Evidence of coerced abortions

From Why We Protest Wiki

Evidence of coerced abortions

News reports

• No kids allowed: Former members of Scientology's Sea Org say the religious order pressured them to have abortions they did not want.(SP Times, June 13, 2010)
• Taking her daughter: First, she fought the Sea Org just to give birth to her daughter. then, years later, she fought the Sea Org to get her back.(SP Times, June 14, 2010)

Former Senior Management

Marty Rathbun

Please, if there is one institution that has forfeited its right to rail about abortion appropriation it is C of Miscavology. Based on DM’s cancellation of procreation (in direct violation of long-standing LRH policy) on the heels of LRH’s death, abortion has become an institutional requisite. And while I never was involved in the logistics of that line, I am willing to bet more than one SO abortion was paid for with state and/or federal funds.

Please note: "DM" stands for David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center and the world leader of the Church of Scientology; while "LRH" stands for Lafayette Ron Hubbard, the Founder of Scientology.

Source: Rathbun, Marty. Moving On Up a Little Higher: Church vs Health Care, Part II (Blog Post). November 28, 2009.^[1]

Jesse Prince

15. In late 1991, my wife Monika became pregnant and although we were elated, she was ordered to abort the child. The reason for the abortion order is that Sea Org members were not allowed to have children. The order devastated both my wife and me. Our dedication as Sea Org members clashed violently with our intentions as parents and we went through a personal nightmare with me opposing it, to no avail. She got the abortion and afterwards she was not the same. She was devastated at the impact of what she did and that was when she told me she wanted to leave. We fled, with the organization close behind us, trying to find us. They finally did and convinced us to return so we could "leave properly."

Source: Affidavit of Jesse Prince, Santa Ana, California. July 27, 1998.^[2]

Former Sea Org

Aaron Saxton (Tweddell)

It got to a point where I didn't lose sleep. If I asked this person to have an abortion, I didn't lose sleep, I didn't even think twice after it. My only consideration was "Phew, god! I don't have to fill that post again with another person because they're going to abort." Or, if they did decide that they were going to have the baby, I was going "Christ! I have to hire someone to replace them!" There was no joy, there was no celebration, there was - announcement "Hey, Monica Potter’s going to have a baby!" The joy of life, this, there’s no announcement of this. Instead it was "Monica’s betrayed us, and she’s going to leave the organisation and we’re going to have to work harder! Because SHE’S betrayed the trust." That’s the viewpoint. It was never the word ‘love’ spoken in one single conversation.

Source: Saxton, Aaron. Interview, Interview with Aaron Saxton, Part 1. November 18, 2009.^[3]
Saxton, Aaron. Interview, Interview with Aaron Saxton, Part 2. November 18, 2009.^[4]

Ron, who said if you join the Sea Org, you are one of the greatest people in the universe. And then after you join, he says you leave, you dare leave, you're a degraded being. How do you reconcile that? How are you supposed to leave? You don't, you're not told THAT when you join the Sea Org, "oh, by the way, if you leave, you're going to be labeled a degraded being". Not by ME, by Ron Hubbard! "You're a degraded being!" Call ME a degraded human? How, how DARE you? I gave my life to you people. I THOUGHT I was doing the right thing. I THOUGHT I was saving mankind based off of the premise that YOU presented to me. And you sold me a lie. And then I went around selling that lie knowing it was a lie. And that's the difference between a victim and an aggressor, and these people that are the aggressors, like me, that DID ask you to abort, DID ask you to walk away from your wife, your children, put your child in a cadet organisation and thumped them full of scientology for thirteen years, and then when I thought the picking was right, I'd take them out and put them in the Messenger Organisation and put them through a bunch of drills that told them how to get compliance.

Source: Saxton, Aaron. Interview, Interview with Aaron Saxton, Part 6. November 18, 2009.^[5]

I had another email yesterday from a person who saw the video on the internet. This young lady, at the age of 17, I took into my office, Laura is her name, and I told her that her family was anti-Scientology and anti-Sea Org and that the best thing for her to do, in her survival, was to disconnect. She chose to follow that. Now, years later, she finally managed to get out and now she's suing the church. Okay? And she was forced to have an abortion. Now, if I hadn't have done what I did to her back then, if I'd been stronger morally, if her parents had had access to her... she never would have gone through that experience.

