Execution Survivors vs. Abortion Survivors

Christa Pike

The internet is abuzz over the botched execution of Christa Pike via lethal injection. She was twice injected with pentobarbital, a drug used in veterinary euthanasia and adopted by Tennessee as a replacement for the older sequence of anesthetic, paralytic, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. There had been outcry that insufficient anesthetic might leave the murderer able to feel pain while dying, leading to manufacturers' refusal to sell the drugs for executions. Pentobarbital is expected to quickly cause unconsciousness, respiratory arrest, and death. 

The Response

When the drugs failed to kill Christa Pike, she was rushed to the hospital and provided with emergency care. As of this writing, October 9, 2026, she is awake and alert and people are complaining that she'd being treated cruelly because she's still being treated like a prisoner rather than a victim.

Why Was Christa Slated for Death?

In January of 1995, Christa Pike was 18 years old, living at a Job Corps center. Pike was convinced that a classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, was trying to steal her boyfriend, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp. Pike enlisted the help of Shipp and another Job Corps student, 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, to kill Colleen. 

Colleen Slemmer

The three of them told Colleen that they were going to make peace and get high together. They took her to a remote area of the Job Corps campus. Shadolla Peterson kept watch while Christa Pike and Tadaryl Shipp tortured Christa to death. Over a period of about 30 minutes, they beat her, slammed her head into concrete, cut her with a box cutter and a meat cleaver, and carved a pentagram into her chest while their terrified victim begged them to stop. At one point Colleen was able to break free and run, but they chased her down and resumed the attack. Christa Pike finally finished the job by bashing Colleen's head in with a chunk of asphalt.

Pike took a piece of Colleen's skull as a souvenir and showed it off to classmates, describing what she had done to the teen she had viewed as a rival for Tadaryl Shipp's affections.

This brazenness, of course, led to her arrest, conviction, and death sentence.

But Wait! There's More!

Christa Pike's murderous impulses didn't end with the death of Colleen Slemmer. While on Death Row she tried to strangle another inmate. She chose to remain a danger to the lives of others even while incarcerated.

Other Botched Executions

The botched execution of Christa Pike made me think of other botched execution: those of babies whose only crime was being in the womb of an unwelcoming mother.

Let's look at how those botched executions were handled. 

Sarah Brown. In the summer of 1993, Dr. George Tiller twice injected potassium chloride directly into her brain. When Sarah was born alive at 36 weeks of gestation, she was not rushed to a hospital. She was wrapped in a blanket and left unattended for 24 hours before a nurse intervened and said that Sarah should be provided with care. Severely brain damaged, Sarah lost her vision and would never walk or talk. She died five years later, on September 28, 1998.

Vanessa S. On October 3, 1984, Dr. Enrique Gerbi tried to kill Vanessa by replacing the amniotic fluid protecting her with a strong sterile salt solution. The following day Vanessa was born alive at around 12:30 am. She was put in a bucket and left crying, cold, and alone. At some point a nurse noticed that Vanessa was still alive and started to provide the baby with care. She was left with severe disabilities.

Ximena Renaerts. On December 12, 1985, Ximena's biological mother went to a Planned Parenthood in Bellingham, Washington. She was told that she was 16 weeks pregnant. Planned Parenthood's doctor performed an abortion. Ximena's mother returned to her home in Vancouver, Canada. On December 17, she gave birth to a living baby in a toilet in the hospital. The baby weighed around three pounds. A nurse put Ximena in a bedpan and put the bedpan in a room where dead fetuses were stored after abortions. About 40 minutes later the nurse noticed that Ximena was still alive and called a nursing supervisor, who cleared Ximena's airway and provided warmth. She asked for oxygen for the baby. Ximena was then placed on a metal counter while various staff discussed what to do about her. She was finally sent to a hospital nursery for care. She was left with permanent brain damage, quadriplegia, and the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. 

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Veteran pro-life investigator Kevin Sherlock asks people of good will to help him have Planned Parenthood prosecuted for profiteering from the rapes and incests of underage girls many thousands of times each year.

Sherlock has  pulled the police records of hundreds of cities and has pulled the child protective services records of multiple states to prove Planned Parenthood staffers are violating mandated reporting laws designed to protect girl victims.   But there is more to be done. Sherlock will make sure more and more evidence gets to federal and state prosecutors who care about protecting girls from abusers and profiteers.

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Sherlock has talked to many girls and young women who trust him. Their stories and the forensic evidence shows most of them undergo pill abortions or humiliating invasive surgical abortions due to fear or ignorance or pressure or coercion. He treats the girls or women carrying children or devastated from their abortions as friends and neighbors in his home town, not afterthoughts.

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.