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ABORTION PROTEST

Fetal funeral scheduled

A public funeral is being organized by anti-abortion activists to call attention to the issue.

ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com

Anti-abortion activists are planning a public funeral on Tuesday in Hollywood for the fetal remains found by police two years ago at a Hialeah abortion clinic.

The mother, now 20, plans to attend the funeral of Shanice Denise Osborne, according to organizers, who call themselves Americans Committed to Loving the Unwanted. They announced their plans in a press release sent to South Florida media. The event is part memorial, part protest and part anti-Barack Obama rally.

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, will officiate, and American Independent Party presidential candidate Alan Keyes will deliver a eulogy.

Dozier drew attention in 2006 for anti-Islam remarks that got him booted from Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign committee. Last year, his support of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle's anti-gay stance renewed his notoriety. He says he's not affiliated with funeral organizers.

Keyes is a former Republican presidential candidate who ran and lost twice -- in 1996 and 2000. He also ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 against Obama in Illinois and was defeated in a landslide.

SPEAKERS

Dozier has invited Broward County Right to Life executive director, Tewannah Aman; the Rev. Jim McGarvey, director of development for Hope Women's Centers, a chain of clinics; Dominick O'Dwyer of St. Malachy Catholic Church in Tamarac; and Janet Folger, a longtime South Florida gay rights and abortion opponent, to speak.

''I don't approach this issue from the standpoint of politics,'' said McGarvey, ``but it certainly has political implications because of Roe v. Wade . . . If [the funeral] gets political, then so be it.''

Obama, according to his campaign website, ''will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President.'' He also notes that he ``opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case.''

Dozier said he also hopes that ``us shining a light on this will cause [Miami-Dade prosecutors] to do something. I see it as just plain out murder.''

The Miami-Dade state attorney's office is still investigating the case, but cleared the county medical examiner to release the remains last week.

Prosecutors are considering whether Shanice was born alive, which will determine what, if any, criminal charges are brought against personnel at the clinic, which has since closed.

''This is a complex legal matter that requires an extraordinary level of attention and detail, and that is the process that is currently ongoing,'' said Miami-Dade state attorney's office spokesman Ed Griffith. ``That's why one of our most experienced homicide prosecutors, David Waksman, is handling it.''

Witnesses said that Shanice gasped for several minutes, but the medical examiner -- who estimated that the fetus developed for about 22 weeks, two shy of the 24-week window for a legal abortion -- concluded that the cause of death was ''extreme prematurity,'' the manner of death ``natural.''

AFTER THE ABORTION

The fetal remains were found on July 28, 2006, eight days after the abortion at Gyn Diagnostic Clinic.

They were taken to the Baird-Case Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Tamarac, which is paying for the funeral and burial, but according to part-owner Tara Maginnis-Welsh, is not involved with the organizers or speakers.

The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Queen of Heaven cemetery, 1500 State Road 7, Hollywood.

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