Source: Saxton, Aaron. Interview with Claire & Jack, Aaron Saxton on Radio SkidRow (mp3), 88.9 FM, Sydney. November 23, 2009.^[6]

Maureen Bolstad

If a woman gets pregnant, and does not abort the child, then they are declared a suppressive person. Because, it kind of started out gradually. At first, the thing was, the Church of Scientology International did not want to pay for child care," said Bolstad.

Source: Baca, Nathan. Former Scientologists Claim Coerced Abortions, Child Labor Inside Church, KESQ TV News. April 2, 2009.^[7]

Laura DeCrescenzo

We got married shortly before I turned 17.

A few months later I got pregnant. I was shocked, I had been on birth control pills and messed them up and ended up pregnant. By this time the rule had just changed from being sent to a Class V org if you wanted to have a kid, to being offloaded. Which meant that at 17 and 18 my husband and I would be offloaded from the SO with freeloader bills and have to figure out how to make a life for ourselves and a baby. It was overwhelming to say the least. I told my husband over the phone as he was at PAC base and I was at the HGB. Both of us had no clue what to do, I told him there was no way that I was getting an abortion. I was having the baby and we would have to figure it out.

The COs of both of our orgs pulled us into their offices at their respective locations and his CO started yelling at me over the phone telling me that this was out-ethics and I must have done something intentionally to make this happen (well honestly I always wanted kids so probably....). I yelled right back at her and hung up the phone.

This "handling" went on for two days straight. I was worn down and under threat of losing my husband and having to go out on my own I gave in and had an abortion. To this day this still haunts me, I would have a child that was 12 years old by now.

I was devastated. I had wanted kids since I was very young, I used to say I was going to have 12 kids! And somehow I allowed myself to be convinced to do this. I sit here now and still get choked up about it. I was enough of a robot to buy into how it would be out-ethics to have a child.

After having that done I came back into the org and was assigned lower conditions as I had "obviously" been in doubt about Sea Org.

Source: Decrescenzo, Laura. Laura Decrescenzo's Story: Here goes nothing...., Why We Protest Forums. August 30, 2008.^[8]

p.1. There are two very different versions of Scientology. There is the Scientology as presented to the outside world and there is a different Scientology in which Plaintiff lived and worked for approximately thirteen years. In the Scientology world Plaintiff experienced, twelve year old children are taken from their homes, asked to sign employment contracts and put to work. Pregnant women are coerced to have abortions...

p.30. Plaintiff was coerced to terminate a pregnancy by a forced abortion. Plaintiff was required to abort her child to remain an employee in good standing with Defendant and to avoid adverse consequences in her future employment. Further, Plaintiff was intimidated and coerced into not becoming pregnant again or having a family. Plaintiff is aware that coercing employees to have unwanted abortions was a relatively common practice at CSI and in the Scientology enterprise. Plaintiff has knowledge of other female employees ordered to have abortions.

p.31. Defendant ordered and coerced abortions primarily to get more work out of their female employees and to avoid child care issues.

Source: Plantiff's Complaint, Laura Decrescenzo vs. Church of Scientology International (S.Ct.LA April 1, 2009).^[9]

Claire Headley

P.1. In particular, Plaintiff complains that she worked long hard hours for illegal wages, was forced to have abortions to keep her job and was subjected to violations of personal rights and liberties by Defendants for purposes of obtaining forced labor.

P.2. 3) The goals of this case include stopping the practice of ordering female employees to have abortions, stopping the practice of oppressive child labor and clearing the path for workers of Scientology organisations to obtain the compensation due them under state and federal labor laws. Plaintiff seeks payment for her work at minimum wage, overtime pay, a permanent injunction against forced abortions and other remedies authorized by law.

P.7. In the course of, and by reason of her employment with Defendants, Plaintiff was ordered to have abortions, at her expense, and in fact coerced and intimidated into having abortions to keep her job with Defendant. Plaintiff is informed and believes that Defendants continue to ignore labor laws and coerce pregnant workers into forced abortions.

P.11. In 1994, while working for Golden Era Productions of CSI, Plaintiff became pregnant. She was nineteen at the time. Having children was against the dictates of top management at Scientology. Plaintiff had witnessed two other employees refuse to have abortions. They were demoted and ordered to perform heavy manual labor for months. Plaintiff was concerned about the potential consequences of doing hard labor while pregnant and quite reasonably was reluctant to suffer the punishment of manual labor for being pregnant. At age nineteen, Plaintiff had only her job at CSI and was dependent upon CSI for support. Plaintiff had been working for far less than minumum wage, had no money, had no place to go and no medical insurance or coverage as an employee of Golden Era Productions/CSI. Plaintiff felt trapped and without viable options. She had an abortion to keep her position at Golden Era/CSI and not risk the adverse consequence of having her baby.

