms. Robinson does not wish to speak to you," fire department spokeswoman
Denise Reed told The Washington Times yesterday.

Asked if officials would administer a polygraph to Robinson, Kellems said,
"I can't get into what may or may not be the strategies and investigative
tools."

Lyons said the rookie medical worker and others fear reprisals from
supervisors and stigma from publicity. He said the internal investigation
will "victimize them twice." The rookie is trying to avoid publicity
because she is distraught and the abortion has caused a rift with her
family, department sources said.

"The department has more than enough information to investigate this,"
Lyons said, adding that the department should change its policy about
pregnancy or hold the supervisor accountable for her comments.

Kellems said she has not read the fire department's policies on pregnancy
and leave, "but I cannot imagine" that rookies are not allowed to be
pregnant. "That would be intolerable," she said. "If you walk around the
fire department, there are lots of pregnant women there."

Robinson told a class of about 10 rookie medic workers that they could not
become pregnant and were not entitled to medical leave if they did, Lyons
and department sources said. Seven of those rookies have corroborated the
account of Robinson's comments, said Lyons.

Lyons also said that many of the employees are hesitant to talk with the
union for fear of losing their jobs. "They were told that if any of this
got out to the public, they would be severely reprimanded to the degree of
possibly being terminated because they were in their first year of
employment," he said.

Lyons added that many employees were falsely informed that they did not
have rights under the union because it was their first year with the
agency.

Other findings by the local union insinuate that this policy of keeping
women from becoming pregnant goes further.

"This unwritten policy is one that has existed over years... female
firefighters now are saying they were under the impression, given their
orientation, that this was the policy. We even have some females saying
they withheld from having children for the first five years of employment
because they were told this," Lyons said.

Even though the fire department does not have such a policy, he says upper
management continued to adopt the unwritten rule.

Louis Malone, the union's attorney, said his firm was examining what legal
recourse to take for the woman who had the abortion and others.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   More DC Medics Say They Were Forced to Have Abortions
Source:  Washington Times , Cybercast News Service; August 31, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Fearing Job Discrimination, DC Woman "Forced" to Have Abortion

Washington, DC -- A D.C. medical worker aborted her child for fear of losing
her job after she and other rookie employees were threatened with job
termination if they became pregnant or took medical leave.
    
A top official from the fire department's Emergency Medical Service told
about eight medical rookies last month that they could not become pregnant
because they are on probation for a year and have no job benefits, according
to the medical union's chairman, five department sources and union attorney
Louis Malone. Union Chairman Kenneth Lyons and the sources said the official
is Samanthia Robinson, interim assistant chief of operations for EMS.
    
"The female medics were told if they get pregnant the first year, they will
be fired," said Lyons.
    
A rookie, who was pregnant at the time, expressed concern to Robinson when
supervisors were giving out ambulance assignments, the sources said. Robinson
then told her she should get an abortion if she wanted to keep her job, Lyons
and the sources said.

Robinson "basically strong-armed her into getting an abortion," said a fire
department source who has spoken to the rookie about the problem.
    
"Those comments are blatantly illegal," and violate the Pregnancy
Discrimination Act, said Malone, who represents AFGE Local 3721, whose
members includes medics and emergency medical technicians in the department.

The threat of job termination and Robinson's suggestion so frightened the
woman that she felt compelled to have an abortion even though she is a Roman
Catholic, said sources, including one who has spoken to her about the
problem. The woman got the abortion "directly as a result" of Robinson
"telling her she couldn't keep her job and be pregnant," said a fire
department source who has spoken to the woman about the situation.
    
D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Ronnie Few yesterday said
through a spokesman that the matter has just now been brought to his
attention, and it will be examined fully. "This allegation is not department
policy," said department spokesman Alan Etter. If the events did occur, he
said, the chief considers the matter very serious.
    
The woman, 21, is trying to avoid publicity because she is still distraught,
and the abortion has caused a rift with her family, several department
sources said.  "She is young, religious, scared and ashamed," said one
source. "She feels she has morally abused herself."
    
Other department sources, including a medic who recently worked with her,
echoed that characterization.
    
"This poor girl. She's a young girl, naive and would do anything to save her
job," said one medic who has worked with the woman. "She was given the
impression that that's what she had to do for her job, so she went out and
did it."
    
The woman, who is engaged, has suffered medical problems since the abortion,
according to Lyons, medics who have worked with the her and other department
sources.  Several department sources who have worked with the woman have
described her as "distraught."
    
Officials with the medic union have been collecting statements from the
rookies who said they were threatened. Many have been hesitant to provide the
written accounts because they fear retaliation, Lyons said. Lyons told The
Washington Times that he raised the matter with Chief Few, and the chief
later told him that Robinson denied making the statement. Malone confirmed
that Lyons had brought the matter to Chief Few in the past several weeks, and
that the chief issued a denial.
    
One source said the woman has been subject to harassment by supervisors as
word of the incident has spread within the department.

Malone said at least 10 women in the department have called him in the past
few weeks to recount other incidents where officials discriminated against
them because of pregnancy. "When they heard about this, it has really
triggered their consciousness," he said.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Fearing Job Discrimination, DC Woman "Forced" to Have Abortion
Source:   Washington Times; August 30, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Forced Abortion
By Steven W. Mosher


On March 29, 1997, a young, pregnant woman—we’ll call her Jane Roe,
II—entered the Aware Woman Center for Choice in Florida.  She was there
for an abortion.

She was undressed and put on the operating table.  Soon after the
procedure began, she felt a pain pierce her vitals.  Racked by “extreme,
excessive pain in her abdomen,” she begged the abortionist to stop.  “Call
an ambulance!” she cried, “Take me to the hospital!”

The abortionist, a Dr. William P. Egherman, refused.  When Jane tried to
get up, Egherman ordered his assistants to hold her down.  Four pairs of
hands gripped Jane’s arms and legs, rendering her immobile.  He continued
the abortion.

Jane was eventually taken by ambulance to an emergency room where it was
discovered that Ehgerman had perforated her uterus and lacerated her
colon.  Follow-up surgery was required to remove her now-dead baby and
repair her internal organs.

Fortunately Jane’s story doesn’t end here.  

With the help of a pro-life attorney, Chris Sapp, Jane filed suit against
Ehgerman and the owners of the abortion clinic.  She charged that their
actions violated the Freedom of Access of Clinic Entrances Act (FACE).

FACE makes it a felony punishable by ten years in prison to intentionally
interfere with anyone’s ability to obtain reproductive health services.  A
product of the Clinton administration, it was originally used only to
silence pregnancy counselors and others outside of abortion clinics who
urged alternatives to abortions.  But Mr. Sapp made the novel argument
that FACE should also protect women like Jane Roe from the horror of
forced abortion.

In a major setback for the abortion industry, the Eleventh Circuit Court
of Appeals agreed.  “If the defendants restrained Roe for the purpose of
preventing her from obtaining any [reproductive health services], then she
has adequately pleaded a violation of FACE.”[1]

This decision by the federal courts has effectively criminalized forced
abortion.  Coerce a woman into an abortion, sterilization, or other
reproductive health services she does not want and you may spend up to 10
years in federal prison.

We think of forced abortions as happening only in countries like China,
but they are very much part of the abortion scene in America.  
Many—perhaps most—of the abortions done today in the United States are
violations of federal law.  The man who threatens to beat his pregnant
girlfriend unless she gets an abortion is violating the FACE act.  The
college counselor who tells a pregnant 19-year-old student that she “must”
get an abortion is violating the FACE act.  And abortion clinic personnel
who make it impossible for a woman to change her mind after entry are
violating the FACE act.

This new legal precedent can also be used to help protect women against
the full range of abortion-related abuses, including lack of informed
consent and lack of information about the harmful side-effects of
abortion.  Ultimately, it can help protect millions of victims from the
horror of abortions performed under physical and psychological duress.

This is why Population Research Institute has launched a national campaign
to protect American women against violations committed in private and
state-funded abortion clinics and family planning centers throughout the
U.S.   We call it “About FACE.”

For years, PRI has worked to end coercive practices in U.S.-funded family
planning programs abroad.  “About FACE” will help to end such abuses in
government-funded clinics at home.

With “About FACE,” we will educate sidewalk counselors in the new law.  We
will publish a simple how-to manual telling people how to identify when a
felony is being committed at an abortion clinic.  (When someone spots an
obviously distressed woman being led into an abortion clinic, he can now
call in a federal marshal.  The marshal will then investigate the abortion
clinic on probable cause that a felony is being committed.  With a felony,
you don’t need a search warrant, only “probable cause.”)
  
With “About FACE,” we will tell young women whose human rights have been
violated how they can seek redress in the courts.  We are publishing, both
in print and electronic formats, a “Know Your Rights” brochure that will
outline the new precedent.  Written in simple, non-legalistic language,
and available in both Spanish and English, it will encourage young women
like Jane to step forward.

With “About FACE,” we will educate pro-life attorneys. Working with Chris
Sapp and the Counselor Corps, we will lay the areas where the Eleventh
Circuit’s decision may be applicable, and assist them in their own cases.

With “About FACE,” we will turn the FACE act on its head.


[1] Jane Roe, II vs. Aware Woman Center for Choice, Inc., a Florida
corporation, Edward W. Windle, Jr., Patricia B. Windle, and William P.
Egherman, M.D., United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit,
No. 00-10231, filed June 8, 2001.
_____________________________________
PRI Weekly Briefing
7 August 2001
Vol. 3/ No. 20
Steven W. Mosher is the president of Population Research Institute a
non-profit organization dedicated to debunking the myth that the world is
overpopulated.
Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute widely. Credit requested.
To subscribe to the Weekly Briefing, send an email to:
Mail to: JOIN-PRI@Pluto.Sparklist.Com

The Population Research Institute is committed to ending human rights
abuses committed in the name of “family planning,” and to ending
counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of
“overpopulation."
Population Research Institute
1190 Progress Dr., Suite 2D
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, Virginia 22630
USA
http://www.pop.org
Media Contact: Vince Criste
540-622-5240 Ext. 206

*     *     *     *     *     *
Media Receives Threats in Case of Abortion Practitioner Killing Wife

Oklahoma City, OK -- At least three local news agencies have received
letters threatening violence against Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes
Lane or a state witness in a case Lane is prosecuting.

The threats -- received by The Oklahoman newspaper, KWTV NEWS9 and another
television station -- warn of retribution if Lane does not drop the
charges against John Baxter Hamilton, an Oklahoma City abortion
practitioner who is accused of beating his wife to death on Valentine's
Day.

The letter to The Oklahoman was typed in capital letters and dated July 9.
It was mailed from within Oklahoma City and carried no return address. The
newspaper's address appeared to have been cut from an issue of the paper
and taped to the envelope.

"You all will have a big news story soon ... if Wes Lane doesn't drop
charges against Dr. Hamilton," the letter reads. "One of his witnesses
will be dead -- we have tried to warn her."

KWTV NEWS9 received a similar letter on Tuesday. KFOR Channel 4 received a
letter in June.

