Baby Born After Chemical Abortion Makes for Special Mother's Day

excerpted from an article by Gail Hollenbeck

Hernando, FL -- Nicole Saia believes she is celebrating her first Mother's Day by the grace of God. The birth of Alexandria Nicole Saia on April 5 was, she says, a miracle.

When 18-year-old Nicole learned that she was pregnant, she followed the urging of the baby's father to have an abortion. The unmarried couple traveled to an abortion facility in Gainesville, Florida where the young woman received an injection of methotrexate, part of a chemical abortion process. She was told it would kill the fastest-growing cells, which would be the placenta, and was given suppositories with the instructions to take them five days later to cause the contractions that would expel the dead baby.

Two days later, Nicole said, she realized that she did not want to abort her baby, so she told her parents what she had done. The three discussed the problem and then Nicole's mother made a suggestion.

"I said, "The first thing we're going to do is pray and put you into Jesus' hands, because this is definitely out of ours,' " said Joan Saia. "Next day, Nicole got on the phone and called the abortion clinic. They told her the embryo was dead and there was nothing to do. She called the pharmacy and they said the drug could cause deformities, but the baby may still be alive. They didn't know."

Nicole wanted to find out more about methotrexate. When she called Citrus Memorial Hospital, she was advised to call the Genesis Women's Center in Inverness. She explained her situation and received a call back with a message from Dr. Steven Roth telling her to come right in.

An ultrasound was performed, and on her 19th birthday, Nicole found out that her baby was alive.

"I guess the way (Dr. Roth) felt about it was, if I would have a change of heart, he was going to do everything in his power to help me," said Nicole.

"That's exactly what I told her," said Roth. "I said, 'If you're not going to go through with this, I'll do whatever I can.' I had her take Leukovorin (a drug given in cancer treatment along with methotrexate to protect normal cells) to overwhelm the chemical she took."

"I had never written a prescription for Leukovorin in my life. I had to call somebody else to find out what the dosage was. I think God had a hand in opening up my mind in using that as a possible treatment option and certainly in just protecting that baby. Even having Nicole come to us and just the way it worked out that day. He was in it from the very beginning."

Nicole took the prescription until the following Monday when a second sonogram showed that the baby was still alive. She had passed the crisis period.

The growth of the baby was carefully monitored and in early November Nicole found out through a sonogram that she was carrying a little girl who had no visible deformities. In April, she went into labor three weeks early and delivered a 4-pound, 7-ounce girl, whom she named Alexandria.

Nicole, who will soon complete her bachelor's degree in business administration at Saint Leo University's Ocala campus, says it hasn't been easy being a single mom. She lives at home with her parents and younger sister, and her grandmother is right next door to help.  ...

"I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. My whole family has been wonderful along with all the outside support. The Life Choice Care Center helped me emotionally through my pregnancy. My church, my college. I couldn't ask for a better family or a better support system." ...

Nicole said she wants to tell her story to save other girls from the emotional strain she endured.

"When I went to the abortion clinic, I talked to the counselor. I was crying and I told her that I didn't want to do this and that I wasn't ready to do it, but she told the doctor that I was fine and to go in for the procedure. If I had taken the suppositories, I would have miscarried, but it would have been a live baby and there's no way I would have known. So some of these people who are getting the two-process chemical abortions might actually be aborting a live child, because the first shot doesn't always work."

Roth said he thinks Nicole is a hero.

"She's the one who had to go through the whole pregnancy not knowing if her baby was going to be deformed or what might happen. It was a very brave and wonderful decision that she made, and I'm just so excited for her."

You can see a picture of Nicole, Alexandria and Nicole's mother and grandmother at http://www.sptimes.com/News/051301/photos/cit-mom.jpg
The complete story is http://www.sptimes.com/News/051301/Citrus/Healthy_baby_made_mot.shtml

Source: St. Petersburg (FL) Times; May 13, 2001-- article from pro-life infonet Pro-Life Infonet 5/13/01 #2429 The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to: infonet-request@prolifeinfo.org. Infonet is sponsored by Women and Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). For more pro-life info visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org and for questions or additional information email ertelt@prolifeinfo.org