Tragedy: Mother Sues Over Unsuccessful Abortion
Source: BBC News: Scotland - Damages claim for abortion twin
Stacy Dow of Scotland was 16 when she discovered she was pregnant with twins and decided to have an abortion. Unbeknownst to her and to the doctors, one the twins survived the attempted murder and was born.
Now the child’s mother is suing the hospital for $1.7 million in compensation, seeking damages for the “financial burden” of raising her now four-year-old daughter, Jayde.
“I have got a child now that I wasn’t planning to have and I believe the hospital should take some responsibility for that,” Dow said. “They should have known, or at least warned me, that I might still be pregnant when I left. It has totally changed my life and my parents’ lives.”
And the most heart-breaking quote of all: “I still don’t know if, or what, I am going to tell Jayde when the time comes. Maybe when she is nine or ten I will sit her down and explain it to her.”
How could a mother ever explain such a thing to her daughter?
Justin Taylor of Theologica said it best:
Try to imagine that conversation. Then weep at the depravity. Then realize that we would act in such a murderous, self-centered way but for the grace of God. May we cling to the cross, and cry out to God for both mercy and justice. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Pray for Jayde, that she might someday come to know the infinite love of her Heavenly Father; the love of Him through whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
February 25th, 2006 at 12:03 am
That’s about the sickest thing I’ve heard in a while.
February 25th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Yeah, it’s pretty bad that the world has gone so far to accept child murder like this. On a happier note though, South Dakota has just approved an abortion ban. You can check out the article on Yahoo News.
February 25th, 2006 at 12:47 am
I don’t think I can add much to what Justin said.
By the way, Brett or Alex, do you know whether this story was presented by the BBC as a horrible deed or just another lawsuit? I’m aware that they’re more radically left than most… Eric’s comment made me wonder just how much of the world would accept this.
February 25th, 2006 at 1:04 am
That is so heartbreaking. Makes me want to cry.
February 25th, 2006 at 1:32 am
Lord God, forgive our iniquity. Forgive us for living for the pleasures of the flesh, to whatever degree it may be. Forgive us for willfully rejecting Your perfect sacrifice, and choosing to live a life of pleasure today, forgetting about eternity. You were cursed for us, and yet we refuse You. We repent in “sackloth and ashes”. We bow our hearts before You. Do not destroy the righteous with the wicked: that be far from You to slay the righteous with the wicked: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? We have taken it upon ourselves to speak to You, to intercede before Your throne of grace, who are but dust and ashes. Do not be angry with us…pour out Your mercy, and save our land for Your name’s sake, Lord God our Father.
February 25th, 2006 at 1:58 am
I’d just like to add a note…I was just talking to my mom, and let her look at the article. She said, “Yes, this is sad…but God is not limited. We can’t put God in a box. If Stacy got saved, this whole picture would look different.” So, even though it still was sin, and wrong, God is not limited through human hands.
February 25th, 2006 at 1:58 am
This tragic event certainly puts a human face on the monstrous crime of abortion. We must thank God for the miracle of Jayde’s preserved life. He is so good. There might have been two deaths if not for God’s great mercy.
February 25th, 2006 at 4:43 am
Poor little girl.
February 25th, 2006 at 6:22 am
Wow. The depravity of the world is deeper than one might imagine. Yet I am sure it will get worse before the Day comes. May He come quickly.
February 25th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
there but for the grace of God go I. Lord help us.
February 25th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
I think that poor child needs a new home. Seriously, she’s living with the woman who tried to have her killed and apparently has no love for her.
February 25th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
I wonder if that is what she really feels in her heart?
How could she think of the “mistake” the doctors made in a unfriendly way, when she has such a precious child to help her through this sad world?
I just don’t get it.
February 25th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
It just makes me sick to hear these kind of stories. I cannot imagine what the daughter will be feeling when she is told that she was meant to be aborted… that she was an accident.
