RN LETTER

Live birth abortions

Dr. Laura Schlessinger P.O. Box 8120 Van Nuys, California  91409

Dear Dr. Laura,

I first would like to thank you getting your education, developing your skills, and then believing that your moral message was worth the trouble of broadcasting on national radio.  You have helped me tremendously to define my values more distinctly and to become a better wife, mother, and "neighbor" (in the Biblical sense).

I am writing you today for two reasons.  One is to tell my story so as to perhaps encourage you to know that others are standing up for what is right.  The other reason is to request that you make your listeners aware of the abortion procedure that I am about to describe.  If you have heard about all of this already and have already mentioned it on the radio, I apologize for not knowing. Here it is....

I have worked as a Registered Nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, since 1993.  I specifically chose to work at this particular hospital because I thought that it would be a morally safe place to work and would provide a compassionate environment for its patients, since it is named after Jesus Christ.  When I transferred to the Labor & Delivery Department in 1995, I never thought to ask if the hospital committed abortion.  It, thus, came as quite a blow to me when one night, after I had been in L&D for about a year, it was mentioned in report that we were aborting a second trimester baby with "Down" Syndrome.  After further inquiry I found out that we aborted handicapped babies like this little one some 10 to 25 times a year.

What made matters worse was learning about the method of abortion that Christ Hospital uses, called "labor induction abortion," or now known as "live birth abortion."  As the latter name indicates, this method of abortion often results in a baby being aborted alive.  The procedure can be performed different ways, but the goal always is to cause a pregnant woman's cervix to open so that she will prematurely deliver a baby who dies during the birth process or soon afterward.  It involves a doctor inserting a pill called Cytotec into the birth canal of a mother.  Cytotec irritates the cervix and stimulates it to open.  When this occurs, the premature baby drops out of the uterus.  That is why it is not uncommon for an aborted baby to be born alive and to even linger for some time.  One of them once lived at Christ Hospital for almost an entire eight hour shift.

I was dismayed to learn all of this but did nothing about it for a couple of years.  My apathy came to a halt, however, the night a co-working nurse helped abort a 21-22 week Down's baby, and he, like so many others, was born alive.  The difference this time, though, was that my friend didn't have time to hold the baby and was taking him to our Soiled Utility Room to leave until he died.  I could not bear the thought of this suffering child dying alone in a Soiled Utility Room, so I stepped and held the little boy for the 45 minutes that he lived.  After this, I knew that I could stand idly by in silent protest no longer.

I had two obvious choices: to either leave the hospital and find a more comfortable place to work, or stay and fight.  I chose the latter after reading Proverbs 24:11-12 which says, "Rescue those unjustly sentenced to death.  Do not stand back and let them die.  Don't try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn't know about it.  For God, who knows all hearts, knows yours, and he knows you knew!  And he will reward everyone according to his deeds."  I felt that this passage spoke directly to me and mandated my course of action.

So last April I wrote a letter to hospital administrators describing what I had witnessed.  I could not believe that the leaders of a Christian hospital could possibly know about this.  But they did.

As a result of my letter I was called in for a meeting with my bosses. They said that a Pro-Life nurse such as myself might be better suited at a hospital that was more in keeping with my beliefs.  They said that their two church affiliates were pro-choice.  These affiliates are the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the United Church of Christ.  I was blown away.  I had no idea that any Christian group could possibly be pro-choice, but I have since learned that many are.

I politely told my bosses that I was NOT leaving.  Then, after many private appeals to the hospital and its parent company, Advocate Health Care Systems, my Pastor and I went public last June with the news that Christ Hospital committed live birth abortion on handicapped babies.

This caused quite a bit of publicity.  Focus on the Family and Christian Broadcasting Network, among others, helped spread the word beyond the local level to the national level.  Dr. C. Everett Koop wrote Advocate a terse letter.  Christ Hospital's practice of live birth abortion was even mentioned by Senator Bob Smith on the floor of the Senate during the nationally televised partial birth abortion debates last September.

After the local and national flap began, Christ Hospital lied and said that it did not abort non-fatally ill children.  So I released a confidential draft policy that proved otherwise!  The hospital didn't like that and placed me on Final Warning last September 16.  It has now been 10 months since I was placed on a warning that says I can be terminated for ANY infraction, and Dr. Laura, I have been sheltered at work by God ever since.  In the past 10 months, I have been the "Teflon Nurse," not making one mistake that they could nail me for.  Believe me, I am no Super Nurse.  But God somehow sends me mental reminders of things I need to do and patients I need to monitor more carefully, etc.  He has also graciously kept me out of the most stressful situations that have arisen in L&D during this time.  The hospital did try to put me on 30 day suspension in October for refusing to sign a Confidentiality Agreement that stated I would not discuss hospital events with any "unauthorized" individuals.  But my suspension was remarkably lifted after only 21 hours when the local Fox and NBC affiliates got hold of the story!

Last September, the Illinois Attorney General opened an investigation against Christ Hospital's apparent practice of infanticide, but conflicting Illinois laws have kept this practice from being declared illegal. However, some good people in Illinois are working on deleting the bad laws and creating new, stronger laws to protect these babies.

This brings me to the most exciting part of my testimony thus far, a reminder to all that He will use the least of his servants if they are but willing and persevere:  This past April, Congressman Charles Canady from Florida introduced a bill called "The Born Alive Infants Protection Act." This bill basically reinforces what some people have become confused about, that those things that come out of a woman's body during delivery are human babies, who if born alive have the same legal rights as you and I.  Well, Congressional hearings were held on this bill last week, and I was asked to testify about live birth abortion at Christ Hospital.  Another nurse who used to work at Christ Hospital named Allison Baker also came forward to testify about what she had witnessed.  I am enclosing our written testimonies for your perusal.

Dr. Laura, I do not know where God is taking all of this.  But I believe that it is of particular significance to God that these particular abortions are being committed at a hospital named after Jesus Christ.  I think that the words He spoke through Malachi 2,500 years ago also speak to the religious and secular leaders of Christ Hospital today.  Malachi 2:1-8 says, "And now,  you priests, this warning is for you.  If you won't listen and if you won't  consider giving honor to my name, then I'll send a curse on you.... A priest's lips should preserve knowledge... But you have turned from the correct path and caused many to stumble over my teachings.... So I have made you disgusting, and I have humiliated you in front of all the people, because you have not followed my ways.  You have shown partiality in your interpretation of the law."

Perhaps, Dr. Laura, if you haven't done so already, you might help fulfill the words of Malachi by mentioning Christ Hospital and its abominable practice of live birth abortion on the radio, since abortions do indeed continue at the hospital.  This year alone there have been nine that I have counted, and four of those aborted babies have been born alive and have all lived between 1-1/2 and 3 hours.

God bless you, Dr. Laura.  You have been encouraging and inspiring to me.

Yours for Life,

Jill L. Stanek, RN