FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leslie Palma - 917-697-7039
While the U.S. Supreme Court decides the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that protects babies from abortion after 15 weeks, a California woman is wishing such a law was in place in 2001 when she began an abortion that ended her daughter’s life at 24 weeks.
“My daughter would be alive today if there had been a law like that,” said Irene Zamorano Archacki, regional coordinator for Los Angeles for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign and a featured speaker at the 18th annual Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco on Jan. 22.
Already a mother of six when she found herself pregnant and in crisis, Mrs. Archacki made the decision to have an abortion even though both she and her daughter were healthy. Since she was so far along, the abortion would be a multiday procedure that would begin with a shot of digoxin to kill the baby within 24 hours.
Realizing what she had done, Mrs. Archacki left the abortion facility and went to a hospital to see if her baby could be saved. Initially optimistic, staff began to remove the laminaria that would dilate her cervix enough to allow Mrs. Archacki to deliver her baby. But a specialist was called and said the baby could not live.
Mrs. Archacki was told to go back to the abortion facility to finish the procedure. She went home instead, returning to the hospital the next day to deliver her daughter, who had died by then.
When she was born, the baby named Leonor Bridgette Beltran “looked exactly like a newborn baby, only smaller.” Leonor was placed on her mother’s chest and the family was able to spend a few hours with her. She was later buried in a cemetery in Bloomington, California.
“I am compelled to tell Leonor’s story to protect America’s children and their mothers, fathers, and siblings,” Mrs. Archacki said. “I destroyed the life of my daughter and her future children and their children. I have dedicated the rest of my existence to fighting this life-and-death war.”
The Walk for Life West Coast will begin with a rally at 12:30 p.m. PT in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza. Following the rally, participants will walk down Market Street to Justin Herman Plaza.
To set up an interview with Mrs. Archacki, call or text Leslie Palma at 210-419-3706 or email her at leslie@priestsforlife.org
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The Campaign began November 11, 2002. As of December 2021, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign had held 2,252 gatherings in 17 countries & all 50 states with 6,821 women and men sharing their abortion testimonies. Testimonies have also been shared at 174 high schools and universities in the last 11 years.
There are 3,012 testimonies posted on the Campaign website with 621 that are shared via video. Currently there are 20,276 people, representing 77 countries, registered with the Campaign.
People who are not ready to join the Campaign are invited to ‘register their regret.’ So far, 6,684 women and 710 men have said they regret their abortion or lost fatherhood, and 604 women and men have posted memorials to their children.
The Silent No More Awareness Campaign is a joint project of Anglicans for Life and Priests for Life. For more information, please visit our website:
www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org