Another dead child in the trash, another victory for the pro-abortion crowd.
By Taskr36
@Taskr36 (13963)
United States
February 6, 2009 9:55am CST
Florida Clinic Botched Abortion, Threw Out Live Baby
TAMPA, Florida — Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.
Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated to dilate her cervix and otherwise get her ready for the procedure.
Only Renelique didn't arrive in time. According to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.
What Williams and the Health Department say happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic's owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant's umbilical cord. Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.
BLOG: Click here to read Dr. Manny's take on this.
Police recovered the decomposing remains in a cardboard box a week later after getting anonymous tips.
"I don't care what your politics are, what your morals are, this should not be happening in our community," said Tom Pennekamp, a Miami attorney representing Williams in her lawsuit against Renelique and the clinic owners.
The state Board of Medicine is to hear Renelique's case in Tampa on Friday and determine whether to strip his license. The state attorney's homicide division is investigating, though no charges have been filed. Terry Chavez, a spokeswoman with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office, said this week that prosecutors were nearing a decision.
Renelique's attorney, Joseph Harrison, called the allegations at best "misguided and incomplete" in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He didn't provide details.
The case has riled the anti-abortion community, which contends the clinic's actions constitute murder.
"The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, a law firm that is also representing Williams. "People all over the country are just aghast."
Even those who support abortion rights are concerned about the allegations.
"It really disturbed me," said Joanne Sterner, president of the Broward County chapter of the National Organization for Women, after reviewing the administrative complaint against Renelique. "I know that there are clinics out there like this. And I hope that we can keep (women) from going to these types of clinics."
According to state records, Renelique received his medical training at the State University of Haiti. In 1991, he completed a four-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Interfaith Medical Center in New York.
New York records show that Renelique has made at least five medical malpractice payments in the past decade, the circumstances of which were not detailed in the filings.
Several attempts to reach Renelique were unsuccessful. Some of his office numbers were disconnected, no home number could be found and he did not return messages left with his attorney.
Williams struggled with the decision to have an abortion, Pennekamp said. She declined an interview request made through him.
She concluded she didn't have the resources or maturity to raise a child, he said, and went to the Miramar Women's Center on July 17, 2006. Sonograms indicated she was 23 weeks pregnant, according to the Department of Health. She met Renelique at a second clinic two days later.
Renelique gave Williams laminaria, a drug that dilates the cervix, and prescribed three other medications, according to the administrative complaint filed by the Health Department. She was told to go to yet another clinic, A Gyn Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, where the procedure would be performed the next day, on July 20, 2006.
Williams arrived in the morning and was given more medication.
The Department of Health account continues as follows: Just before noon she began to feel ill. The clinic contacted Renelique. Two hours later, he still hadn't shown up. Williams went into labor and delivered the baby.
"She came face to face with a human being," Pennekamp said. "And that changed everything."
The complaint says one of the clinic owners, Belkis Gonzalez came in and cut the umbilical cord with scissors, then placed the baby in a plastic bag, and the bag in a trash can.
Williams' lawsuit offers a cruder account: She says Gonzalez knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she had given birth, onto the floor. The baby's umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out. Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.
No working telephone number could be found for Gonzalez, and an attorney who has represented the clinic in the past did not return a message.
At 23 weeks, an otherwise healthy fetus would have a slim but legitimate chance of survival. Quadruplets born at 23 weeks last year at The Nebraska Medical Center survived.
An autopsy determined Williams' baby — she named her Shanice — had filled her lungs with air, meaning she had been born alive, according to the Department of Health. The cause of death was listed as extreme prematurity.
The Department of Health believes Renelique committed malpractice by failing to ensure that licensed personnel would be present when Williams was there, among other missteps.
The department wants the Board of Medicine, a separate agency, to permanently revoke Renelique's license, among other penalties. His license is currently restricted, permitting him to only perform abortions when another licensed physician is present and can review his medical records.
Should prosecutors file murder charges, they'd have to prove the baby was born alive, said Robert Batey, a professor of criminal law at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport. The defense might contend that the child would have died anyway, but most courts would not allow that argument, he said.
"Hastening the death of an individual who is terminally ill is still considered causing the death of that individual," Batey said. "And I think a court would rule similarly in this type of case."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,488644,00.html
5 people like this
13 responses
@dvschic (1795)
• United States
6 Feb 09
wait a second,
1. the doctor didn't perform the abortion, an UNLICENSED owner of the clinic tossed the baby.
2. she was almost 6 months pregnant, why did she wait so long?
3. the owner and the doctor should be held criminally negligent, as well as the nurses that were in attendance. why did no one do anything.
4. the doctor has previous charges against him, he can only provide abortions when under the supervision of another doctor, sounds like the clinic was in it for the money and the doctor had previous issues. what are they going to find on his record? $1200 for an abortion is a lot of money.
5. this is a sick tale of one clinic. thousands of other clinics operate well within the law and do so safely and responsibly. i wont argue the legalities or moralities of abortion, i feel thats a matter between a woman and her conscience. but i dont want these items to go un-noticed.
