Gambling with our daughters' health

Complications arise from HPV vaccine

In their rush to try to vaccinate every underage girl against a disease only the sexually active risk contracting, the Nanny State has gambled with our daughters' health -- and the girls lost:

As of May 31, 2007, there have been 13 cases of Guillain Barr's syndrome (GBS) in association with the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).


Guillain-Barre syndrome is a serious disorder that occurs when the body's defense (immune) system mistakenly attacks part of the nervous system. This leads to nerve inflammation which continues to get worse.

....

According to an NVIC press release, one of the patients who reported a reaction to VAERS was an 18-year-old athlete who ran six miles that day before receiving Gardasil, Menactra, and Varivax on the same day. She was hospitalized for 22 days with weakness of all limbs but did not require a ventilator. Now receiving physical therapy, she hopes at least to be able to play the guitar, draw, and smile again.

Those who support and want the vaccine are welcome to it, but they have no right to jeopardize the lives and health of other people's daughters.

Cue crickets chirping

Chinese parents fight forced abortions

QIAN'AN, China - Yang Zhongchen, a small-town businessman, wined and dined three government officials for permission to become a father.

But the Peking duck and liquor weren't enough. One night, a couple of weeks before her date for giving birth, Yang's wife was dragged from her bed in a north China town and taken to a clinic, where, she says, her baby was killed by injection while still inside her.

"Several people held me down, they ripped my clothes aside and the doctor pushed a large syringe into my stomach," says Jin Yani ....

Some 30 years after China decreed a general limit of one child per family, resentment still brews over the state's regular and sometimes brutal intrusion into intimate family matters. Not only are many second pregnancies aborted, but even to have one's first child requires a license.

Seven years after the dead baby was pulled from her body with forceps, Jin remains traumatized and, the couple and a doctor say, unable to bear children.

Their attempts to get restitution were fruitless -- though what restitution can possibly be made? Their child can't be brought back from the dead.

Then they tried suing the family planning agency that forced the abortion. Again to no avail. The judges ruled that since the child was concieved out-of-wedlock, it was illegal and thus needed to be gotten rid of.

As she waits for the next round in court, Jin says she is too weak to work and has been celibate for years because sex is too painful.

Her husband prods her to tell her story, but during an interview she sits silent for a long time and finally says she doesn't want to talk about the past because it's too sad.

Then she quietly insists the lawsuit is something she has to do for Yang Ying, the baby girl she carried but never got to see or hold.

I recall Hillary Clinton once speaking out against the forced abortions, and Betsy Hart, in Reproductive Rights and Wrongs, castigated the organizations that either look the other way or actively support draconian "family planning" policies.

Prolifers have been up in arms for decades, since Steve Mosher first uncovered the problem. But other than Hillary and Hart, the only sounds I've heard from the self-proclaimed champions of "choice" have been the sounds of crickets chirping.

HT: JackLewis.net

Anniversary: Mysterious abortion death in 1886

Lena Dakota, a young unmarried woman, died August 31, 1886 at Huntington in Baker County. She'd been staying at a hotel in Huntington, and had been violently ill a few days before her death. She also had evidenly recently expelled a fetus. She died of hemorrhage.

Dr. Clements was treating Lena at the time of her death. He'd checked on her at her hotel early on the morning of her death, and locked her door when leaving, indicating that she was sleeping quietly and ought not to be disturbed.

A few hours later, at about 9:00, Dr. Clements again checked on Lena. He called out for help, saying that Lena was dying. He was immediately arrested. He told the constable that he had something to show him. He took the constable to his office and showed him a fetus that he said Lena had expelled.

When Lena first took ill, Dr. Clements went to the drug store and showed the druggist a "stout sharped quill," which was about six inches long and bloody. He told the druggist that he'd taken the quill from Lena's room. He reportedly told the druggist, "I want you to examine this. I may need it for my protection. I am afraid this case will get me into a scrape yet. Some woman has been using this for a criminal purpose."

At autopsy, slight abrasions were noted on the interior of Lena's uterus. Some drugs were also found, labeled from "Druggist's Prescriptions of Kansas City, Mo." as well as from other druggists in the Idaho territory. There were also drugs prescribed by Dr. Clements, suitable for obstetric purposes. The drugs didn't seem to be capable of having caused Lena's death.

John Williams, a cook at the hotel, was called as a witness. He testified that he knew Lena and had last seen her at about 4:30 in the afternoon the Monday before her death. He said that he'd found her lying on the floor, very sick. He said that he picked her up and moved her to the bed, and he brought her some lemonade and some ice-water.

Williams asked if he should send for a doctor, but Lena told him no, that Johnny would come in the morning and send to Wood River for a doctor. Williams said that he'd asked her if the doctor had used instruments on her, and she'd told him yes.

Dr. Clements testified that on August 12, 1886, Lena had come to him requesting an abortion, which he refused to do. He said that about 10 or 12 days prior to her death Lena had again come to him, seeking care for "some derangement of the uterus." He examined her and found a sponge in her cervix. He used a speculum and forceps to remove the sponge.

Dr. Clements also said that the sponge was covered with foul-smelling pus and that it had been covering a laceration. He said he treated Lena for about six days, and didn't see her again until August 25, when she came to im complaining of nausea and abdominal pain. She denied having undergone an abortion.

Dr. Clements said that he diagnosed Lena's pain as labor pain, and that he prescribed "an anti-abortive treatment." He said that there wre no other physicians in the area to consult with, and Lena had no other means of seeking care, so he continued to treat her.

Dr. Clements said that eventually Lena told him that she'd inserted a quill into her uterus to try to cause an abortion, and that she was seriously ill. He reported that she expelled a dead fetus on August 30, which he brought to his office and later surrendered to the constable.

Dr. Clements also said that he'd given Lena opiats to help her rest, and left her room in order to get breakfast. When he returned he found her dead of hemorrhage.

She chose not to salvage any joy

Woman, Abortion Practitioner Speak Out in Italy Botched Abortion Case

The Italian woman who called the cops after her doctor inadvertently aborted her genetically-standard baby instead of the one with Down Syndrome is speaking out:

The mother, who has a young son, said her life had been ruined by the abortion.

....

"Neither my husband nor I can sleep at night," she told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. She said the happiness she and her husband had about the pregnancy has become heartbreak.

They are "truly desperate over this terrible mistake," she said and added ....

1. What does she want the doctor charged with? Murder? If so, she's the one who ordered the hit. Wouldn't she be as legally responsible as the one who screwed up and killed the wrong person?

2. Note the total lack of remorse. The "horrible mistake" wasn't deciding to kill the child that had Down Syndrome. It was that the doctor killed the kid with the standard set of chromosomes. Again, she ordered the hit. Losing both fetuses is a known risk of selective abortions. The loss of the "normal" baby was a price she was willing to risk paying in order to achieve the death of the baby with Down Syndrome. She paid that price. Whose fault is that?

3. She had a surviving child. She could have chosen to accept and love the child that was spared to her. She chose to have that child put to death. Whose fault is it she has no joy? She had a child and threw it away. She chose to reject the possibility of salvaging any joy from her pregnancy, because it wasn't the kind of baby she preferred. That was her choice.

She'd have twins now if she'd been more tolerant, open-minded, accepting, and loving. The diagnosis of Down Syndrome was a disappointment. She chose to turn it into a tragedy. And then she chose to compound the tragedy.

Sorry, but I can't feel sorry for her. She chose a single serving of death for her children, then chose to go back for seconds. She has nobody to blame but herself.

What, me biased?

The email I sent to Ms. Kristin Zambo (kzambo@scn1.com), the enthusiastic PP supporter who has been turning the Aurora Beacon News into a Planned Parenthood newsletter:

Dear Ms. Zambo,

Your coverage of the Planned Parenthood stealth clinic sounds like it's taken virtually verbatim from Planned Parenthood press releases, to the point where I'm going to suggest to Eric Schiedler that he get copies of the press releases in question and compare them to your stories. You'll note that I'm sending his organizaiton a cc of this email. I'm also sending copies to the editors you work for.

I realize that you did some independent research -- to try to back PP's claims that their stealth clinic is "needed" and "wanted" in Aurora. You did zero research that I can see to look into the concerns expressed by opponents of the facility.

You also forget that people know what you're ommitting as well. Such as the fact that Jakubowski, the former abortionist for the city, was such a seedy, greedy quack that even the feminists wanted to see him shut down. A real "man bites dog" story that I notice you didn't consider worth bringing up in your concise history of abortion in Aurora.

There's also the fact that the city council meeting in question was packed with opponents of the stealth clinic, but you only quoted one of the facility's two supporters at length.

You made abundantly clear your viewpoint that the opponents of the facilty are wasting everybody's time, just a bunch of troublemakers who should shut up and go home:

"turning the usually staid meeting into a sometimes fiery exchange, shouting down one alderman and plowing through a three-minute speaking time rule."