P.12. 26) In 1996, there was a second forced abortion. Plaintiff had been transferred from CSI to Defendant RTC. She was sent to Clearwater, Florida to be trained for her new position at RTC. Plaintiff was given a pregnancy test and found to be pregnant. Plaintiff was not allowed to communicate with her husband, friends or family about her family. She was not allowed to contact her husband, Marc Headley, for advice, console or his input on aborting the baby. She had no money, no insurance, no housing, no credit, no high school diploma and no job prospects except for her employment at RTC. To keep that employment on which she was dependent, Plaintiff was forced to have a second abortion at her expense.

Source: Plantiff's Amended Complaint, Claire Headley vs. Church of Scientology Int. & Religious Technology Center, 405834 (S.Ct.LA February 17, 2009).^[10]

In a court of law a judge considered the abused that were subject to the complaint were legal as they were religious practises, see Scientology wins legal victory, loses public image war.

Marc Headley

At Int Base, I know of several female staff members that were absolutely pressured into having abortions. I know one girl who had four abortions in a five-year period. And when somebody goes to the eye doctor goes to see a physician anything, any medical thing, they're usually driven by one of the medical liaison office staffers. When these girls are going off to get abortions they are going to the planned parenthood facility in Hemet, going with a carload of girls and it even got so bad that the Planned Parenthood place was like, “What the hell is happening? This is just not right, we are seeing girls come in here every week and not only that sometimes we are seeing the same girls back again months later”. And they actually had to go to different Planned Parenthood centers all over the Inland Empire because they were creating a public relations situation by having so many abortions performed on church staff members. So, it really is. If you don't get an abortion then you are basically saying I don't want to be here, if you don't get the abortion you have to leave so, I mean...

[48:00]

DO: It's not an official policy, it's an unstated rule.

MH: No. It's an official policy that you cannot have kids while you're at the Int Base property. That is an official rule. There are no kids allowed, period. If you do have a child, then you get sent to some other facility where you no longer in the Sea Org and you become like a staff member and I think that the last person that actually did that was in 1992. It was a girl who got pregnant, held her ground and said “I'm having the baby”. I can't remember any other females from 1992- forward at the Int Base that actually didn't get an abortion and have their baby. We're talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of abortions not just like ten, twenty. We are talking about every week, girls going to the Planned Parenthood center getting abortions.

[49:00]

DO: Is there any way, we can investigate that particular, scenario?

MH: That's the thing with everything at the Int Base. That's the thing with the beatings. That's the thing with the abortions. That's the thing with the people being held there against their will. If you go there today and say "Hey, are you being held here against your will?", they are going to say "No, I love it here, it's a Paradise!"

Source: Headley, Marc. Interview with Dawn Olsen, Marc Headley Interview on Glosslip (Transcript, archived). Glosslip Radio. April 25, 2008.^[11]

Jenna Miscavige-Hill

Hill said that "If you get pregnant when you're in the Sea Org you either have to leave, or you get an abortion. I know women who have had up to four abortions."

Source: Lisa Fletcher, Ethan Nelson & Maggie Burbank. Nightline: Ex-Scientology Kids Share Their Stories (Online), ABC News. April 24, 2008, p. 3.^[12]

Astra Woodcraft

Said Astra Woodcraft: "I remember thinking wait a minute, I never agreed to this. I am 17 years old, I haven't made a decision that I'm not going to have children." Two years after the policy was established, Astra Woodcraft learned she and her husband were expecting a baby.

"A very high-level Sea Org member one day saw me and asked me what I was doing and I said I was leaving and I said I was pregnant and he said, Oh, is it too late for an abortion?," Woodcraft said. "I didn't even know what to say in response."

In a San Francisco Chronicle article from 2001, Church leaders said that the Church has no policy on abortion, leaving the choice up to individual couples.