The letter sent to KFOR threatens the life of Lane. The letter warns that
lane will die if he doesn't drop charges against Hamilton. The letter says
Lane's witness will also be dead and warns that it is "very serious."

All three news agencies turned the letters over to police or the district
attorney's office. Police said they are investigating the threats.

As Hamilton's preliminary hearing ended June 25, Oklahoma County sheriff's
deputies questioned and photographed court spectators. Lane said the
measure was part of an investigation into written threats that were made
against his office and against a witness.

The letter writer could face felony charges of attempting to intimidate a
witness, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Hamilton is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 14 beating and
strangulation death of his wife, Susan Hamilton, 55. At the time, Mack
Martin, Hamilton's attorney, said Hamilton is not guilty of killing his
wife. "I visited with my client and we are not going to be trying this
case in the media," Martin said after the arraignment. "We'll be
presenting everything in the courtroom. I appreciate your interest, but
that is all we have to say at this time."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:  Media Receives Threats in Case of Abortion Practitioner Killing Wife
Source:   The Oklahoman, KFOR; July 18, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Korean Abortion Practitioner Charged With Murde

  Seoul Police Office announced Friday that officers had arrested a Doctor
Park, the head of a maternity hospital, and charged him with murder. Park
advised a patient who was seven months pregnant to have an abortion as the
unborn child had physical deformities. He induced a partial birth abortion
and injected the unborn child with poison. Park was also charged with
doing 59 abortions, including abortions on 13 teenagers. Nurses testified
that the unborn child cried after the partial birth and that was why he
used the injection. Currently the South Korea Abortion Law allows abortion
only in cases of rape or deformities, but bars it for any reason after
seven months. Police indicted without custody seven others for doing
abortions on underage girls. (Digital Chosun Online Newspaper; July 20, 2001)

*     *     *     *     *     *
Baby Born After Chemical Abortion Makes for Special Mother's Day

Hernando, FL -- Nicole Saia believes she is celebrating her first Mother's
Day by the grace of God. The birth of Alexandria Nicole Saia on April 5
was, she says, a miracle.

When 18-year-old Nicole learned that she was pregnant, she followed the
urging of the baby's father to have an abortion. The unmarried couple
traveled to an abortion facility in Gainesville, Florida where the young
woman received an injection of methotrexate, part of the RU 486 chemical
abortion process. She was told it would kill the fastest-growing cells,
which would be the placenta, and was given suppositories with the
instructions to take them five days later to cause the contractions that
would expel the dead baby.

Two days later, Nicole said, she realized that she did not want to abort
her baby, so she told her parents what she had done. The three discussed
the problem and then Nicole's mother made a suggestion.

"I said, "The first thing we're going to do is pray and put you into
Jesus' hands, because this is definitely out of ours,' " said Joan Saia.
"Next day, Nicole got on the phone and called the abortion clinic. They
told her the embryo was dead and there was nothing to do. She called the
pharmacy and they said the drug could cause deformities, but the baby may
still be alive. They didn't know."

Nicole wanted to find out more about methotrexate. When she called Citrus
Memorial Hospital, she was advised to call the Genesis Women's Center in
Inverness. She explained her situation and received a call back with a
message from Dr. Steven Roth telling her to come right in.

An ultrasound was performed, and on her 19th birthday, Nicole found out
that her baby was alive.

"I guess the way (Dr. Roth) felt about it was, if I would have a change of
heart, he was going to do everything in his power to help me," said
Nicole.

"That's exactly what I told her," said Roth. "I said, 'If you're not going
to go through with this, I'll do whatever I can.' I had her take
Leukovorin (a drug given in cancer treatment along with methotrexate to
protect normal cells) to overwhelm the chemical she took."

"I had never written a prescription for Leukovorin in my life. I had to
call somebody else to find out what the dosage was. I think God had a hand
in opening up my mind in using that as a possible treatment option and
certainly in just protecting that baby. Even having Nicole come to us and
just the way it worked out that day. He was in it from the very
beginning."

Nicole took the prescription until the following Monday when a second
sonogram showed that the baby was still alive. She had passed the crisis
period.

The growth of the baby was carefully monitored and in early November
Nicole found out through a sonogram that she was carrying a little girl
who had no visible deformities. In April, she went into labor three weeks
early and delivered a 4-pound, 7-ounce girl, whom she named Alexandria.

"I watched the birth through the mirror. It was strange," said Nicole.

"It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, but having her early made
me nervous and with her being so small, I was really scared. When she was
in the nursery, every two hours I was in there feeding her, and at night I
couldn't sleep, so I'd stay in there, and all the time that I was spending
with her I was realizing she was mine."

Nicole, who will soon complete her bachelor's degree in business
administration at Saint Leo University's Ocala campus, says it hasn't been
easy being a single mom. She lives at home with her parents and younger
sister, and her grandmother is right next door to help.

"I love her, but it's hard. I'm a single mom and I had to finish out
school this semester. I'm going back to work, so it's hard doing it by
myself, and even now I still worry that something may be wrong."

She acknowledges a local crisis pregnancy center for their help.

"I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. My whole family has been
wonderful along with all the outside support. The Life Choice Care Center
helped me emotionally through my pregnancy. My church, my college. I
couldn't ask for a better family or a better support system."

"My main concern was that God's will be done," said Joan Saia. "I wanted
my daughter to be safe. I wanted the baby to be safe. I just go with
what's handed to me. When I feel it's completely out of my hands, I just
put it into God's. I have a very strong faith and the power of prayer, I'm
a very strong believer in that."

Her own mother, Vivian, passed that faith onto Joan.

"It's a miracle," said Vivian about the baby's birth. "It's really what
God wanted, because in the beginning we were all concerned that the baby
would be not perfect in some way. But she is absolutely perfect, a little
bit small, but she's got all her fingers and toes. I know she hears
because she winces when there's a big sound, and we know she sees because
when we take a picture, a flash will cause her eyes to blink open and
close."

As for Alexandria's father, he knows that Nicole did not go through with
the abortion and that she gave birth, according to Mary Lou Hendry,
director of the Life Choice Care Center.

Nicole said she wants to tell her story to save other girls from the
emotional strain she endured.

"When I went to the abortion clinic, I talked to the counselor. I was
crying and I told her that I didn't want to do this and that I wasn't
ready to do it, but she told the doctor that I was fine and to go in for
the procedure. If I had taken the suppositories, I would have miscarried,
but it would have been a live baby and there's no way I would have known.
So some of these people who are getting the two-process chemical abortions
might actually be aborting a live child, because the first shot doesn't
always work."

Roth said he thinks Nicole is a hero.

"She's the one who had to go through the whole pregnancy not knowing if
her baby was going to be deformed or what might happen. It was a very
brave and wonderful decision that she made, and I'm just so excited for
her."
You can see a picture of Nicole, Alexandria and Nicole's mother and
grandmother at http://www.sptimes.com/News/051301/photos/cit-mom.jpg

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Baby Born After Chemical Abortion Makes for Special Mother's Day
Source:   St. Petersburg (FL) Times; May 13, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Baby May Save Mother's Life
First Ever Newborn-to-Mother Transplant Gives Mom Best Mother's Day Gift

San Bruno, CA -- A toddler in Florida may be giving her mom the best
mother's day gift ever -- the gift of life.

Doctors at one of the nation's leading cancer transplant centers are
preparing for a first-of-its-kind transplant where they will infuse a
little girl's cord blood stem cells into her mother, who has chronic
myelocytic leukemia (CML). More than 1,500 cord blood transplants have
been performed world-wide, but never before has cord blood been used for
the newborn's mother.

The surgery is important because it involves stem cells obtained from an
umbilical cord -- an important pro-life alternative to obtaining stem
cells from killing unborn children.

The family arranged with Cord Blood Registry(TM) to preserve the stem
cells that remained in their daughter's umbilical cord after she was born
three years ago because of the potential life-saving benefits of the
cells. Stem cells are the building blocks of the blood and immune system
and are used to treat more than 30 types of cancer and blood disorders.

The cells have been in storage at the Registry's laboratory in Tucson,
which is affiliated with the University of Arizona, and now give the
Florida family the best odds for cancer recovery. Using family banked cord
blood has many advantages over stem cells from an unrelated donor -- most
importantly, the survival rate doubles for patients being treated with
related cord blood stem cells. One reason may be because when tissue is
matched for a transplant only 6 major HLA proteins are considered. With a
relative's stem cells, however, many of the minor HLA proteins are likely
to match as well, which may decrease the risk of graft-vs-host disease, an
often fatal reaction to transplant.

To date, thirteen Cord Blood Registry families have used their banked
newborn's cord blood for transplantation and all have successfully
engrafted. Early test results for the pending transplant reveal that the
daughter is a near perfect, 5/6 HLA match for her mother -- promising news
and a potential gift of life this Mother's Day.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Baby May Save Mother's Life
Source:   Cbr Systems, Inc; May 10, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Comatose Mother Gives Birth to Full-Term Baby

  A Kentucky woman who has been in a coma since November
  gave birth Monday to a healthy, full-term baby girl at Cincinnati's
  University Hospital in what doctors are calling a medical miracle.
  Alexis Michelle Cooper was born healthy and normal at 7 pounds,
  7 ounces, even though her mother, 24-year-old Chastity Cooper,
  has been in a coma since about a week after conception. Mrs.
  Cooper had suffered severe head injuries in a car wreck. "She's
  precious. We waited for this baby a long time and she's absolutely
  adorable,'' said Steve Cooper, 24, Alexis' father.
(Cincinnati Enquirer; July 25, 2001)


*     *     *     *     *     *
Abortion Practitioner in Kansas Quits Performing Abortions

Wichita, KS -- Abortion practitioner Kristin Neuhaus announced Thursday
she will no longer perform abortions. Neuhaus had been charged by state
investigators with performing an abortion on a woman who had withdrawn
consent. Neuhaus has denied the allegation through her attorney.

"This is a major victory for the pro-life movement and women in Kansas.
Neuhaus not only was killing babies in Wichita, but she was also
performing bad medicine," noted Kansans for Life Executive Director Joan
Hawkins.

Just recently, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts delivered a reprimand to
the executive director and board for granting a continuance to Neuhaus.
She had been scheduled for a public hearing to culminate the 18- month
disciplinary investigation.

"If the Board of Healing Arts is unwilling to take action to protect the
public from the shoddy medical practices of Kristin Neuhaus, at least her
diminished practice will prevent more women from becoming her prey.  We
hope the Board will take action to protect the public by restricting her
ability to practice anywhere in Kansas," Hawkins explained.

The Board's findings included: failure to document patient adverse
reactions, failure to perform physical exams, failure to monitor and
document patient vital signs, failure to record drug dosage, failure to
assess for discharge, failure to hold patient until recovery.  The most
alarming findings were the administration of sedation against a patient's
consent, abortion without a patient's consent, and failure to provide
informed consent.

According to the board, one women gave limited consent to abortion without
sedation. When she withdrew consent and tried to leave, Neuhaus and staff
sedated her and performed the abortion.

