Posted on 12/01/2001 6:22:38 PM PST by JMJ333
Nurse Jill Stanek made a shocking discovery when she moved from the cardiac unit to labor and delivery at Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., a Chicago Suburb: The Christian hospital, affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, performed abortions.
Her dismay increased in 1999 when she learned the hospital did an abortion procedure that induces labor early and sometimes results in live births of late-term babies--infants that were left to die, sometimes surviving for as long as an hour.
Stanek has testified twice before congress about the labor-induction abortion used at Christ Hospital and other hospitals too. On Aug. 31, she was fired from her job. The hospital says Stanek's claims are untrue and unsubstantiated, and that patients receive compassionate care.
Our Sunday Visitor [OSV]talked to Stanek about the cruelty of the procedure and legislative efforts to protect infants who survive the procedure.
OSV: Tell us about the experience you had at Christ Hospital with a baby aborted through labor induction.
Jill Stanek: There was a baby with Down's Syndrome who had been aborted, and one of the nurses was carrying him to a soiled utility room. She said she didn't have time to hold him. I told her I wouldn't let the baby die alone. I held the baby for 45 minutes. I thought, this is insane. This can't be happening.
The baby was brought to the room to die. There was no medical intervention. I could see when his heart stopped beating. His skin was thin; I held the baby up to the light to check on the heart.
OSV: What was the policy on abortion at the hospital?
Stanek: Abortion could be used on babies for non-fatal diseases such as Down's Syndrome and Spina Bifida, as well as for the life and health of the mother.
OSV:That was changed after you caused a stir?
Stanek: Yes. You couldn't abort for nonfatal illness, but you can still abort in the event of rape or incest. They had been planning on adopting an abortion policy that would have included babies with cystic fibrosis, HIV, and mild retardation. They pulled back after my experiences at the hospital were reported by newspapers.
OSV:How does the labor-induction work, and why would a hospital choose to adopt such a procedure?
Stanek: You insert a medication into the birth canal that irritates the cervix. The baby is still small, maybe 1 pound to 2 pounds. The baby falls right out of the uterus.
We know babies can feel pain at 20 weeks. How would you like not to be able to breathe?
OSV:What did you do after you had held the dying baby?
Stanek: I decided I had to do something. I prayed. I read Proverbs 24:11-12; "You will rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die. Don't stand back and let them die. Don't disclaim responsibility." I decided to stay and fight it.
I wrote a letter to the hospital administrators. I believed they didn't know what was going on. They called themselves "Christians". They called a meeting with me and said I might be better off at a hospital that shared my convictions.
I was meeting with my pastor, and he told the hospital that if they didn't change the policy, we would alert anyone who would listen to what they were doing. So, in July 1999, we wrote a letter to 70 pro-life churches and organizations in the Chicago area and nationwide.
OSV:You also eventuall testified before congress. What did you say?
Stanek: I talked about my experience at holding the baby. I was told I could also tell what others had told me. A nurse had told me about a baby they thought that had spina bifida. That's what they thought because of the ultrasound. It turned out it was an incomplete twin in the placenta. They aborted a healthy baby.
I told about how aborted babies were left naked on a weigh scale and metal counter. I talked about how a baby had been wrapped in a towel, and the cleaning lady accidentally put it in the garbage. The baby fell out on the floor when they were looking through it.
OSV:When you look back at your experiences, how do you view it?
Stanek: I look back on it as obedience to God. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I'm 45 years old. I've done enough wrong things in my life to know that even though people might not know you've done something wrong, you feel so bad about yourself if you don't do the right thing. I did it for Christ.
I think the name of the hospital can't be overlooked. God has chosen this hospital. The name of his son has been dishonored.
Would you become a vegitarian if you were exposed to obscenely graphic and bloody images of the slaughtering of cows, pigs, lambs for out dinner tables?
Well, OK then.....a fast kickball back atcha!!!!!!!
It named the hospital, so you can confirm it for yourself. Why don't feel compasion and mercy when you hear about what happened to this woman? Why don't you care about these babies?
My percentage is an educated guess. 20% have no conscience [like yourself] 20% have acute consciences and 60% have a conscience that does work, but they push things they don't want to deal with out of their minds.
That is why the pictures of the aborted babies are effective. It pricks their collective conscience and they have to face the evil reality that abortion is. Some people recognize it for what it is, but simply don't care. I have faith that they aren't the majority of people in this country.
No, because I don't equate humans and animals on the same plane. The uniqueness and dignity of humanity is special to me. You believe slaughtering a cow for food and slaughtering a human being because they are a burden, or are unwanted, mean the same things. I don't. To me they are precious and I mean to stand up for them because they are unable to defend themselves.
But hey...I like football too. :)
God has given you the gift of love and insight, God Bless You. Opportunities is exactly what these situations in life bring about ( I believe by divine intervention), to either bring out the best in us mere mortals or the worse.
Vegitarians consider animal life to be every bit as sacred as you do fetal life. The logic behind dinner-table-animal slaughter images and choped up fetal images are exactly the same for the vegitarian and you. That logic being "if they see the horror, they will change their minds."
You do not believe the lives of animals to be worth converting to vagitarianism. Those images would make no difference to you.
The people who believe that fetuses are not real person will like wise no be converted by the images.
(My apologies to any vegitarians for using this example. I have never known a vegitarian to demand another person not eat meat.)
I do feel compassion and mercy when I read the text.
No reflection upon you in particular, but I just do not trust the source. I have seen so much sensationalism and so many distorted facts coming from Pro-Lifers that I do not trust any of their material.
When you cry wolf many times and are proven wrong, do not expect to be believed when you cry wolf for real.
When I read accounts like this, that show a total lack of respect for life...I swear to you...I get a chill up and down my spine...a feeling like no other. It's like, if I turned around in my chair, I would find a 400 pound mad giant wielding an ax at my neck
I can only assume it's God's pain sending shiffers through me.
The fear of his judgement for these atrocities haunts me.
I got it. I understand what you believe. Like I said on another thread, this isn't a spiritual exersize, its an educational one. I'm not trying to sway your opinion, but rather those who have never faced the subject. I'm confident that more people side with me than they do with you, and I don't aim to quit until we have this injustice corrected in our society.
I appreciate you bumping my thread.
I was elbow deep into a deer a few weeks ago. It made me hungry.
Unlike you and other people who seem to care more about the welfare of animals than of unborn children, I and many others haven’t lost our ability to discern the difference between the intrinsic value of human life and animal life. We haven’t lost the ability to discern the difference between killing and murder either.
I said I did not trust the source of the article. I never stated that the article was in fact a lie.
Your posting is an excellent example of the reason I do not trust material from Pro-life. You distorted my words and thoughts thorugh out your entire posting and you know it. The materials which I have seen from Pro-life do exactly the same thing.
You are most welcome for the bumps.
What is with this childish mentality some of you guys have with this "neaner, neaner, neaner, you bumped my article" nonsense. Do you believe your articles are so boring to the mainstream FReeper that you need me around to keep it visible?
Thanks for the article.
Shalom.
You showed me a fake, doctored image. Besides the tell-tale signs of image editing there is also logic that points to most of those images being false.
What abortion clinic or hospital is going to invite Pro-life photographers in to take pictures? Maybe you are going to claim you have spies with cameras. That will not sell. Given the stand of Pro-lifers, not one of you would stand by and watch this process that you believe it murder. None of these images ar backed up with source information. The just suddenly appear out of someone pervert's computer.
The thought of Venison on my table makes me hungry too.
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