Source: Lisa Fletcher, Ethan Nelson & Maggie Burbank. Nightline: Ex-Scientology Kids Share Their Stories (Online), ABC News. April 24, 2008, p. 3.^[12]

42. Approximately 1½ years before I left, a new rule came out stating that if you got pregnant, you had to either get an abortion, which was heavily pushed, or leave. The rule had previously been that if you got pregnant, you had to get an abortion or be sent to a small and failing lower organization where you had to fend for yourself and your baby. I had to handle any staff that disagreed with this new rule. I myself disagreed with it because I wanted children and was told I would be able to have them when I was first recruited. However, I never said anything for fear of getting into trouble.

I got to the point of being suicidal because I was so unhappy, but I never said anything because I would have gotten into big trouble and been looked down upon.

43. In September of 1997, my grandma in England died. I convinced my seniors that I had to go to her funeral in England. They did not want me to go, but finally relented and let me take an 8-day leave. When I returned I realized that I could not take being split apart from my family any longer. I decided to get pregnant because if I tried to just leave, I would be made to do heavy labor and confessionals for 6 months to a year and be called a "degraded being" by the other staff. I got pregnant in January of 1998 and on February 23rd 1998 I left without permission, got on a plane and went to stay with my aunt and uncle in England. No one knew up until then that I was pregnant and I was really sick and had to get away. My seniors in Scientology threatened me that if I didn't come back and receive a confessional I would be declared a Suppressive Person and my family would never speak to me again. My mother who is still in the Sea Org called me on a continuous basis telling me to get an abortion and return.

44. I returned on April 1st, 1998. Jeff Porter told me that if I left again, I would be declared immediately. I told the security staff there that I would stay with my father and come in every day for my confessional, explaining that I needed proper nutrition and they couldn't provide it. They told me that I had to stay in their berthing or I would be put under a non-enturbulation order, which means that if I caused further trouble, that is if I still refused to stay in their berthing, I would be declared suppressive. I then agreed that I would stay there for four days, which is how long my confessional was supposed to take. The Security Chief wrote me a letters stating that if I was not done with my confessional within four days, I could stay with my father until I finished.

45. Four days later I was not done, but I was told that they had only written the letter to get me to stay in the berthing and that it was not valid. Therefore, I had to continue to stay in Sea Org berthing and eat micro waved meals even though I was suffering from morning sickness. I had to sleep on the floor in a small room while waiting for my confessionals. I was there for 1 month.

46. It took a lot less time for me to leave because they didn't want any of the other staff to know I was pregnant, so they were trying to get me out quick. A staff member from the Religious Technology Center (The Sea Org's highest organization) came up to me one day while I was in the process of routing out and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was pregnant and leaving and he said to me "Oh, too late for an abortion?" I personally knew of three other girls who got pregnant and were convinced to get abortions. One was my sister-in-law who was 16 weeks pregnant when she was convinced to abort her child although she was strongly against it. My mother told my sister and I that it was good that she got an abortion.

...snip...

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America and the state of Florida that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed in Clearwater, Florida this 24th day of January 2001.

Source: Declaration of Astra Woodcraft, Clearwater, Florida. January 24, 2001.^[13]

Mary Tabayoyon

BEGINNING IN 1986, MEMBERS OF THE SEA ORG WERE FORBIDDEN TO HAVE ANY MORE CHILDREN IF THEY WERE TO STAY ON POST AND THE HUBBARD TECHNOLOGY WAS APPLIED TO COERCIVELY PERSUADE US TO HAVE ABORTIONS SO THAT WE COULD REMAIN ON POST.

7. On September 28, 1986, Gillaume Leserve, the Executive Director International ("ED Int"), put out an order binding on all Sea Org members. Within the Sea Org, these binding orders were called Flag orders. The September 28, 1986 Flag Order No. 3905 forbade Sea Org members from having any more new children. The reason given by ED Int. was that the Sea Org simply did not have the time, money and resources to raise children properly. In the event Sea Org members elected to disobey this Flag Order, they would be exiled to a non Sea Org Scientology organization of the Class IV level until the Child reached 6 years of age. Once the unauthorized child achieved 6 years of age, the parents could return to the Sea Org.