The Board first became aware of Neuhaus questionable medical practices
after a DEA investigation in 1999, after which all of her employees were
subject to random drug testing.  In August of 2000, the Board declared
Neuhaus to be an "immediate threat."  In total, Board findings included 11
counts of ordinary negligence, 2 counts of gross negligence, 4 counts of
failure to provide informed consent, 3 counts of failure to provide
appropriate consent, 5 counts of unprofessional conduct and 4 counts for
failing to maintain patient medical records.

"Based on a reading of the record, it appears that Neuhaus has been
running an assembly-line abortion factory where all the women receive the
same amount of sedation with no accounting for unique physical or medical
histories.  The record shows there was a failure to complete medical exams
and syringes were found pre-loaded.  Her history is finally catching up to
her - I only wish the Board would.  Any statements made by Neuhaus that
she is leaving practice because her life is in danger can only be to cover
up the allegations against her," Hawkins concluded.

For additional information, contact:  Kansans for Life, 2501 East Central
Avenue, Wichita, KS 67214-4511, (316) 687-5433
From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Abortion Practitioner in Kansas Quits Performing Abortions
Source:   Kansans for Life; May 10, 2001

*     *     *     *     *
Malpractice Killed Wisconsin Woman in Legal Abortion Death

Madison, WI -- A Wisconsin high school teacher who got an abortion because
her unborn child had Down syndrome died after she was poisoned her during
the abortion, an attorney said Tuesday at the start of a medical
malpractice trial.

Two people performing the abortion caused the death of 35-year-old Linda
Boom because the chemicals they injected to kill the unborn child got into
her bloodstream and caused fatal heart damage, said the attorney, Patrick
Dunphy of Brookfield.

But Randal Arnold, attorney for Sinai Samaritan Medical Center of
Milwaukee, contended that one of the two, Karen S. Watson was "not
negligent in any fashion." Her supervisor and a former co-defendant,
Daniel Gilman, successfully filed a motion to be dismissed from the case
in August 1999.

The attorneys made opening statements to a Milwaukee County Circuit Court
jury in what is expected to be a two-week trial before Judge Stanley
Miller. The lawsuit was filed by Boom's widower, 51-year-old Dennis Boom
of Bayside, who has taught at Cedarburg (WI) High for 23 years.

Linda, a mathematics teacher, and Dennis, a science teacher, met at the
school in 1983 and married in 1993, Dunphy said. They planned to have a
child and in June 1995 they learned that Linda had become pregnant, he
said.

But three months later, Linda decided to get an abortion after learning
that the unborn child had Down syndrome, Dunphy said. The syndrome is a
chromosomal abnormality that is a common cause of mental retardation.
Linda's aunt suffered from it and "in Linda's mind, Down syndrome meant no
life," he said.

An "amnioinfusion termination of pregnancy" was performed on Sept. 21,
1995, at Sinai Samaritan. Boom died 36 hours later following the abortion.

Watson injected the first chemicals into Boom and she began to suffer pain
and complained she was "burning up all over," Dunphy said, quoting medical
notes. The procedure was then taken over by Gilman, who had performed more
than 100 abortions and was supervising Watson, 36, a fourth-year resident
at the time who is now an obstetrician/gynecologist in Milwaukee.

Gilman then injected a second set of chemicals into Boom and both sets
caused the fatal heart damage, Dunphy said. He is in private practice in
Milwaukee, could not be reached for comment.

Watson is not named personally in the lawsuit but attended the trial.

Arnold, of Milwaukee, said the injection Watson gave is not generally
believed to be enough to be fatal because it is a "test" injection. He
said Watson was not negligent because the supervising physician took over
and gave the second injection.

Arnold also said that Boom's cause of death is in dispute and may never be
known. Dunphy, however, said that the Milwaukee County Medical examiner's
office determined that the chemicals caused Boom's death.

The needles were supposed to be injected into Boom's womb, but Watson did
not use ultrasound before inserting the needle and instead put the
chemicals into Boom's bloodstream, Dunphy said. He said he would still
present evidence of negligent on behalf of both Watson and Gilman. If the
jury decides Watson was negligent, then Sinai Samaritan would be held
responsible for any damages.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Malpractice Killed Wisconsin Woman in Legal Abortion Death
Source:   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; April 25, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Abortion Practitioner Convicted of Manslaughter in Abortion Death

Phoenix, AZ -- An abortion practitioner was convicted of manslaughter
Tuesday in the death of a woman following a botched abortion and a former
abortion facility administrator was found guilty of negligent homicide.

John Biskind, 75, and Carol Stuart-Schadoff, 63, were both charged with
manslaughter in the death of LouAnne Herron, who died three hours after an
abortion at the now-closed A-Z Women's Center abortion facility in Phoenix
in 1998. An autopsy found Herron's uterus had been ruptured by a medical
instrument.

``We don't usually prosecute doctors for bad medicine, but this case was
so bad we had to make a stand,'' prosecutor Paul Ahler said.

Prosecutors said Biskind and Stuart-Schadoff caused the death by providing
little care for Herron as the 33-year-old woman bled heavily. Prosecutors
also accused them of ignoring sonograms showing Herron had a pregnancy too
advanced to have an abortion.

Sentencing was set for March 20.

Jurors disapproved of Biskind's decision to leave the abortion facility as
Herron lay dying. ``We all agreed from the start of deliberations that he
was guilty,'' said jury foreman Russell Craig, a 56-year-old retired
government worker.

Jurors also were struck by Stuart-Schadoff's disregard for a sonogram
showing the unborn child was more than 24 weeks old and her failure to
schedule a nurse during Herron's abortion.

Biskind had no comment. His attorney, Lawrence Kazan, said the jury made a
crime out of a medical mistake. ``We're sorry the jury didn't see it our
way,'' Kazan said. ``We think at worst this was a case of medical
malpractice.''

Stuart-Schadoff's attorney, Cameron Morgan, said he wants a new trial.
``Obviously we disagree with the verdict,'' Morgan said.

The case led to a state law, now being wrangled in the courts, that would
require a medical license for places performing more than six abortions
per month and analyses of unborn children aborted after 12 weeks. The
Legislature is also considering a bill requiring abortion practitioners to
provide abortion information to women at least 24 hours before having an
abortion.

Arizona law does not give a specific date after which an abortion can no
longer be performed, but it prohibits aborting an unborn child after it
becomes viable, or able to live outside the womb.

The abortion facility advertised itself as the only place in Arizona
performing abortions up to 24 weeks

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Abortion Practitioner Convicted of Manslaughter in Abortion Death
Source:   Associated Press; February 20, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Abortion Practitioner Who Molested Women Free on Bail

Phoenix, AZ -- Phoenix abortion practitioner Brian Finkel, jailed on
charges of sexual misconduct with patients, was freed on bond Thursday.

"I wouldn't wish this on anybody," Finkel said as he left Madison Street
Jail about 6 p.m. "There's a major public health problem in there."

Superior Court Judge Pamela Franks claimed that Finkel is not a flight
risk and lowered his bond Wednesday from $203,000 to $100,000.

"I was in there with necropheliacs, baby-killers, mother-killers and
stranger-killers," he said. "I just want to go home to my wife and
children."

Finkel was charged Oct. 24 with 16 counts of sexual abuse and one count of
sexual assault involving nine patients. Ninety additional women have come
forward since then, also alleging sexual misconduct by Finkel.

Finkel is on house arrest, monitored by an electronic bracelet. He faces
an Aug. 5 trial.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Abortion Practitioner Who Molested Women Free on Bail
Source:   The Arizona Republic; January 17, 2002

*     *     *     *     *     *
Woman Wins Botched Abortion Lawsuit vs. Planned Parenthood

San Francisco, CA -- A woman who remained pregnant following a botched
abortion three years ago has been awarded $672,610 from Planned
Parenthood. As the court clerk read the jury's award Wednesday, the woman,
whose unborn child lost two limbs in the abortion attempt before being
aborted months later, lowered her head and wept, convinced her three-year
court battle was finally over.

And it is, but only for now. An attorney for Planned Parenthood Golden
Gate, which oversees nine abortion facilities in the Bay Area, vowed to
appeal the award. "It's definitely going to be appealed," Lynn Stocker
said Thursday.

But for the time being, the case is finished.

"I feel that there is justice after all," the 28-year-old woman said
following the decision Wednesday. (The woman, is referred to only as
"J.B." in court records.)

The three-week trial dealt only with how much J.B. was owed for her pain,
not whether Planned Parenthood was liable. San Francisco Superior Court
Judge Douglas Munson ordered the pro-abortion organization be held
responsible for its failure to turn over critical medical documents to
J.B. and her lawyer.

Stocker said she would not comment on why Planned Parenthood refused to
turn over the documents, saying only that the organization felt they were
"irrelevant" to the woman's case. But J.B. said the documents -- which
include internal Planned Parenthood procedures and her medical records --
must have contained something the pro-abortion organization didn't want
her to see.

"If someone is covering up the evidence, it's obvious they have something
to hide," J.B. said. "Why would you wash your hands if they weren't
bloody?"

The woman, a Yugoslav immigrant, described her experience in her testimony
and in the original lawsuit.

In October 1997, she discovered she was pregnant and went to Planned
Parenthood. But the "care" she received at the abortion facility was less
than ideal, said her lawyer, Chris Dolan. The first-trimester abortion
J.B. sought went awry.

Medical experts testified that J.B. was probably pregnant with twins. But
the abortion she underwent in December 1997 only fully aborted one child.
Though she was told the abortion was complete, J.B. said, she still felt
pregnant two weeks later in a follow-up exam, and called several times for
advice. Each time, she was told that her symptoms were normal.

But on Feb. 18, 1998, J.B. demanded a urine test. The same nurse who had
long assured her nothing was wrong came back horrified. J.B. was still
pregnant, her lawyer said.

She had been carrying the unborn child for nearly six months. The Planned
Parenthood facility does not do abortions late in the second trimester, so
she was given an apology, a list of places who would do abortions in the
second trimester, and shooed out the door, Dolan said.

Though Planned Parenthood did relent and pay for the second abortion, J.B.
was emotionally traumatized, something that would only get worse.

An ultrasound at a Buena Vista, California abortion facility revealed the
remaining unborn child had only one arm and one leg. "She sees the
ultrasound, and has an emotional collapse," Dolan said. "She has to go
through a three-day procedure to terminate the fetus' life, something that
absolutely wrecks her."

Since that abortion, Dolan said, his client has been haunted by visions of
babies being killed, has contemplated suicide, and cries uncontrollably at
the sight of young children -- particularly twins.

"She is like a shattered human being," said the attorney, adding that J.B.
has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. "She has been
unable to be in a relationship since this happened. She can't get in close
proximity to a man without shaking and, sometimes, vomiting."

The trial began Feb. 2, and the jury returned its verdict after two days
of deliberations. They awarded her $650,000 for mental anguish, $1,870 in
past medical costs, $14,500 for future psychiatric expenses and $6,240 in
lost earnings.

"I think deciding the economic damages were fairly easy," said Paula
Brown, who served as the jury's forewoman. "But the non-economic part was
more difficult. It's not really easy to put a dollar amount on someone's
life." In the end, however, Brown said the jury went with Dolan's
recommendation, finding it was fair.

