Mom who was held captive at an abortion mill overcomes tremendous obstacles to save her baby’s life

WICHITA, KS — Sage Elisabeth’s entry into the world was one that was by no means assured. Sage’s mom, a beautiful young woman named Andrea was facing a time of crisis. Life had not been easy for Andrea. Her mother had been murdered in Oklahoma on the eve of her college graduation when Andrea was only three. She had only met her father four or five times in her life, and he had passed away in 2002 from complications of drug and alcohol addiction. She was raised in a small Oklahoma town by her maternal grandmother, who also recently died. This left Andrea alone by the age of 20 and totally dependent on her boyfriend, with whom she already had a 4-year old child.

Her boyfriend insisted on abortion for the baby she was now carrying and on December 2, 2004, Andrea succumbed to his pressure. Andrea persuaded to her girl friend, Billie to take her from her home in Hutchinson, KS, to Tiller’s abortion mill in Wichita for what she falsely told Billie was the removal of a “blood clot.” Once at the mill, sidewalk counselors Terry Read and Anna Wood spoke with Billie and gave her a copy of “The Tiller Report,” Operation Rescue’s exposé on the late-term abortionist. Billie, who was pro-life, was shocked to learn that she had been tricked into participating in an abortion of Andrea’s 12-week old child. Feeling betrayed, Billie returned to Hutchinson without Andrea, unaware of the drama unfolding just inside the clinic doors.

Once inside the abortion mill, Andrea had a change of heart. However, when she attempted to leave, she was detained by Tiller’s security guard Carl Sweeney who refused to allow her to depart the facility. He kept her against her will for over 30 minutes and only released her after forcing her to sign documents promising not to reveal anything that went on inside the mill to the pro-lifers standing at the gate. Upon gaining her freedom, Andrea realized she was now stranded in Wichita with no way home. She went next door to another business and called her boyfriend, who refused to come and get her unless she returned to the mill for the abortion. He threatened to leave her if she kept the baby.

Terry Read called Mark Gietzen of Kansas Coalition for Life because he knew Andrea needed help. Mark is responsible for placing and maintaining 167 white wooden crosses on the grass outside Tiller’s mill and keeping the gates manned with pro-lifers each hour of each day the mill is open.

Mark offered to drive Andrea back to Hutchinson and she gratefully accepted. Andrea was friendly, but was not yet ready to talk about what had happened to her at the mill. Mark respected that and offered to keep in touch with her in case she needed anything. Mark received a call the following day from Andrea’s friend, Billie, expressing relief that Andrea had saved her baby and thanking him for helping her.

But all did not go smoothly for Andrea. Her boyfriend’s mother continued to pressure her to abort and threatened to kick her out of the home if she didn’t. Her boyfriend only agreed to stay with Andrea if she placed the baby for adoption, but Andrea firmly stood her ground and gave birth to little Sage Elisabeth on April 5, 2005. Because of a blood clot in Sage’s umbilical cord, she was born a month early and only weighed 5 pounds. Since then she has grown and flourished under her mother’s loving care. Andrea’s boyfriend, has “taken a shine” to his new daughter and now wants to keep his baby. Even his post-abortive mother has now accepted her new granddaughter.

During a Father’s Day visit to Andrea and Sage, Mark was asked to save another baby for the prospective adoptive couple from Topeka, because she thinks that she and her boyfriend will be very good parents.

“It was an awesome experience for me, seeing and holding this baby who was literally minutes away from death at Tiller’s abortion chamber on December 2nd,” said Mark. “What surprised me the most, was what had made Andrea change her mind.”

Why did Andrea change her mind about aborting her baby on that winter day last December?

“Because of the Crosses, and the people at the gate.” Andrea went on to clarify, “…Suddenly I asked myself, what am I doing in here? …I knew I had to leave! I did not want to have one of those Crosses out there be there for my baby.”

Sage Elisabeth owes her life to the faithful obedience of Mark, Terry, and Anna to “rescue those being drawn toward death,” and to the steadfast love of her young mother, who refused to give up on her precious baby.

Life will continue to present its challenges to this family, but with the help of friends like Billie, and Mark, they can now face the future with hope.

UPDATE: January 26, 2005
This report comes to us from Mark Geitzen who has kept in close contact with Sage Elisabeth. Please continue to pray for Andrea, Sage, and the rest of this family.

We received a phone call from Yvonne of Hutchinson, KS, who is Nick’s mom, Sage Elizabeth’s Grandmother. She informed me that some of the family information that was given to us by Andrea is inaccurate. Her mother was indeed murdered in Tulsa when Andrea was 3 years old, but her Grandmother, (the one who raised her) is still alive, and is living in Hutchinson. Also, according to Yvonne, she in no way pressured Andrea into having an abortion. Yvonne is post abortive, but the experience was so negative for her that she would not recommend an abortion to anyone. She has done much to help Andrea and her son Nick, over the years, and seemed like a very good Christian lady in our phone conversation. She also sent some update photos of Sage Elizabeth via e-mail while we were talking. The most troubling information is that Andrea has gotten into trouble with the law, due to illegal drug possession and illegal drug use. Sage Elizabeth is currently in protective custody.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2005 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Tiller Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.