Police Accused of Raiding Girl’s Home...

Police came for Ruby Scott in the middle of the night.

As her parents looked on helplessly, the pregnant, unwed 15-year-old was taken away by three uniformed officers armed with a doctor’s letter saying an abortion could be dangerous for her. She was taken to the police station, then to a foster home.

A day later, she was released--after her parents, Connie and Carl Scott, agreed in a Juvenile Court hearing that an abortion no longer was an option because their daughter was further along in her pregnancy than they had thought. A doctor who examined her before the hearing said she was in her 27th week--the third trimester, when abortion is legal only to save the mother’s life.

Ten weeks later, Ruby’s daughter, Breezy, was born.

A year after that, the young mother and her parents filed suit over that night, alleging Ruby’s ex-boyfriend, his parents and local officials violated her rights by working to prevent her from choosing an abortion.

“What we have here is a family working together in the worst crisis of their lives and here they come and take her from her parents in the night,” said Jeanelle Kleveland, the Scott family’s lawyer.

Ruby Scott’s former boyfriend, R. Heath Mayfield, and his mother, Kathy Tull, have denied they deprived Ruby of her right to an abortion, but admitted they tried to persuade her to keep the baby or put it up for adoption.

“I believe the baby has a right to live and my son should have the rights of a father,” Tull said. She said she doesn’t believe in abortion but is not active in the anti-abortion movement.

Janet Crepps, an attorney with the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Law & Policy, said she is unaware of another case where police took a girl from her parents by arguing that an abortion could be dangerous.

The struggle started on Sept. 28, 1994, when Ruby Scott told Mayfield she planned to have an abortion the next day. Two days earlier, she had taken two home-pregnancy tests at his house.

No one questions that the boyfriend was unhappy. What’s in dispute is what happened later that night.

The Scott family alleges that Mayfield, his parents and several friends came to the Scott home. The suit says that some members of the group screamed and called the Scotts “baby killers,” pulled Ruby and hit her father.

Connie Scott called police. Mayfield, now 17, was arrested for hitting an officer; he pleaded guilty to assault and was put on probation.

The Scotts told police they would be staying at a cousin’s house that night.

A few hours later, about 12:30 a.m., more than 10 law enforcement cars arrived at the cousin’s house, according to the lawsuit. (Blair City Attorney Wyman Nelson said the city has only four police cars.)

The police were bearing a letter from Dr. K.C. Bagby and a physician’s assistant.

“Any elective abortion could potentially cause medical and emotional damage to the mother at any stage of pregnancy,” the letter said. “An elective abortion at this stage of pregnancy could not only be harmful to the mother but even in the most extreme case be potentially fatal to the mother.”

Bagby did not return telephone messages; the lawsuit alleges that he never examined Ruby, but wrote the letter for Mayfield’s mother.

Nelson, who represents the police in the lawsuit, said police became involved because they received information from a respected doctor in town that a juvenile could be in danger.

“From the police officer’s point of view, the abortion issue was not even considered,” Nelson said.

The Scotts say harassment connected to the case eventually drove them from this rural community of 6,800 about 20 miles north of Omaha.

Shortly after Ruby was taken away, fliers were posted all over Blair labeling the Scotts “murderers,” the family says. The lawsuit blames Mayfield and his family, who deny responsibility.

And last month, the day the lawsuit was filed, someone threw shaving cream, butter and a jar of mushroom spaghetti sauce at the door of the one-story house the Scotts own in Blair.

Months before, the family moved to Iowa, where they are rearing Breezy. The Scotts declined interview requests through their attorney.