Fair or not, the award will be reduced, due to a 1975 California law that
limits non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases to $250,000.
Though upheld by the courts on several occasions, the cap has never been
increased. Brown, surprised by this, said the law bordered on the
ridiculous. "If it's our judgment it's our judgment," she said. "The 12
people in that room fought for that verdict."

Another juror, Isobel Jones, who appeared on the edge of tears as she
discussed the case, said the trial was emotionally wrenching. Jones, a
corporate lawyer who is herself 28 weeks pregnant, wonders why she was
picked for the case at all.

"I don't know how I did it, but I was told by the judge to be fair, and by
God I did it," she said.

--
From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Woman Wins Botched Abortion Lawsuit vs. Planned Parenthood
Source:   San Francisco Examiner; February 24, 2001
The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and
information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to:
infonet-request@prolifeinfo.org. Infonet is sponsored by Women and
Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). For more pro-life
info visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org and for questions or additional
information email ertelt@prolifeinfo.org

*     *     *     *     *     *
Abortion Practitioner Arraigned in Wife's Murder

Oklahoma City, OK -- An Oklahoma City abortion practitioner charged with
killing his wife kept his head lowered Friday as he appeared before a
judge on closed-circuit television.

John Baxter Hamilton, 52, quietly said, "Yes," when Oklahoma County
Special Judge Russell Hall asked him to verify his name. Hamilton is
charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 14 beating and strangulation
death of his wife, Susan Hamilton, 55, at their Quail Creek home.

Mack Martin, Hamilton's attorney, was in the judge's chambers as his
client, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, stood before the video camera.
"I'll visit with you later today," Martin told his client. Hamilton has
been in jail since the evening of the slaying. The judge continued to deny
him bail.

Martin said, "We're going to enter a plea of not guilty, obviously. We're
going to vigorously, steadfastly and as carefully and conscientiously as
possible defend this case to the very end."

Martin earlier said Hamilton is not guilty of killing his wife. "I visited
with my client and we are not going to be trying this case in the media,"
Martin said after the arraignment. "We'll be presenting everything in the
courtroom. I appreciate your interest, but that is all we have to say at
this time."

Oklahoma City police declined on Wednesday to release additional
information about the slaying. However, their investigation continues.
"They have still got all kinds of scientific and technical evidence that
has to be evaluated and reviewed," Martin said. "There are all kinds of
things still going on. They have got DNA, fingerprints, lab reports that
haven't even been looked at yet."

Susan Hamilton was beaten with a blunt instrument, Oklahoma County
District Attorney Robert Macy said in court documents that list 39
witnesses in the case. "It was a very violent crime," Macy said. The
prosecutor refused to release additional information about the slaying.

The medical examiner released a preliminary cause of death Friday. A final
report will not be completed for several weeks. Susan Hamilton died of
blunt force trauma to the head and ligature strangulation - or
strangulation brought on by something being tied or pulled tightly around
her neck, according to the medical examiner's preliminary report.

Hamilton was arrested about six hours after he made a 911 call reporting
that he thought his wife was dead. Hamilton has been held in the Oklahoma
County jail for seven days without bond. A judge earlier ruled there was
probable cause to detain Hamilton pending formal charges being filed. On
Tuesday, District Judge Virgil Black allowed him to attend his wife's
graveside service under the supervision of sheriff's deputies.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Wintory appeared for the state, but
refused to comment.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Abortion Practitioner Arraigned in Wife's Murder
Source:   The Oklahoman; February 24, 2001


*     *     *     *     *     *

Celine Dion says priest told mom not to abort her

HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 9, 01 (CWNews.com) - Canadian music star Celine Dion has said
that she credit's her family's parish priest for convincing her mother not to
abort her.
Dion said her mother was initially devastated when she learned she was
pregnant with Celine, the 14th child in the family, and she asked the priest
if she could have an abortion. The priest upheld the teachings of the
Catholic Church and told her that she could not abort her child.
"He told her that she had no right to go against nature," she said. "So I
have to admit that in a way, I owe my life to that priest."
Dion added, "Once she got over her disappointment, my mother didn't waste any
time on self-pity, and loved me as passionately as she'd loved the last
little one."  

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Abortion Survivor Speaks Out at CPC Event

(Gianna Jessen)

Ark. City, KS -- "...Consequences and usefulness are nothing to us. Duty

and right, these are to be our guides..." -- Charles Spurgeon

This is a favorite quote of Gianna Jessen, who managed to survive an

attempted saline abortion. Her biological mother, Tina, 17 years old at

the time, was in her third trimester when she decided to go to the

abortion facility.

After spending a day there, Tina went into labor around midnight. She woke

the sleeping nurse who told her to go back to bed and she would be there

in a minute. Tina felt the need to push, but neither the nurse nor doctor

were nowhere near.

Tina couldn't wait any longer. She pushed and then heard a penetrating

sound she wasn't supposed to hear. It was the cry of a new born baby.

Weighing a mere two pounds, Gianna made her triumphant, indignant way into

the world.

At the age of 17 months Gianna was placed into foster care and was soon

diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Doctors believed that she would never be

able to sit up independently and she had a very small chance to crawl or

walk.

However, Gianna, with the help of consistent love of a dedicated foster

mother and family, proved doctors wrong.

She was 3 1/2 years old when she was finally adopted by Diana DePaul, the

daughter of Gianna's foster mother. Slowly, Gianna's physical condition

improved and after four delicate operations she was able to walk and run

without the assistance of leg braces or other help.

Now, Gianna has become a motivational speaker telling her story to

audiences all over the country. Her main desire is to reach young people.

Combining humor and honesty she challenges young adults with issues such

as sexual abstinence, forgiveness, courage, perseverance, faith and

obedience to Christ.

Gianna will be coming to Arkansas City to tell her story and speak for the

unborn on Saturday, Feb. 24. The banquet at which she will be the featured

speaker will be held in the Wright Room of the Brown Center on the Cowley

County Community College campus at 6:30 p.m. Food will be catered by

Gallaway's.

Tickets can be obtained at Family Life Services, 305 S. Summit, Arkansas

City, or by phone at (316) 442-1688 or 1-800-922-7874. Cost is $25 for a

single and $40 for couples.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>

Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>

Subject:   Abortion Survivor Speaks Out at CPC Event

Source:   Ark. City (Kansas) Traveler; February 20, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Unborn Baby Miraculously Survives Wreck That Kills His Mother

Associated Press; December 20, 2000

Rowena, KY -- An unborn baby was saved by paramedics yesterday after his

mother was killed in a tractor-trailer wreck in southern Russell County,

Kentucky.

``It's a miracle baby,'' said Jeff Landers, a part-time emergency medical

technician with the Russell County emergency medical service. ``After what

he went through, the rest of his life just ought to be downhill from

there. This child is going to be special."

The baby, who police said was torn from his mother's womb during the

accident, was named Patrick for the first person to find him after the

wreck. ``I was just wanting to pick that baby up and hold it,'' said

Trisha Welch, a teen who raced to the site after hearing the crash.

The baby was in critical condition last night at Kosair Children's

Hospital in Louisville, hospital officials said.

The woman who died was 33, but her name was withheld last night by

Kentucky State Police to allow her next of kin to be notified. Her family

lives in South Africa, said Trooper Scott Hammond.

The woman's fianc, also the baby's father, was driving the truck and

suffered only minor injuries, but Hammond wouldn't release his name

because of his relationship with the woman. The man was born in 1953 and

is from Massachusetts, Hammond said.

The tractor-trailer was southbound on U.S. 127 about 10 miles south of

Jamestown when the driver lost control, possibly because of black ice, and

ran off the road around 10 a.m., Hammond said. ``It's a bad curve, a very

bad curve,'' Hammond said.

The driver was wearing a seat belt, but the woman was in the sleeping

compartment and sat upright as the truck jackknifed, Hammond said. The

tractor-trailer hit an embankment and overturned onto its left side, he

said, and the woman was thrown through the windshield and caught

underneath the truck.

The woman was eight months pregnant, Hammond said, and the baby, who

appeared to suffer only a gravel-sized cut on the left knee, was lying

next to her still attached by the umbilical cord.

Both father and son were taken to Russell County Hospital, where the

father was able to hold his son's hand briefly, Landers said. "You could

just see it in his eyes, the happiness but also the sadness," Landers said

of the father.

Patrick was upgraded from critical to fair condition today and was being

transferred to a hospital in Louisville.

*     *     *     *     *

Surgeons repair embryo's heart in the womb

By MEGAN BROWNE

SURGEONS in Austria have achieved a world first by opening and rebuilding the defective heart valve of an unborn child

whose body was no bigger than a tennis ball while it was still in its mother's womb.

Doctors practised on a model heart before carrying out the revolutionary operation on the valve that was no more than four

millimetres in diameter.

The 27-week-old embryo was operated on at the specialist children's heart ward at the Women's Hospital in Linz after heart

failure was diagnosed following a scan of the twenty-five-year-old expectant mother's womb.

The right-hand chamber of the heart, which is responsible for the circulation to the lungs, was not working at all because the

heart valve was completely sealed.

Doctors decided to operate because the embryo had no chance of survival without immediate intervention. The woman was

taken to Linz from a hospital near her home in Vienna.

Linz has a special centre for heart problems in young children. The doctors who carried out the operation, Wolfgang Arzt and

Gerald Tulzer, yesterday said: ``We practised the operation many times on a model of the heart.''

Previously, only 13 attempts had been made worldwide to carry out heart operations on an embryo and only one child

survived until birth. The Linz operation was the first time doctors had operated to correct such a serious fault on a completely

closed heart valve.

A special needle for the operation had to be imported from Berlin.

The operation was carried out by a 10-person team and lasted over six hours.

The doctors reported that the ``embryo remained calm and still throughout the operation''.

*     *     *     *     *     *

More than a week before the 28th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe
vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion, Olivia Gans urged people to join
the anti-abortion movement. Gans, director of American Victims of Abortion,
said the regret and emotional pain over the abortion she had 20 years ago when
she was an unwed student convinced her that abortion is wrong. In 1985, she
began publicly speaking against it.

"My own child died in 1981. That experience brought me to the movement," Gans
said. She spoke at the Catholic Diocese of Allentown's 17th annual Vigil for
Life and Love held at the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena in Allentown.
The theme was "Healing, After the Choice."

Gans' biographical material said she had an abortion after she "submitted to
the pressure of abortion advocates and her boyfriend." She helped organize a
peer post-abortion support group. In 1985, she became director of the American
Victims of Abortion, an outreach project of the National Right to Life
Committee.

Gans appears regularly on CNN, National Public Radio and other nationally
syndicated programs. She has spoken at numerous colleges and around the world
about her post-abortion experience. Gans said a "culture of death" has sprung
up around us that promotes abortion and euthanasia. "We tolerate the death of
millions," she said. "We believe the lies and pay someone to kill our
children," she said.

Gans said she felt hopeful that through President-elect George W. Bush's
administration "we'd be able to eradicate everything that has gone wrong."
She said "hope remains" and is "the single most important expression of God's
love."