"124 people signed up to talk about the health center -- an item not on the City Council's agenda."

"the 6:15 p.m. meeting dragged late into the night."

"After the outburst"

You gave the impression that out-of-towners were trying to silence Aurora citizens:

"As Alderman Leroy Keith, 9th Ward, called for comments to be cut off at 9 p.m. and allow Aurora residents first crack at speaking, he was met with yells of "No! No!" through the crowd."

The reports I've read from people who attended were that the opponents of the facility were very much in favor of allowing Aurora residents to speak first. They were only opposed to the cut-off time.

And you made it plain that you see no problem with how PP slid their plans in under the radar:

"The center was approved by the council's Planning and Development Committee last November and did not require full City Council approval." With no mention of the false statements made on applications.

The world is watching you, Ms. Zambo, and you're not putting on a very credible act.

Christina Dunigan

I cc'd Families Against Planned Parenthood (info@familiesagainstplannedparenthood.org), Managing Editor Denise Crosby (dcrosby@scn1.com), Associate Editor John Russell (,jrussell@scn1.com), News Editor Tom Johnson (tjohnson@scn1.com), and Content Specialist Joseph DeRosier (jderosier@scn1.com)

Ciy Council, PP, and "What, me biased?"

The Aurora City Council meeting about PP's stealth clinic was just held. There were about 120 speakers against PP, to 2 supporting it. I looked at Jill's photo montage and noticed old people and young people, Black people and white people, clergy and laity, folks who looked well-to-do, folks who looked less well-to-do, all united against a common enemy.The meeting ran for 7.5 hours, ending at 1:30 a.m.

The city council has promised an independent investigation into whether or not PP has committed fraud -- which seems like a no-brainer, since they lied on the documents they submitted. But there's a double standard in this country in which you're given a walk on a lot of things if you're far enough to the political Left.

Jill Stanek's account

Joe's Lab

Jivin' J notes the standard MSM bias in the Beacon News coverage: "According to Jill, there were only two pro-choicers who spoke at the meeting in favor of Planned Parenthood moving in and more than 100 prolifers who signed in to speak against Planned Parenthood and abortion. Guess who got a quoted for more than 75 words in the story?" Not to mention the headline read "Anti-abortion, abortion-rights activists pack City Council". It was the prolifers packing the place. Only two abortion supporters even chose to speak. A photo caption reads "An Aurora police officer holds back a flood of people at Tuesday's City Council meeting where both sides of the abortion issue wanted to be heard." This gives the mistaken impression that there were plenty of folks both supporting and opposing PP. And the NOW spokesperson was the only one quoted at all. Not a single point brought up by the prolifers got a word of mention. No mention of the sneaky and underhanded way PP tried to slide this in under the radar. Not a single mention of parents' concerns about PP's history of driving a wedge between parents and their kids. The only mention of anything except how much the facility is "needed" and "wanted" was to note that a couple of speakers inserted comments about waste disposal at the facility into the council's deliberations about the city's garbage contract.

Ya know, I thought according to PP, being "unwanted" meant that you deserved to be destroyed. So why don't they take the hint and abort their organization?

Roundup du jour

Been there, done that, hated it... though she still tells herself it was necessary. Which is probably the only way she can think of to cope at all: See My Story, Hear My Words (HT: JJ)

Margaret Sanger is alive and well and living in the blogosphere, says Dawn Eden of a woman trying sneak one of the girls in her 4-H group off for an abortion the girl has already rejected. The girl's family have said they'd welcome the baby. The girl is contemplating a possible adoption plan. But the reincarnated Saint Margaret seethes: "There is only one cure for [poverty and ignorance], and that is to stop breeding these things. Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them." And I'm writing to National 4-H and asking if they know one of their adult mentors is usurping the parental role with one of their kids.

Nathan Sheets ponders how the abortion lobby can possibly postulate that more abortions could have done anything to address the increase in tabulated maternal mortality. Since a lot of these deaths are due to sudden unforseen obestrical emergencies, what would the abortion lobby have us do? Never mind -- I already know. Warren Hern told a NAF meeting that he wanted to see abortion as the default "treatment" for every pregnancy unless the woman can prove that she got pregnant intentionally, is in good health, is in peak financial and social form, etc. In other words, mandatory abortions for everybody Hern, personally, thinks ought not to be having kids. Pro-choice? Sure.

Not that they're biased

Who says there's no liberal media bias? This article in the Beacon News starts out sounding like a Planned Parenthood press release:

A lack of women's health services in the region, particularly abortion providers, prompted a full-service Planned Parenthood medical office on Aurora's far northeast side.

Scheduled to open the middle of September, the medical complex will offer reproductive and women's health-care services, with an estimated 10 percent of that coming from abortions.

If women need abortion services now, many have to travel to Chicago's North Side, where Planned Parenthood operates a clinic, said Steve Trombley, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area.

"Because of the limited number of providers unfortunately women have to travel long distances," he said.

An informal survey by The Beacon News found few local hospitals and large-scale health providers willing to perform elective abortions, those medically necessary or both.

Then, looking at the history of abortion practice in Aurora, the paper noted:

An Aurora women's health clinic had provided abortion services until it closed down last year. Louis S. Meyers was evicted in October 2006 from West Suburban Gynecology Clinic on Galena Boulevard in Aurora. Dr. Aleksander Jakubowski operated that clinic from 1991 until retiring in 2005.

About a month after Jakubowski opened his clinic ... 16 people were arrested outside the clinic for criminal trespass and mob action. They had chained themselves to the front porch.

But they didn't give any background on Jakubowski, who was such a bad apple that a feminist newsletter tried to get him shut down. Jakubowski's "clinic", Bread and Roses, claimed to be a woman-centered feminist abortion center. Advertisements for Bread & Roses promised "care and counseling to women as we would like to receive it ourselves," and the Executive Director said that the clinic "has always been conscientious about" not being "a cattle call the way it is in some places." But Feminist Voices took the clinic to task in a rare display of pro choice rank-breaking. The following stories were related in a Feminist Voices expose published in September 1988.

Among those whose stories Feminist Voices shared were former employees of Bread and Roses:

"Laura" quit after six months, disgusted, feeling that she was misled by the facility's reputation. She told Feminist Voices that counselors were told to "round up a group of women for counseling" during peak periods.

"Margaret," who was laid off August 1987, said of Bread and Roses, "The real philosophy is, each woman is worth X amount of money, and the more women we can see, the more money we can make." She also said that the day the clinic "hit peak patient load, the doctor took everyone out to celebrate."

"Jenny" resigned in 1987, saying, "They want to attract feminists, but ... when we find out what it's like, we're going to leave."

"Judy" said Bread & Roses "just fuels the fire for the pro-lifers, and that worries me."
Both Jenny and Laura said that they were trained to "maximize the marketing potential" of women calling the facility. Feminist Voices said that they heard from former employees, who "likened the clinic to an 'assembly line' and a '7-11.'"

"As business began to pick up, ...they were pressured to move women rapidly through the clinic so Jakubowski...could attend to other commitments."

"Former employees also said [Bread and Roses abortionist Aleksander] Jakubowski routinely left the premises before patients were fully recovered from surgery. Though Executive Director Zinner maintained the doctor always stayed until he felt the patients no longer required his presence, ex-staff said they were often uncomfortable about his absence."

Ex-employees who spoke to Feminist Voices also alleged that Jakubowski had then "push" twilight sleep on patients at $60 a dose, sometimes threatening to send a woman home if she refused. The twilight sleep was not being used for patient safety, but for Jakubowski's convenience. Other abortion providers interviewed maintained that such use of twilight sleep put patients at unnecessary risk, and was used by some doctors "because they don't have to deal with the patient."

Other allegations made by former staff talking to Feminist Voices:

Originally the clinic would not do abortions prior to 8 weeks because the smaller size of the fetus makes it difficult to abort successfully, but that when "patients were few," they would do them as early as 5 weeks to increase business.

Plastic disposable cannulas were sterilized and re-used to save money.