8. On April 3, 1991, an addition to this Flag Order was issued. Part of that supplement provided that anyone who did get pregnant would be sent to a non-expanding Class IV Org. The Commanding Officer of CMOI, Marc Yager, endorsed application of this supplement to all crew at the base and added to it. It stressed that Sea Org members were the top echelon of the Sea Org. As such Yager admonished us that we had the responsibility on our shoulders for the expansion of Scientology and freeing mankind. Scientology's Senior management determined, we, at this high level, could not afford the time and resources it would take to raise children. Having children was found to undermine our production and our purpose. It became an Ethics matter. An Ethics matter is an offense against Scientology. An ethics matter arises when a Scientologist does something which detracts from the spreading of Scientology. Ethics matters are dealt with through Scientology rituals administered to those who have "wandered off the straight and narrow". (See definition of "out ethics", attached as Exhibit 1).

9. Furthermore, Sea Org members would be exiled, would be sent to a non-Sea Org, lower organization called a Class IV Org to serve as a staff member. The only concession to our years of devoted service was the fact that we were entitled to keep our membership in the Sea Org.

10. The Flag Order established that Sea Org members who disobeyed it and chose to have children would not be allowed to choose which Class IV organization they would serve. Rather, Scientology's senior management would send the offending Sea Org members to a Class IV organization that was failing. This is a severe punishment. In a failing Class IV Org an exiled Sea Org member would have to fend for himself or herself and try and raise a child on the nominal compensation provided to the staff of a failing Class IV Org. In addition, the exiled Sea Org members would be obligated to revive the failing Org or suffer more Ethics conditions.

11. While at the base, I knew of several instances of staff getting pregnant and being coerced to get an abortion. Some instances were relayed to me by the victims themselves and others were relayed to me by another. In two instances, the couples to keep their child despite extensive course of ethics method and thus were banished to a failing Class IV organization. In every instance they had to go through ethics handling designed to prevent them that it would be far more advantageous to Scientology and the Sea Org for each of them to have an abortion. Some of these women went through extensive pressure methods to convince them to have an abortion. The severity of the Ethics handling was directly proportional to the prospective mother's desire and insistence to keep the child. I myself got pregnant in 1993 and gave up my child due to my greatly misguided obligation and dedication to the Sea Org.

12. During the year and a half before I discovered I was pregnant, I was incessantly drilled, along with all other Gold crew, on becoming perfect and on purpose Sea Org member who would always follow Command Intention. Command intention basically means the intention of the highest in command over all of Scientology and Sea Org. Like LRH, Mark Yager and David Miscavige were expressed in various forms of publication I was indoctrinated that I should never put my own personal desires ahead of the accomplishment of the purpose of the Sea Org. I was indoctrinated to believe that I should never put my own personal desires ahead of the accomplishment of the purpose of the Sea Org. Although I would have dearly loved to have had my child and the idea of abortion is abhorrent to me, I did not dare to say it would be nice to keep my baby.

13. I told the Medical Officer (Martine Collins) of my pregnancy. She immediately went into action to arrange for my abortion. She told me, that I would naturally be expected to pay for it myself, since it was considered Out Ethics to get pregnant. (Out Ethics in Scientology simply means your reasoning facilities are no longer thinking in a direction designed to promote Scientology and must be corrected).

14. Medical Office Collins told me to call for the appointment to have an abortion myself. She told me not to give the address of the base as my address or to acknowledge I was from the base. She said the reason for this was because there were too many woman going there from the base for abortions and it was probably becoming "out PR" (out Public Relations, which means your public relations have gone bad).

15. The day after I returned from my abortion, I was weak and sore and had cramps. I proposed a light work load that I felt I could accomplish. My Senior, Megan Rae, refused this and instead gave me a target that literally would have taken about many people to accomplish in one day. I attempted to let her know what an impossible task it was and that her order must have been a joke. I soon learned that she was completely serious. My obvious protest on this was met with the barked threat, "If you use this abortion cycle to dramatize inefficiency and thus not accomplish your production targets, I will have you comm-eved." A commev is short for Committee of Evidence. It is one of the severest Ethics actions you can level at someone.

16. A friend of mine, Betty Hardin, who works in the treasury division of Golden Era Productions, told me that she used to transport the pregnant women at the base to Riverside, California for their abortions. For about a year, she transported women almost weekly to the Planned Parenthood Center, in Riverside, so that they could have their abortions and follow up check ups that were needed. She said it just became routine. Pregnant Sea Org members were sent to the Planned Parenthood Center to get their abortions. When they returned to the base they went to Ethics.