Source: Pro-Life E-News (enews@interlife.org)

Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 13:02:23 -0700
From: "SueW" <gswidemark@home.com>
To: "Cinlife_mailing list" <cinlife@cin.org>
Subject:  "HEALING, AFTER THE CHOICE"

*     *     *     *     *     *     
Woman in India Dies Following Early-Term Abortion

Mumbai, India -- A case has been registered by the Tardeo, India
police
against an abortion practitioner attached to the family planning
center of
the Indian Medical Association at Tardeo for being negligent
while
performing an abortion on a woman, who died last night.

According to police sources, Vidya Sonawane(28) was two months
pregnant
and had requested for an abortion. The abortion was performed by
Dr
Neelang Shah. However, shortly after the abortion, the woman
became
critical and was shifted to Nair Hospital, where she died, the
police
said.

Her husband, Waman Sonawane, made a complaint at Tardeo police
station
that the doctor had been negligent while performing the abortion.
Police
sources said a case has been registered under section 304(a) of
the Indian
Penal Code, and Shah had been called for a statement. Though he
has not
yet been arrested, the police will decide on the future course of
action
only after the post mortem examination, sources said.

The President of the Indian Medical Association, Dr SG Shanbag,
said the
center is a government recognized center and Shah has been
working here
full time for several years. This was the first incident of its
kind and
they would wait for the police investigation into this case, he
said.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Woman in India Dies Following Early-Term Abortion
Source:   Indian Express Newspaper; February 27, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Brigham and Women's Hospital runs an abortion clinic

One of the most highly respected hospitals in the nation, Brigham and
Women's Hospital, which runs an abortion clinic, allegededly intends to keep an abortionist, an OB-GYN, even though the abortionist made death threats to
several nurses who work at the clinic,  because "abortion doctors are so hard to find".

The nurses told Boston police that Dr. Rapin Osathanondh made the
threats during a staff meeting.

They quoted the obstetrician-gynecologist as saying, ``I'm going to
execute people. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to execute you,
Texas-style.''

Instead of firing the doctor, the hospital is talking about replacing
the 5 nurses who filed a grievance, with CNA's.  While the CNAs would
save the hospital an appreciable amount in salaries since CNAs work
for a much lower salary range than do RNs, CNAs only attend school for
6 months and one would wonder what effect this would have on the
patients.

More shocking, is their decision to keep the doctor - are they waiting
for this mentally derranged individual to hurt or kill a patient
before they 'realize' he shouldn't be working?

Legal abortion - safe?  Ask the family of Lou Herron of Phoenix-AZ, 31
years old who bled out while Dr Biskind ate his lunch and told the
nurses to 'not bother' him.

No, legal abortion seems at times only giving the back street butchers
a clinic to operate in!

By the way, the reporter on the above news story  mistakenly said the hospital was going
to replace the NURSES with Nurse Practitioners (who are more like
physicians assistants or doctors).

Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 09:20:59 -0700
From: "SueW" <gswidemark@home.com>
To: "Cinlife_mailing list" <cinlife@cin.org>
Subject: respected Boston Hospital keeps insane abortionist
Message-ID: <001201c098fd$9d0e93e0$7be70118@phnx1.az.home.com>

*     *     *     *     *     *
ARIZONA ABORTIONIST CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER

An Arizona abortionist will serve five years in prison for
allowing a patient to bleed to death after performing a
botched abortion on her.

John Biskind, 75, was convicted of manslaughter for the 1999
death of 33-year-old LouAnn Herron. Biskind was accused of
leaving the clinic after the abortion, even though staffers
told him Herron was having problems. The former clinic
administrator, Carol Stuart Schadoff, was convicted of
negligent homicide in the case. Herron's death forced the
clinic to close and led to new legislation regulating
abortion in Arizona. (Source: Associated Press and Arizona
Republic, May 5, 2001)

*     *     *     *     *
Woman Begged For Help Before Her Abortion Killed Her

Phoenix, AZ -- A frantic patient begged to know what was wrong with her as
she lay bleeding to death in a Phoenix abortion facility after a botched
abortion, a medical assistant testified Monday.

"Is everything OK? What's wrong with me?" LouAnne Herron reportedly asked
as blood collected under her body at the A-Z Women's Center abortion
facility.

The chilling testimony by medical assistant Teresa Jensen came during the
trial of abortion practitioner John Biskind, 75, and Carol
Stuart-Schadoff, his administrator, who are charged with manslaughter in
the April 17, 1998, death of Herron, 33, after an abortion.

The case raised questions about the adequacy of safeguards for women who
undergo abortions in Arizona - some of which have yet to be resolved.

Maricopa County prosecutors on Monday opened the second week of the
estimated monthlong trial.

Jensen said Herron was frightened and begging for information about her
medical condition around 2 p.m., as she lay in the recovery room after her
1:30 p.m. abortion. Her blood loss was "above anything I could deal with,"
and her blood pressure was too low, Jensen testified.

"She was scared about her condition," Jensen said.

Michele Price, another medical assistant, also testified that when she
lifted the sheet covering Herron "it looked like she was bleeding a lot."
Price said that the blood was fresh and covered an area "all underneath
her, down to her knees," adding, "It was more than I had ever seen
before."

An autopsy revealed that Herron's uterus had a tear 2 inches by
three-fourths of an inch.

Jensen testified that when Biskind was called to check on Herron in the
hectic recovery room, he restarted her stalled intravenous tube that held
blood-clotting medicine and tried to soothe her, telling her to "just lay
down," and that "everything would be fine."

Stuart-Schadoff, alerted about Herron's worsening condition, also came
into the recovery room. While she was there, Biskind complained that if he
had a nurse and qualified staff, they would have known what to look for,
Jensen said. In that case, she suggested, he wouldn't have had to restart
the IV.

The comment has brought up the charge that abortion facilities do not have
qualified staff trained to competently handle abortions and medical care
after an abortion.

That was vital testimony for prosecutors, who say Biskind left the
abortion facility while Herron was still in serious medical trouble even
though he knew there was no registered nurse on duty. Stuart-Schadoff has
been charged in the case in part because she failed to schedule a
registered recovery room nurse.

Prosecutor Paul Ahler has hammered at the lack of experience of the
$7-per-hour medical assistants who were caring for Herron that day.

Under cross-examination, Jensen acknowledged her original impression of
Herron's blood loss and low blood pressure could have been wrong because
of her inexperience as a postoperative medical assistant. She also
conceded that she couldn't remember if she planned to notify Biskind of
her concerns about Herron's condition.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Woman Begged For Help Before Her Abortion Killed Her
Source:   Arizona Republic; January 30, 2001
The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and
information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to:
infonet-request@prolifeinfo.org. Infonet is sponsored by Women and
Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). For more pro-life
info visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org and for questions or additional
information email ertelt@prolifeinfo.org


-- -- --
*     *     *     *     *
FLORIDA WOMAN WINS COERCED ABORTION SUIT

A Florida woman has won a lawsuit accusing her former
employer of coercing her into an abortion because her baby
was biracial.

Nikki Schmitz won a judgment of over $466,000 against the
Fisher-Pou funeral home after jurors found that supervisors
invaded Schmitz's privacy and subjected her to "extreme and
outrageous" behavior. Schmitz's lawyer said he plans to
retry part of the case after jurors deadlocked on whether
the supervisors' actions involved racial discrimination.
(Source: Associated Press; Feb. 11, 2001)

*     *     *     *     *
Abortion Practitioner Accused of Murdering His Wife

Oklahoma City, OK -- An Oklahoma City abortion practitioner was arrested
Wednesday after police found a woman's body in his home in the Quail Creek
housing addition. John Hamilton, 52, was booked into the Oklahoma County
jail Wednesday night on a murder complaint. The Oklahoman has learned that
the victim was Susan Hamilton, 54, his wife.

Shortly after 11 a.m., police responded to a "trouble unknown" call at the
couple's house. Officers found a woman with "visible trauma to the body,"
said Capt. Jessica Cummins, a police spokeswoman. The woman was pronounced
dead at the scene.

A cause of death was not released Wednesday. From the beginning, police
treated the death as a homicide. John Hamilton was taken to police
headquarters for questioning. About 5 p.m., he was arrested.

"There was probable cause, based on the evidence at the scene, witness
statements and information developed during the course of the
investigation," said Sgt. Cris Cunningham, a police spokeswoman. Police
officers stayed at the house all night. In the morning, detectives
returned to complete the physical investigation. Police plan to conduct
further interviews, Cunningham said.

On Thursday, Police Chief M.T. Berry refused to release to the media a
tape of the 911 call. Police also have not released basic information --
including where the victim was found inside the house.

"He was devastated," said Mack Martin, John Hamilton's attorney.

Police would not speculate on a motive for the killing, but neighbors were
stunned as word of Susan Hamilton's death spread through the affluent
community.

"They were always together," a neighbor said. "They seemed like the ideal
couple. I'd hate to think he had anything to do with this."

For hours, police and news crews blocked the roadway leading to the house.
After discovering the body, police strung crime scene tape around the
sprawling 1 1/2-story brick house and waited on the periphery for a
warrant that would allow them to search the house and remove the body.

Dozens of cars pulled up and drove slowly away, the drivers' heads turning
to follow the house until they passed out of sight. Many passersby didn't
know a violent death had occurred inside the house. They didn't see the
front door gaping open, the wind blowing the pale curtains on the windows.

About five hours after the body was discovered, police obtained a warrant.
Technical investigators began a search for clues. The state medical
examiner took custody of the body.

One neighbor remembered Susan Hamilton as "a beautiful person" who was
apologetic that her husband's job brought protesters into the otherwise
quiet neighborhood. "Way back when the anti-abortion people were really
active, they used to picket out in front of their (the Hamiltons) house
all the time," the neighbor said.

"He does a lot of abortions," Martin said. "He's had a lot ... of problems
at his residence with picketers ... due to the fact that he does
abortions."

In 1984, John Hamilton sold the Oklahoma City Clinic for Women abortion
facility. He is still listed as the administrator of it.

Susan Hamilton's family declined comment Thursday. "It's still way too new
to be talking about this," said Steve Shibley, the victim's brother.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Abortion Practitioner Accused of Murdering His Wife
Source:   The Oklahoman; February 16, 2001
--
The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and
information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to:
infonet-request@prolifeinfo.org.

*     *     *     *     *     *
Abortion Practitioner Pendergraft a Step Closer to Jail

Ocala, FL -- James Scott Pendergraft moved a step closer to prison
Tuesday, with a federal appeals court judge rejecting his bid to remain
free on bond while he appeals his conviction on conspiracy, mail fraud and
attempted extortion charges.

In a decision issued Tuesday, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge
Stanley F. Birch Jr. denied Pendergraft's request. Pendergraft's lawyer,
Bruce Rogow, said he would file an emergency motion today asking that a
panel of three judges from the 11th Circuit reconsider Birch's ruling.

Pendergraft, who operates the Ocala Women's Center abortion facility and
four other Florida abortion businesses, was convicted Feb. 1, in Ocala.
Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges later sentenced him to
46 months in prison for the crimes.

