Lawsuit Filed for Baby Born Alive at Abortion
Clinic then Killed and Hidden from Police
Wrongful Death, Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Alleged
MIAMI, Jan. 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Tuesday, January 27, 2009,
suit was filed in Miami on behalf of Shanice Denise Osbourne, an
infant girl who was murdered in July, 2006. Thomas More Society
retained the prominent Miami personal injury attorney, Tom Pennekamp,
to prepare and prosecute the case, which alleges that Shanice was born
alive and then murdered by defendant, abortion clinic owner, Belkis
Gonzalez. Thirteen defendants (including Gonzalez, abortionist Dr.
Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique and their conglomerate of four South
Florida abortion clinics) have been sued for unlicensed and
unauthorized medical practice, botched abortions, evasive tactics,
false medical records and the killing, hiding and disposing of the
baby.
Shanice's mother, Sycloria Williams, learned she was pregnant early in
July of 2006 when she went to the hospital complaining of abdominal
pain and bleeding. She decided to terminate the pregnancy, and visited
the Miramar Woman Center in Miramar, Fla., where she was referred to
abortionist Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique. Dr. Renelique inserted
laminaria sticks to dilate the cervix and prescribed additional
medication to be taken that night in preparation for the procedure the
next morning at a Hialeah clinic.
Williams arrived at the Hialeah clinic on the morning of July 20,
2006, feeling ill and in severe pain from the medication the night
before. Dr. Renelique was not present at the clinic nor did anyone
else at the clinic have any form of medical license. Nevertheless, the
clinic's receptionist gave Williams Cytotec, which induces labor and
also dilates the cervix. Williams began to feel even worse with nausea
and cramping, so the staff gave her a gown and had her sit in the
clinic's recovery room area. There she waited for hours in severe and
increasing abdominal pain without medical staff available.
Instinctively, Williams began to position herself as the
chemically-induced labor progressed. Rather than call 911 or get
medical help, the staff instructed her to "keep your legs
together and sit down."
Unable to remain seated, Williams braced herself with the arms of the
recliner chair she was sitting on. As she lifted herself, her water
broke and she delivered a live baby girl onto the seat of the
recliner. The baby writhed and gasped for air, still connected to
Williams by the umbilical cord. Immobilized by shock, Williams watched
Gonzalez run into the room, cut the umbilical cord with a pair of
orange-handled shears, stuff the baby and afterbirth into a red
biohazard bag and throw the bag into a garbage can. Shortly
thereafter, the doctor arrived at the clinic and sedated Williams, who
remained in total confusion and shock. The doctor's medical records
failed to indicate that Williams had delivered a live baby that was
killed by the clinic.
Anonymous callers notified police at least three times about the live
birth and murder, and when police executed a search warrant on July
22, 2006, they found medical records but couldn't locate the baby's
remains. Six days later, another anonymous caller told police the
baby's body had been hidden on the roof. Police responded but didn't
find the baby's body on the roof. After another anonymous tip police
got another search warrant and found the decomposing baby in a
cardboard box in a closet at the clinic. DNA linked the baby's remains
to Williams.
The Miami-Dade County medical examiner performed an autopsy which
showed that the baby's lungs had been filled with air before her
killing, proving it was a live birth. But the examiner blamed the
death on "extreme prematurity," ignoring eyewitness
testimony that the baby had been murdered. Thomas More Society took an
interest in the case when a local law school professor was quoted in
The Miami Herald to the effect that if the baby wasn't
"viable," then it "couldn't be a case of
homicide."
"That opinion is dead wrong," says Tom Brejcha, president
and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society. "A disabled or
dying patient may not be 'viable' in the sense of being able to live
very long or without help, but if you kill them, it's murder. This was
a case of infanticide, and we're not going to let it go ignored or
unpunished."
Thomas More Society tried to secure a second autopsy but prosecutors
wouldn't release the baby's body, or take any action to begin criminal
proceedings. An investigator and expert pathologist were retained by
the Society, and the expert concluded - after examination of the
autopsy slides and investigation of all the facts - that the acts and
omissions of the abortionist and clinic staff were causative factors
in Shanice's untimely death. The state attorneys' office has had this
matter "under investigation" for more than two years with
regard to filing what should be a clear case of criminal murder, or at
least manslaughter.
"This case will trumpet to the world that abortion clinics are
places of barbarism where mothers as well as their babies are at
serious risk," says Brejcha. "Moreover, this case should put
some sharp teeth into the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. As we
struggle to end the scourge of legal abortion in this country, we must
hold the line against infanticide!"
FULL COPY OF COMPLAINT AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Christian Newswire
To: National Desk
Contact: Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Society, 312-590-3408;
Tom Ciesielka, TC Public Relations, 312-422-1333
# Thomas More Society
# TC Public Relations
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Justice, then Peace,