Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 29, 1995 TAG: 9509290081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBYNN TYSVER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BLAIR, NEB. LENGTH: Medium
Police came for Ruby Scott in the middle of the night.
As her parents looked on helplessly, the pregnant, unwed 15-year-old was taken away by three uniformed officers armed with a doctor's letter saying an abortion could be dangerous for her. She was taken to the police station, and then to a foster home.
A day later, she was released - after her parents agreed in a Juvenile Court hearing that they would not obtain an abortion for her unless a court approved.
Ten weeks later, Ruby's daughter, Breezy, was born.
And a year after that, the young mother and her parents filed suit over that night, alleging Ruby's ex-boyfriend, his parents and local officials violated her rights by working to prevent her from choosing an abortion.
``What we have here is a family working together in the worst crisis of their lives and here they come and take her from her parents in the night,'' said Jeanelle Kleveland, the Scott family's lawyer.
Ruby's former boyfriend, R. Heath Mayfield, and his mother, Kathy Tull, have denied they deprived Ruby of her right to an abortion, but admitted they tried to persuade her to keep the baby or put it up for adoption.
``I believe the baby has a right to live and my son should have the rights of a father,'' Kathy Tull said. She said she doesn't believe in abortion but is not active in anti-abortion group.
Janet Crepps, an attorney with the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Law & Policy, said she is unaware of another case where police took a girl from her parents by arguing that an abortion could be dangerous.
The struggle started Sept. 28, 1994, when Ruby told Mayfield she planned to have an abortion the next day. Two days earlier, she had taken two home-pregnancy tests at his house.
No one questions that the boyfriend was unhappy. What's in dispute is what happened later that night.
The Scott family alleges that Mayfield, his parents and several friends came to the Scott home. The suit says that some members of the group screamed and called the Scotts ``baby killers'' and hit Ruby's father.
Scott's mother called police. The Scotts told police they would be staying at a cousin's house that night.
A few hours later, about 12:30 a.m., more than 10 law enforcement cars arrived at the cousin's house, according to the lawsuit.
The police were bearing a letter from Dr. K.C. Bagby and a physician's assistant.
``Any elective abortion could potentially cause medical and emotional damage to the mother at any stage of pregnancy,''
``An elective abortion at this stage of pregnancy could not only be harmful to the mother but even in the most extreme case be potentially fatal to the mother,'' the letter said.
At a Juvenile Court hearing the day after Ruby was taken away, Connie and Carl Scott agreed that an abortion no longer was an option because their daughter was further along in her pregnancy than they thought.
But the Scotts say harassment connected to the case eventually drove them from this rural community of 6,800 about 20 miles north of Omaha.
Shortly after Ruby was taken away, fliers were posted all over Blair labeling them ``murderers,'' the Scotts said.
And last Friday, the day the lawsuit was filed, someone threw shaving cream, butter and a jar of mushroom spaghetti at the door of the one-story house the Scotts still own in Blair.
Months ago, the family moved to Iowa, where they are now raising Breezy. The Scotts declined interview requests through their attorney.
Under Nebraska law, once the fetus is deemed viable, or able to survive outside the womb, an abortion is permitted only to preserve the woman's life or health. In most cases, viability is achieved between 24 and 28 weeks.
Dr. David Grimes - who studied the safety of abortions for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the 1970s and '80s and is now chief of obstetrics and gynecology at San Francisco General Hospital - said the fears about abortion being dangerous at 23 weeks are ``hogwash.''
by CNB