Rogow said he was surprised and disappointed by Birch's decision, but
still was hopeful about today's emergency review motion. "If I lose this
motion, I will be very disappointed," he said. "I firmly believe that
there are substantial issues here."

Pendergraft spokeswoman Marti Mackenzie said she was glad the case had
moved out of an Ocala courtroom to the appellate court in Atlanta.

If the appeals court upholds Birch's ruling, or refuses to convene a panel
to reconsider it, Rogow could appeal to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony
M. Kennedy. Unless Birch's ruling is overturned, Pendergraft is scheduled
to report to a federal prison in Atlanta on July 25.

Even if he goes to prison, Pendergraft is determined to keep all five of
his abortion businesses operating, Mackenzie said. "There's no question
about that," she said.

Pendergraft's co-defendant, Michael Spielvogel, began serving his own
41-month sentence at a federal prison camp at Eglin Air Force Base near
Fort Walton Beach last week. Spielvogel was convicted of the three charges
Pendergraft was, and two additional charges of filing a false affidavit
and making a false report to the FBI.

The charges stemmed from comments both men made during a meeting in March,
1999, between Pendergraft, his then-lawyer Roy Lucas, Spielvogel and
county attorney Virgil "Bill" Wright. At the time, Pendergraft had a
lawsuit pending against the Marion County Sheriff's Office, the Ocala
Police Department and local pro-life advocates.

A videotape of the meeting, secretly taped by the FBI, showed Lucas
threatening to seek a $100 million judgment against the county, based on
comments County Commission Chairman Larry Cretul allegedly made
threatening the Ocala abortion facility. Pendergraft threatened to
bankrupt the county.

Spielvogel made similar allegations against Cretul in an affidavit filed
earlier in the civil case.

Unknown to Spielvogel and Pendergraft, the FBI secretly audiotaped
telephone calls between Cretul and both men. At the trial, Spielvogel
admitted that Cretul didn't threaten him, Pendergraft or the Ocala
abortion facility.

Pendergraft's lawyers are appealing his conviction on several grounds,
including claims that federal prosecutor Mark Devereaux made during his
closing argument indicated racial bias against Pendergraft. Devereaux has
denied those allegations.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Abortion Practitioner Pendergraft a Step Closer to Jail
Source:   Florida Star Banner; July 18, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
Florida Woman Files Forced Abortion Lawsuit

Miami, FL -- - A fired Seminole Indian employee charged in a lawsuit
Thursday that the tribe's chairman got her pregnant, forced her to get an
abortion she didn't want and fired her after she did.

Christine O'Donnell sued in federal court, accusing James Billie, the
tribe's top leader, with sex discrimination, violating the Pregnancy
Discrimination Act and inflicting emotion distress.

"Ultimately, she was terminated all because Chief Billie wanted to get
even," said O'Donnell's attorney Andrew Hall.

A message left at the tribe's legal office in Hollywood was not
immediately returned.

O'Donnell claims Billie arranged $125,000 in payoffs after she became
pregnant on a business trip with Billie, his wife and daughter to New York
last July. Billie demanded she get an abortion or quit because "the baby
would look like him (and) dire political consequences would follow" if she
stayed and had the baby, the suit said.

After getting the abortion, she said her work environment became hostile,
Billie reduced her duties as a $100,000-a-year grant compliance officer,
and she was fired last November.

O'Donnell was hired as an executive assistant in the tribe's
administrative office in 1982 and was propositioned by Billie in 1985,
beginning a 15-year "on demand" sexual relationship, the suit claims.

"It was implied that these sexual relations were a condition of plaintiff
O'Donnell's employment," the suit said, claiming Billie regularly used his
leadership position to coerce women employees into having sex with him.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:  Florida Woman Files Forced Abortion Lawsuit
Source:   Associated Press; May 10, 2001

*     *     *     *     *     *
A tiny premature baby who weighed only 1 pound and 11 ounces [765
grams] when he was born in Nevada last October is now active and alert
and weighs nine and a half pounds. The boy, named Fallon Thompson,
should be off oxygen within a couple of weeks after spending four
months in the premature baby unit at St Mary's Regional Medical Center
in Reno. He was born after only five months inside his mother and was
originally given very little chance of survival. Charlotta Sullivan,
Fallon's grandmother, said: "I had never seen anything so little but
yet so perfect." [Las Vegas Sun, 13 February]

(Las Vegas Sun)

*     *     *     *     *     *
MAFIA, UNLICENSED DOCTORS LINKED TO CLINICS

Chicago (CNSNews.com) - A federal racketeering probe in Chicago
alleges that a Mafia don owns and operates a prominent local abortion
clinic and actively tries to bribe friendly politicians on the
premises. But pro-life activists say the case, entitled "The People v.
Anthony Centracchio," is only one example of the questionable
activities at abortion clinics here and possibly elsewhere.

"What type of doctors work in these clinics? Many have lost legitimate
practices and find the abortion industry welcomes them. Medical boards
are reluctant to deal harshly with abortionists because of the
political nature of abortion," said Joan Maloof, a program manager at
the Post-Abortion Counseling and Education Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

"Abortion clinics and providers are not held to the same standards as
are  other medical professionals," Maloof said, adding that the
clinics get away with it because the federal government does not
regulate abortion clinics.

Maloof's concerns were echoed by Carol Everett, a former abortionist
who turned to Christianity and became the president of the pro-life
Heidi Group, Inc. Everett said the unregulated, cash-payment nature of
the abortion industry lets providers hire doctors who've lost their
practices, even for illegal drug abuse and other serious
indiscretions.

Everett claimed doctors at the clinics are often hired as independent
contractors and information about their earnings is not readily
available to  the Internal Revenue Service. "There are no 1099s.
Nothing," she said.  "Everyone's paid in cash."

Although there are no reliable statistics on how many of these
lucrative,  cash-based clinics are run by gangsters, the ongoing
prosecution here in  Chicago opens a new view to the world that exists
at the intersection of  abortion and organized crime.

Source: Pro-Life E-News (enews@interlife.org)

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 21:36:02 -0700
From: "SueW" <gswidemark@home.com>
To: "Cinlife_mailing list" <cinlife@cin.org>
Subject: MAFIA, UNLICENSED DOCTORS LINKED TO CLINICS

*     *     *     *     *     *
Babysitter Sentenced in Abortion Trauma Death An Iowa babysitter who
claimed that post-abortion trauma led her to kill a toddler by
slamming him on the floor has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Tifany Meyers, 19, pled guilty in October to second-degree murder in
the death of 21-month-old Joel Vasquez. She later asked for a new
trial on the grounds that her depression over an abortion she had only
days before Vasquez's death prevented her from understanding her
constitutional rights. The judge denied the request for a new
rial.

*     *     *     *     *
Doctor Pleads Guilty in Abortion Injection Case

A New York doctor has pled guilty to attacking his pregnant girlfriend
outside a Bronx hospital and injecting her with methotrexate, an
abortion-inducing drug, in an attempt to end her pregnancy.

As part of a plea agreement, Dr. Stephen Pack admitted attacking Joy
Schepis last April and injecting her with the drug, but he will serve
no more than three years in prison for the incident. Schepis gave
birth to a healthy baby boy in late November.

*     *     *     *     *
Woman Will Serve No Jail Time in Forced Abortion Case

A Florida woman who forced her 15-year-old daughter to go to an
abortion clinic at gunpoint will not serve any time in jail or have a
criminal record. Glenda Dowis, 42, was sentenced to two years'
community service and three years' probation as part of a plea
agreement.

Dowis was arrested after telling an employee at a Fort Pierce abortion
clinic she was going to "blow her [daughter's] brains out" if she did
not abort, and her daughter wrote on a form that her mother was
forcing her to have an abortion. Abortion facility workers called
police, who later found a gun in Dowis' car. Prosecutors say they
accepted Dowis' plea agreement because her daughter, who did not have
an abortion but no longer lives with her mother, refused to testify
against her.

*     *     *     *     *
Ex-Football Player Convicted in Abortion-Murder Case

A former NFL football player must serve at least 18 years in prison
for hiring someone to murder his pregnant girlfriend in November 1999
after she refused to have an abortion.

Rae Carruth, a former wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, was
convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for helping kill his
girlfriend, Cherica Adams, by blocking her car so another man could
pull up and shoot her. Prosecutors say he planned the shooting to
avoid paying child support for his unborn son, who survived. Adams
died of massive injuries about a month after the shooting.

*     *     *     *     *
Abortionist Accused of Doing Nonconsensual Abortion

The Kansas state medical board has filed a petition against an
abortionist for performing an abortion without the patient's consent.
Kristin Neuhaus of Lawrence is under investigation for sedating a
woman and performing an abortion on her after the woman had withdrawn
her consent on June 7.

Neuhaus had earlier been temporarily banned from giving anesthesia
pending an investigation into whether anesthesia and sedatives were
properly administrated and the abortion clinic was adequately equipped
to handle emergencies. The current investigation could result in fines
and/or the suspension or loss of Neuhaus' medical license.

*     *     *     *     *
Abortionist Convicted of Attempted Extortion, Sued for Malpractice

An abortionist was convicted Jan. 30 of attempting to extort millions
of dollars from a Florida county by falsely accusing a county official
of making bomb threats against his abortion clinic.

James Scott Pendergraft, the owner of several abortion facilities,
faces up to 30 years in federal prison. His real estate advisor,
Michael Spielvogel, who admitted in court that he lied about the
threats to the FBI, could serve 40 years. Pendergraft is also facing a
lawsuit filed by a former patient, Ladye Williamson, accusing
Pendergraft of botching an abortion on her and perforated her uterus,
resulting in an emergency hysterectomy. The abortion took place at the
Orlando Women's Center, another clinic owned by Pnedergraft.
Williamson's lawyer said that timing of the malpractice suit has
nothing to do with Pendergraft's extortion conviction.

*     *     *     *     *
Planned Parenthood agrees to pay $1 million plus to settle breast cancer misdiagnosis case

WASHINGTON, DC --- _The trial was about breast cancer, not abortion or
politics,  said James Linnan, the attorney for 24-year-old Lisa
Joseph, whose breast cancer was misdiagnosed by Planned Parenthood
Mohawk Hudson in New York. According to the Jan. 23 edition of the
Glen Falls, N.Y., Post Star, Joseph was awarded a settlement in excess
of $1 million. The paper reported that Joseph has two to five years to
live and is undergoing weekly chemotherapy.

In a conversation with STOPP International, Linnan said he was not
permitted to discuss the settlement; but he noted the Warren County
Supreme Court trial testimony is public record. Linnan has given court
transcripts to the New York State Department of Health in an effort to
spur a full-scale investigation into Planned Parenthood Mohawk
Hudson's medical practices.

During the trial, Planned Parenthood's medical director defended its
nurse practitioner, Ella Mary Wylie, who testified that she could
diagnose cancer with her fingertips. Linnan said one doctor testified
that such practice was "outrageous." Another doctor voluntarily
testified against Planned Parenthood despite his prior association
with it.

On two separate occasions, Wylie told Joseph that the lump in her
breast was not cancerous. Joseph was told she was too young to have
cancer. Two months later, she sought a second opinion elsewhere and
had the lump removed. However, the cancer has found its way into her
chest wall.