17. The term "Ethics" is used to name the place you go to have your ethics be back put in. To explain this in regular terms, you are sent to ethics any time you've gone off the rails, like went against Command Intention, mistakenly or purposefully, and the ethics officer would then work with you until you were again unswervingly dedicated to advancing Scientology and had made up the "damage". I will explain more about Ethics and its methods later.

18. Betty Hardin said, once formerly pregnant women were back from having their abortions, they would be sent to Ethics and made to do "lower conditions". Lower conditions are, from the lowest on up; Confusion, Treason, Enemy, Doubt, and Liability. Each one of these lower conditions have an exact set of steps you follow. once you get through all the steps of all the lower conditions, successfully, and only the Ethics officer can officially determine if you have gotten through it correctly, and thus let you go on to the next higher condition, you are a gung-ho Sea Org member again with new and revitalized determinism to never make a mistake again that would cause or threaten any harm to your group.

19. My senior made me do the steps of the condition formula called "Danger", which is the next higher condition higher than liability. This was to handle my ethics on the fact I got pregnant. The reason I didn't have to do treason and all the lower conditions is I professed that the Scientology auditing I had prior to my pregnancy had healed my body to such a degree that I was able to get pregnant despite the fact that a doctor told me years earlier that I probably would never have any more children. This wasn't altogether true but it was my only solution to avoid going to Ethics and being put through those lower conditions again. I knew eventually in my future confessional, it would come up and I would have to come clean on it and then do the lower conditions, but I simply was not up to it at that time. This was really quite unusual for me too, as I had made it a constant necessity in my life to always be very truthful.

20. Also, to preserve my own integrity and dignity in my own mind, I professed to myself and to a couple of friends that my husband and I had a real fear of either me or my baby not living through a birth due to complications in an earlier unsuccessful delivery I went through. But the truth was and is, had I been in my normal frame of mine, I would never have considered abortion. My husband and I still wish to have another child.

21. I asked Betty how many women she had actually taken to Riverside to have their abortions. She didn't want to tell me. From the way she had been talking, it sounded like quite a few, so I asked, conservatively, "Was it more than 20?" She waived her arm and said very emphatically, "Oh yes!"

22. Betty also told me how she finally flat out refused to be the driver anymore and it was getting to be quite an embarrassment as there were often anti-abortionists petitioning going on in front of the Planned Parenthood center and they kept seeing her bringing woman to get abortions.

23. The following are the brief stories of women I knew who had abortions after undergoing coercive ethics sessions and being threatened with exile to a Class IV organization. Because this topic wasn't something that we were supposed to talk about, for the sake of Public Relations, within and outside the Base to protect the women involved from retribution and to preserve their privacy, I have not given their names.

A. Case I: She was my friend and also worked in my department at the time of her pregnancy and abortion. She appeared very upset about it and really wouldn't talk about it at first. I got her to talk about it one day when we were alone. She said she would have loved to have kept her baby but after she got through her ethics cycle (which I remember lasted for at least a week) she realized she wasn't ready to have a child. (She was 20 years old). She said her husband was completely thrilled she was pregnant and wanted so much to keep the baby. He was very adamant on keeping the baby. But after the ethics cycle he looked at the fact that he would probably never be able to come back to the base and he would lose his beloved job and position in Gold. He would have to go to a Class IV Org. At any rate, the ethics actions convinced them to be "good Sea Org members" and abort the child so they could stay "On Purpose" in the Sea Org. "On Purpose" in the Sea Org just means you are being and doing what is needed and wanted in furthering the purpose of the Sea Org. 1 (Note: I will later explain the coercive methods of the ethics techniques in Scientology).

B. Case II: Her husband worked in the same area I did at the time of her first pregnancy. He confided in me as a friend, that his wife was pregnant and had decided to keep the baby again! She had been talked out of it once already by ethics but now decided again to keep it.. I talked to her later and asked her if she was pregnant. She said yes and that she was going to keep it. She said it very adamantly. I said good. We discussed the reference in Hubbard's book, Dianetics. the Modern Science of Mental Health, where Hubbard it very clear that he is against abortions. (See Exhibit 2) She was clearly glad to have someone on her side. sometime later, I heard she went ahead and had the abortion. She also landed on the Rehabilitation Project Force ("RPF"). The RPF is basically a prison camp in the Sea Org. Some months later, I was told she got pregnant again. The fact she became pregnant against while on RPF is remarkable because RPFers' living quarters are segregated from those of other Sea Org members on the base (including spouses) and by her husband was under guard because he was believed to be security risk during her incarceration. This time rather than submit to an abortion she successfully escaped from the base and never returned to the Sea Org. We later found out that she went to England and had her baby there. I read the letter Tina sent her sister. She had sent pictures of her beautiful baby girl. She was a very proud mother and very much in love with her baby.