After the original expose, Feminist Voices was deluged with letters, many of which they printed:

"Hooray!! For un-covering the awful work being done at the Bread and Roses Clinic!! This past summer a close friend and I went through an abortion at that factory. We too, were taken in by the feminist jargon purported by their literature. ... It's an assembly line factory.... They say they offer counseling -- what a joke; all they do is take you into this little room, ask how you are today, technically explain the procedure (what's going to be stuck where!) and take your $275. ... In the recovery room, they tried giving my friend aspirin -- which she's very allergic to, but they kept wanting her to take them. And funny thing, no doctor came to see her in the recovery room, imagine that!! A few days later when my friend experienced a lot of bleeding, they wouldn't let us talk to the doctor, and after numerous calls they told us he was unavailable for phone calls!"
Letter from "Christi" published December 1988/January 1989

"I chose the Bread & Roses Clinic [for my abortion]. Four days later, I began to have severe cramping and nausea. It became progressively worse - I was unable to go to work. I called the woman at the clinic and explained the situation and what I was experiencing. She said that since I didn't have a temperature it was unlikely that I had an infection. ... What ended up happening is that each day, the cramps and nausea got worse but the woman I talked to basically said hang on. Finally, she supposedly conferred with the doctor who called in a prescription for antibiotics to my pharmacy. I went through four days of hell before I got the prescription - I have never been that sick in my life. I found out a few days later from a gynecologist I had gone to that I had chlamydia. ... After I read the article, I wondered if something had actually happened during the procedure that caused my 'sickness' afterwards. Or--what if the instruments weren't sterilized properly after my procedure? I had chlamydia - could it have been passed to another woman that way? ... I feel betrayed - I naively trusted the clinic... Is there anything that I can do to discourage women from going there?"
Letter from "Debra" published December 1988/January 1989

A lengthy missive came from a woman identified as "Erica," and was published in Feminist Voices December 1988/January 1989. Erica picked up her friend, whom she identified as "L.," and drove her to the clinic:

"In the car I told L. that Bread and Roses was supposed to be a good, progressive clinic for women. It is advertised as a Women's Health Center and even had some blurb in its advertisement in Feminist Voices about care and counseling for women 'as we would like to receive it ourselves.' L. seemed a bit relieved by my words; she had heard about what 'butcher shops' these clinics could be."

Once they arrived, the first trouble began:

"L's temperature was high and there was some concern on the staff's part as to whether or not she should go through the procedure that morning. Later, in front of L. and without further explanation, the doctor gruffly told the nurse not to worry about it."

The counseling, which was supposed to help the woman make a decision on whether or not to have the abortion, and to cover informed consent, was not what Erica and L. had been led to expect:

"The counseling session was nothing more than a chat on birth control and a reconfirmation that the patient was sure this was the option she chose for her pregnancy."

The financial policy was something else Erica and L. found disturbing:

"Policy is ... money up front. Checks are not accepted. There were 3 or 4 people who had to leave the clinic in order to cash a check while the woman they were accompanying sat in the waiting room, unattended, nervous, alone.

L. and I read over the procedure expectations sheet and L. decided she would prefer a shot of Valium over the usual local anesthetic.... The Valuim was to cost us $30 extra, money we did not have with us. I suggested to the ...staff that L. receive the Valuim shot and I stay with her for the abortion... Then, as soon as L. was in the recovery room, I would go and cash a check for $30. They refused.... I returned at 9:45. Somehow the $30 they had quoted us became $35, but I had enough to pay it in full."

Erica had been led to believe that she would be providing L. with emotional support throughout the abortion. The experience turned out to be frightening and unnerving for both of them:

"I ... asked the woman at the desk if I could go in with L.... The receptionist said she would check for me and proceeded to talk with 3 other patients about some common acquaintances. ...she went back to the procedure room only to return and inform me that the door..had been closed and it was a big 'no no' for her to open it. She assured me I would be called as soon as L. was in recovery....

L. first remembers the female assistant having trouble finding a vein to give her the shot. The woman told the doctor of the trouble; he proceeded to grab the needle from her, grab L.'s arm and roughly inject the Valuim. He then ordered L. on the table and threw her legs apart. ... L. felt as though she was some animal at which the doctor was irritated.

Her entire experience with the doctor was one of fright, humiliation and vulnerability. She wished I would have been with her...to tell the doctor to stop hurting her and stop treating her the way he was.

I saw a female staff person and L. leaving the bathroom. L. motioned for me to be with her. I went, but lost sight of her in all the doors and hallways. I asked another staff woman if she knew where L. had just gone. She replied that she did not, but added she would get me when L. was in recovery....

L. had been in the bathroom 'cleaning up.' After the doctor had finished the abortion he told her to stand up. The told him and the female that she felt she was going to pass a lot of blood. They said it was a common feeling... Suddenly, everything the doctor was supposed to have 'cleaned out' via suction passed onto the floor -- fluids, tissue, and what L. believed to be segments of the fetus. The doctor seemed irritated with her...without any apology or reassurance, he ordered her back on the table.

As I waited to be called into the recovery room to be with L., women who had entered after us were leaving the center. Where was L.? ... Why hadn't they taken me to her? ..what was going wrong? ... After L. had been 'cleaned' by the doctor a second time she was taken to recovery... She asked for me to be with her and they assured her that I would be called. She was rather nauseous, cold and frightened. Needless to say, her request to have me with her was never granted. ... We believe the other 11 women there that morning, as well as countless others, were treated in the same fashion."

The fact that prolifers tried to shut him down, that the paper considered newsworthy. But the fact that abortion supporters wanted to see him shut down, a real man-bites-dog story, wasn't worth mentioning.

There's no media bias. And I have a nice bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

Is this how accurate their information is when they talk to patients as well?

Did Planned Parenthood commit fraud against Aurora, or are officials in on it?

Looking at PP's stealth facility in Aurora, Illinois. They built the building as Gemini Office Development LLC, and evidently city council thought that it was going to be a nice, quiet office building:

Alderman Elmore: And the townhomes there are pretty nice people; I don't.... have not presented this to them so they're not aware of it but I think that they are aware that the property would be developed. .... and the fact that it's an ovvice rather than commercial, they should be very happy. llll It's a nice buffer between them and the retain center, and these usually are pretty quiet because they usually function in the daytime and that makes it nice. I'd be interested to know who your client is, when you can release that.

But Gemini Office Development LLC, it turns out, is a subsidiary of PP. They built the building with the inention from the start of springing a full-fledged PP on the city. From the Chicago Tribune:

"Frankly, I'm surprised we were able to keep it a secret for so long," said Steve Trombley, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area.... "We didn't want anything to interfere with the opening...."

That the clinic was kept hush-hush for so long was no accident. Planned Parenthood adopted the strategy after a 2004 boycott by contractors stalled work for two months on a clinic in Austin, Texas....

And just look at their application for signage. They pretended that they didn't know who would be using the building. But their liason with the city council claimed to have been very up-front about it:

Trombley said Planned Parenthood was open with city staff and committee members about the development being used as a doctor's office.

"They don't inquire of other providers (which types of medical services will be offered)," he said. "We were very open about the fact we were putting a medical office there."

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this strikes me as more of Planned Parenthood's standard "Don't tell them anything that might lead them to make a choice we don't want them making. Lie if you have to. Let them find out on their own when it's too late." Like the way they told my babysitter that her 8-week fetus was "just like a blood clot". She told me she'd never have had the abortion had she known her baby had a beating heart.

ADDENDUM: Were they itching for a fight? They chose to open this stealth facility in the very city where Joe Scheidler's son, Eric, lives. Why not just put your KKK headquarters building in the town where Al Sharpton lives?

Anniversary: Criminal abortion death in 1926

On August 28, 1926, 44-year-old Margaret Muscia died from a criminal abortion performed that day in Chicago.

Mrs. Minnie Miller, alias Molinaro, was arrested on July 10 for Margaret's death.

On November 15, she was indicted for felony murder by a grand jury.

Roundup

From the "sounds of crickets chirping" files: CHINA: Couple sues govt. agency for forced abortion at 9 months.

From the "not that there's any media bias" files: Jivin' J asks, "What's up with this headline?" What's up indeed!

goddessbizbitch blogs: "I've had more than my share of abortions... and i've gone through the porcedure so many times that its like a check-up now. I go in, i put my legs in the stirrups, i hold my breath, leave, and hit the mall an hour later. In and out-almost like a drive thru baby clinic. The same can be said for many of those around me who have abortions also. It's almost petrifying to realize that a lot of us use the abortion practice like it's birth control, when so many other have complications, and trauma from enduring the practice once." She's contemplating yet another abortion: "However, if i do have an abortion, i put it on my brother, this will be the LAST and FINAL one-so help me God."

Liberal Debutante is bewildered that "In this fair, liberal, loving city you can't get an abortion." Well, LD that's a no-brainer, since abortion and fairness are poles apart, and abortion and love are antethetical. She might as well lament that "In this tolerant, welcoming, friendly city, you can't muster a decent lynch mob."

OOPS! Killed the wrong one!

Italian police to investigate abortion of wrong twin.

Italian parents wanted their fetus with Down Syndrome aborted, and the fetus with the standard set of chromosomes left alive. But the doc killed the wrong twin. So the parents went ahead with a second procedure to snuff the "faulty" fetus, and raised hell.

Here's a deplorable opening paragraph:

Italian police have been asked to investigate a case in which doctors treating a 40-year-old woman who was pregnant with twins aborted a healthy foetus while leaving a second, malformed one untouched.

"Malformed."

Does this kid look "malformed" to you? Or this kid? This kid? This kid? Or this kid?