"This is another tragic case involving a Planned Parenthood clinic and
we have exposed others in recent months," said STOPP International's
national director, Edward Szymkowiak. "We urge prayers for Lisa, and
we urge women to think twice about going to any Planned Parenthood
clinic for any reason."

STOPP is a division of American Life League, the nation's largest
pro-life educational organization with more than 375,000 supporting
families
STOPP / P.O. Box 1350 / Stafford, VA 22555 /
http://www.stoppinternational.org

*     *     *     *     *
WATCH OUT NORTH AMERICA - CREEPING GESTAPO TACTICS IN THE WORKS!

VANCOUVER, BC, Mar 26, 2001 (LSN.ca) - The ruling
New Democrat Party in British Columbia has unveiled a
government resolution pro-life leaders are calling the
"most extreme government measure on abortion in all
of North America."  Labour Minister Joy MacPhail is
set to present the resolution to "help protect the right of
BC women to make their own choices on reproduction"
today or tomorrow and it will be subject to a vote in the
BC legislature.

The resolution includes:
- Increased funding for school and community groups promoting sex
education, birth control, and (pro-abortion) counseling
- Increased funding for the medical training of abortionists
at UBC (University of British Columbia)
- Enhanced access to abortifacient morning-after pills
- Promoting RU-486
- Increased fees for abortionists
- Funding for increased security for abortionists and abortuaries

Pro-life leader Ted Gerk, a board member of Campaign Life
Coalition BC (CLCBC) told LifeSite that with the resolution
the government has "declared war on the pro-life movement."
Gerk, who is the Webmaster for CLCBC's website noted that
four additional components of the resolution would have pro-lifers
targeted by law enforcement agencies, require by force of law
that all hospitals perform abortions, deny statistical information
related to abortion to pro-lifers, and have abortionists
included under hate crimes legislation as a special class of protected
"victims." The absolute extremism of these points requires they be
quoted since a paraphrase might be doubted due to the inherent fanaticism.

"Requiring under provincial law that obligations for hospitals to be
operated and managed to ensure access to abortion services can
only be lifted by the Legislative Assembly"

"Providing additional financial support for law enforcement agencies
to co-ordinate and gather intelligence to identify groups and individuals
who are prepared to resort to criminal activity in support of their beliefs
with respect to abortion issues"

"Ensuring through provincial law that public bodies must not release
abortion information, excepting abortion statistics at a global regional
and provincial level and personal information, unless provided to the
person about whom the information pertains"

"Urging the federal government to strengthen the Criminal Code, including
designating abortion service providers as a protected group under current
hate provisions and making attempts to criminally harass or harm abortion
service providers an aggravating circumstance in sentencing."

Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 01:10:34 -0500
From: "Jules Duguay" <dug@idirect.com>
To: <cinlife@cin.org>
Subject: MOST EXTREME PRO-ABORTION GOVERNMENT MEASURE IN NORTH AMERICA
Message-ID: <003b01c0b684$a3e1dac0$b7d0fea9@t6u1x3>

*     *     *     *     *
MAN CONVICTED IN FORCED ABORTION ATTEMPT

A Connecticut man convicted in January of trying to force
his girlfriend to have an abortion could face up to 95 years
in prison.

Edwin Sandoval was accused of forcing two pills of
misopristol into his girlfriend's birth canal during a
forced sexual encounter in Aug. 1998 after she refused to
have an abortion. She later suffered vaginal bleeding but
did not have a miscarriage. Misopristil is used in RU-486
abortions to cause uterine contractions and expel the unborn
child. (Source: National Right to Life News, Feb. 2001)

*     *     *     *     *
TEEN SAYS FAKE DOCTOR BOTCHED HER ABORTION

A 16-year-old Florida girl has accused a fake doctor of
botching her abortion, possibly leaving her infertile.

The teen told police that she was hospitalized with a
possibly sterilizing infection after undergoing an abortion
performed by Jose Carros, who has twice been arrested for
practicing medicine without a medical license. The police
reported that since news of the case broke, nearly 40 other
women have come forward to say that Carros treated them
also. (Source: WPLG-TV ABC (Miami); March 13, 2001)

*     *     *     *     *
Malpractice Killed Wisconsin Woman in Legal Abortion Death

Madison, WI -- A Wisconsin high school teacher who got an abortion because
her unborn child had Down syndrome died after she was poisoned her during
the abortion, an attorney said Tuesday at the start of a medical
malpractice trial.

Two people performing the abortion caused the death of 35-year-old Linda
Boom because the chemicals they injected to kill the unborn child got into
her bloodstream and caused fatal heart damage, said the attorney, Patrick
Dunphy of Brookfield.

But Randal Arnold, attorney for Sinai Samaritan Medical Center of
Milwaukee, contended that one of the two, Karen S. Watson was "not
negligent in any fashion." Her supervisor and a former co-defendant,
Daniel Gilman, successfully filed a motion to be dismissed from the case
in August 1999.

The attorneys made opening statements to a Milwaukee County Circuit Court
jury in what is expected to be a two-week trial before Judge Stanley
Miller. The lawsuit was filed by Boom's widower, 51-year-old Dennis Boom
of Bayside, who has taught at Cedarburg (WI) High for 23 years.

Linda, a mathematics teacher, and Dennis, a science teacher, met at the
school in 1983 and married in 1993, Dunphy said. They planned to have a
child and in June 1995 they learned that Linda had become pregnant, he
said.

But three months later, Linda decided to get an abortion after learning
that the unborn child had Down syndrome, Dunphy said. The syndrome is a
chromosomal abnormality that is a common cause of mental retardation.
Linda's aunt suffered from it and "in Linda's mind, Down syndrome meant no
life," he said.

An "amnioinfusion termination of pregnancy" was performed on Sept. 21,
1995, at Sinai Samaritan. Boom died 36 hours later following the abortion.

Watson injected the first chemicals into Boom and she began to suffer pain
and complained she was "burning up all over," Dunphy said, quoting medical
notes. The procedure was then taken over by Gilman, who had performed more
than 100 abortions and was supervising Watson, 36, a fourth-year resident
at the time who is now an obstetrician/gynecologist in Milwaukee.

Gilman then injected a second set of chemicals into Boom and both sets
caused the fatal heart damage, Dunphy said. He is in private practice in
Milwaukee, could not be reached for comment.

Watson is not named personally in the lawsuit but attended the trial.

Arnold, of Milwaukee, said the injection Watson gave is not generally
believed to be enough to be fatal because it is a "test" injection. He
said Watson was not negligent because the supervising physician took over
and gave the second injection.

Arnold also said that Boom's cause of death is in dispute and may never be
known. Dunphy, however, said that the Milwaukee County Medical examiner's
office determined that the chemicals caused Boom's death.

The needles were supposed to be injected into Boom's womb, but Watson did
not use ultrasound before inserting the needle and instead put the
chemicals into Boom's bloodstream, Dunphy said. He said he would still
present evidence of negligent on behalf of both Watson and Gilman. If the
jury decides Watson was negligent, then Sinai Samaritan would be held
responsible for any damages.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Malpractice Killed Wisconsin Woman in Legal Abortion Death
Source:   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; April 25, 2001

*     *     *     *     *
MAN GETS LIFE IN PRISON FOR DEATH OF UNBORN CHILD

An Arkansas man will spend the rest of his life in prison
after arranging an attack that killed his girlfriend's
unborn child after she refused to have an abortion.

Eric Bullock was convicted of hiring three men to beat his
girlfriend, Shiwona Pace, who survived, and kill her nearly
full-term unborn baby girl. One of the three alleged
attackers has been sentenced to 40 years in prison. This is
the first case to be tried under an Arkansas law that allows
murder charges to be brought when an unborn child of at
least 12 weeks' gestation dies during a violent crime.
Source: (Source: Associated Press; Feb. 9, 2001)

*     *     *     *     *
PHILADELPHIA ABORTIONIST FACING LAWSUIT

A couple has filed a lawsuit against a Philadelphia-area
abortionist, accusing him of botching the wife's abortionist
and endangering her life by failing to diagnose an ectopic
pregnancy.

Victoria and Daniel Jeh are asking for $50,000 in damages
from Harvey Brookman and the Healthy Women's Center after
Victoria underwent an abortion there last July. Their
lawsuit says that Brookman failed to test for ectopic
pregnancy after Victoria continued to have pain and bleeding
after the abortion. She later had to undergo emergency
surgery to remove an ectopic pregnancy from her fallopian
tube. (Source: Bucks County (PA) Courier Times, Feb. 23,
2001)

*     *     *     *     *
Chinese Baby Secretly Kept Alive From Family Planners

  Hospital staff secretly kept alive a baby that officials wanted to let
  starve because its mother already had two children.
  Read the touching story at
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2001/6/30/asia/3025baby&sec=asia
*     *     *     *     *
MAN SEEKS NEW TRIAL IN FORCED ABORTION DEATH

A 42-year-old Wyoming man convicted of murdering a teenage
girl because she refused to have an abortion is asking a
judge to reduce his sentence.

Kevin Robinson was sentenced to 22 to 29 years in prison for
the stabbing death of Daphne Saulk, whose body was found in
Nov. 1997. Prosecutors said Robinson killed Saulk for
refusing to have an abortion. Robinson's mistrial request
will be heard by a judge who had denied him a mistrial last
year.
*     *     *     *     *
MAN CHARGED IN ABORTION ASSAULT CASE

In what will be the first criminal case involving abortion
in the state of New York since 1971, a New York man has been
charged with beating his pregnant ex-girlfriend for refusing
to have an abortion, causing her to miscarry.

Jeremy Powell, 20, is facing charges of causing an abortion,
burglary, assault and unlawful endangerment for the
incident. His ex-girlfriend, who was about three months
pregnant, said Powell told her he was going to "beat that
baby out of you." If convicted, Powell could serve up to 25
years in prison.

*     *     *     *     *
Chinese woman refusing sterilization beaten to death: relatives
ahoo! Hong Kong - News Asia
Saturday, May 19 5:00 PM SGT
BEIJING, May 19 (AFP) -
A 34-year-old woman in southeast China's Fujian province was beaten to
death by birth-control officials who wanted to sterilize her against her
will, her relatives said on Saturday.

Sun Zhonghua, from a farming family in Xiapu county near the provincial
capital of Fuzhou, was taken away by birth-control officials from her
home by daybreak on Wednesday, a relative told AFP by telephone.

The officials told Sun, the mother of two boys aged 12 and 13, that she
was to be taken to the birth-control clinic for sterilization, a
procedure they had previously been pressing her to submit herself to.

She refused vehemently, showing documents obtained from a local hospital
in April that the planned operation was not advisable because of a
medical condition.

Despite her and her relatives' protests, she was forced into a waiting
car and driven away.

In the afternoon of the same day, officials informed Sun's relatives that
she had died after jumping from the fourth floor of the building housing
the local birth-control administration.

Family members who were allowed to see her body discovered large bruises
to her head and different parts of her body.

"There is no way she could have received those injuries from jumping to
her death," said the relative.