C. Case III: I was told that sometime in 1986, Case III got pregnant. It was a huge flap because she had always, up to that time, been a top Commodores messenger (meaning L. Ron Hubbard's messenger). She and her husband were very determined to keep the baby. She was put through very extensive ethics, with heavier and heavier threats and penalties until She finally submitted and had her abortion. Around 1990, I saw that he had gotten pregnant again. Coincident with her pregnancy I saw her off post and only doing manual labor. Her husband told me that they were determined to keep their baby. Months later they both successfully escaped. They have not returned to the Sea Org, and I understand that she and her husband have been blessed with an adorable son.

D. Case IV: I was told she was pregnant. She went through Ethics Procedure and had an abortion.

E. Case V: She appeared to be going through hell. She often looked as though she'd been crying. She often looked to be in a state of emotional collapse. I tried to be extra friendly and tried to get her to talk, but she just put on a smile and changed the subject. She and her husband were taken off post and put through extensive ethics handlings because they were determined to have the baby. Then one day I saw them both looking happy and back on post. I asked the husband about what had happened with their baby. He said they had both gone through the lower ethics condition formulas and came out of "Doubt", and she had gone ahead and gotten an abortion. Months later I saw her looking like she was in shock and mentally destroyed after being thrown in the lake with about 6 other Qual staff for not making a target of what they were assigned to accomplish that day. She later blew with another man who was also on staff in the same division.

F. Case VI: I was told Case VI got pregnant and had her abortion while married to one of Scientology's senior managers. I saw her break up with and divorce her husband. Later, she married another Sea Org member at the base. After that she was sent to the RPF.

G. Case VII: I was told Case VII got pregnant and was made to get an abortion by the use of ethics procedures. She mentally collapsed. Having the abortion destroyed her emotionally. She has never been the same since the abortion. She used to be happy and fun to fool around with but after her abortion, it was hard to ever get her to cheer up and joke around anymore. This was related to me by Case VII's best friend.

H. Case VIII: This couple managed to maintain their own sense of integrity and not give up their child. They were undergoing Ethics handlings for about a month before they were finally allowed to go to a Class IV Organization, and thus keep their baby. Ethics was trying to coerce then into having an abortion. They were considered in Treason when they left, and they were talked about spitefully at staff meeting, basically being labeled, deserters. It was as if they left the Sea Org which is considered about the worst crime you can commit amongst, Sea Org members.

I. Case IX: This couple opted to leave, due to her pregnancy. They were sent to the Santa Barbara Class IV Organization in total disgrace for choosing to leave the Sea Org group and go off and have a baby. They were also spoken very critically of at a staff meeting. I spoke to the husband before they left, in order to get his viewpoint on leaving. He said it was partly for personal reasons, in that he felt that this way he would have a chance to possibly make it go right to get through his OT III (one of the most advanced levels in Scientology) review, and finally get through OT III. He said he'd been stuck in it for 3 years and hadn't been able to get the auditing due to lack of staff auditors. He said, it was literally driving him nuts and felt his only hope was to make it go right on his own to get this. About four years later, I saw them at the Advance Organization of Los Angeles ("AOLA"). AOLA is where Scientologists attend advanced levels in Scientology). They were both extremely thin. Their daughter, who was now about 4 years old was also extremely thin. The mother had some sort of skin disease that covered half her face. The marriage was destroyed and they were getting a divorce. She tried to keep up a good front. But she did tell me that the Santa Barbara Org was very broke. This meant they were also very broke and barely making it. Class IV org staff members are paid out of the receipts from sales of Scientology literature and courses as the org. Seeing them in this way really convinced me that anyone would be a fool to go to a Class IV Org to have their baby. It seemed to have caused them untold hardships. This lasting impression I formed was one of the things that affected my thinking about a year later, when I discovered my own pregnancy. It's interesting that the only other alternative in keeping your baby, other than go to a failing Class IV Organization was to actually route out of the Sea Org entirely. It's hard to describe how completely unthinkable this would be to someone as completely indoctrinated and dedicated to the Sea org as my husband and I were. A way to describe it is with the analogy of the feeling you would get if someone put a gun in your hand and told you to go shoot your family. You would feel that there is just no way in the world, for whatever reason whatsoever, that you would ever do that.