There is a “conversation” going on my comment section on my latest post about abortion… just reading up on things before I posted made me sick to my stomach. How God must mourn over the precious lives we are throwing away!
February 25th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
I guess its possible she’s just looking for money.
February 26th, 2006 at 4:16 am
This is so sad, it really does hurt me.
February 26th, 2006 at 7:30 am
I wish I could scoop that precious little girl right up into my arms. Jacqui is so right…there but for the grace of God go I.
May God rescue that dear little one and her horribly deceived mother.
February 26th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I think it’s past time for an imprecatory Psalm.
February 26th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
We just hit 6.5 billion people in the world last night. Unwanted children tend to overbreed as well. This is the basis why I am for abortion. If the person having the abortion can live with her act, so can I.
February 26th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
Oh Father! Forgive us. Our world has become such a wicked place. Teach us to be salt and light so the world will know you and walk in you ways. Heal our world and make yourself known to those who act against you by acting against your children. Forgive them, bring them to yourself, and use their lives for your kingdom’s sake and your glory.
February 27th, 2006 at 9:45 am
my heart just about breaks for jayde- i know she isn’t a mistake cos God doesnt’ make mistakes, but how is she going to feel when she grows up? i pray that she comes to know God and the love God has for her. and that He will put her in His family of Love and protect her. somewhere in the bible it talks about in the end times people becoming lovers of themselves and this is just sad proof of what the world is becoming. let us as children of God go and show love to the unwanted of the world….. we really need to stand up as His Body and make a difference in this world!
February 28th, 2006 at 12:59 am
I have a story similar but a little bit different in a better way.
I have a friend who is adopted and she is also a twin, but her twin sister is dead. Her real mother was in the familiar unexpected pregnancy situation and she decided to abort her two baby girls. When the abortion time came, this mother saw her first child murdered and she almost went into shock. She then stopped the doctors from killing her second child.
I’m sure this just one of countless sad stories dealing with abortion and hope that God will heal broken hearted mothers or kids like Jayde and my friend.
We’ll be praying for her.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
The child needs to be ripped away from this woman. If she didn’t want to be a mom why did she keep her? Why not adoption? I’m sure there is a family out there who would love a healthy child.
As far as overpopulation, well we haven’t run out of food. Actually we have too much. Too many fat kids, too many fat adults. We waste so much, and the only people fretting about overpopulation are westerners in a vat of plenty.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
The only legitimate grounds this “mother” should have for a lawsuit is that the doctor failed to determine that she didn’t have any real need for an abortion, since she’s coping with motherhood just fine. She should be suing for the DEATH of the twin who was aborted, not for the LIFE of the one that survived.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
I have a four year old little girl also and couldn’t imagine not having her this is very sad. Something else kinda wierd is the coat her little girl has on is the same one my daughter has. We were just stationed in England. So must have shopped at the same place. I know this has nothing to do with the post….So sorry. Also my little girl is blonde and fair skinned. I also have a son and could not even ever imagine giving them up or having to tell one of them that the other wasn’t wanted!
February 28th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
The Atheist Jew–simple question: if overpopulation justifies abortion, then why doesn’t it justify murder? Unless you claim that an unborn child isn’t alive, murder and abortion are synonyms.
March 1st, 2006 at 12:10 am
and yet not one mention of the father. he is either unwilling or unable to help support the child or worse yet she might not even know who he is. This lawsuit underneath states that fatherhood is not neccessary compounding this tadgedy.
As for the atheist jew: the world is not overpopulated. 6.5 billion people could fit in the state of Texas (7.5 trillion sg ft.) so everyone in the world could fit in that stae with 1,150 sq ft of living space. The population density would be greater than San Fransisco but less than Brooklyn. So let us put an end to the overpopulation myth.
March 1st, 2006 at 1:28 am
That is devasting. It’s devastating to know that your own mother doesnt want you. If she doesnt, who does? She will be in my prayers. God Bless.
