Friday, October 27, 2006

So you say you're "pro-choice"?

Well then, you may not want to read the following account that was published this week in the Miami New Times. The barbaric practices it describes might make your "choice" a little more difficult to swallow.

Sometime during the afternoon of July 19, an eighteen-year-old Pompano Beach woman arrived at a strip mall on West Sixteenth Avenue and 36th Street in Hialeah. She was an estimated 23 weeks pregnant and accompanied by her boyfriend.

The reason she had come so far for an abortion (her third, according to police) is unclear. She asked that her name not be used and then declined to speak with New Times. But when the young woman stood in front of A Gyn Clinic that day, she likely felt somewhat apprehensive, perhaps even nervous. From north to south, the single-story edifice features a Latin American café, a karate/ballet school, a paintball store, the gynecology center, and a flower shop. Fourteen parking spaces separate the building from the busy four-lane road in front. Across the street is a construction site littered with rubble and trash and surrounded by a barbed wire fence. To the south is a large industrial park.

Below the building's overhang, six-inch black numerals identify the clinic's address, 3671, and pink lettering centered on its heavily barred window spells out the word ginecología. Affixed to the dirty glass double doors are two rusty lock boxes and a series of credit card stickers. Inside, the small reception area is painted off-white. Aside from a sign above the desk that reads "No Checks Accepted," the walls are bare.

When the eighteen-year-old walked in that Wednesday afternoon, she would have signed some forms and then handed over at least $1100 — the minimum A Gyn charges for a late-second-trimester termination.

Next, one of the three workers administered an ultrasound and medication designed to begin dilation of the cervix. The young woman was then told to return to the facility the following morning to complete the procedure. During the hours that followed, the medication likely set to work, expanding her cervix enough for doctors the next day to extract the five-and-a-half-month-old fetus, either in its entirety or in parts, with forceps.

But when the pregnant teen showed up shortly after 9:30 Thursday morning, she complained of excruciating abdominal pain. The doctor had yet to arrive, so one of the workers led the ailing patient to a recovery room and, motioning to a pink recliner, told her to sit and wait, the cops say. She remained there for five hours. Around 2:30 p.m., with still no sign of a doctor, she gave birth to a girl in the recovery room. Police contend at least one clinic worker was present.

"The baby was born alive; it was attempting to breathe," says Hialeah Police Deputy Chief Mark Overton, adding that at least one witness, whom he declined to name, confirmed this version of events.

A search warrant issued by Judge Roberto Pineiro (filed with the Clerk of Courts six days after the incident) reveals more about the young woman's experience at A Gyn. "[She] observed the baby moving and gasping for air for approximately five minutes," the document relays. "The staff began screaming that the baby was alive, at which time Ms. Belkis Gonzalez cut the umbilical cord."

Gonzalez dumped the cord into a red biohazard bag filled with chloride, the warrant states, and "then swept the baby with her hands into the same red bag along with the gauze used during the procedure."

The bag was then allegedly thrown in the trash. Gonzalez's attorney, Gregory Iamunno, declined to comment about the incident.

Shortly before 7:00 that evening, an anonymous female called authorities from a pay phone located near the facility and stated a baby had been born alive and then killed at the Hialeah clinic. By the time detectives arrived, the facility was closed. But the following morning, the unidentified caller gave police the patient's information. Shortly before midnight, they tracked down the young woman, and she corroborated the allegations. So at 6:00 Saturday morning, Hialeah Police executed a search warrant.

"We found thirteen or fourteen biohazard bags filled with the remains of kids, but nothing to suggest a 20- to 26-week-old infant body was in the clinic," Overton confesses. Slightly leaning forward over the long wooden desk in his Hialeah office, the veteran officer shakes his head with disdain: "We did a very thorough search, and that body was definitely not there."