1. Just because somebody's different isn't a reason to slap a label like "malformed" on him.

2. Even if somebody had some sort of physical malformation, does that make the person worthless or deserving of death? And does that make it right to label that person "malformed" and ignore anything he or she has to offer the world? Johnny Eck was born missing almost the entire lower half of his body. He was a cult icon and an affectionate friend to his Baltimore neighbors. Jeannie Tomaini was born minus her legs, and with malformed arms. (Note that I say that Jeannie's arms were malformed. Jeannie herself was a lovely lady.) She delighted audiences, married and raised a family, and established a lodge and fishing camp where people society deemed "abnormal" could get away from judgmental eyes for a while. The McCoy sisters were born conjoined -- and purchased their entire family out of slavery. And let's not forget Joseph Merrick, best known as "The Elephant Man", whose intelligence and charm won over Victorian England.

(And actually, the doc beat the odds this time. Statistically, three babies with standard chromosomes die for every DS fetus identified and eliminated.)

The war against babies with congenital conditions is causing collateral damage in other ways:

In March, a foetus aborted in the 22nd week of pregnancy at a hospital in Florence, because of suspected deformities, was found to be physically sound. It was rescuscitated and survived for a brief period.

Midtown Hospital, a National Abortion Federation member in Atlanta, got caught aborting healthy fetuses who had been targeted because of supposed abnormalities.

For all our talk of "tolerance" and "diversity", society isn't walking the walk, is it? If you're different in a way that makes other people uncomfortable, you deserve to die. And if we end up taking out one, two, or even three "desirable" people just to weed you out, that's an acceptable price to pay.

Which is a deplorable attitude but there you have it.

No news is big news

"Big News" is really No News in the embryonic stem cell industry...

Read about how the MSM is ago over the news that embryonic stem cells can heal the hearts of rats -- something doctors have been doing on humans for four years now with adult stem cells. It was just such a procedure that saved the life of singer Don Ho.

Funny that the MSM doesn't get nearly so excited when adult stem cells provide cures!

Driven by despair

Woman Fights to Keep Baby

A WOMAN fighting to stop her unborn baby being taken from her at birth is considering having an abortion because she does not want her child to go into care.

Fran Lyon, 22, will have her baby daughter taken into care by social services unless a judicial review can convince the authorities that she does not pose a risk of causing the child emotional harm.

Ms Lyon, of St Hilda’s Road, Hexham, who received treatment for a personality disorder when she was 16, was told by social services she was considered likely to suffer from Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy, a condition in which a mother will make up an illness in her child or harm it in order to get attention.

But top psychiatrists are backing her fight to keep her child, whom she has named Molly, and have said there is no clinical evidence that backs up social services’ concerns.

....

The case comes as concerns are mounting over the numbers of babies being taken from parents, with critics saying councils need to meet adoption “targets”.

I realize this is in the UK, not the US, but isn't there such a thing as due process in the UK? Not, evidently, when it comes to child-snatchers from CPS. Same as in the US, it appears.

I wonder if the UK has the same problem the US has, with CPS returning children to abusive homes where they are later murdered. Good parents get their kids snatched, bad parents get sympathy and an opportunity to kill.

I'm afraid that this is like Ashli's situation, where a desperate mother threatens abortion to try to get the people around her to listen and take her seriously. We can only pray that Fran won't be swooped in on by social workers tsk-tsking that in her case, why abortion would be best.

HT: Big Blue Wave

Blog roundup

It's a bit snarky, but I like this cartoon. (HT: Guarino)

The Media and Abortion looks at three pieces published as companion works in the Herald Sun.

A different take on Amnesty International's new move to embrace abortion: "Mission Creep".

Down Syndrome Carnival

Down Syndrome Carnival.

This Carnival features an assortment of posts well worth checking out. Following one link eventually brings you to two New York Times videos:

Down Syndrome

Difficult Diagnosis

I don't like a lot of the language of these videos. I especially don't like the fact that they ignore the whole issue of discrimination. The drive to diagnose DS in utero and abort these kids is genocide in the most literal sense -- trying to wipe out people based on genetics. I wish they'd have addressed this. But at least the videos bring new information and perspectives to light. So, a good step in the right direction, even if the steps are not firmly on the path of valuing everybody, regardless of differences like DS.

The post also plugs a book, Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives.

A different moral universe

Susie Allanson: Abortion, the dividing lines

The author works in an abortion facility. Two quotes and my comments:

"For a moment I despaired that women would ever be accepted as adults capable of making moral decisions."

Well, duh! Women who endorse abortion haven't even grasped basic playground morality like, "Pick on somebody your own size." Most of us have mastered this by the time we've been in kindergarten a couple of weeks. How can we view women who never mastered kindergarten-level ethics as capable of making mature moral decisions?

And this doesn't even take us into the dynamics of pregnancy and how abortion facilities and the abortion lobby have turned normal pregnancy ambivalence into a cash cow and political gold mine.

"Unlike Bolt, who apparently lives in a parallel universe where women and doctors are immoral and can't be trusted, I live in a world where doctors and other health professionals must abide by legal, ethical and professional obligations such as duty of care and providing accurate information."

Excuse me? It's the prolife world where women and doctors adhere to morality. If the women you cared for, and the doctors you worked for, were moral and trustworthy, they'd not be involved in abortion. Another no-brainer.

If Ms. Allanson is right, if abortion is "moral," then might really does make right and love has no place in the world. And who would want to live in a world like that?

Evidently Ms. Allanson and her co-workers. God help us.

HT: JJ

What they don't mention

Experts: U.S. childbirth deaths on rise

Check boxes on all death certificates about the woman's pregnancy status may be resulting in more deaths being identified. So we can't be sure that there is an increase in maternal mortality. It may just be increased reporting.

That said, there may well be an increase in actual deaths. But the article looking at factors didn't don't even mention abortion, which no doubt contributes in a multitude of ways:

1, Aborting earlier pregnancies, concieved during peak-childbearing years, deliberately postpones births until the woman is older and at higher risk.

2. Abortion-related infertility causes further delays in childbearing until even later in the woman's reproductive life.

3. Abortion complications such as uterine lacerations and cervical tears place women at higher risk during subesquent pregnancies.

4. Even abortions that appear uncomplicated increase the risk of placenta previa and other life-threatening obstetric complictions in future pregnancies.

But we can't say these things. The MSM rule about abortion is, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything."

Anniversary: Fatal infection after incomplete abortion

On August 23, 1980, 26-year-old Betty Jane Zellers Damato went to Denver abortionist James Franklin. According to Betty's family, Franklin did not remove all of the fetus. He instead gave Betty a trash bag, and instructions to collect whatever she expelled in the bag and bring it to him.

Two days later, Betty was dead from infection.

Franklin told a grand jury that he did not perform the fatal abortion. He claimed that he had examined Betty, found a dead fetus, and sent her to the hospital. A jury convicted him of manslaughter in Betty's death on October 19, 1981, and he was sentenced to prison for three years.

Mother Teresa's crisis of faith

Read it here.

Wow. A lot to think about. More to pray about.

Anniversary: After abortion, woman takes her own life

Carol Cunningham was 21 years old when she underwent an abortion in the late summer of 1986. On August 22, she shut herself up in her garage at her home in Albuquerque, and started her car. She died from breathing the exhaust fumes. Her body was discovered on August 25, 1986.

Other post-abortion suicides I'm aware of include Arlin della Cruz, Sandra Kaiser, "Sandra Roe", and Stacy Zallie. Laura Grunas was so distraught after her abortion that she killed not only herself but also her baby's father.

Anniversary: Safe and Legal before Roe

"April" was 17 years old when she underwent a saline abortion in New York City on August 20, 1971. The next day she was admitted to the hospital. She was in shock, with a high fever. She was treated there until her death on August 22.

Safe-n-legal in New Jersey

Inspections of N.J. licensed abortion clinics are rare

Health officials inspected only one of the state's six licensed abortion clinics in the past two years ... before complaints eventually brought inspectors to two of the clinics.... Those two clinics were then closed immediately due to health violations that posed "immediate and serious risk of harm to patients."

....

The abrupt closing of the Atlantic City clinic at the end of June exposed locally the potential dangers women face at such unmonitored facilities. But a statewide records request by The Press of Atlantic City shows the problem extends throughout the state. Inspections are sporadic at best and, when they do occur, discovering serious violations is common.

Inspections remain overdue for the three other abortion centers - by as much as seven years in the case of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County. The last inspection reports for all six clinics recorded violations.

Now here comes a juicy quote:

"These facilities are staffed by licensed professionals and part of their licensure requirements is that they uphold the highest of standards," he said. "We have confidence that they will continue to do that and notify us if there is a problem."

Yeah, like the two places that had to be shut down notified the state about their problems! Who the heck turns themselves in? This is akin to the IRS saying that they're gonna stop doing audits because they're sure that tax evaders will report themselves!

