BARACK OBAMA SOMEONE IS WATCHING YOU
OPINION - For three years in a row I submitted the same testimony to Illinois Senate committees that were deciding whether to let the full Senate vote on the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. It was during those committee hearings that I first came face-to-face with state Senator Barack Obama, who functioned as either a member or the chairman, depending on the year and the committee. Each time I testified, I described to Obama and other members the death of a particular little girl who was aborted alive at Christ Hospital. The baby's death haunts me, because she might have lived with help. Her abandonment by medical professionals clearly demonstrated that wanted and unwanted babies are treated differently atdelivery. About her, I testified: A nursing coworker told me about an incident she was involved in last spring [2000] that she said "I just can't stop thinking about. " She participated in the abortion of a healthy 23-1/7 week baby who was given no medical assessments or care after delivery but was allowed to languish for 2-1/2 hours until she died, even though she showed early signs of flourishing. Just three weeks after this baby was aborted, another mother came to the hospital under similarcircumstances, carrying an identically aged baby, and she was offered the same options. But she said that she wanted her baby. And so present at her delivery was a neonatologist, a pediatric resident, a pediatric nurse, and a respiratory therapist. And for the two days that Itracked her, that little girl lived. The aborted little girl weighed one pound at delivery. The American Heart Association/AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics Neonatal Resuscitation Textbook states, "Noninitiation of resuscitation inthe delivery room is appropriate for newborns with confirmed gestation of less than 23 weeks orbirthweight less than 400 grams. "This baby fit both qualifications for resuscitation. She was over 23 weeks gestation and weighedover 400 grams. Little girls are also hardier than little boys at birth. Her APGAR scores improvedbetween one and five minutes, meaning she was a little fighter, even without help. But she was left for dead even before she was born: Her fetal monitor was turned off several hours before delivery, so no one would have to watch her beating heart on the screen, or worse, hear it. The attending RN poured her heart out to me later. The reason she could not stop thinking aboutthe incident, she said, was because she was also pregnant, and her baby was the same age as thebaby she helped abort. I told the nurse I was going to report the incident to authorities, and I did. She became angry and rarely spoke to me after that. She went on to deliver a girl, too. I wonder if she everreflects back as she watches her daughter grow. I wrote to then-Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan and Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devineand gave them enough information to investigate the incident. Neither did. I reported it to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. The response I got was flabbergasting. A Michael Kruley wrote me, "The Office for Civil Rights enforces civilrights laws which prohibit discrimination in the delivery of health and welfare services because of race, color, national origin, disability and age". We cannot investigate your allegations because these civil rights laws do not cover abortion procedures or the rights of newborns. "To rephrase, civil rights laws cover age discrimination but apparently not "the rights of newborns." I requested clarification in a follow-up letter to Kruley, with no response. At the first Senate committee hearing I was surprised when Colleen Connell, the ACLU representative testifying against BAIPA, said the 23-weeker I'd described was already protectedunder current Illinois law. After the hearing, I wrote Connell and asked her to help me then, because I was getting nowhere. I got no response. I sent her a follow-up letter, in case the first was lost in the mail. No response. When Obama and his fellow Democrats voted against BAIPA in committee that first year, I didn't think they understood the magnitude of the 23-weeker's death. So the next year along with my testimony I submitted a page from the neonatal textbook demonstrating the resuscitation of a baby about the same age as I described. I watched Obama look at those photos before he voted no again. I never named that baby. I always called her Little Girl, now a pet name, I suppose. Little Girl is now in a better place, where she is watching Obama. Someday Little Girl will be vindicated, I know. It would be nice if it were November 2. Even if not, that day will come.
By: Jill Stanek
Source: IllinoisLeader.com
Publish Date: September 1, 2004
OPINION - For three years in a row I submitted the same testimony to Illinois Senate committees that were deciding whether to let the full Senate vote on the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. It was during those committee hearings that I first came face-to-face with state Senator Barack Obama, who functioned as either a member or the chairman, depending on the year and the committee. Each time I testified, I described to Obama and other members the death of a particular little girl who was aborted alive at Christ Hospital. The baby's death haunts me, because she might have lived with help. Her abandonment by medical professionals clearly demonstrated that wanted and unwanted babies are treated differently atdelivery. About her, I testified: A nursing coworker told me about an incident she was involved in last spring [2000] that she said "I just can't stop thinking about. " She participated in the abortion of a healthy 23-1/7 week baby who was given no medical assessments or care after delivery but was allowed to languish for 2-1/2 hours until she died, even though she showed early signs of flourishing. Just three weeks after this baby was aborted, another mother came to the hospital under similarcircumstances, carrying an identically aged baby, and she was offered the same options. But she said that she wanted her baby. And so present at her delivery was a neonatologist, a pediatric resident, a pediatric nurse, and a respiratory therapist. And for the two days that Itracked her, that little girl lived. The aborted little girl weighed one pound at delivery. The American Heart Association/AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics Neonatal Resuscitation Textbook states, "Noninitiation of resuscitation inthe delivery room is appropriate for newborns with confirmed gestation of less than 23 weeks orbirthweight less than 400 grams. "This baby fit both qualifications for resuscitation. She was over 23 weeks gestation and weighedover 400 grams. Little girls are also hardier than little boys at birth. Her APGAR scores improvedbetween one and five minutes, meaning she was a little fighter, even without help. But she was left for dead even before she was born: Her fetal monitor was turned off several hours before delivery, so no one would have to watch her beating heart on the screen, or worse, hear it. The attending RN poured her heart out to me later. The reason she could not stop thinking aboutthe incident, she said, was because she was also pregnant, and her baby was the same age as thebaby she helped abort. I told the nurse I was going to report the incident to authorities, and I did. She became angry and rarely spoke to me after that. She went on to deliver a girl, too. I wonder if she everreflects back as she watches her daughter grow. I wrote to then-Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan and Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devineand gave them enough information to investigate the incident. Neither did. I reported it to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. The response I got was flabbergasting. A Michael Kruley wrote me, "The Office for Civil Rights enforces civilrights laws which prohibit discrimination in the delivery of health and welfare services because of race, color, national origin, disability and age". We cannot investigate your allegations because these civil rights laws do not cover abortion procedures or the rights of newborns. "To rephrase, civil rights laws cover age discrimination but apparently not "the rights of newborns." I requested clarification in a follow-up letter to Kruley, with no response. At the first Senate committee hearing I was surprised when Colleen Connell, the ACLU representative testifying against BAIPA, said the 23-weeker I'd described was already protectedunder current Illinois law. After the hearing, I wrote Connell and asked her to help me then, because I was getting nowhere. I got no response. I sent her a follow-up letter, in case the first was lost in the mail. No response. When Obama and his fellow Democrats voted against BAIPA in committee that first year, I didn't think they understood the magnitude of the 23-weeker's death. So the next year along with my testimony I submitted a page from the neonatal textbook demonstrating the resuscitation of a baby about the same age as I described. I watched Obama look at those photos before he voted no again. I never named that baby. I always called her Little Girl, now a pet name, I suppose. Little Girl is now in a better place, where she is watching Obama. Someday Little Girl will be vindicated, I know. It would be nice if it were November 2. Even if not, that day will come.
By: Jill Stanek
Source: IllinoisLeader.com
Publish Date: September 1, 2004
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