Eight days after the alleged incident, authorities received another anonymous tip. The source said the baby's body had been tossed on the roof while the police searched the facility but had since been placed back inside the West Hialeah clinic. Police obtained a second search warrant and raided the facility again. Sure enough, they discovered a badly decomposed female fetus in a biohazard bag, shoved in a nondescript box on the floor — one they had previously searched.
Read the rest of the article by clicking here.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll pass up on reading the rest of the article. The part I read is enough to make me sick. God help us.
Omar

Alex said...

The people running the clinic were careless and broke the law. They have a ong hiistory of malpractice suits. They should have been put out of practice by regulatory agencies a long time ago, and I hope they go to jail. All this is in the same article. None of this has to do with being pro-choice.

Doctors commit malpractice every day and nobody argues for the abolition of medicine.

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Baby parts in bags, late 2nd trimester abortions, live births in the abortion room. Just some of the unsavory things about the barbaric practice of abortion the article talks about. I leave it to readers to make their own judgments. And the article does mention the ongoing debate about Roe v. Wade. To say it's just about medical malpractice is wrong.

Alfredo said...

Incredible and so sad that they can do that to a baby. Every life is precious no matter what. Henry, I know this is a political blog, but thanks for posting this. What is wrong with people these days that kids have become an inconvenience? Every child is a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

It is gross malpractice and the people in the clinic should be held liable for it. The young girl should have alerted authorities for what happened as well, but I don't think her portion of the events were necesserily criminal. She went to this doctor for help, and that is the last thing this so called doctor did. What is the difference between this kind of malpractice, and let's say plastic suregery malpractice or of someone has the wrong body part amputated, which happens frequently?

What I can not imagine is if abortions were made illegal. These types of incidents would be happening a lot more often and with more deaths then they are now. With any medical profession, there are it's fair share of hacks, but we can not penalize the masses for the wrong-doings of a few. Besides, in my opinion, until men are capable of bearing their own children, they should not tell a woman what they should do with their own bodies.

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Besides, in my opinion, until men are capable of bearing their own children, they should not tell a woman what they should do with their own bodies.

And in my opinion as long as a woman can unilaterally decide that she can abort or have the child then the father should not be responsible for maintaining that child. It takes two to tango yet when the woman gets pregnant she's the one with all the rights.

If you're fine with the slaughter of unborn BABIES, that's on your conscience. I'm not fine with it.

Michael Pancier Photography said...

All I know is that all folks who go to these places should be required to watch a video of what's going on when they do these barbaric procedures. Perhaps then they'll think twice. Dehumanization is the tool they used to justify these atrocities which are not medically necessary. Sad state of society in general.

Alex said...

How about smokers be obligued to watch a video of what happens to your lungs every time you buy a cigar?

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Nah, when it comes to cigars I'm staunchly pro-choice.

This puff's for you.

Alex said...

Your body your choice?

Henry Louis Gomez said...

I know exactly where you are going with this. The thing is that you know exactly how I will answer.

When it comes to abortion there is a body inside the body. And just because that body can't speak does not make it sub-human. So we come to the crux of the debate which is where life begins.

I mean we all agree that at some point in it's growth a fetus becomes a human being. Surely there's a difference between an 8-cell zygote and a 32-week fetus. Where exactly is the bright line that tells us that this is no longer a thing but a person?

It would be rather simplistic to say that that moment is exactly the moment that the baby passes through the birth canal. We all know that babies are routinely born through caesarian section because of some problem or complication in the pregnancy.

So a baby is a viable human being at some point before it comes out of the womb. When exactly is that moment? When does that baby enjoy the constitutional rights (that many on your side of the political spectrum want to bestow on foreign terrorists that have never set foot on US soil)? I don't know, but I err on the side of caution.

It's an ethical dilemma. We're not talking about plastic surgery or an appendix. This a living being with it's own brain and heart and potential for good or evil. Just like we shouldn't play God with criminals I think we shouldn't play God with the unborn.

I know you are never going to agree with me so I'm just going to move on, if that's OK.