Charges filed over baby in biohazard bag

Belkis Gonzalez

A Florida abortion business owner has been arrested on charges stemming from a case in which a breathing baby was swept into a biohazard bag and left to die, according to a new report.

The Miami Herald reported Belkis Gonzalez, who owned the Hialeah abortion business involved in the 2006 death of a child named Shanice, was arrested today over the botched abortion at her A GYN Diagnostic Center.

Authorities reported the 43-year-old was charged with a second-degree felony for practicing as an unlicensed health-care provider and a third-degree felony for tampering with evidence.

Gonzalez, who already is on probation for an unrelated 2007 conviction for unlicensed practice of health care, could face one to five years in prison if convicted.

State regulators already have revoked the license of the doctor, Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, who was supposed to conduct the abortion. Renelique was cited for medical malpractice and delegating the keeping of medical records to unlicensed workers and family.

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As WND reported, Gonzalez allegedly responded to the live birth at the abortion clinic by coming into the room, sweeping the baby into the biohazard bag and dropping it into the garbage.

Authorities soon confirmed the baby had been born alive.

The 18-year-old mother, Sycloria Williams, recently told the denominational Florida Catholic newspaper she was "cheated" because she was led to believe the procedure would "terminate" a pregnancy, not kill a baby.

WND also reported recently on a civil lawsuit that accuses abortionists of making the mother watch the death of her newborn daughter.

Williams, now 21, told the Florida Catholic she's telling her story now because people need to know about the events that ultimately made her change her mind about abortion.

"No one should lose their life if you get pregnant," she told the newspaper. "If I got pregnant again I would have the baby."

Williams, who lives in Hollywood, Fla., said anyone with an unplanned pregnancy should make abortion the absolute last option.

"I would tell them not to do it. I'll say whatever to make them have second thoughts so they don't do it," she said. "There is help out there."

In her own case, she is upset that business employees "wouldn't admit to me the whole time something went wrong. I feel like they treated me like nothing, like a nobody."

Williams explained she went to the Miramar Woman Center to sign consent forms and get medication in July 2006 but didn't meet the doctor who was supposed to be in charge of her case. She did meet Renelique two days later, when she got a brief description of the abortion.

"He said that it was a two-day procedure, to take my medicines and come back the next day. He just said it like one, two, three," Williams said.

She said she had questioned him about the abortion "and what they do with the baby."

"They said they freeze the body," she said.

Once the abortion procedure was begun, she got a call from the daughter of clinic owner Gonzalez telling her to go to a different location the next day, and she did. There, the receptionist gave her "two white pills." Williams' lawsuit alleges the drug was Cytotec, to induce labor.

She put on a hospital gown and went to a waiting room.

"Where is the doctor?" she wondered during her three hours of waiting.

Suddenly, she realized the baby was arriving.

"There was just no stopping it," she said.

The baby, Shanice, suddenly was on a chair cushion.

"She wasn't moving much. Twitching, gasping for air. She wasn't crying though, just hissing. Hissing sounds only," Williams told the Florida Catholic.

The fact that the baby was fully formed and alive surprised her.

"I thought it would be a blob thing, but bigger, not a baby," she said. "She looked like a Water Baby. Like those dolls you fill up with water."

The lawsuit explains Gonzalez then cut the cord, scooped the baby into the biohazard bag and tossed it into a trash can.

Tipped off about the situation, police a week later found the baby's body, prompting the events that led to the civil lawsuit and eventually to today's arrest.

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Previous stories:

Biohazard bag case mom feels 'cheated'

Abortionist loses medical license

Lawsuit says abortionist made mom watch 'murder'

Biohazard bag baby's death blamed on unlicensed staff

Grand jury sought in case of baby in biohazard bag

Abortionist arrested in Florida investigation

Abortion victim's funeral delayed

Coroner says baby at abortion business was born alive

Charges expected in baby's death at abortion business

'Aborted' baby born alive, authorities say

Abortionists investigated for possible baby murder

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