Baby saved from abortion is baptized

Published: 2005-02-01

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Serena was three months pregnant and in turmoil. The young Panamanian-born mother of two was suffering from diabetes, and personnel at the Causeway Medical Clinic in Metairie, Louisiana's largest abortion clinic, told her the disease could cause severe birth defects in her unborn child if she went ahead and had the baby. The ambivalence Serena felt after her first consultation at the abortion clinic intensified overnight. As she was driven to the facility for her scheduled abortion on April 10, 2004 -- Holy Saturday -- she saw a group of people walking and praying on the sidewalk in front of the clinic. Serena -- who asked that her last name not be used in print -- got out of the car just a few feet from the clinic entrance, and then decided to make a U-turn. She walked over to Pam Richard, who along with her husband, John, coordinates the New Orleans Archdiocesan Sidewalk and Prayer Ministry, and to Jesuit Father Richard C. Hermes, who was keeping vigil with a group of students from the Pro-Life Club at Jesuit High School in New Orleans. Serena's story has an ending -- actually a beginning -- that Richard says still gives her goose bumps. On Nov. 23 Serena gave birth to her third son, 8-pound, 7-ounce Jaykob Angel, healthy in every way. On Jan. 16 pro-life supporters and the students at Jesuit High School gathered at the student chapel as Father Hermes baptized the baby who had been saved from death. The Richards served as Jaykob's godparents.

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