After decades of coercion, former Scientologist Laura DeCrescenzo is suing the Church of Scientology for allegedly forcing her to have an abortion.
It was 1991 when 12-year-old DeCrescenzo said she signed a contract promising “eternal devotion to a religious order – not just for this lifetime, but for all future lifetimes,” according to ABC7. As her parents were devout scientologists, they supported her decision to move to the Scientology’s Pacific Area Command Base, despite her young age. Yet when she became pregnant at 17, DeCrescenzo’s new home would become her prison.
She said she was immediately pressured into aborting the child, as the Church of Scientology’s Pacific program doesn’t allow its members to have children. DeCrescenzo recounted how her superiors influenced her decision, “I was told by the commanding officer of my organization that, she immediately started telling me at this point the baby wasn’t a baby, it was just tissue.”
“I never agreed to have an abortion,” she continued. “Did I concede? Yes, I did. Does it kill me every day? Yes, it does.”
ABC7 describes the legal fight over the DeCrescenzo’s treatment because of her pregnancy:
Scientology also turned over a document written by Laura’s supervisor that says Laura is “two months pregnant, upset about it and doesn’t want to have an abortion.”
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In 2001, Laura was sent to the “Rehabilitation Project Force” or RPF for having “committed purported wrongs.” Scientology describes the RPF as a “voluntary program of spiritual rehabilitation” that, among other things, includes physical labor as a means of “penance and amends.”
Laura did agree to go to the RPF, but she says, only after being mentally “beaten down.”She says her three years in the RPF included punishments like “running around the basement or doing push-ups.”
“I wasn’t allowed to speak with my family. You’re not allowed to have more than twenty dollars on you at any given time. You’re not allowed to go anywhere without another person. You’re watched 24/7,” says DeCrescenzo.
DeCrescenzo eventually escaped when she was 25 after faking a suicide attempt, according to the report.
This isn’t the first time the Church of Scientology has been accused of forcing their members to have abortions. One example is Samantha Domingo, LifeNews reported in 2015. She said she also was pressured into aborting her unborn baby, after being treated like a “criminal” for wanting to have her baby.
These heartbreaking cases are startling reminders of the lack of choice often involved in the abortion business. Pro-abortionists insist that legal abortion is vital to a woman’s freedom, yet ignore the countless abuses that abortion conceals.
