Thanks, Oprah!
— Posted by Annie (November 6, 2006 at 3:36 pm)
My sister received an e-mail this past Friday from someone on her Respect Life Committee saying she should watch Oprah. A young girl was going to talk about how she killed her baby. My sister called me up and reported the same message to me. So I did something I very rarely do—I turned on my TV!
There sat Oprah, interviewing a young woman from prison via telecast. This was the story: In February 1999, Jessica Coleman killed her four pound baby boy after giving birth to him alone in her bathroom. She was just 15 years old at the time. She was able to keep the pregnancy a secret from everyone, including her parents. The only person who knew was her then boyfriend, Tom Truelson, Jr, who was a freshman in college.
Jessica stabbed her baby in the chest, stuffed him in a duffle bag and hid him in her closet. The next day, Tom filled the bag with rocks and drove the baby down to a quarry where he dumped the body. They swore to never tell anybody. Six months later a diver found the bag. Upon opening it, the baby’s leg and foot fell out. He quickly reported it to the police, but they were unable to track down the mother of the baby.
Six years later, Jessica was out to dinner with her new boyfriend, Matt. Their relationship was becoming more serious and they were talking about marriage and kids. Jessica broke down sobbing and told Matt the whole story. Someone overheard their conversation and called the police. When they came to Jessica’s house to question her, she met them at the door and freely admitted to the crime. She was convicted and sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Jessica regrets was she did and has made it her mission to encourage teens to get help if they find themselves pregnant and scared. She also wants to let teens know about safe haven laws. These laws enable mothers to bring babies to certain places—like hospitals, fire stations and police stations—and leave them in the care of the state, with no questions asked.
Towards the end of the show, Oprah had a testimony from reporter, Suzanne Hobbs. In 2000, Suzanne had been covering a story about a dead baby who was found in a dumpster. The story affected her personally because she and her husband were trying to conceive a baby. This moved her to work for the passage of a safe haven law in her home state of Idaho.
In 2001 a safe haven law was past in Idaho. Since that time, 13 babies have been dropped off, including a baby girl who is now Suzanne’s adopted daughter.
Since 1999, 47 states have adopted their own individual safe haven laws. Only three states—Nebraska, Hawaii and Alaska—do not yet have safe haven laws.
Safe haven laws are a good “way out” for young women. We hear too many stories of babies being left in dumpsters, many times to die. If only these young mothers knew that there was a safe place they could take their babies with no questions asked.
I want to thank Oprah for brining this issue to light to over 10 million viewers. Perhaps it will save a baby’s life.
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mary kay says:
If only she had made it to an abortion doctor 5 minutes before she delivered she would have just been one among millions of woman who aborted their child, and she wouldn’t have had any jail time.
Does the rest of the world not see the irony?
Thanks for nothing Oprah.
Next time finsish the story and tell the world that this happens every day! Only it’s legal. And the only difference is that it’s not only the mother and father who kill the baby…it’s also a liscensed medical doctor…
I realize that she performed a service by letting women know that they have options…I just don’t think it was enough!
MK
Comment posted November 6th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Christina says:
One step at a time, Mary kay! It’s enough to get somebody as far to the left as Oprah to admit that killing a newborn is problematic. And I don’t think Oprah realizes third trimester abortions are legal. Most prochoicers don’t. The few who do say it’s like pounding your head against a brick wall to get other prochoicers to see the evidence. They have a huge, huge blind spot.
Comment posted November 6th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
lauren says:
For some reason this post really bothered me. It seems to be celebrating the pain and suffering of this woman in the name of your political cause. Safe haven laws are very important, I agree. Hold back a little in your celebration though, it comes off very nasty.
That’s messed up she was sentenced to six years in prison. Scared, alone, young, and not wanting to be pregnant. It’s sad and very tragic.
Comment posted November 6th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
mary kay says:
Lauren,
Have you been back to the “Preaching the Unpreachable” post?
You asked a lot of good questions, and we tried to answer them.
But then you were gone for awhile and I hate to think you missed the answers.
You make a good point about the above woman. I just don’t care for Oprah and got hung up on her. This girls story is indeed tragic.
And I have said before that the abortion problem is in large part our (as catholics) fault for not making alternatives more available.
No girl (or woman) should EVER be placed in a position where killing her baby seems like the best choice. If we catholics were doing our job correctly, abortion would be uncecessary. There would be so many women’s centers, adoption agencies, counselors, caring, understanding and non judgemental people out there that abortion would become the LEAST attractive solution.
My point, was that if this girl had to do jail time, then so should every woman and doctor that ever had a late term abortion.
But I don’t really believe that the women should ever do jail time.
(The doctors? absolutely). I just found it ironic that 5 minutes sooner and it would have been an abortion, 5 minutes later and it’s murder.
I’m very glad to hear that you believe late-term abortion is wrong.
But what can we do to help you understand that all abortions kill a baby, and that the stage the baby is at should not determine it’s value as a human being? Have you ever seen the pictures at Father Pavones sight? Really looked at them? If you have, what did you think? What did you feel? How did you rationalize to yourself that they weren’t humans? I’m not being provocative here…really…just trying to get some insight into to how you think?
MK
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 7:00 am
Pansy Moss says:
I am outraged on a different level. What kind of woman would do this to their child? I can totally relate to being scared and panicking, but I don’t see how that translates into murder.
