News

Tuesday February 23, 2010


Dramatic Pro-Life Rescue in Vegas

By Peter J. Smith

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, February 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A dramatic pro-life rescue recently took place in Las Vegas, after a woman who had already started the process of a late-term abortion was convinced to reverse the procedure and save her unborn child, and in the process overcame a drug addiction.

The National Catholic Register reports that most pro-life activists and doctors are not aware that the process of some late-term abortions can be reversed once it has begun. But luckily for Jamie Stout and her healthy unborn baby, two pro-life activists knew this was the case and were able to reach out her and convince her that she still had a window of opportunity to stop the death of her child.

“It isn’t over till it’s over,” Pam Caylor, executive director of First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas, told the Register when describing their rescue of then 20-week-old “Baby Claire” – now happily a month away from being born.

The Register reports that Caylor’s crisis pregnancy center, First Choice, “already saves well over 2,000 babies a year in Las Vegas.” But it was First Choice’s ultrasound operator Marina Cortopassi, who told her that her neighbor’s daughter, Jamie Stout, was getting an abortion. Stout was a drug addict with one child already being raised by her parents, and she did not want to put them through raising another daughter.

By the time Cortopassi met with Stout and her father at the abortion clinic, workers had already just started the abortion – a three-day process at 20 weeks – having inserted laminaria sticks into Stout’s cervix for dilation and induced labor.

However, Cortopassi managed to convince Stout’s father and Jamie that it was still not too late to reverse the abortion and keep the baby. The abortionist had not yet given the baby a lethal injection, but they only had less than six hours to remove the laminaria from Jamie – and find a doctor who would do it.

As the drama unfolded, Caylor and Cortopassi were successful in finding two physicians confident to direct the emergency room doctor on how to remove the laminaria. And none too soon: nearly five hours had passed before the ER doctor finally was able to remove them.

Throughout the ordeal, Caylor, Cortopassi, and members of the First Choice staff prayed for Stout, her baby, and the successful operation.

The whole experience ended up transforming the family, healing old wounds and binding them closer together – something Caylor called nothing short of a miracle. Stout told the Register that by the grace of God, she immediately lost her addiction to drugs.

“I feel totally excited and completely blessed now, given a second chance,” Stout said. “It was a big wake-up call not only for me but for my family, where we stand with our belief with God, faith and when life begins.”

Click here to continue reading the National Catholic Register’s full dramatic account of this pro-life story.