March 1st, 2006 at 6:33 am
Anonymous,
Her mother may not want her, but there are millions and millions of people, Christians and non-Christians alike, who would jump at the chance to commit their lives to loving and caring for dear little Jayde.
March 2nd, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Oh, man…. That’s horrible. Can you imagine your mother sitting you down and telling you that she tried to kill you but it didn’t work? How would that make you feel? I know feelings aren’t the most important thing in the world, but we wonder why so many teens are committing suicide. Seriously.
I don’t think this lady loves her child at all. To try to commit infanticide is one thing, but to have the audacity to sue…! And to tell Jayde that! To me, that’s nearly unforgiveable. I’ll be praying not just for Jayde, but for her mom, too. They both need it.
March 3rd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
The mother doesn’t look very unhappy with her daughter in the picture…I don’t think she really feels that way. What mother would? Of course, we live in a sick and depraved generation…
Seth, I agree with you: I think she’s just trying to get money!
March 3rd, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Alex - wow. What a tragic, tragic story…it makes me cry to think of the utter depths sin takes us as people toward God & unborn children like Jayde’s twin. What a reminder, that apart from God’s saving and transforming grace, that would be me acting in such a way. It breaks my heart for Jayde and her mom to know the true gospel and repent and turn to the Lord.
March 14th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Ack, this story wrenches me. I wish this would somehow make Miss Dow realize how real an abortion is…that there could be another Jayde now…yet Miss Dow seems more annoyed than thankful that God kept one of her little babies from being killed. And Jayde looks so precious… I’m hoping to write about this this evening.
March 21st, 2006 at 1:52 am
:o( How could anyone be so cruel?How could you talk about your child like that?And,furthermore,she’s suing the hospital for something that was her and Jayde’s father’s fault.I’m not saying I support abbortion,I hate it as much as anyone here,but,it is her(Miss Dow’s)fault,not the doctors’.
Lord,help Miss Dow to understand that Jayde is a gift from You,out of the goodness of Your heart,not some”burden”.And,please,let her story show other people the wrongs that abbortion clinics are doing to our country.
In Your Name,
Amen
September 14th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
I hope that wretch burn in hell. No wonder some teens assault their parents. I see that monster spending her last days in a dirty nursing home, covered in bedsores.
September 14th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Sweetie46i: No one disagrees that what this mother did was horrible. But she is lost and acting according to her nature. We must have the humility to recognize that, but for the grace of God, we would have the will and the ability to do similar things. Furthermore, we must understand that all sin is equally deserving of God’s wrath. To say that you hope Miss Dow burns in Hell exposes an insufficient knowledge of the terrors of Hell (that you would wish anyone there) or an insufficient understanding of God’s mercy and grace.
September 26th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
God is good all the time and i believe that HE will definately forgive them. God’s love is beyond understanding so i just hope that both mother and child will acknowledge it.Praise the Lord.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
The only good thing about that situation, is that even if no one else loves that little girl, she has a heavenly Father who loves her deeply and more than everyone else combined.
My sister and I have a friend who just fairly he told us his heartbreaking story about a mother wanting an abortion:
~When his mother found out that she was pregnant with him 13 years ago, she hurried to a Planned Parenthood clinic. The clinic had been closed for the day a few minutes before she had arrived. As a result, she never got her appointment nor her abortion. His father is not around to my knowledge, and he said his mother is not very loving. ~
It breaks my heart to see and hear the rejection he feels from the knowledge that his mother didn’t want him and wanted to abort him. I told him that it was no mistake he is here, and that Jesus loves him. My friend got really quiet, but those words reached his heart.
I am so glad that there is a God that lovs us so much. How sadly empty atheists and humanists and non-Christians must feel.
May 14th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do!
It has been quite a while since this was posted, but I have offered up a prayer foe Jayde any way.
July 26th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
That is so sad! It makes my stomach turn. I pray that the Lord helps people like this.