Mother Files Suit After 'Born Alive' Abortion
By Cicely Gosier
CBNNews.com, February 6, 2009

CBNNews.com - On July 20, 2006, Sycloria Williams gave birth to a baby girl she once thought would never be born.

The then 18-year-old had paid $1,200 to terminate her 23-week pregnancy. The abortion doctor, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, was to perform the procedure at the GYN Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, Fla., just outside Miami.

But Williams went into labor early and delivered a live birth, according to her and the Florida Department of Health. After seeing the baby, she had a change of heart.

To her shock, however, instead of putting the baby into a care unit, one of the clinic's owners cut the child's umbilical cord, placed her in a biohazard bag, and threw her away, lawyers representing Williams say.

Now, she is suing 13 medical workers, including the clinic owner Belkis Gonzalez and Dr. Renelique for "unlicensed and unauthorized medical practices, botched abortions, evasive tactics, false medical records and the killing, hiding and disposing" of the baby.

"The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, which is overseeing Williams' case. They argue that the doctors' performance constitutes murder.

Renelique's attorney, Joseph Harrison, told The Associated Press he thought the allegations were "misguided and incomplete."

An Ongoing Act?

Police found the remains of Williams' daughter about a week after the botched abortion. An autopsy confirmed that her baby's lungs had filled with air before she was put in the bag, meaning she was born alive, the Department of Health said.

Jill Stanek, executive director of BornAliveTruth.org, told CBN News cases like Williams' sadly happen more often than reported.

"This is going on rampantly around the country," she charged.

Stanek co-sponsored the release of 22 Weeks, a short film based on the case of another Florida woman whose baby was born alive at an abortion clinic. That baby then died after doctors refused to care for the child.

She believes that it's not unusual for doctors to have charts and medical records changed to show babies as "still-born" when they are really "born alive."

Hope for Justice

Stanek said Florida authorities have been "squeamish" about handling any case involving the possible murder of a child. She has discussed Williams' situation and others on her WorldNetDaily column.

"I have spoken with the police who are a part of the investigation and they are very upset," she claimed. "They've been trying to get prosecutors to work on this case for a long time."

In order to prosecute on murder charges, authorities have to prove Williams' baby was indeed born alive.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has called for the Florida Board of Medicine to strip Renelique of his license. The group will hold a hearing Friday to decide whether the doctor can continue his practice.

Records show Renelique received his medical training at the State University of Haiti and completed his residency in 1991 at Interfaith Medical Center in New York.

Reports in that state also reveal Renelique has made at least five medical malpractice payments in the last 10 years, though details behind the cases are unclear.

Sources: CBN News, The Associated Press, LifeSiteNews