During the anxious hours on Wednesday while Sun's relatives were waiting
for news about her, they went to the police to report the birth-control
officials' violent manner when taking her from her home.

But they were given the rounds by a string of police officials, who
appeared unwilling to get involved in the case.

"We tried to report the incident, but there was no one to report to,"
said the relative.

Already being the mother of two, Sun understood that she had to conform
with national population policies and had no plans of giving birth to
more children, her family said.

She had gone to the hospital every year since 1992 to make sure she was
not pregnant, they said.

China's controversial "one child" policy continues to result in serious
human rights violations 20 years after it became law.

In the early years, the world was shocked by mass campaigns to round up
women and sterilize them almost like cattle.

Such public campaigns are rare now, but the policy is being enforced in
ways that many human rights groups say are equally unjust.

Pressure on China's army of family planning workers to meet the birth
quota in their jurisdiction have led to widespread excesses.

Family planning workers and local officials resort to beating people,
locking them up illegally, confiscating livestock and destroying their
homes.

Despite the harsh measures, births are still growing at an annual rate of
10 million and the government has vowed to continue the policy to cap the
population at 1.6 billion by the year 2050.

China's population now stands at nearly 1.3 billion, the largest in the
world. Beijing credits the policy for helping the country avoid 300
million births.

*     *     *     *     *
Italian Elections May Bode Well for Life

Rome, Italy -- The election of Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition
in Italy on Sunday has raised hopes among some pro-life Italians that a
change could come in the country's abortion law.

Berlusconi, who is expected to become prime minister when his government
forms on May 30, called "for a more convinced defense of life" during his
campaign, but did not specifically promise a repeal of the pro-abortion
law passed in the mid-1970s. Italy's bishops have already asked him to
consider a repeal. "It is up to politicians to tell us if it's possible to
do so in this legislature," said Msgr. Giuseppe Betori, the secretary of
the Italian Bishops' Conference.

Meanwhile, the pro-abortion Radical Party has failed to win any seat in
parliament for the first time in 25 years. The party, which advocates
euthanasia, stem-cell research, and other controversial issues, had
reached its peak in 1979 with 22 members. The Radicals were a key force
for the legalization of abortion in 1977.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Italian Elections May Bode Well for Life
Source:   EWTN; May 17, 2001

*     *     *     *     *
Update on Pro-Life Man Stabbed at Arkansas Abortion Facility

Little Rock, AR -- The investigation of a little-known incident in which a
pro-life activist was stabbed outside a Little Rock, Ark. abortion
facility remains open, leaving many pro-life advocates alleging official
indifference to the case.

As previously reported by the Pro-Life Infonet, pro-life attorney Fred
Hart and friend Jim Dawson were protesting outside the Family Health Care
Clinic abortion facility on May 18 when, according to police reports, two
women yelled obscene words out of a truck.

One woman "exited and grabbed [Hart's] sign and took off running."

The woman, later identified as Amanda Sue Petzak, of Sherwood, Ark., fell
to the ground and dropped Hart's sign. When Hart bent over to pick up the
sign, the woman allegedly stabbed him in his left side with a knife.

According to the police report, Petzak turned herself in and told
authorities that during a discussion over abortion, Hart "threw her to the
ground," and in the process he was cut.

Dawson, however, recorded the incident on videotape, and it is being
reviewed by the police department.

Friends of Hart said he has recovered from the stabbing. As the
investigation continues, Anne Dierks, a spokeswoman for the Respect Life
office of the Diocese of Little Rock, wonders why, with the videotape
evidence, the case has not been open-and-shut.

A spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department said the investigation
"is still pending and they're still working on it."

"I sure don't have any facts about it," the spokesman said, "and I'm not
sure what they're going to release on that, if anything. There may be
other investigations involved with it."

With information about the investigation being withheld from the public,
Laura Echevarria of the National Right to Life Committee believes the
incident, which received little media coverage, highlights an inherent
anti-pro-life bias in the media.

"It's not surprising and we are kind of use to it," she said of the low
coverage. "But it is surprising when there is a police report - and things
like this do happen - and the media doesn't pick up on it."

Echevarria, however, believes that the national media have not
intentionally ignored the incident.

"I don't think it is a deliberate attempt to cover it up," she said.
"Rather, I think it's an attitude that says, 'Oh, it's not a big deal; Roe
v. Wade is legal; he probably deserved it.' It's just the nature of the
media."

"After all," she notes, "recent surveys have shown - and they have been
consistent over the years - that 85 to 90 percent of the media believe
that Roe v. Wade was a good thing."

No correlation has been drawn between the woman who allegedly stabbed Hart
and pro-abortion groups. A spokesperson at the Family Health Care Clinic
abortion facility said the women who were involved in the incident "had
nothing to do with the clinic."

"Of course this being beside an abortion clinic made it look like it had
something to do with us," the spokesperson said, "but I think it all had
to do with him. From what I hear, they were just driving by. They stopped
to ask questions and got into a scuffle with [Hart] - instigated by him."

The spokesperson said Hart disturbs their business "all the time." But
Dierks, who knows Hart personally, considers him "one of the most gentle
human beings there is."

"His temperament is very gentle and kind," she said. "He's a passionate
pro-lifer, but he's never harmed a soul."

"[The media] tries to make a lot out of incidents like this," Dierks said,
"that we're violent and crazy and all that kind of stuff. In this case, it
may be they're finding that that's not true."

In fact, Echevarria says it is not uncommon to have the media take no
notice of instances in which pro-lifers are attacked or threatened.

"There have been many instances where our affiliates and other individual
pro-lifers have had death threats and bomb threats," she said, "and the
media doesn't cover that."

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Update on Pro-Life Man Stabbed at Arkansas Abortion Facility
Source:   Cybercast News Service; May 31, 2001

*     *     *     *     *
Woman Can Sue Abortion Facility Anonymously Regarding Forced Abortion

Melbourne, FL -- A federal appeals court panel has overturned a lower
court decision and ruled that a woman can proceed anonymously in her
lawsuit against an abortion facility.

The three-member panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
ruled that the woman can continue the lawsuit against the Aware Woman
Center abortion facility under the name Jane Roe II.

"A number of decisions have pointed to abortion as the paradigmatic
example of the type of highly sensitive and personal matter that warrants
a grant of anonymity," the panel said in the Friday ruling.

In the lawsuit, the woman accused workers at the Melbourne abortion
facility of preventing her from leaving. That's in violation of the
federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances law, which provides civil
remedies for people whose access to reproductive services is denied, the
lawsuit alleges.

The woman points out that when she went to the abortion facility in March
1997 for an abortion she experienced pain in her stomach. She demanded
that abortion practition William Egherman stop the abortion and call an
ambulance for her.

In the lawsuit, she demonstrates that four assistants held her down while
the abortion went on without her consent.

The woman was eventually taken by ambulance to an emergency room. She
suffered a perforated uterus and a colon laceration, and after the rmains
of her unborn child was removed from her uterus, she underwent surgery to
repair internal organs damaged by the abortion.

The district judge in Orlando ruled that the woman couldn't continue in
the case anonymously and granted a motion to dismiss the case because the
woman had failed to show that abortion facility workers prevented her from
getting reproductive health services. The judge, however, allowed her to
file an amended complaint, which she never did.

The appellate panel's ruling allows the woman to file an amended complaint
anonymously.

"I was pleased to see it," said Chris Sapp, one of two attorneys for the
woman. "We waited a long time, but it was worth the wait."

Sapp, of Fort Myers, Florida, said Tuesday an earlier decision by a
federal judge in Orlando requiring his client's name was, he believes, the
first time a woman had been barred from proceeding anonymously in an
abortion case in this country. "It's very gratifying to find that the 11th
Circuit is willing to protect the rights of women vis--vis abortion," he
said.

Sapp said the opposing side may seek a rehearing by the 11th Circuit and
later appeal that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the anonymity
ruling does not stand, he said, his client will drop her case against
Aware Woman Center for Choice Inc. rather than reveal her identity.

Attorneys for the abortion facility had argued that past abortion cases in
which the plaintiff was allowed to remain anonymous, such as Roe v. Wade,
challenged government activity or laws. The case against Aware Woman
Clinic didn't meet that standard.

The abortion facility in question has since closed.

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Woman Can Sue Abortion Facility Anonymously Re Forced Abortion
Source:   Associated Press, Florida Today; June 13, 2001

*       *       *       *       *
ABORTIONIST LOSES CIVIL SUIT STEMMING FROM WOMAN'S DEATH

A five-year-old Delaware boy whose mother died from a
botched abortion has been awarded $2 million in damages in a
civil suit against the abortionist.

Mohammad Imran was found guilty of negligence in the death
of 19-year-old Gracelyn T. Harris, who underwent an abortion
at the Delaware Women's Health Organization in Sept. 1997.
Harris, who was about 4-1/2 months pregnant, died hours
after the abortion from massive internal bleeding caused by
a perforated uterus. The lawsuit said Imran failed to follow
standards of care that may have prevented Harris's death.
*     *     *     *     *
The European Union has given 250,000 British pounds towards
the perfection of a technique to treat thalassaemia, a
serious blood disorder, in unborn children. Unborn babies
found to have the condition currently face death by abortion
or a lifetime of blood transfusions. Previous attempts to
treat the condition by way of bone marrow transplants into
the foetus have sometimes resulted in the unborn child's
death. A team of doctors in Nottingham, England, is now
ready to inject cells from healthy donors into the livers of
unborn children with thalassaemia, although no suitable
patient has yet been found. It is hoped that the cells will
replicate themselves in the liver and then migrate to the
bone marrow to displace diseased cells. [Daily Telegraph, 27
June]

*     *     *     *     *
ABORTIONIST WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR WOMAN'S DEATH

The family of a Wisconsin woman who was poisoned during a
botched chemical abortion will not receive any compensation
for her death, even though a jury has found the abortionist
to be responsible.

Linda Boom, 35, died after chemicals were injected into her
bloodstream rather than her womb during a late-term abortion
in Sept. 1995. A jury awarded Boom's family $2.3 million for
her death, but the amount cannot be recovered because the
abortionist, Daniel Gilman, was dismissed as a defendant
after the lawsuit was filed too late. The jury also found
that Sinai Samaritan Medical Center, where the abortion was
performed, was not liable for Boom's death because Gilman
was not a hospital employee. (Source: Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel; May 4, 2001)

*     *     *     *     *
MICHIGAN ABORTIONIST TO LOSE MEDICAL LICENSE

A Michigan abortionist who was accused of performing an
illegal late-term abortion will lose his medical license for
altering his patient's medical records in an attempt to
cover up the abortion.

Jose Higuera will plead guilty to a charge that he altered
the baby's gestational age on the medical records, but state
officials have agreed to drop the illegal abortion charge in
exchange for the loss of Higuera's medical license.
Higuera's former nurse brought the case to the attention of
the state attorney general's office in 1994 after Higuera
performed an abortion at nearly seven months, violating a
Michigan law prohibiting late-term abortions except to save
the life of the mother. Higuera is believed to be the first
abortionist charged with performing an illegal abortion
since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. (Source: Associated
Press; May 7, 2001)