The article goes on to note that in addition to the state-licensed facilities, which in theory are inspected at least once in a while, there are at least a score of other facilities which can perform abortions as late as 14 weeks, that are not licensed by the state at all. The state's Division of Consumer Affairs may inspect them, but they don't release their inspection reports to the public. Possibly because there are no specific standards that they are expected to meet.

And let's just glance over some New Jersey incidents, shall we, to see if the lack of oversight might, just might, be causing any problems:

"Ellen", sent home with a fetal leg protruding from her uterus, died December 3, 1983.

"Faye", left unattended in a recovery room, where she stopped breathing, died December 15, 1979.

Deborah Ann Lozinski, left unattended, stopped breathing, went into a coma, died June 22, 1985.

Barbara Auerbach, discharged from a hospital aboriton with a bowel obstruction, died December 16, 1982.

Angela Reyolds, died January 18, 1988 from septic shock after an abortion.

Germaine Newman, sent home with an infection and perforation, found dead on the bathroom floor by her mother June 15, 1984.

Gail Wright, went septic, died March 26, 1986.

"Jane Doe of Newark", died after abortion at Metropolitan Medical Associates on June 16, 1993.

"Terri", abandoned by doctor in his private practice after her abortion, died April 11, 1991.

That's what a search for "New Jersey" brought up at my site. Or rather, that's the deaths. I didn't include the routine quackery. You can go search for yourself if you like. The search box is at or near the bottom of most pages.

HT: JJ

Collateral damage

160 Healthy Babies Lost for Every 50 Down’s Cases Detected with Amniocentesis

The war on children with Down Syndrome isn't just destroying its target. Are these kids really such monsters that we're willing as a society to destroy three healthy, "normal" kids to weed out just one child with DS?

People who have their panties in a twist over civilian casualties in wartime -- what do you think of the healthy, wanted children who are dying in this war against Down Syndrome? Are they an acceptable price to pay for the long-term good of ridding the world of people like this?

HT: The Black Kettle

What men want

When men just want relations and not relationships - (Updated with video...)

I'm getting exposed to more hip-hop as a prolife blogger....

Anniversary: NOW story about death

According to the National Organization for Women web site, Ruth Irene Friedl was a married, 27-year-old mother of two. NOW's site said that pregnancy was life-threatening for Ruth, but they don't specify why, nor do they say why she was denied an abortion. NOW says that Ruth drank ergot apiol, an herbal abortifacient, on August 21, 1929. That night, according to NOW, Ruth collapsed at the dinner table in front of her husband and children, and died on the spot.

I'd welcome any verifying information on Mrs. Friedl's death. After all, NOW also claims that Becky Bell died from complications of an illegal abortion, when in fact she died of pneumonia concurrent with a miscarriage. (There was no evidence that Becky's pregnancy had been tampered with in any way.)

Links from the Down Syndrome Carnival

Check out the entire Down Syndrome Carnival here.

Such a Sweet Girl!: Kallie's mother was pressured repeatedly to abort. Her doctor refused to care for her. But she stuck it out and now has a beautiful daughter.

Even though Shannon made it clear to her doctor that she had no intention of aborting, he called her repeatedly to remind her of how short time was growing to arrange an abortion. She didn't let him talk her out of welcoming Noah to the family.

Jessica thought it was the end of the world when she was told her unborn child had Down Syndrome. After she met him, she called her fear "silly", and rejoices in her child.

Nancy was hurt by all "those repetitive offers for abortion because I felt like I was climbing a mountain ('Mount Acceptance') and nice, well-meaning people kept telling me there was a quick way off the mountain just below me. I just wanted to scream, 'You're not helping!'"

Kathy's husband kept trying to convince her to abort after their unborn child was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. But as he held his son for the first time he said, ""Honey, this baby is awesome! Can you ever forgive me for being such a jerk?" Conor is the greatest joy of his dad's life now.

Kimberly, though she'd always been pro-life, considered using the fact that she also had cervical cancer as an excuse to abort her baby after negative prenatal diagnoses including Down Syndrome. But she stuck it out, and ended up surprised at how much love she felt for the baby she had once wished dead.

Ellen was actually relieved to get a diagnosis of Down Syndrome: she'd been told her baby probably had a fatal trisomy.

And don't forget to check out the wonderful stuff at Band of Angels.

And though this isn't on the DS Carnival, I recommend Downi Creations. They make gorgous dolls, suitable for any collector.

But the abortion was carried out, so the outcome is happy, right?

Pro-Aborts Poster Child Was More Than Just A Victim

Remember Rosita; the poor 9 year old that was raped in Costa Rica and impregnated? Well, it turns out she was just a pawn for the pro-aborts cause. First: The Pro-Aborts helped the family out of Costa Rica even though there was a criminal investigation against Rosita’s stepfather. Second: Her rapist was her stepfather - the man they helped escape the investigation. Third: She wasn’t 9 but a couple years older and the Pro-Aborts knew it because neighbors of the family told them she wasn’t 9. Fourth: Rosita now has an 18 month old baby and her stepfather is the father. Go here, here, and here for the story.

This is why I make such a strong distinction between rank-and-file prochoicers and the abortion lobby. I think most prochoice citizens would agree that this was an appalling way to treat that child. But to the abortion lobby, all that matters is a PR coup. Not truth, not justice, and certainly not this child's well-being.

HT: Jill Stanek

"Yeah, you're against abortion NOW...

Feminists for Life of Live Journal blogged:

"You say that now, but if you ever had an unplanned pregnancy you'd abort it."

I am so sick and tired of this "pro-choice" "argument." Yes, saying you'd keep an unplanned pregnancy is a lot easier when you're working in hypotheticals. But saying, "I know you'd do this," is ridiculous, insulting, and impossible to prove.

How would the pro-chiocers like it if, in the middle of a debate, a pro-lifer said, "You support abortion now, but if you ever felt a baby growing inside you, you'd keep it"? Why is it okay to do it to us?

Nevermind the fact that it totally invalidates the experiences of women who have gone through with unplanned pregnancies, either to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. Obviously they don't count.

My very unwelcome, unplanned pregnancy resulted in a young man who is now 22, in the Navy. He was a joy to us and I can't imagine having his sister grow up without him. And she was the reason I'd thought I "needed" an abortion! We were so poor we'd pawned our wedding rings to buy food for our daughter. What a grave disservice I'd have done her, to deprive her of her brother!

I think that the biggest gap between prolife and prochoice isnt' that one group cares about women and the other about fetuses. I think it's that one side has compassion on women who love their children no matter what, and the other side only feels for the woman who views her child as a horrible intruder and wants him dead.

It's because I had that unplanned, unwanted pregnancy that I'm hardcore prolife. I know what the abortion lobby almost stole from me, from my family, from the world. I'm prolife precicesly because I feel for the woman who finds out she's pregnant under difficult circumstances. And I don't think shunting her off to get vacuumed out, then abandoning her, is kind or helpful or decent. It's treating her like a second-class citizen undeserving of any real effort.

HT: Jill Stanek

Anniversay: Teen dies in California

Documents regarding Tami Suematsu, age 19, alleged that she underwent an abortion by Vern Wagner at Riverside Family Planning Center August 19, 1988. Tami went into bronchial spasm and asthma-related respiratory failure then cardiac arrest. She was transported to a hospital, but died shortly after arrival.

Anne Rice pro-life, endorses -- HILLARY?!

Personal Endorsement of Hillary Clinton for President

Though this is akin to somebody who detests the horror of anti-Semitism endorsing Hitler, I think that Rice is struggling to do right by the poor and disenfranchised. And I think she's been sucked in by rhetoric that sounds good but doesn't reflect reality. So, pro-lifers, if you comment on Rice's page, be respectful and gentle. This woman is sticking her neck out for the Gospel by switching from writing vampire erotica to writing Christian historical fiction. She herself deserves respect no matter how confused her political opinions may be.

Not to mention she deserves respect as a fellow human being made in God's image, and as a member of the Body of Christ.

I do also agree with her on one thing -- Church and state need to be two different things. But this is because of how political power corrupts the church, not because faith doesn't belong in the public sphere.

Abortion and the rise of illegitimacy

It's Not Enough to Be 'Wanted'

Illegitimacy has risen despite--indeed, because of--legal abortion.

Which is something even abortion advocates such as Kirstin Luker and Christopher Tietze saw even before Roe. Despite slogans such as "pro-child/pro-choice" (as glaring an example of linguistic and moral gymnastics as "We had to burn the village to save it"), children have taken the brunt of the damage readily-available abortion has inflicted on society.

Support abortion if you will, but do so honestly because you want to reduce the population, or because you think certain children ought not to be allowed to be born, or because you think it frees the particular woman who has the abortion. (Abortion's availability has left more women struggling as single parents in poverty, so overall the effect has been far from liberating.) But don't pretend that you support it "for the children." That's nonsensical.

