A news report tonight on KGET TV-17 focused on how a 14-year-old girl was allegedly traumatized when Terri Palmquist told her that she was naming her baby “Britney” and put up a cross in memory of her baby. The true scandal, however, was that this girl told Terri that her father was forcing her to abort her baby, and that Bakersfield Police came out to talk to the girl’s father but apparently took no action.

For those who saw tonight’s report and want to know the other side, here is Terri’s report on what really happened:

Two weeks ago I spoke to a young girl that I’ll call “Kelly” going in the abortion chamber. Kelly was accompanied by an old man. She told me that he was her father. As I talked with her she explained she didn’t want to abort her baby, but her father told her she needed to do so. I tried to let her know that we could help, but her dad rushed her on in. As she walked in I let her know that she didn’t have to do this, and encouraged her not to sign the abortion chamber’s paperwork which says she’s doing this on her “own free will.”

After talking to Kelly's father (see inset at left), the police quickly left without taking action.

Someone called the police and let them know that there were at least two possible crimes involved: sexual intercourse with a child and forced abortion. About 20 minutes later, the police arrived and brought the father out, talking briefly with him on the balcony. In about 10 minutes, the police left without saying a word to any of us on the sidewalk. It was clear that no action was being taken.

Around thirty minutes later, Kelly came out and I talked to her. She was smiling and saying that she’s keeping her baby! We exchanged phone numbers and her dad said they may be calling us. I asked what happened and she told me that one of the employees said that she seemed like she didn’t want to do it and told her that she could leave, so she did. The dad said, “then why did you fill out the paperwork?” Kelly replied indignantly, “I didn’t, Dad, you did!” I gave her a Bible and a teddy bear and she hugged it, saying “Oh, I’ll sleep with this!” Then they left.

On Tuesday of this week, several people showed up with Kelly at the abortion chamber. It took me a minute to realize who she was and by that time they were almost inside! My heart sank. “Kelly, remember that you don’t have to do this,” I cried, “please don’t do this, we can help!” One woman who was with Kelly flipped me off as they walked in and threatened to beat me up if I didn’t shut up!

Sometime later, I noticed that I had just missed a call from Kelly, so I called her back and she quietly talked to me from inside the abortion business. She said she was going to have to go through with it. I asked “Why?” She replied sheepishly, “I don’t know.” I told her “I will help you so that you don’t have to do this.” Suddenly the phone went dead. I texted her after the call, thinking that she may have needed to hang up because of someone overhearing the conversation. Here are the texts that were sent:

• I sent: “You don’t have to do it, I’ll help with whatever you might need.”
• I received a text back: “Shut up”
• I sent: “You told me before that you didn’t want to do it, it’s not too late.”
• The response: “Im doin it leave me alone my sister donetold u to shut the f— up before she makes u damn”
• I replied: “I don’t believe this is your heart. We want to help. You told me you wanted to keep the baby, what changed?”
• No response…

I believe that Kelly’s sister (or someone else who wanted her to abort) probably took the phone away while we were talking and that all of the above texts came from someone other than Kelly. I waited a while, but when it seemed that no further texts were coming, I sent one last text that said “If you go through with this, we’ve named your baby Britney.”

A couple hours later she came out with her family. I told them sadly, “I’m putting up a cross in memory of your baby ‘Britney.'” Neither Kelly nor her family had any reaction. They just got in the car and left.

About an hour later, I received a call from Kelly. In a calm and quiet voice, she asked me why I named her baby “Britney” and how I knew it was a girl. I told her I just thought “Britney” seemed like a good name for her baby and that I didn’t “know” it was a girl, but God knows what her baby was. She wondered how, so I told her that God said “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.”

I then asked her why she went through with the abortion. Kelly responded “my family didn’t want me to lose my childhood and I still have three and a half years of school left.” I asked how she was doing and she just said she was sore. I asked how far along she had been and she said ten and a half weeks. I got choked up and told her “I still care and wish I could have helped, but please call anytime you want to talk or pray.” She thanked me and we hung up.

That was the last contact any of us had with Kelly or anyone associated with her until Wednesday, when we received a call from Channel 17 because they had been contacted by someone who accused Terri of causing the “break down of this girl’s mental & emotional state.”

Kelly contacted us again this afternoon, and the nature of her contact seemed to point to a serious ethical (if not legal) violation on the part of the Channel 17 reporter. Kelly said that she didn’t appreciate Terri giving her number to the reporter.

But Terri never gave Kelly’s number to the reporter. So how did the reporter get her number? That’s another story, and it depends upon who you believe.