The pro-life organization And Then There Were None, a group dedicated to helping abortion workers leave the industry, recently held a webinar hosted by the Director of Operations, Angela Huguenin. This webinar sought to disprove the view that late-term abortions are performed only in “desperate situations” and are therefore “necessary,” and to shed light on the lies that late-term abortions are safe and rare.

The CDC reports that there are more than 70,000 second- and third-trimester abortions performed in the United States annually, and contrary to the belief that these abortions are performed due to unsurvivable fetal abnormalities, or that they are often done to save the life of the mother, three former clinic workers said that between 95-99% of the late-term abortions they witnessed were sought simply for convenience.

Noemi Padilla

The first guest, Noemi Padilla, worked as the recovery room nurse at a private facility in Florida. She often witnessed abortion requests due to poor finances, issues with fathers, mothers’ feelings of unreadiness and other tangible, non-medical reasons. Padilla even witnessed abortions performed solely for sex selection or due to the child being “less than perfect” (which often meant “with Down syndrome”).

Her clinic became a go-to facility for cruise ship staff members who needed to get rid of “evidence” of violating their contracts’ requirements to refrain from sexual relations with co-workers. They would take advantage of these women’s vulnerability, charging extra for the quickly needed “VIP vacation destination package” — an arrangement that offered no follow-up after the women re-boarded their ships.

Describing abortions in the clinic, she said that second-trimester abortions began after 11 weeks. On the first day, medication was given to stop the heartbeat of the baby, followed by medication on days two and three to induce labor. After the first dose, women were either sent home or set up in cheap motels with no further medical supervision.

Padilla also spoke of how they would manipulate the legal limit for abortions, which was just under 24 weeks in Florida at the time of her employment. During ultrasounds, uncertified technicians simply changed the data markers so that the gestational age of the fetus would appear to be within the legal guidelines.

Sonia Torrez

The second speaker, Sonia Torrez, worked at a private clinic in Texas, and explained how their procedures differed from what Noemi described. Torrez’s clinic didn’t give medication to stop the heartbeat. Rather, they would go directly to inducing labor, requiring the women to come back day after day until they were given enough medication for them to dilate sufficiently for the clinic to remove the remains. She attested, like Noemi, to manipulating gestational age through ultrasound.

She also told the story of a woman in her clinic who was coerced into having an abortion after she was told that her child had what turned out to be a minor physical abnormality. Unfortunately, abortion is often push as the recommended “solution” in such cases, with little discussion of treatment options and corrective surgeries.

Adrienne Moton

Adrienne Moton worked at Kermit Gosnell’s clinic in Philadelphia. She reported that despite the legal limit of 24.5 weeks, the clinic often performed abortions at 28-30 weeks.

She revealed an alarming story of a 30-week-old baby boy who, upon being born alive, was left to die. She prayed over him and told him how sorry she was. The trauma of his death severely affected her mental health. She couldn’t sleep in the dark for a year and a half. Every time she tried to sleep, she would see the child standing there, giving her a look that seemed to ask, “Why didn’t you help me?”

Moton also witnessed forced abortions in her clinic. One woman who kept leaving the clinic because she didn’t want an abortion had a husband who kept dragging her back and ended up handcuffing her to one of the poles in the clinic’s bathroom. She stated that the staff wouldn’t call the police because the husband himself was a police officer.

Padilla also mentioned the deeper issues that are present when a minor is brought in for a forced abortion by her pimp or abuser — a practice that was rampant in their clinics.

Death Certificates

The three guests discussed the differing death-certificate procedures between their clinics. Huegenin pointed out that this variation “sheds a light on the division of where we are as a nation. Some recognize that as a life and others do not.”

Padilla said that in Florida they didn’t have death certificates at all because then there would be a tacit acknowledgment that a life had ended. “There was no birth certificate,” said Padilla, “so how could there possibly be a death certificate?”

Torrez said that in Texas they were required to submit death certificates with the patients’ signatures. They would intentionally hide the certificates in the stack of other papers the patient had to sign.

Padilla added that abortion clinics are not run under standard medical guidelines, so not even common medical practices were explained to the workers. In fact, while the clinics were audited regularly, Huegenin said that they knew when the auditors were coming, the staff chose which records they wanted them to audit, and they scanned the records to make sure they were correct and in order before handing them over.

Healing

How do these women deal with everything they’ve witnessed? Padilla said that this is something they’ll be dealing with for the rest of their lives, as a certain smell, sound or action can trigger and regress their healing.

Moton said that a day or two before she shares her story, she still has the dream of the boy standing in her room.

Torrez stated that she still has a hard time coming to terms with what she’s done, but constantly thanks God for taking her away from that evil.

All three women are going to be healing for the rest of their lives, with the help of And Then There Were None, but they are also strong enough to help the new abortion workers struggling with leaving the field.