Anniversary: Criminal abortion, doc implicated

Mrs. George W. Robinson, age 28, died at her Chicago home on August 18, 1901, from an abortion performed there that day. Dr. Muenster was arrested that day, and she was held by the Coroner's Jury.

And though this is off-topic, let me say that I'm very glad we've moved past identifying married women as if they were mere extenstions of their husbands. This woman had a name, and it wasn't George.

Saving born babies from the most common cause of death

Amazing Swimming Babies - video powered by Metacafe

The video is amazing -- though I was distressed that they left the baby frightened and crying out for his mother for so long. Though I guess the ability to remain afloat even while very upset and frightened is part of what they teach the little guys.

Though you should never leave the little ones unattended where they might fall into water, life is full of surprises. Older kids unlock doors, toddlers learn to open doors and do so while Mom is in the bathroom. Mom can have a siezure or be otherwise uncapacitated and not able to realize her child is in danger.

I tried to ask the guy who posted the video about where parents can enroll their babies, but I can't get Metacafe to verify my registration. Does anybody know where we can get these swimming lessons for the babies in our lives?

When shame hides something glorious

Arthur Miller's Missing Act

For all the public drama of Arthur Miller's career—his celebrated plays (including Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, his social activism—one character was absent: the Down-syndrome child he deleted from his life.

....

Miller's friends say they never understood exactly what happened with Daniel, but the few details they heard were disturbing. Miller had not only erased his son from the public record; he had also cut him out of his private life, institutionalizing him at birth, refusing to see him or speak about him, virtually abandoning him.

Daniel Miller was institutionalized shortly after his birth, and though his mother regularly visited him, his father continued to deny his existence.

And what became of this child whose father was so afraid and ashamed?

By the mid-90s, Daniel was doing so well that he was enrolled in a state-financed "supported-living program" that enabled him to stay in an apartment with a roommate. He still had someone looking in on him once a day, helping him to pay bills and sometimes to cook, but otherwise he was on his own. He had a bank account and a job, first at a local gym and then at a supermarket. He went to parties and concerts, and he loved to go out dancing. He was also a "natural athlete," says one social worker. He learned to ski, and competed in the Special Olympics, in that sport as well as in cycling, track, and bowling. "Everyone loved Danny," says Rich Godbout, who ran the supported living program. "His greatest joy was helping people. He would insist. If someone needed help moving, Danny was always the first guy to volunteer to help." Daniel also joined Starlight and People First, two "self-advocacy" groups that promote the rights of disabled people to govern their own lives. "He wouldn't miss a meeting," says Godbout. In 1993, Daniel attended a ceremony to celebrate the closing of the Mansfield Training School, Southbury's sister institution. Three years later, Southbury came under a federal contempt order, and the question of whether it should be closed became the subject of a fiery political debate that continues today. Jean Bowen, an adviser to People First, remembers hearing Daniel speak out at meetings about his desire to see the institution shut down.

Shortly before his death, Arthur Miller established a trust fund for Daniel and drafted a will that entitled the child he'd long denied to his full share of the playwright's estate.

Today, Daniel Miller lives with the elderly couple who have long taken care of him, in a sprawling addition to their home that was built especially for him. He continues to receive daily visits from a state social worker, whom he's known for years. Although his father left him enough money to provide for everything he needs, Daniel has kept his job, which he loves and "is very proud of," according to Rebecca, who visits him with her family on holidays and during the summers. "Danny is very much part of our family," she said, and "leads a very active, happy life, surrounded by people who love him."
Some wonder why Arthur Miller, with all his wealth, waited until death to share it with his son. Had he done so sooner, Daniel could have afforded private care and a good education. But those who know Daniel say that this is not how he would feel. "He doesn't have a bitter bone in his body," says Bowen. The important part of the story, she says, is that Danny transcended his father's failures: "He's made a life for himself; he is deeply valued and very, very loved. What a loss for Arthur Miller that he couldn't see how extraordinary his son is."

I'm reversing the order of the original article here, because I think that this, in closing, is what needs to be stressed:

It would be easy to judge Arthur Miller harshly, and some do. For them, he was a hypocrite, a weak and narcissistic man who used the press and the power of his celebrity to perpetuate a cruel lie. But Miller's behavior also raises more complicated questions about the relationship between his life and his art. A writer, used to being in control of narratives, Miller excised a central character who didn't fit the plot of his life as he wanted it to be. Whether he was motivated by shame, selfishness, or fear—or, more likely, all three—Miller's failure to tackle the truth created a hole in the heart of his story. What that cost him as a writer is hard to say now, but he never wrote anything approaching greatness after Daniel's birth. One wonders if, in his relationship with Daniel, Miller was sitting on his greatest unwritten play.

HT: Catholic Fire

Two safe and legal anniversaries

"Vicki" was 23 years old when she underwent an abortion in New York state. Saline was injected into her uterus to begin the abortion. The next day, she began to show signs of infection. On August 17, she died of sepsis.

Marina DeChapell, age 34, went to the Miama abortion facility at 620 SW 1st Street for a six to eight week abortion on August 17, 1978. Eduardo F. Elias administered Valium and Xylocaine for the abortion. Immediately after the procedure, Elias noticed that Marina was not breathing. He initiated CPR and an emergency team was summoned. The ambulance crew found Marina with no signs of life. Although the medical examiner did not attribute Marina's death directly to the abortion, police noted that the clinic, owned by Luis Barquet, was not equipped with any emergency equipment other than an air bag.

Anniversaries: All equally dead

On August 16, 1899, Mrs. Antonie Vacicek died in her home from complications of an illegal abortion performed there that day. Mary Koupal was arrested and held by Coroner's Jury in the death, but was discharged in the September term.

Cheryl Vosseler was 17 years old when she was admitted to Fresno General Hospital on July 31, 1969, to undergo a legal abortion. After she was discharged, Cheryl suffered from complications, and was readmitted two weeks later. Surgery was performed August 14, 1969, to try to save her life. Cheryl's condition continued to deteriorate. She finally died August 16, 1969.

Dorothy K. Brown, age 37, underwent an abortion at Friendship Medical Clinic in Chicago on August 16, 1974. Within hours, she was dead at a nearby hospital. Her death was attributed to "shock related to hemorrhagic necrosis of uterus." Julia Rogers and Evelyn Dudley also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.

Marla Anne Cardamone, age 18, died at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh on August 16, 1989 from complications of an abortion she'd been browbeaten into by a social worker.

I fail to see how Cheryl, Dorothy, and Marla benefitted from having access to "safe and legal" abortion. Please, if anybody does, enlighten me.

A step in the right direction

911 Caller in Abortion Death Quits Tiller

Long-time George Tiller worker Marguerite Reed has quit her job! Reed made the evasive and misleading 911 call the day Christin Gilbert died.

May spending time with her children awaken in her an awareness of how precious children are and how wrong it is to kill them. May she come to repentence and grace and faith. May she speak the truth about what happened to Christin that day, and about what really goes on behind those doors.

And may she never again participate in deception and bloodshed.

A dose of reality

Granted, it's 20 years old, but have things changed that much?

Go view the old Frontline episode, "Abortion Clinic". The chapter descriptions are taken verbatim from the Frontline site. I add my own comments.

Chapter 1: The Clinic, Chester Pa.
We meet the young women who come to the clinic seeking abortions, those who work in the clinic, and those in the town who protest the clinic's existence.

My comment: One of the protesters is a doctor, but the staff tell the patients he's "dressed as a doctor." They imply that he's not a doctor, rather than being honest and saying, "The doctor that's outside isn't affiliated with us. He will be trying to convince you not to have the abortion." Note how the stage is set: These nice, caring people; these troubled young women that they're only trying to help; and the mean old ignorant people outside who just make it unnecessarily more difficult.

Chapter 2: Helen's Story
Helen, 17, comes to the clinic with her mother. The counselor, Jenny, questions them about Helen's situation, family history and whether she has considered her other options. This will be Helen's second abortion.

My comments: I do have to give them credit for letting the prolife doctor explain why he's there, and why he objects to killing these fetuses. As you watch the counseling, you can see that there's no effort made to ensure that the patients know what it is that they're going to destroy. The counseling seems pretty shallow. It's just "Review the thought process that brought you here." Helen was lied to and abandoned by a man who must be considerably older than her, since he's had a vasectomy. There's no discussion about how she gets into these relationships with men who leave her pregnant and abandoned. Like her father abandoned the family. This girl needs help, this family needs help. They get abortion. Which is what they got before -- this is, after all, Helen's second abortion and she's only 17. Her mom wants better for her, but that's not what she's gonna get. She's being vacuumed out and sent back into the same pattern of looking for love with men who will only abandon her.

Chapter 3: Helen's Abortion
The camera records Helen's abortion procedure and how she handles it.

