| "Rockabye" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | SVU, Episode 7.09 | → |
| Production number: 07010 First aired: 22 November 2005 | ||
 | ||
| Written By Patrick Harbinson Directed By Peter Leto | ||
Plot[]
After sixteen-year-old Lauren Westley loses her unborn child due to a severe abdominal beating, her father's insistence that Lauren was raped leads detectives to the baby's father, but it isn't long before the detectives realise that Lauren was an active party in her own beating, and the two teens had found it necessary to take the steps they did because the abortion clinic kept putting off Lauren's request for an appointment. Novak faces a tough opponent in her own office when she and Branch disagree over the appropriate action to be taken against Wayne Mortens, the young girl's boyfriend. Casey, who didn't agree with Branch, basically gives the defense what they need to win as Branch refuses to allow a plea bargain. Afterwards, the doctor who stalled so the abortion couldn't happen and backed Lauren and Wayne into a corner is arrested for fraud.
Summary[]
Episode summary
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
- Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
- Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
- Diane Neal as A.D.A. Casey Novak
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola
- B.D. Wong as Dr. George Huang (credit only)
- Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner
- Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen
Recurring cast[]
- Joanna Merlin as Judge Lena Petrovsky
- Judith Light as Judge Elizabeth Donnelly
- Fred Dalton Thompson as D.A. Arthur Branch
- Annie Potts as Defense Attorney Sophie Devere
- J. Paul Nicholas as Defense Attorney Linden Delroy
- Francis Jue as Dr. Fong
- Joselin Reyes as Paramedic Martinez
- Elizabeth Flax as Nurse Carey Hutchins
Guest cast[]
- Skipp Sudduth as Phillip Westley
- Keri Lynn Pratt as Lauren Westley
- John Patrick Amedori as Wayne Mortens
- Robert Foxworth as Dr. Lett
- Adriane Lenox as Judy Carlton
- Dennis Predovic as Hotel Manager
- Arie Thompson as Jolene
- Hank Davies as John
- Fiana Toibin as Nurse
- Charles Techman as Elderly Man
- Hilary Hight as Jury Foreperson
- Anthony Spina as Cell Man
References[]
- Manhattan Women's Sexual Health Clinic
- Golden Promise
- Palassi, Virginia
- Britney Spears
- Medicaid
- Guantanamo Bay detention camp
- Fraudulent abortion clinics
- Sodom and Gomorrah
Quotes[]
- Munch: These kids take one look at a Britney Spears video and the Golden Promise goes out the bedroom window.
- Stabler: How well does Lauren know Wayne?
- Phillip Westley: He's a year ahead of her. Gives her a ride to school sometimes.
- Stabler: He been in any trouble?
- Phillip Westley: His dad's in the Army, his mother's a nurse. He's on his own a lot. What difference does it make? He raped my daughter. You should be out there looking for him.
- Stabler: We don't know that he did rape her.
- Phillip Westley: He got her pregnant.
- Stabler: Mr. Westley, you gotta start considering the possibility that Lauren had consensual sex.
- Phillip Westley: Lauren would never do that. She'd never betray me.
- Stabler: What if she was too scared to tell you?
- Phillip Westley: Why would she be scared of me?
- Stabler: After what you did to her sister?
- Phillip Westley: That's none of your business. So why don't you just do your damn job and catch the bastard?
- Benson: Is Wayne the baby's father?
- Lauren Westley: Yes.
- Benson: Did he rape you?
- Lauren Westley: I don't want to talk about it.
- Benson: Lauren, talking about it is gonna help you. Did Wayne force you to have sex with him?
- Lauren Westley: We didn't mean for it to happen. The nurse said that I had a little girl. I want to see her.
- Benson: I'm sorry.
- Lauren Westley: Please.
- Benson: The medical examiner took her away so they could figure out what happened.
- Benson: You hit yourself?
- Lauren: [cries] Yes.
- Benson: An eyewitness said you were yelling, "Stop. Don't..."
- Lauren Westley: [sobs harder] God forgive me, I was yelling, "Don't stop!"
- [after Lauren's father found out that she hit herself to induce a miscarriage]
- Stabler: Mr. Westley, where are you going?
- Phillip Westley: Home.
- Stabler: What about your daughter?
- Phillip Westley: Keep her, lock her up. I don't care.
- Stabler: Unfortunately, children aren't disposable.
- Phillip Westley: They deserted me.
- Stabler: They're kids. Lauren's 16.
- Phillip Westley: She made a promise.
- Stabler: She's your child. Now I don't care what your beliefs are. You don't stop loving her. Like I know you don't stop thinking about your other daughter.
- Phillip Westley: Lauren tried to kill her baby.
- Stabler: Because she was afraid of you. Don't prove her right.
