:: The S.I.C.L.E. Cell ::

:: Friday, September 17, 2004 ::

Another day in the life of a "sidewalk counselor" (graphic link):

Emily didn't want to be pregnant. She started snorting coke once a week hoping that the drug would cause a miscarriage. When the baby survived all these months, Emily was scared. She worried that the cocaine had caused the baby to be deformed. To complicate matters Emily's boyfriend has been happily anticipating the birth of their child and was entirely unaware of Emily's cocaine use and the plans she had to kill their baby.

She opened up the telephone book and found the big, attractive ad for Orlando Women's Center abortion clinic. She arrived for an appointment on this Tuesday, September 14. No Christians were there to reach out to her in her dilemma. The friendly abortionist did an ultrasound and told Emily that she was 24 weeks pregnant. Emily was told that they would be happy to kill her viable child.

In a very straightforward, matter-of-fact manner an Orlando Women's Center (OWC) employee informed her that she would have to pay $2,200 to have a labor-and-delivery abortion. Emily was instructed to return at 1 pm the following day (Wednesday) to have the abortionist kill her baby with a lethal injection of digoxin. The clinic employee explained that the abortionist would stick a needle through her abdomen. Guided by ultrasound, the abortion doctor would pierce her womb and carefully inject Digoxin into her baby's heart. Hopefully this would stop her baby’s heart and make certain that her viable infant would not be born alive. Emily would also be given pills (a stomach ulcer medication called Cytotec). She would to take some at midnight and more in the morning. Emily was told that she would have to return to the abortion clinic on Thursday morning at 9am. They would give her more Cytotec every hour, softening her cervix and inducing her labor. Emily was also told that her labor would take anywhere from 12-36 hours. Her infant would be delivered and then she could go home. (They would dispose of her baby's body.)

For some reason, Emily just couldn’t bring herself to go to the clinic on Wednesday, so when we met her, her baby was very much alive.

We met 23-year-old Emily in the driveway of Orlando Women's Center this morning. She confessed that she was there to abort her baby and had been up all night thinking about what she was about to do. She finally fell asleep at 5 am after only 2 hours of sleep. She got up to give the children breakfast, dropped them off at school, and made her way to Orlando Women’s Center. As she was driving up Columbia St. she began to sob. When she turned right onto Lucerne Terrace, she prayed, "Oh God, what am I doing? I'm such a mess! God please help me!"

We offered Emily a free ultrasound in the wonderful mobile unit generously loaned to us by Face Life which we have strategically parked directly in front of the clinic. were able to get some great views of Emily's baby. We saw the baby suck her tiny thumb and wiggle all around in her watery home. Emily laughed and said: “This baby has been kicking and kicking for the last 24 hours. I think she knows what I was planning to do.”

Emily seems to have had a genuine change of heart. We called Heritage Family Medical Practice in Kissimmee, and Emily made an appointment for tomorrow morning (Sept. 17). She needs pals big time, so if you live in the Kissimmee area, drop me a line. You will be suprised to know that most of the time no one responds to our urgent requests for friends and mentors for the pregnant women and their companions. No one. In the last month we have seen six women change their minds outside of the abortion clinic and NOT take the life of their baby. They need support, people.

I'm sad to say that three other late term abortions DID take place today in Orlando:

*14-year-old Lupe arrived with her mom. Clutching her abdomen, the teen barely made it inside the clinic before her baby was delivered into the toilet of the abortion clinic. Lupe's mom justifed the fact that she'd made her daughter kill this infant: "I know this is horrible, but my daughter is a baby herself. She only just turned 14."

*Cindy arrived with her boyfriend Brad. They refused to speak with us and wouldn't take our information packet. They casually signed in to have her labor-and-delivery abortion.

*Linda was determined to murder her viable infant. She felt lucky to live in Orlando, the city that does two thirds of all late term abortions in the state of Florida. Linda simply picked up the phone and dialed the number to the abortion clinic. They were more than happy to take her money and her child."
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"...my daughter is a baby herself."

I can't imagine being 14 and pushing my dead, murdered baby out after a 36-hour labor. Losing my child in a second trimester abortion was hard enough at 24. I am emotionally devastated, scarred for life, struggling terribly to be healthy and normal after what happened. It's not easy. It may not even be possible. 14-years-old? Horrors!

The choice was between killing a child and being scarred or making an adoption plan and being scarred in a different way. Abortion the "lesser of two evils"? What was Grandma thinking? What is anyone thinking?

:: ashli 8:03 AM # ::
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