My comments: Notice that it's the counselor, not a nurse, that's assisting the doctor. And how demeaning is it to be left alone up in the stirrups, spread-eagled, and left exposed to whoever happens to walk in that door? Here we see the truth of what the prolife doctor was saying -- that there is no consult with the doctor. She doesn't even meet him until she's prepped and on the table with her pants off and her legs spread.

Note that the doctor doesn't wash his hands. There doesn't even seem to be a sink in the room.

I do credit the counselor with being warm and concerned and attentive.

Somebody at Jill Stankek's blog said she saw what looked like a crash cart in the room, but I didn't see it. Nor do we see anybody checking Helen's vital signs, monitoring her for signs of reaction to the anesthesia or for sudden blood loss. There's no IV set up, not even a pole to hang an IV from.

After the abortion, Helen is still left in the stirrups, still exposed to whoever walks in that door. That's gotta be a vulnerable feeling.

Now, they let the doctor say "the bulk of the material is placental," without noting that the prolife doctor was right that there is a fully formed embryo. The second doctor makes some evasive comments about the embryo/fetus (The turning point in naming is when every structure is in place, which is at 8 weeks, well inside the first trimeser. Most abortions are done between 8 and 12 weeks, which is first trimester but killing a fetus, not an embryo.) Doctor #2, you'll note, simply asumes that the woman knows what's being destroyed. Or rather, that it will "turn into" something that "looks like a human being." Note that they're careful not to get close enough to the "pregnancy tissue" to allow you to see the remains of the fetus. For those of you curious about what you'd have seen, you can go here. Not to put too fine a point on it but the prolife doctor was right about the arms and the legs and so forth. Did anybody ensure that Helen understood this? Was her choice informed? Or was this merely about avoiding one outcome -- a live birth -- without any awareness of what outcome she was chosing, and for whom?

Chapter 4: Alternatives to Abortion
In the Chester, Pa. area, Dr. George Isajiw and his wife have counseled and supported nearly 500 women who decide to carry their babies to term.

My comments: I'm surprised and astonished that they showed this. That they showed not just what abortion does to the fetus, but a prolife doctor providing real help and support. Contrast how much care and attention the women get from Dr. Isajiw and his wife verus the in-and-out, few hours of attention they get from the abortion clinic. Note that Dr. Isajiw doesn't demonize Gary's mom, who had pushed for abortion. And they actually present two rape victims who chose life for their babies. I can't imagine this happening in a current show about abortion. I do wonder that there was no discussion of reporting the rape to the police. Nancy was clearly in the second trimester, since the abortion method they'd use was saline. I look at how much more at ease and at peace Sue and Nancy seem, compared to Helen and Barbara (the girl we'll meet in Chapter 5).

Chapter 5: Barbara's Story
Barbara, 17, has had a sad, difficult life. She has a two year-old boy, Michael, and admits to Jenny, the counselor, that she frequently has been without food.

My comments: Barbara's story is hard for me, because in many ways her situation was similar to mine when I thought abortion was the answer. I'd been skipping meals to feed my born child. I thought that for my daughter's sake, I had to make myself go through with it. But I couldn't pick up the phone. Thank God. I have my son. All Barbara has is the memory of what's clearly a traumatic experience.

Like Helen, Barbara is in the situation she's in because of poor choice in men. This isn't addressed at all beyond "Where is he? How does he feel about this?" Nothing about how to make life choices that don't leave her abandoned and alone, shivering on an abortion table.

Contrast Jenny's (the counselor's) concern that a patient will drain her "for the rest of the day" with how Dr. Isajiw and his wife open their homes to the women for months on end. I could make the same kinds of comments about the counseling that I made about Helen's fairly perfunctory counseling. Barbara is so clearly depressed and demoralized. She looks beaten and defeated. She fears that her family will totally abandon her if she has her baby. She seems to lost and alone. And after the abortion, she'll still be lost and alone. I can't help picturing how much better off she'd be with Dr. Isajiw and his wife, getting nurturing and love instead of a brief counseling session and an abortion. Jenny doesn't seem uncaring, just locked in a role of "supporting the woman through her choice". The idea that there really could be something better likely never crosses her mind. "Other options" are just check boxes to make sure that the patient has "considered". The idea that Barbara could avoid what she clearly doesn't want but feels trapped into never enters the equation.

Chapter 6: Barbara's Abortion
Unlike Helen's, Barbara's abortion is not easy. It seems to take a long time and Barbara hurts, physically and emotionally.

My comments: Repeat many of the issues with Helen's abortion, such as leaving a young girl frightened, cold, and alone all exposed and vulnerable when she's already been so badly abused and mistreated. The perfunctory "You're sure this is what you wanna do now, right?" does nothing but make sure that any guilt she might feel afterward lands squarely on her shoulders. "She can't blame me!" Jenny can tell herself.

Somebody should have sat and cried with her, gotten her past the stoic way she was forcing herself to go through with this. Again, Jenny doesn't seem uncaring. She clearly is working hard to get Barbara through something that they both assume, sadly, is necessary. But watching Barbara, I just want to grab hold of her, hug her, and help her to run far, far from that place to someplace where people won't be hurting her. Where the only escape from an abusive boyfriend isn't through an abortion facility. Where she's entitled to a little joy in her life, a little love.

This exchange is heartbreaking:

BARBARA: (starts crying as the abortion is finished, her baby is dead)

JENNY: It's okay.

BARBARA: (sobbing)

JENNY: Barbara? What are you feeling?

BARBARA: (sobbing)

JENNY: Is it hurting?

BARBARA: (shaking her head, sobbing)

JENNY: No?

BARBARA: (sobbing) Not physically.

JENNY: Okay.

BARBARA: (continues sobbing, shaking her head, as the doctor and counselor work silently)

JENNY: Barbara, you're gonna hear the machine again.

BARBARA: (lets out a soft, anguished cry)

Then they inflict some physical pain for a while and focus on that. Barbara lays there, sobbing, putting her hand to her face. The doctor finishes and walks out. The counselor becomes very businesslike, her face tight. She doesn't want to have to deal with this. But she does. Now that it's too late, she takes Barbara's hand and tries to comfort her.

JENNY: You're allowed to hurt. Okay?

BARBARA: (fighting back tears)

JENNY: Something's bothering you now?

BARBARA: (sobs something I can't hear)

JENNY: Anything else?

BARBARA: (sobbing) Everything.

JENNY: What do you mean, everything?

BARBARA: (sobs)

JENNY: It's gone. Yes. And that hurts. Okay? You chose to have this done but something's stil been taken away from you. And it doesn't feel good. It's even tougher when you already have one child and you love it a lot and you take care of it and do the best you can, to have to go through something like this. Okay? (strokes Barbara's face) So be upset because of that. Okay?

A totally defeated Barbara is moved -- still with no pants on, just wrapped in a blanket -- to the recovery room. She presses her hands over her empty womb. Her posture is of an old, old woman. She looks about 100 years old. The counselor is silent. Barbara is in agony.

The people who would have helped her avoid this, if only she'd have let them, pace by outside as the church bells chime. And Jenny stands outside the recovery room looking demoralized.

Jenny's not a monster. But she's just been part of crushing a girl who'd already been wounded.

Why is wanting to help the Barbaras of the world avoid this nightmare seen by so many as something so sinister? How can anybody look at that girl, alone and abandoned, cold and vulnerable and grieving in that recovery room, and feel as if there's been any kind of victory?

HT: Jill Stanek

Anniversary: One of six Inglewood facility deaths

Yvonne Tanner, the 22-year-old mother of a young daughter, had an abortion performed by Stephen Pine and/or Morton Barke July 10, 1984 at Inglewood Women's Hospital.

Yvonne went into a coma immediately after the abortion, and died August 14, 1984. Her death certificate indicates coma, hypertension, and urinary tract infection.

The suit by her survivors alleged that Yvonne was not adequately advised of the risks prior to undergoing the fatal abortion.

The other women who met their deaths at Inglewood include:

Kathy Murphy

Lynette Wallace

Elizabeth Tsuji

Cora Lewis

Belinda Byrd

Anniversary: Home abortion leads to death

"Having control over her own body and her own reproductive cycle is something she desired."
friend who recommended fatal concoction

Kris Humphrey placed a high value on "self-determination" and doing things "naturally." These values led her to choose the herbal abortion that ended her life on August 14, 1994.

Kris had undergone a clinic abortion previously, but hadn't liked the experience. According to a friend, she found the procedure painful and the staff indifferent. Kris, said the friend, thought the staff at Planned Parenthood "treated her like she was doing something wrong, something she should be ashamed of" for choosing abortion.

Her stepbrother's death two years earlier due to an allergic reaction to a painkiller also led her to distrust modern medicine, said her family.

Kris used herbal remedies for minor ailments, so she already had ideas about where to go for information on an herbal abortion. She consulted friends. One of Kris's friends said she'd done more than one self-induced abortion and recommended an abortion technique from Wise Woman Herbal, by Susun Weed. The method relied on a tea of pennyroyal extract and black cohosh root, both readily available in health-food stores. Both were well known as herbal abortifacients. In fact, an album by the Yeastie Girlz included a pennyroyal abortion recipe in the liner notes.

