(gentle music)

- Six years old, that'show old Janie Blasio was

when she first heard thatshe was a black market baby.

Janie didn't even know what that meant,

but it triggered a searchinside that led to the discovery

of a horrific scandal.

- [Reporter] Author,Jane Blasio was a victim

of human trafficking in the 1960s.

She was born and sold out of the back door

of a clinic in north Georgia.

Growing up, Jane always looked

for answers about her origins.

Years later, she discovered the mystery

of the Hicks Clinic.

In her book "Taken At Birth,"Jane shares her journey

of searching for her birthfamily, unraveling a scandal

in a small town, and helpingother victims reunite

with their family members.

- Please welcome to The700 Club, Jane Blasio.

Jane, great to have you with us today.

- Thank you for having me.

- Let's go back to thatday when you first heard

the term black market baby.

What happened that day?

- So I was outside playing in the yard

and my parents called mein, and my sister, Michelle,

who was four years older than me,

she was also there, and they told us.

You know, we had heardthe term black market

on the playground and theywere trying to explain it

without really saying what it was.

And so they told us we were adopted.

- So how did you becomeaware of what was going on

at the Hicks Clinic and howdid it affect you personally?

- So when I was 18, I wentback to start the search

to try to find my birth family,and then over the years,

just tidbits of informationcame as I was talking

to people in the town,talking to, you know,

county officials about what, you know,

where my records were,you know, if there were.

And so that kind of put thatpiece together, the entire,

you know, the entirepicture of who Dr. Hicks was

and what he was doing.

And I had a lot of stories and,

but I hadn't had lot ofinformation about myself.

I talked to birth parentsand adopted parents,

and other adoptees, and town folk,

but I didn't have whatI needed for myself.

So in '97, that was when Iwent to one of the local papers

and it just kind of burst the story open,

you know, broke it, basically.

And at that point, thatwas when it really started

to affect me because it was mysearch up until that moment,

by myself, but then when it came public,

then it just was all theemotions and everything,

tryin' to, trying to rout it out.

- Well you discovered sometroubling, troubling things

through your research.

What made you decide togo public with your story?

- Well that, in '97, my intentwas to get anyone else that

was born at the HicksClinic to come alongside me

and maybe as a group, wecould get more information,

we could get some headway.

And then the TLC docu-series in 2019,

more people came out, you know.

There were more Hicks babiesthat came out, there were

more birth parents that cameout from, just from that,

that six-hour docu-series.

And that's what made mecome out and tell the story,

my full story and my journey in my book.

- Dr. Hicks was the man, thedoctor who ran the clinic.

He, the history of the things that he did,

unconscionable, really.

Talk a little bit about someof the brutality he used

on his patients.

- So you know, when Ifirst went down to the town

and started talking topeople I had said, you know,

I was adopted at the Hicks Clinic.

And they looked at me andsaid what you mean adopted?

Are you talking about, youknow, about the abortions?

And I said no, I know thatthere were adoptions there.

And they said no, we don'tknow of any adoptions.

So he was known as an abortionist

and the most brutal thingabout Dr. Hicks is that

women went to him to have their babies

and he would lie to them andtell them the baby's died

and then he would sell them.

We also believed that he wasdoing late-term abortions

and if the baby wasviable, he would go ahead

and sell that baby, as well.

- Yeah, some of the damagethat he did to the women that

he performed theseprocedures on was shocking.

What ultimately happened to Dr. Hicks?

- Well Dr. Hicks passed away in 1972.

He battled leukemia forseveral years before his death.

You know, there were severalpeople that would say

a lot of the people and the town folk

back when I began my searchsaid that he was a good man.

But I think as time goes on and they see

what he had done and thedark side, basically,

behind closed doors, they're coming

to realize that he wasn't all good.

- You spent a tremendousamount of time coming and going

back and forth to this placejust trying to find the link

and to understand your own beginnings.

You met some people along theway that really took you in

and embraced your search.

It must have taken a tremendousamount of just fortitude

to keep going on with that.

- Well you know, I'd liketo take the credit for that.

People say oh, you're so strong.

Let me tell ya, God hasbeen with me from day one

and He has opened doors, He has told me

now it's time to take a rest,

now it's time to go ahead and pick it up

and start moving forward with it again.

So I'd love to take the credit for that,

but I would be lying because it's been,

it's been God the whole waythat has handled this for me.

- Along the way, though,there was so much emotion,

so much turmoil in all this that

your faith was really impacted.

How, how did you comeback into a strong faith

and just relying on God's direction?

- So when all of the, whenthe story broke in '97

and all the media andlooking for my birth family

thinking, you know,what am I gonna do next,

all of that just came crashing down on me

and I walked away frommy relationship with God,

which I thought was verystrong for 10 plus years.

I walked away from thatand I just wanted to do

what I wanted to do.

I didn't want anybodytellin' me what to do.

And it was almost 15years of my wilderness,

one bad decision afterthe other, that again,

I just was like, I can'ttake this, you know?

But I heard His voicethat entire time saying

when you gonna come home?

(audio distortion) when are you,

what, are you done making bad decisions

because, and I gotdecisions that'll make you,

that will give you joy,that will give you peace.

- Well, a lot of the work that you did,

because of your research,many people have been united

with their birth families.

What have you discoveredabout your own birth family?

- Well I know both mymaternal and my paternal lines

and I am, just have discovered them

in the last couple years, soI am still delving into that

and that's something thatI detail in the book.

And I can just tell youthat it has been wonderful

and I'm so thankful for it.

- Yeah, there's a sortof a resolve that happens

in your heart with that discovery.

I wanna tell our viewers that

Jane's book is called "Taken At Birth."

It's available nationwide.

An incredible story ofsome very negative things

that happened in a very small town.

But today, people arefinding their birth families

because of Jane's work.

Thank you so much,Jane, for being with us.

Fascinating story.