4 people like this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I find this story to be both sad and disgusting on several levels. Although I am pro-choice, I'm against partial birth abortions and am DEFINITELY against allowing a child born alive to suffer and die like that. I also find this disturbing:
"I don't care what your politics are, what your morals are, this should not be happening in our community," said Tom Pennekamp, a Miami attorney representing Williams in her lawsuit against Renelique and the clinic owners.
The woman who was willing to terminate the pregnancy at 23 weeks gestation has an attorney. How much cash do you think she's after?
BTW, as far as I know, if the baby took a breath...it's murder and I hope charges are filed.
@Barbietre (1438)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I agree 100%. And also tahe exception the the OP's comment, a victory for pro choice people. That is just nonsense, no one wants to see something like this happen.
1 person likes this
@phoenix25 (1541)
• United States
7 Feb 09
"Another victory for the pro-abortion crowd"? I am pro-choice, but I don't condone abortion and I am certainly against partial-birth abortions and killing newborn babies. I simply feel that it's not a choice that I should be able to make for another person. That is terrible what those people did. They should have at least brought the baby to a hospital.
@syankee525 (6261)
• United States
7 Feb 09
i don't i would use the word victory since a baby that was alive was toss in the trash. i feel the same way if you got out and get knocked up, it's not a reason to get one
1 person likes this
@kerriannc (4279)
• Jamaica
7 Feb 09
I wonder if MYLOT going to pay you for this long epistle seeing that it is a link.lol
1 person likes this
@AngryKittyMSV (4317)
• United States
7 Feb 09
IT IS NOT A REFERRAL LINK and it is a link to an article which is relevant to the discussion, NO VIOLATION OF GUIDELINES HAS OCCURRED.
1 person likes this
@AngryKittyMSV (4317)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I wonder if mylot is going to pay YOU for a post that contributes nothing to the discussion.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
9 Feb 09
That doesn't work either. Grandma Palin can tell you that from experience.
@champion0471 (72)
• United States
7 Feb 09
I don't agree with what Obama just passed where minors can get an abortion without a parents awareness!
@starr4all (2863)
•
9 Feb 09
I consider myself prochoice but I would never get an abortion. This story is so horrific on so many levels. I agree with a pp that if the child breathed at least one breath that it is murder. The doctor and supervisor should be arrested. And let me get this straight, the mother is sueing? No really, is the mother sueing? You have got to be kidding me.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
9 Feb 09
Well there were non-medical personal involved with this making it a serious malpractice suit at the very least. She's also said that after the failed abortion she would have been willing to keep the child. I do think some people's perspectives change when they see the child as opposed to feeling a lump in their belly.
@sid556 (30959)
• United States
7 Feb 09
To start,,,,I am Pro-choice even tho, I, myself, don't think I could ever go thru with the procedure. Many things about this story are disturbing. For one thing...him having no medical licence.....exactly why abortion laws were passed!!...to stop this sort of stuff! 23 weeks is pretty far along.by that point, it is a baby that as you mentioned, has a chance for survival. At that point, there is little denying that it is in fact a human being. Originally, abortions were to only be preformed in the first trimester which is about 12 wks. Anything further along, I start leaning toward the other side of the coin. Beyond all that, for whatever reason, the child was born alive. There was no more chance of abortion....a baby was born and any doctor with any ethics would have done everything within his power to save the child. This is a clear case of murder. There is no excuse. I don't think this is really a case for pro-abortion. Even those that are pro-choice....I think most would find this appalling. Pro-choice does not mean we are all for killing innocent lives. Most of us agree that such a choice should be made very early on & before the cells form into a human being with any chance of survival outside of the mother.
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
6 Feb 09
[b]Those who have no belief in God & think abortion has no consequences will not understand what I say here, but this action, together with the millions of other murdered children, are endangering our nation, because "God is not mocked."
By that I mean no excuse offered for abortion is going to make God keep our nation safe. So long as we allow this heinous crime to exist, we are, in fact, telling God He isn't in charge, & that we don't need Him.
God will only grant people so much time to mend their ways. We're at the edge of the volcano, already. Things such as this murder will soon shove us into the pit.
I weep for my nation when I consider that God is just. And when you hear of the next jihad attack, think of this. They ARE connected.
I hope all of these slime go to jail. It's what they deserve.
Maggiepie[/b]
@zhuuraan (961)
• United States
7 Feb 09
OMG! That is just horrible! I heard one recently about a baby in the trash, but it was still born. Still heinous, but a live baby?! What were they thinking?! Now, I am absolutely without a doubt 100% anti abortion, but even if you are pro abortion you have to call this murder since the baby was indeed delivered and alive! I can't believe the cruelty of some people! Such barbarians!
1 person likes this
@syankee525 (6261)
• United States
7 Feb 09
that is just sad, this is why they to make you can only get them if the baby will be born ill or out of rape. not just she went out and laid down and knocked up.
1 person likes this
@LouiseKnittel (4764)
• United States
8 Feb 09
So many families still would like to adopt a baby. Why let one die, when the baby could have lived and had a good life.
@Bohemian77 (277)
• United States
6 Feb 09
What a terrible crime. We have de-valued the human person in so many ways. When I read about these horrible acts, I wonder how any woman can, in essence "devour" her own offspring. I find it terribly ironic that women who claim to be feminists are pro-choice, when abortion, is in fact, a complete and total denial of their womanhood.