- Blog
- News
- Who We Are
- Projects
- Campaigns
- Publications
- History
'I couldn't let this suffering child die alone': How Jill Stanek blew the whistle on what was happening to children
05.11.2010
Nurse Jill Stanek blew the whistle on what was happening to babies who survived abortion in Christ Hospital in Illinois - and in doing so she exposed that this horrific practise was happening right throughout the United States.
Ms Stanek was working as a registered nurse in Christ Hospital when she discovered that the hospital was performing so-called 'live-birth' abortions, where the baby was born alive and then left to die – usually in a utility room, usually alone and uncared for. Often the babies lived for an hour or two after delivery, sometimes for even longer. One baby lived as long as eight hours.
One night Jill was told that another nurse was taking a Down's syndrome baby who was aborted alive to the Soiled Utility Room because his parents did not want to hold him, and she did not have time to hold the baby until he died.
She says "I could not bear the thought of this suffering child dying alone, so I cradled and rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived. He was between 21 and 22 weeks old, weighed about 1/2 pound, and was about 10 inches long. He was too weak to move very much, expending any energy he had trying to breathe. After he was pronounced dead, we folded his little arms across his chest, wrapped him in a tiny shroud, and carried him to the hospital morgue where all of our dead patients are taken."
When hospital leaders said that they would not stop this terrible practice, Jill went public and became a national figure in the effort to protect both born and pre-born infants. The hospital then refused to employ her.
Jill has now testified twice before the Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives and in several state legislatures. Her written testimony has been read several times in key U.S. Congressional debates on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban and Born Alive Infants Protection Act. She is an experienced and popular media commentator and writes a popular blog at www.jillstanek.com
Ms Stanek is in Dublin to speak at the Viva la Vida! pro-life conference and is available for interview. Please call 087 9219661 or 086 1729008 for further information.
End