J. Case X: She apparently didn't put up much of a resistance to getting an abortion because her pregnancy was making her constantly very ill.

24.I can see now that the act of getting my abortion along with the harsh treatment from my seniors afterwards, began jolting me out of the indoctrinated state of blind dedication to the Sea Org. Another thing that jolted me was, just before going back to the Riverside Planned Parenthood, for a check up, 2 weeks after my abortion, I was getting administered to me something called, False Data Stripping. This action was opening my eyes to some real craziness that were going on at the Base, to which I had previously cast a blind eye. The biggest craziness being the fact that, Miscavige, the highest leader in Scientology, was regularly (about once a month or so) angrily yelling at us in staff meetings about how inept and incompetent and inefficient we all were. Sometimes he would even say, "WOG's could do better." (WOG is a derogatory term used in the Sea org to mean someone in the outside world who probably hasn't even heard of Scientology.)

25. These same Miscavige had the crew of Gold at their various posts and functions performing their duties. The video portrayed Gold Crew as demigods, in their levels of proficiency, perfection and skills.

26. Another oddity was I would sometimes note how poorly many of the lower Sea Org Organizations were doing and some of the lower Class IV Organizations. Despite this, Miscavige would portray the International Scientology Scene as doing fantastically well and booming, at all the major Scientology events where he and all his immediate juniors called IG's (Inspector Generals) would talk. Each portraying their area of responsibility as doing fabulously well!

27. I was never able to complete the false data stripping, because I had to leave in the middle of it to go to my doctor appointment for a check up (which was 2 weeks after my abortion). This was lucky as I had been able to complete all the "false data stripping" steps, I would have made complete sense out of everything again and been well on my way of getting back to my thoroughly indoctrinated, very dedicated Sea Org self again.

28. My husband picked me up after my check-up. It was then that he told me of his big argument be had just had with Miscavige and how Miscavige had greatly insulted him. After he told me the whole scene that occurred, he told me, if he had it his way he would just get in our pick-up and leave the Sea Org right now. I daily basis and that "this is a better utilization of productive time.

[Paragraphs 29-31 missing]

32. Attached hereto as Exhibit C is a copy of a communication from Fred Swan to Scientology Administration dated November 9, 1989 and complaining about the Executive Directive on family time. Specifically, the communication complains of being deprived of the one-hour per day that parents had been previously permitted to spend with their children.

33. Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a copy of a Scientology Executive Directive dated November 21, 1989 regarding pregnant couples in the Pacific Area Command of the Sea Org. Such couples were to be reposted to "a small and failing Org."

34. Attached hereto as Exhibit E is a November 27, 1989 Scientology personnel order regarding Jill Graham. She was in violation of Scientology policy by having a child and remaining on the advance organization of Los Angeles staff instead of being transferred to a more menial post.

35. Attached hereto as Exhibit F is a letter dated December 5, 1989 from Ken Shapiro to Scientology administration regarding the order that parents stop spending time with their children. He complains that it is not enough that a parent can only see his/her child once every two weeks.

36. Attached hereto as Exhibit G is a communication dated December 8, 1989 from Scientologist Mya and Leif Bergman regarding the cancellation of Scientology time. It complains about the Scientology canceling the one hour per day that Sea Organization members are permitted to spend with their children.

37. Attached hereto as Exhibit H is a Scientology communication dated December 30, 1989 regarding Karen (Jentzsch) Barter. In pertinent part, at the bottom of the second page there is a statement "Dear Sue: Do you know anything in regards to getting Karen Barter handled on wanting to have another child?"

38. Attached hereto as Exhibit I is a Scientology communication dated January 29, 1990 disciplining Yolanda Avila for objecting to the cancellation of family time and calling for a board of investigation that had the result of creating enturbulation or upset in the Pacific Area Command of Scientology. Furthermore, that "there has been cross criminality found on the reg lines in all PAC Orgs." (Para. 2).

Source: Declaration of Mary Tabayoyon (RE: Motion for Costs), Church of Scientology International v. Steven Fishman and Uwe Geertz, Cv 91 6426 HLH (Tx) (C.D. Cal. January 24, 2001).^[14]

Sunny Pereira