Jill Stanek
Registered Nurse,
Pro-life Advocate,
Speaker, Columnist

Jill Stanek never set out to change the world or to be an advocate in the corridors of power, influencing public policy. As a young adult she had no burning passion to affect social change. She married, had kids and slipped into the role of suburban housewife. Then, smack dab in the middle of her tidy life, a car accident changed everything.

Stanek: I was the first person on the scene of an accident where a baby died. I had terrible feelings of helplessness and never wanted to be that helpless again. That became my impetus for becoming a nurse at age 37.

LifeChasers: You were a labor and delivery nurse for several years before another event changed the trajectory of your life. Tell us about it.

Stanek: I reported for work one night and learned our hospital was aborting a second trimester Down's syndrome baby. It had never occurred to me that the hospital might be involved in abortions. It was, after all, a hospital affiliated with two church denominations and its name was Christ Hospital! I further learned that the method the hospital used for these abortions resulted in many babies being born alive but left to die.

LifeChasers: What did you do?

Stanek: Regrettably, I sat on this information at first, not sure what to do. Then one night a co-worker was taking another of these aborted Down's syndrome babies to our soiled utility room to die because his parents didn't want to hold him. The nurse didn't have time to hold him. I held that little boy 45 min. until he died because I couldn't bear the thought of him dying alone in that utility room. It created a crisis of conscience. I knew I had to do something.

LifeChasers: Some people might have simply quit the job in protest and gone to work somewhere else.

Stanek: I began to search for guidance in the Bible. I read Prov. 24:11 which says we're to rescue those unjustly being led away to death. I felt I couldn't go somewhere else where I'd be more comfortable and just walk away from what was happening. I decided to stay and fight the policy. I couldn't bear the thought that this was happening at a hospital that bore Christ's name.

LifeChasers: You first went to hospital officials and privately urged them to change their policy. When they refused, you went public. Did you have any idea what you were starting?

Stanek: No. Over the next two years my employer gave me written warnings twice and I was suspended once. I received anonymous hate mail and was harassed by certain co-workers. The CEO of the hospital posted a letter about me, saying my charges were undocumented. (Ironically, he never said my charges were untrue. He just said they weren't written down somewhere.) Unfortunately, I couldn't publicly document the specifics of the incidents without betraying patient confidentiality. All nurses are bound legally and ethically to patient confidentiality.

LifeChasers: You were eventually fired for being a whistleblower. How did you feel about that, after all you'd been through? How did your family feel?

Stanek: My family has been amazingly supportive. They understand we're called by God to do the right thing, regardless whether we get to see in our lifetime the good that might come from it. It just so happened I've been able to see the fruit.

LifeChasers: Tell us what has happened.

Stanek: I was not active in the pro-life movement at the time this happened. Therefore, I didn't know that apparently the public was generally unaware the practice even existed of allowing aborted babies born alive to die. In all other forms of abortion the baby is killed in utero and the abortionist makes sure there is no beating heart when the baby is born. Bringing the practice to light created quite a firestorm. Even some abortion advocates found this particular procedure barbaric.

I began to be asked to speak all over the country about what I had witnessed. I testified before state legislative committees in Illinois, Michigan and Colorado that were considering legislation to outlaw the practice. (Michigan passed its Born Alive Infant Protection Act package on December 12, 2002). And I testified before a Congressional committee as Congress debated the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which was eventually signed into law August 5, 2002. I never imagined in my wildest dreams where this journey would take me. Today I speak full-time, write a newspaper column and am considering a run for public office.

LifeChasers: Has it been worth what it cost you personally?

Stanek: I look at life as a huge rain barrel full of water. Our life is just a little drop that falls into that barrel. We spend far too much time worrying about the fallout of our taking a stand, compared to our future in eternity. The Bible said there would be fallout sometimes if we followed God's commands. But, frankly, the fallout I experienced is nothing compared to what happens to a Mother in a foreign country who refuses to renounce her faith and is forced to watch her child executed.

LifeChasers: What would you say to people who say, "I don't have the courage to do what she did"?

Stanek: I don't think it's as hard as we make it. God honors faithfulness whether the task is big or small. We're called to be obedient day in and day out. God wants to know He can trust us. If we keep our relationship with Him intimate and current, when its time to step up to the plate we'll be ready.

You can't gauge success by whether you make headlines. Maybe God's plans for your life are to give birth to someone else who will be the world changer or to be the best friend of someone who will go on to do great things. It may not be something glamorous or big or scary at all! But if you're where you're supposed to be, you'll feel a wonderful sense of mission and personal fulfillment because you'll know you are living out God's plan for your life.