- [about Lauren and Wayne]
- Sophie Devere: Casey, they're kids. They're emotionally devastated. They're not in control of their actions.
- Novak: On the contrary. They made a plan, and they executed it.
- Sophie Devere: It was Lauren's plan.
- Novak: She didn't force Wayne to hit her, but he still did. Not once, but 20 times until the lamp shattered. Lauren hit the baby too. And I'm gonna charge them both.
- Sophie Devere: Which means you charge her with a misdemeanor and him with a felony? Gee, does that seem fair to you?
- Arthur Branch: Sophie, you're working late.
- Sophie Devere: All for a good cause, Arthur, all for a good cause. Women's rights. You remember them. You know, a lot of people in this country want to take us back to the '50s. And look what we got now: a '50s crime.
- Branch: Who's your trial judge?
- Novak: Elizabeth Donnelly.
- Branch: Our favorite radical feminist. Wears her views on her sleeve. This would probably appeal to her notion of inequality. I want you to talk to Donnelly. Tell her to recuse herself from this case.
- Novak: On what grounds?
- Branch: Public views on abortion.
- Novak: I think she's perfectly capable of divorcing her personal beliefs from the case.
- Branch: I'm not willing to take that risk. Talk to her, Casey, and tell her we can do it unofficially or officially.
- Judge Elizabeth Donnelly: Are you asking me to recuse myself?
- Novak: I'm sorry, but your public position on abortion rights, your work for Naral, make it impossible for you to appear impartial.
- Judge Donnelly: I'm against detention without trial at Guantanamo, I can still try terrorism cases.
- Novak: Your presence will also politicize the case. It's gonna provide fuel for the pro-life lobby.
- Judge Donnelly: My absence will provide fuel for the pro-choice lobby, which still exists, Casey, even if you've deserted it.
- Novak: It's my job to prosecute this case, regardless of my views.
- Judge Donnelly: And it's my job to try it. I see no reason at all why I should accede to your request, so tell your boss to go screw himself.
- Novak: Elizabeth, if I have to make this request official, you know I'll win. Please don't make me do that.
- Judge Donnelly: Are you threatening me?
- Novak: No. I'm asking you as a friend.
- Judge Donnelly: Branch really got to you, didn't he? All right. I'll recuse myself. Playing politics with the law, Casey. You're heading down a slippery slope.
- Novak: The baby was more than 24 weeks old, it could have lived outside the womb.
- Devere: But tragically it did not, so it is not a person, not a baby, not an unborn child; it is a fetus. My client is already handicapped by the law, let's not add insult to injury.
- Novak: The only insult is to the English language.
- Devere: It's one of those fake abortion clinics. They're springing up all over the country.
- Novak: I didn't expect to see them here.
- Devere: They're trying to clean up Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Branch: Why are you making a deal?
- Novak: Lauren Westley was given fraudulent information by a doctor masquerading as a provider of abortion services.
- Branch: Did he instruct her to get her boyfriend to batter her baby to death?
- Novak: No.
- Branch: Did he assist them?
- Novak: He forced them into a corner.
- Branch: Does that justify battering her? No deals, Casey. Do your job. Prosecute the crime.
- Novak: I am already losing the jury. With this new information, I don't...
- Branch: You know what's more important than winning or losing? Sending a message that this city won't condone violent crime whatever the duress.
- Branch: So you handed the case to the defense.
- Novak: Wayne still got probation.
- Branch: I may be pro-life, but I'm even more pro-law. Arrest that doctor.
Background information and notes[]
- Robert Foxworth previously appeared as Benjamin Hadley in "Misleader".
- Goof: Lauren Westley says she tried to buy an abortion pill when she found out she was pregnant after missing her third period. The abortion pill, RU-486, wasn't actually an option for her because it is only used within 64 days of conception. She could have been referring to the morning-after pill (emergency contraception) but that is only effective when used within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
- Keri Pratt, who plays the teenager Lauren, was actually 27 when this was filmed.
- When ADA Novak is talking to Wayne's attorney she is saying it isn't fair that he gets charged with a felony and Lauren gets charged with a misdemeanor. The crime Wayne is guilty of is Abortion in the first degree, it is when a person causes an unlawful abortion on a fetus over 24 weeks of gestation, it is a class D felony and carries a sentence of two to seven years in prison. Lauren is guilty of Self-abortion in the first degree, because the fetus was over 24 weeks, it is a class A misdemeanor and carries a penalty of a $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail.
- Teenagers who break their abstinence vows and seek an abortion are also part of the plot of the episode "Babes".
Episode scene cards[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Manhattan Woman's |
B & M Metro |
Rikers Island |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|
|
Trial Part 46 |
Trial Part 46 |
Trial Part 46 |
| Previous episode: "Starved" |
"Rockabye" Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 7 |
Next episode: "Storm" |