She came face to face with a human being

Remember that botched abortion that we blogged about, in which the abortionist delivered a live baby who was just thrown away to die in a garbage bag so the mother is suing? Well, here is an update. Not only is the mother suing, but the state of Florida is prosecuting. I quote this mainly for the last sentence:

A Hialeah abortion clinic owner’s lawyer this afternoon said his client will plead not guilty to accusations she delivered a live baby during a botched procedure and then threw the infant away.

“We will vigorously fight these charges,” said Alberto Milian, a Coral Gables lawyer representing Belkis Gonzalez, 43, of Miramar.

Gonzalez was arrested Tuesday and charged with practicing medicine without a license and tampering with evidence, both felonies, said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office.

If found guilty, Gonzalez would face at least a year in prison and up to 15 years.

The teenage mother, Sycloria Williams, has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gonzalez knocked the infant off the chair where she had given birth, and then scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag, and threw it out.

The clinic’s doctor, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, had been scheduled to perform the procedure, but Williams went into labor after being given drugs to dilate her cervix and waiting for hours for Renelique to arrive, the suit said. . . .

Williams was 23 weeks pregnant when the incident happened in 2006. . . .

Just before noon she began to feel ill. The clinic contacted Renelique. Two hours later, he still hadn’t shown up. Williams went into labor and delivered the baby.

“She came face to face with a human being,” Pennekamp said. “And that changed everything.”

One would think. Yet abortion is legal in the state of Florida, so it seems odd for the state to prosecute this particular successful outcome. And it’s also odd for the mother who sought an abortion to sue for getting what she wanted. The baby was just as much a human being before as after being delivered. And yet if the doctor had only shown up on time, the state and the mother would be happy. Of course I am sympathetic for the mother now. Would that she had taken an ultrasound and come face to face with her baby earlier. But those who believe in legalized abortion should consider this case. “She came face to face with a human being, and that changed everything.”