On August 5, Kris started the abortion regimen.

Over the approximately 10 days Kris was taking the tea, she went about her buisness, socializing with friends and family. Kris experienced abdominal pain and cramping, which she took as signs that the abortion was going as planned. Neither Kris nor her friend who recommended the tea thought anything was wrong at first.

The only person who was concerned was Kris's mother, Embee. The two attended a movie together on August 7, and Kris told her mother about the pregnancy and about her herbalist plans. Embee, who'd suffered through an ectopic pregnancy, saw something familiar in the way Kris was holding her side from pain. She asked Kris if she was sure that the pregnancy was normal, not ectopic, but her daughter evaded the question.

Instead, Kris told her mother that the abortion should be complete on the 9th, and that she'd call then. But Kris continued to experience problems and continued to take the abortion concoction.

By Friday, August 12, Kris had given up on her herbal abortion plan. Embee and a friend offered to pay for her to have the abortion done at Planned Parenthood on the 13th. But when one of Kris's many housemates came home at 7:30 on Friday evening, she found Kris pale and feverish, and learned that she'd been vomiting. She continued to suffer chills, cramps, and vomiting for the next six hours.

Her condition continued to deteriorate. She passed out at around 11 p.m. Her friends continued to try to care for her, placing her in a cold bath at about 2 a.m Saturday to try to address her feverish sweating. But Kris just went into a seizure, so her friends carried her to the kitchen. One of them noticed that she wasn't breathing and started screaming. One friend called 911 while another attempted to perform CPR on the kitchen floor.

The paramedics arrived at 2:27 a.m and found Kris pulseless. They managed to resuscitate her enroute to the hospital, where emergency room staff put her on a ventilator and tried to stabilize her.

Her friends told staff about the abortion, and even brought the bottles of pennyroyal and black cohosh. The staff had no idea what effects the herbs might be having on Kris, and called poison control.

Kris was in shock and suffering from disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. "She was bleeding from everywhere," said a doctor who treated her. "She was even bleeding from all the places she was pierced--her nose, her mouth, her brow, her labia. Everywhere."

Doctors suspected an ectopic pregnancy, but feared doing exploratory surgery because Kris's condition was so fragile. While they were just done with a CAT scan at around 9:00 Saturday morning, Kris went into cardiac arrest. Staff used a defibrillator several times in addition to multiple IV lines to revive her. After half an hour, her heart finally started beating again. But despite all the IV fluids, she still had no blood pressure.

In desperation, the doctors proceeded with surgery, finding an unruptured right tubal pregnancy that was bleeding from the end of the fallopian tube. The doctors removed the pregnancy and "significant quantity of old blood which was malodorous."

Even though the tube hadn't ruptured, it appeared that the effect of the pennyroyal on Kris's liver had caused the clotting problems that had led to her excessive internal bleeding.

After surgery, Kris showed no signs of responsiveness. She was declared brain dead on Sunday. Friends and family gathered at the hospital and life support was turned off. Half an hour later, at 4:51 p.m., Kris was declared dead.

Testing on samples of Kris' liver showed that her liver showed signs of damage associated with one of the substances, pulegone, contained in pennyroyal. Not enough is known of the effects of pulegone on the liver to say for sure what effect the damage had on Kris or what role it played in her death.

Kris' divorced parents are united after her death in a lawsuit filed against the pennyroyal manufacturer and the store where Kris likely bought the herbs. The store is called, in a bitter ironic twist, "Bread of Life." Kris's parents want to see pennyroyal and other herbal remedies labeled with warnings about their possible negative effects.

Kris's friends, on the other hand, blame the health clinic where Kris had her positive pregnancy test. They say that the clinic should have done an ultrasound to check the location of the embryo. But since Kris had no unusual symptoms at the time, and had been given a referral to Planned Parenthood, there really was no reason for the clinic to do such an examination.

Nobody, it seems, is blaming the culture that makes abortion normative and assures young women that it's perfectly safe.

Erring on the side of life

US families losing hope as Utah mine rescue effort draws blank

Who or what is in that mine? Six living human beings? Or six corpses?

We don't know, so we're making a presumption that they're living human beings and doing everything in our power to bring them out alive. How many people, how many man-hours, how much expense? Is it all a waste because we're not sure that there are men down there?

Or is human life of such value that you don't give up if there's still a chance?

What support looks like

Canada Court Sides With Pregnant Chinese Woman for Abortion-Asylum

A Chinese woman, pregnant out of wedlock, turned to her family for help avoiding the almost certain forced abortion she would face if officials learned of her pregnancy. They pulled together over $30,000 to send her to Canada, where she and her unborn child would be safe. This is an incredible sacrifice in a country where the average per-capita annual income is about $5,600.

Compare that to families here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave where women cite pressure from their families as a primary reaon they're resorting to abortion. How many families in America would cough up over five years' income to help a woman avoid an unwanted abortion? How many would tell her, "It's your choice. You deal with it." And leave her to cope on her own.

Shooting themselves in the foot?

Abortionists are lamenting that the recently-upheld ban on The Procedure Formerly Known As Prince is "forcing" them to execute the fetus via lethal injection before beginning abortions.

Some prolifers are all in a tizzy about this, as if it's a bad thing. But we knew up front that the PBA ban wouldn't directly prevent any abortions -- that the preventitive effect would be purely in terms of getting people talking more about exactly how abortions are performed and what they do to the fetus, thus increasing moral revulsion and leading people to reject abortions altogether. And here the abortionists are, whining to the MSM that they're being forced to kill fetuses in a manner that they find unacceptable.

Folks, they are publically admitting that they're killing a fetus. They're not hiding behind the "all we do is remove a blob of unwanted tissue" any more. This is progress. Look at this:

The banned method involves partially delivering a live fetus, then intentionally causing its death. Even before it was banned, the procedure was exceedingly rare, accounting for a fraction of 1 percent of all abortions.

Instead, doctors typically cause the fetus's death surgically while it is still inside the womb and then remove it.

This is in The Boston Globe, people, not National Right to Life News. Ordinary rank and file citizens are being presented with the fact that people who are supposed to be practicing medicine had been partially delivering live fetuses, then killing them during the delivery process. And that your typical abortion involves "caus[ing] the fetus's death surgically while it is still inside the womb".

People who get their panties in a twist about how cruel it is to use lethal injection on a serial killer are now being put in the position of having to assess if it's cruel to do it to an unborn baby. Look at this from the article: "Medical staff inject either the heart drug digoxin or potassium chloride, a potentially poisonous salt also used in state executions." The Boston Globe, people, drawing a parallel all on their own about what is being done to fetuses during abortions and what is done to convicts during executions. And the death penalty foes who support abortion will also be forced to think about whether "caus[ing] the fetus's death surgically" is such a merciful thing. They're going to have to reassess how they think about abortion.

Not to mention that the fetus will now get the same kind of execution as a convicted mass murderer, which is an improvement over the old days when they were being dismembered alive.

We now also have abortion practitioners admitting pretty openly to abortions at 18, 20 weeks and beyond -- something they tried to sweep under the rug before. And they've tried to act as if these abortions were exceedingly rare. But if they're having to change a routine to do them differently, they're admitting that such abortions, far from being rare, are routine.

They're also admitting that lethal injection in abortion is not new: "San Francisco's Darney and colleagues have studied both chemicals, long used in late-term abortions that involve simply inducing labor." Tiller and Pendergraft, among others, have been doing it for about a decade now. And only now is the National Abortion Federation that they belong to training abortionists in how to do this procedure!

And here's an interesting little tidbit:

Medical students and nursing students are no longer invited to watch later-term abortions, for fear one might misinterpret the procedure and lodge a criminal complaint.

Does that strike anybody else as fishy?

And let's consider this:

[I[n another common response to the ban, the clinic has changed its counseling and informed consent procedure for later abortions, to spell out more clearly to patients that the fetus is dead before it is removed from the uterus.

They're now actually discussing with the mother the fact that this abortion does not just end her pregnany. It will kill her fetus. She's going to be presented up-front, when she still can back out, with the thought of how and when the fetus in question will die. How many women, presented with this reality, will break out of their denial and opt out of the abortion altogether? (Yes, I know that quite a few of them are going into it with a prenatal diagnosis that they don't want to deal with, and these women do know that the abortion is all about killing the fetus in question, but even late in the pregnancy these women are still the minority.)

Bringing what had been done into the dark into the light is a good thing. The reaction of the abortion lobby and the abortion business to the PBA ban can well have the effect on the general public that the Fugitive Slave Act did: it can force them to confront an ugly reality that they'd previously been able to ignore.

If people have consciences, this can only be a good thing.