I have little opinion on safe haven laws, but if they save lives , I suppose they are a good thing. It’s the philosophy behind throwing your own children away in a dumpster that makes me ill. It is hard to address what safe haven laws mean in my head without having to bypass that imagery.
I am sure my reaction has a lot to do with the fact that I am very pregnant and hormonal, and maybe I should not be reading and commenting on such things now.
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 10:40 am
lauren says:
She was 15. When I was 15, God knows what I was thinking. I have very tolerant open-minded parents and I would’ve been just as scared as that girl.
Sorry yea, i’ve had midterms and I’ve been really involved in the elections MaryKay so I should get to that post.
It’s not that I rationalize that it’s not human. It’s just that there’s viability and pain involved. I do think there is something inherently different between an embryo/zygote and a 3 month old. Abortion t o me should be safe, legal, and rare. Late-term abortions should only be available for life of the mother.
Not every situation is the same. I think there is a difference between abortion that occurs because a girl was raped and a girl using abortion for the 2nd or third time as birth control.
I think really God will decide, not you or I, to be perfectly honest.
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Rosie says:
“Late-term abortions should only be available for life of the mother.”
At that point they should remove the child and try to save both people, why kill the child if there is a chance that it can live if the only reason is for the health of the mother. Would the intent at that point be to save the mother or to kill the baby? Why not try to save both?
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Rosie says:
Pansy,
“I am sure my reaction has a lot to do with the fact that I am very pregnant and hormonal, and maybe I should not be reading and commenting on such things now. ‘
I think you may be right. I find my reactions to things are a bit more harsh than usual. I also find that I say things out loud that I normally would keep to myself.
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
Sunnyday says:
I have mixed feelings about this segment on Oprah. I admire Jessica Coleman for talking about what she did, and on national TV at that, for doing so must have required remarkable courage. At the same time, discussing certain matters in the media (especially on TV) somehow trivializes those matters or makes them seem ordinary over time. Are we going to see more features about baby-killing in “reality shows” now? About parents who mistreat their kids? And I certainly hope people won’t get accustomed to the idea of parents hurting their children after this. It’s just that seeing any kind of horror on TV or the movies, repeatedly, has a way of numbing the senses.
As for the safe haven law, let’s pray that it does more good than bad. If we keep praying intensely, it will certainly bear more good fruit =)
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Mike says:
Unfortunately our US Senator Barack Obama has no problem with killing babies outside the mothers womb…
http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2006/07/new_stanek_colu_5.html#comments
Mike
Comment posted November 8th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
lauren says:
Oh god.. Alan Keyes said God would not vote for him! booo f-ing hoo, that’s the last person’s endorsement I would want. It’s such a shame you alienate yourself from Obama Mike. When I introe’d him at my campus progress conference, he talked about reaching out to the pro-life movement. The video is on the internet if you care at all. I’ll guess not.
Oh and last I checked George W Shrub doesn’t care much about babies either. http://www.geocities.com/kabuli.geo/iraq.jpg
Comment posted November 9th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Mike says:
It’s such a shame you alienate yourself from Obama Mike.
Lauren,
When a person such as Obama believes its fine to kill a born baby outside of the mother’s womb then they have gone way over the edge!
The fact you would defend Obama’s position killing born babies is just unbelievable to me.
Mike
Comment posted November 9th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Rosie says:
When pro-aborts talk about reaching out to pro-lifers it usually means they want to change their minds. Fortunately people who know it is wrong to kill innocent people usually can’t be swayed. They shouldn’t waste their time.
Comment posted November 9th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
mary kay says:
“#
Lauren says:
Oh god.. Alan Keyes said God would not vote for him! booo f-ing hoo, that’s the last person’s endorsement I would want…”
Sorry, I’m confused. God wouldn’t vote for Alan Keyes? The last person’s endorsement you would want is God’s???
Huh?
MK
Comment posted November 9th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
Lauren says:
where the heck are you getting the fact that obama would kill babies outside of the womb?
Comment posted November 11th, 2006 at 11:27 am
Lauren says:
Last I checked Alan Keyes is not god, therefore he is wholly unable to endorse candidates on God’s behalf… Alan Keyes is a carpetbagger and a moron.
Comment posted November 11th, 2006 at 11:30 am
mary kay says:
Lauren,
Do you realize how often you call people names because you don’t agree with them? Were you trying to say that you disagree with Alan Keyes and think that his views are extreme?
MK
Comment posted November 11th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
Lauren says:
He is a carpetbagger by definition. His views are extreme and he calls my friends murderers. My calling him a moron pales in comparison.
Comment posted November 12th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Rosie says:
Would you consider Hillary a carpetbagger?
Comment posted November 12th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Lauren says:
hahah fair point! i concede to that.. i’ll support hillary if she’s the nominee, but she’s too conservative for me.
Hillary is not as liberal as the right-wing paints her. Read her voting record.
Comment posted November 13th, 2006 at 12:33 am
Rosie says:
“hahah fair point! i concede to that”
Good, though I must admit, it’s always a good idea to be a carpetbagger in a state you can win.
Comment posted November 13th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Mike says:
where the heck are you getting the fact that obama would kill babies outside of the womb?
Lauren,
Didn’t you read the article linked in post #10 or did you not want to hear it or did you not comprehend it?
Mike
Comment posted November 15th, 2006 at 9:05 pm