Kylie is compassionate, competent, and refreshingly comfortable in her own skin. When making decisions, she takes her time and is quick to give others the benefit of the doubt. In the end, Kylie does the right thing.
To Kylie, relationships are extremely important, and she makes them a priority in her life. Unfortunately, as a child Kylie did not have a parent who prioritized and protected her.
“Growing up, my mom was a heavy drug user,” she said. “She had multiple abortions, which I found out in my teens. My dad was not in the picture at all.”
As a teenager, Kylie followed her mother’s example and became a heavy drug user herself.
“I knew I didn’t want the life my mom had,” she said. “I knew I wanted a family, and I wanted to be a good parent someday. In 2008, I went to rehab and am proud to say that I have been clean and sober for fifteen years.”
After rehab, Kylie was highly motivated to be able to provide for herself. She became a CNA and phlebotomist.
“The first job I was offered was at Mid-Town Medical in New Orleans. I had no idea that it was an abortion clinic,” she said. “At the time, especially as a lesbian who has faced judgement, I was all about women’s rights and naturally, being pro-abortion made total sense to me.”
This clinic offered a wide range of services from basic gynecological exams to abortions.
“It was about fifty percent abortion and fifty percent other services,” she said. “I started with urine tests, drawing labs, and then I was trained on ultrasounds. I was also asked to start auditing their charts.”
Despite her strong stance on what she considered to be “women’s rights,” Kylie felt that something was off.
“In the back of my mind, I always thought, ‘this is crazy,'” Kylie said. “Everything was just dumped into a bag. We didn’t even inventory the POC unless it was a 19-week baby or a later term. Once, a baby was measured wrong and the woman delivered a 23-week-old baby. The baby was born alive and passed away quickly.”
The birth and death of this baby in Kylie’s clinic was a wake-up call.
Living in Louisiana, it is extremely hard for abortion clinic workers to transition out of the industry. Kylie searched for a new position. At the very least, she knew she wanted out of that clinic. When another clinic called to hire her, she took the job in the hopes that she would have a better experience in the administrative position they offered her.
“Another clinic called me,” she said. “They heard about what a hard worker I was from one of my co-workers. They initially hired me to audit their charts. However, because of my experience, I was moved to every part of the clinic. The Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge was a full-fledged abortion clinic who offered no other services. I didn’t even know who I was working for; I had no idea about Brinkley’s associations.” Dr. Leroy Brinkley, the owner of the Delta Clinic, also owned Atlantic Women’s Medical Services in Wilmington, Delaware where the infamous Dr. Kermit Gosnell worked in his employ.
However, Kylie started to see and experience things that made her uncomfortable.
“The doctor asked me to get rid of records and charts,” she said. “The protestors were different; some were very peaceful, and looking back, they truly did want to help me. Some were constantly trying to get into our dumpster, so they actually had to put a padlock on it.”
It was after her partner experienced a miscarriage that Kylie started to see abortion from an unfamiliar perspective.
“I saw so many women come back again and again who used abortion as birth control,” she said. “That did not feel right to me. I lost my passion for what I thought were women’s rights. I felt so empty. I felt nothing.”
When Kylie and her partner experienced the birth of their child, everything changed. She could not continue in the abortion industry.
“I could no longer do it,” she said. “It was everything, all the illegal things I was doing. Even after I left, it took me three weeks to reach out to And Then There Were None. Everything was falling apart. I finally called, and I am so glad I did. They literally saved me.”
Nichola, Kylie’s Client Advocate at And Then There Were None, quickly sprang into action to connect Kylie with the resumé writer, researched the local job market, sent her available job listings, and talked with her regularly. She became a trusted person with whom Kylie could share openly her life, what she had experienced, and how she felt. Finding new employment in the medical field proved exceedingly difficult for Kylie after ten years in the abortion industry.
“Nichola kept pushing me,” she said. “I finally got a position at a community health clinic offering low-income health care. It was a really awesome facility that offered affordable care for people, everything from dental work to eye care.”
Kylie started as a Community Health Information Specialist. She started in February of 2019, and by July 1st of that same year, she was promoted to a Health Information Supervisor and manages 25% of the entire practice.
“I am the sole provider for my family, so we still struggle, but my life is so much better now. My partner and I have two kids and adopted my sixteen-year-old niece.”
Kylie has developed a strong bond with her Client Advocate, utilized ATTWN’s licensed therapy, and after several years of being connected with And Then There Were None, she decided she was ready to attend her first healing retreat.
“My first retreat was intense,” she said. “It took me years to go to my second one, but the tribe that I met on that retreat—oh my goodness! We bonded quickly. We laughed and cried and stayed up talking all hours of the night. I made so many awesome connections.”
Kylie realized that her experience with the death of a baby born alive in an abortion facility was not an uncommon experience among the ATTWN tribe.
For any current abortion workers or workers who have been out of the industry for some time and would like to find healing, Kylie urges you to make that call.
“Take the risk,” she said. “That call opened so many doors for me. The truth is, And Then There Were None saved me. I’ve never felt any judgement from ATTWN. It has been so refreshing to be with my tribe of ‘Quitters’ who have shared my experiences. You can’t grasp the reality of what we saw and what we participated in if you weren’t there.”
Ever a hard worker, Kylie was working two jobs seven days a week to provide for her family. When obstacles arise, she tackles them head on. When her car needed repairs she couldn’t afford, she learned how to fix it herself.
“When you grow up with an addict parent, you have to take care of yourself. I am independent and there is nothing that comes my way that I can’t handle with God’s help.”
In 2021, Kylie earned her degree in Nursing Administration and looks forward to seeing where her future takes her. Wherever it leads, her tribe sisters have full faith in her that it will be bright and beautiful. There is nothing that our industrious, resourceful, intelligent tribe sister cannot accomplish.