AFFIDAVIT
The State of Texas
County of Bexar
BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority on this day personally appeared SHARON BLAKENEY, who, after being by me duly sworn, upon oath stated the following facts:
“My name is SHARON BLAKENEY. I am over the age of eighteen years and I am of sound mind and competent to make this affidavit. I have personal knowledge of the facts stated in this affidavit, and I do solemnly swear, or affirm that the following facts are true:”
“It was the fall of 1988, I was seventeen years old and in my senior year of high school. My parents that had raised me in a strict Southern Baptist home were having marital problems and before the school year ended, they were divorced. I was an honor student and an officer for the school dance team. I had already been accepted to the University of Texas in Austin for college and looked forward to joining my boyfriend that I had been dating for a year and a half in Austin. He was on a golf scholarship to a private college there. Then I found out I was pregnant. I told my boyfriend first. He really didn’t say anything. He was very concerned, but I don’t think he knew what to say. He just held me while I cried.”
“Then I told my mom. She was already under a considerable emotional strain with the problems she and dad were having, and I knew that my pregnancy would not be good news. She asked me what I was going to do.”
“This threw me for a loop. I was not expecting her to ask me what I was going to do, I expected her to make the decision for me, or at least offer help if I wanted to have the baby. I believe in my heart I wanted to keep my child, but I was very afraid of the embarrassment of being pregnant while still in high school. If I kept my baby it would have meant being kicked off the drill team, probably having to drop out of high school, not graduating with my friends (or with honors), and definitely no college at UT. I was also terrified of how upset my dad would be if he found out. Looking back though, if someone had told me they would help me -- anyone, my boyfriend, my mom, a counselor, anyone -- I would have had my baby. Unfortunately, my boyfriend and mom never said they would help if I decided to have my baby, they just asked what I wanted to do, and there weren’t any counselors to talk to at the clinic. Too embarrassed to talk to anyone else about it, and feeling like I had made a terrible mistake by getting pregnant, I decided in hopeless desperation to have an abortion. I felt it was the only way my boyfriend could continue his college on his golf scholarship, my mom clearly didn’t need any more stress in her life, and I felt terribly inadequate to bring a child into the world.”
“I looked in the Yellow Pages under “abortion clinics”. There were hundreds of listings. I called one on the 59 South Freeway and scheduled an appointment for the next day. The next morning my mother took me to the clinic. It was in a tall office building. I remember thinking how strange it was that there was an abortion clinic in the same building as travel agencies and law offices. I was also surprised there weren’t any protestors outside. I think I wish there had been.”
“We went upstairs to the clinic office. We got there before the clinic opened and there were several young girls waiting in the hall for the clinic to open. Some of them were crying. It all seemed like a very bad, very strange dream. When the clinic opened I went to the counter and signed in. They gave me a urine pregnancy test that came back positive. The receptionist asked me for two hundred dollars. I paid the money for the abortion and waited until they called my name. A lady took me in back and had me change into a gown. I then waited a while more and she came back in with the doctor. I kept waiting for someone to talk to me about other options, like adoption, or a crisis pregnancy program, or something. No one ever even said “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“The nurse told me to lie down and the doctor began the abortion. There was no physical exam done at all prior to the procedure to make sure it was safe to perform the abortion, they just did it.”
“First, there were several very painful injections. Then, very painful cutting, scraping and poking deep inside me. Then a horrible, loud sucking machine was used. I felt my entire insides were being sucked out, like my very heart was being ripped from my body. I was crying and I tried to sit up. I think I wanted him to stop, but I don’t know what I was trying to do, I just kept trying to sit up. The nurse pushed me down and put a gas mask on me. Then I couldn’t move but I was still conscious of what was going on. There was more painful cutting and scraping, and more horrible vacuuming of my insides. It was the most awful thing I’ve ever experienced in my whole life.”
“Then the nurse made me get up and get dressed right away, which was very difficult to do because of all the gas they gave me and the operation I had just gone through. She took me down the hall to a disgusting, crowded room full of cots with young girls laying down holding their stomachs, bleeding, and crying. It was terrible. I’m not sure how long they made me lay there but it seemed like an eternity. They would take the girls that were bleeding too much to change their sanitary napkins and then bring in another girl in the same awful state. The room stayed full. For every girl that left another was brought in. I couldn’t believe how many girls were having abortions. I wondered if anyone had asked them if they were sure that was what they wanted, or if anyone offered help or another option.”
“One month after the abortion when I went for my follow-up to my mother’s OB/GYN, I found out that I had a cyst on my right ovary the size of a grapefruit. They scheduled an operation right away to remove it because the slightest movement of the cyst could cause it to twist my ovary and create a potentially life-threatening situation. If the doctor that performed my abortion had done a simple physical exam prior to beginning the procedure he would have discovered the cyst. Instead, he simply went ahead with the abortion and unnecessarily put my life in danger.”
“After the abortion I went into a deep depression, and so did my mother. My mom, who had never even tasted alcohol before began to drink heavily. My boyfriend and I both began to drink heavily as well. Some time later he began dealing with illegal drugs and dropped out of college. I also began experimenting with drugs and quit the high school dance team. I missed almost thirty days of school my senior year after the abortion. I just didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to do anything but try to forget the horrible experience of losing my child.”
“After many terrible fights, my boyfriend and I broke up. I had almost no control of my emotions and would turn what should have been happy occasions like my senior prom and graduation) into tragic fiascoes. I did graduate from high school, and went on to college, but did very poorly in school for the first few years. I had difficulties in every relationship with a man after my abortion, and my overall health and happiness drastically declined. I married the first man that loved me enough to ask me to marry him, just so that I could replace the child I lost and have a child I could keep. It was a terribly selfish thing to do. I was married 3 days after I turned 20, and was pregnant again one month after our wedding.”
“I do have the most wonderful child in the world. His name is Cody, and he’s eight years old. He is truly a blessing from God and I love him very much. While I was pregnant with Cody, I became a Christian and my whole life changed. Being a Christian doesn’t give you a perfect life, but it does give you the perfect assurance that the Lord will never leave you or forsake you. Unfortunately, Cody’s father and I were divorced two years after we were married. Although I had become a Christian, there were significant problems that existed in that relationship because it had not been founded in love from the beginning. I took a few years after I became a Christian before I fully realized that the depression I was suffering from, the unexplained feelings of guilt, the mood swings, the chemical abuse, all were symptoms of post-abortion syndrome. Once I realized that, and accepted the forgiveness and healing that Jesus Christ offered, I was a changed person.”
“Now, because I’m allowing Him to, God is taking the biggest mistake and using it for His glory. I pray that anyone who reads this affidavit will see that abortion was truly a harmful event in my life. The emotional and health consequences are permanent, and women should be told of those consequences before making a decision that will affect them for the rest of their lives.”
“I have read the above and foregoing statement and the same is true and correct.”
SIGNED this the 27th day of September, 2000.
SHARON BLAKENEY
