Affirming life and women, one delivery at a time

Charles Dudley Warner, a friend of Mark Twain, once famously wrote: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

The abortion-rights corollary to that refrain comes from those who are convinced the pro-life community is focused on only one thing. Their talking point goes like this: “Everybody talks about saving babies, but nobody does anything to help the women who are pregnant, poor and desperate.”

Those who cling to that notion have never met Dr. Marcel Bacchus, a graduate of St. Augustine High School, who has spent the last 25 years helping women in crisis pregnancies choose life.

Bacchus is an obstetrician-gynecologist who spends a half-day each week at St. Vincent Maternity Clinic, along with a countless number of 3 a.m. emergency calls, giving pregnant women who are either uninsured, underinsured or impoverished the prenatal care and encouragement they need to deliver healthy babies. St. Vincent Maternity Clinic is a program of Catholic Charities’ Pro-Life Services.

“I’m not saying I’m the holiest of holy Catholics, but I am Catholic, and it just makes me feel good that I can contribute to Catholic Charities like this,” Bacchus said.

In his years as an obstetrician-gynecologist, Bacchus has walked the front lines of medical circumstances that defy the imagination. There was the 10-year-old girl who came into his office one day.

She was frightened – and pregnant.

Darleen Crane, the registered nurse who worked with Bacchus since 1989 at St. Vincent’s before retiring last year, said she will never forget the girl, a preteen and an expectant mom.

“She was in foster care, and Dr. Bacchus saw her every week,” Crane said. “He was there for the girl’s labor and delivery. She didn’t have a long attention span. She might have been reading at the fourth-grade level. They did the prenatal classes in half-hour increments.”

During one of their office visits, Bacchus asked the girl, “If you had to talk to a man, whom would you call?”

The girl couldn’t answer.

Bacchus told her to write down his cell phone number and call him if she ever needed someone to talk to. The girl delivered a healthy baby, and she is doing fine today, Crane said.

“I have to tell you, he’s a special guy,” Crane said of Bacchus. “He’s a superb doctor and treats everybody the same, no matter what the issue is. I’ve never heard him say one iota of a bad word in 25 years. Never. Never. He’s one of the best doctors I know.”

Bacchus doesn’t have to be doing this. He has a thriving obstetrics and gynecological practice. He had never heard of St. Vincent’s until 1989, when Dr. Tommy Ryan, who was volunteering at the clinic, got sick and asked if he could take over.

“I said, ‘Of course,’ and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Bacchus said. “He just mentioned that it was a good clinic with a good purpose, and the people who worked there were very pleasant, and the patients were very appreciative. I’ve gotten as much in terms of motivation and gratification from the patients as I’ve given to them.”

Crane marvels at the way Bacchus connects with the pregnant women, especially those who are just 12 or 13 years old. Sometimes, she had to interrupt their talks because the clinic’s small waiting room was filling up with women and their unborn children.

“Oh, no, I’m being loquacious?” Bacchus would ask Crane.

“Yes, you’re being loquacious,” she said.

In three hours on a Tuesday morning, Bacchus usually sees about nine to 12 women.

“I generally just hit the ground running, and I keep going until I finish,” Bacchus said. “Then I take a little break and get to my office and work there.”

Some of the women have Medicaid, but some are in between insurance. For those who have to pay out of pocket and don’t have much money, St. Vincent works with Touro Infirmary in special circumstances for a delivery fee that is highly discounted.

“For the person who is cash-strapped, it’s got to be a great relief if they find out this is affordable,” Bacchus said. “But we now see people with all types of insurance. This is not one of these big, clinic settings. It’s more of an intimate setting, and they see the same doctor all the time. I try to do most of my own deliveries, because this is what I truly enjoy. I must be crazy, because usually if you’ve done it all these years, you want to at least get some sleep at night. But I love obstetrics.”

The women who walk through his clinic door know Bacchus cares about them. If they are new patients, he loves to have them sit quietly and listen – not to him but to their unborn child’s heartbeat.

“When they finally hear the heartbeat, he says, ‘That’s your baby,’” Crane said. “That says everything.”

A followup ultrasound confirms that truth.

“That’s really when they see that this is a living being, a living entity,” Bacchus said. “I think it makes a big difference.”

As one doctor has made for the last 25 years.

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected].