A few weeks ago, I reported on the bizarre “abortion contract” drawn up in 2007 between NBA player JJ Redick and his ex-girlfriend, Vanessa Lopez. As I reported, the “contract” stipulated that Lopez would receive $25,000 to abort the child, despite Redick’s denials that the baby was his. The contract was full of humiliating provisions, such as demands that Lopez be examined by a doctor of Redick’s choice in order to “prove” she wasn’t lying about the pregnancy or the abortion.
When the story broke, Redick responded by taking the low road, stopping just short of calling Lopez a liar. He claimed that “Ms. Lopez did not and has never terminated a pregnancy of a child fathered by me.” He even played the victim, writing, “continued attention to these lies is severely damaging to myself and my family.” It was clear he was hoping Lopez—and reporters covering the story—would shut up and slink away.
But over the weekend, I received medical records that proved she absolutely was not lying about the abortion, and show that she also suffered harassment at the hands of Redick and his associates afterward.
The first document is from Vanessa’s visit to an Orlando emergency room a week after her gruesome 16-week abortion. “Patient is a 28-year-old who regrets abortion that was done 9 days ago,” the report says. “She has been bleeding heavily ever since,” with a fever of 102 degrees. Vanessa was in so much pain, she couldn’t even submit to an exam. The emergency room examiner believed she had retained “products”—aka, baby body parts—in her uterus and was at risk for sepsis.
There is no doubt that Vanessa suffered terribly after her abortion, both physically and emotionally—a year afterward, she sought counseling for symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. All the while, JJ Redick has refused to acknowledge his involvement in the abortion.
The second document I obtained is from the Lake Mary Police Department. In September 2007, they handled Vanessa’s complaints of harassing phone calls—which included racial slurs and death threats—from Redick, his brother David, and Redick’s brother-in-law, Russell Cobb. According to the police report, David told Vanessa that she was a “b—ch” and that he was “going to kill her.”
JJ Redick can issue all the carefully-worded denials he wants. (On Twitter, he cleverly worded his statement to deny he was the father of Lopez’ child, but did not deny that she had an abortion and he knew about it.) But Vanessa Lopez deserves justice. She deserves to tell her story—not only of being abused by Redick and his inner circle, but of her suffering after abortion.
As for JJ Redick, he has been neither a man nor a Christian about this, despite prominently declaring himself a “Christian” on his Twitter page. He is a disgrace to the NBA, for which he deserves a public rebuke. JJ Redick is not a victim. Vanessa Lopez and her dead child are.
