Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Remember: Spring Adams Would Not Have Been Saved by an Abortion

UPDATE: Commenters have filled in a lot of gaps -- things that the news hadn't covered and that the abortion lobby didn't consider worth mentioning because to them, the only thing that mattered was making sure an abortion happened. I have updated the story effective July 23, 2022.

With all the news coverage of the New Hampshire law going before SCOTUS, it's a good time to remember Spring Adams, a girl who died at the hands of her rapist father. He shot the girl dead in her bed. She was only 13 years old.

From an ACLU pamphlet:
Where a pattern of sexual abuse already exists, parental reactions to a daughter's pregnancy can be even more extreme. One notable example occurred in Fruitland, Idaho, where 13-year-old Spring Adams became pregnant as a result of sexual abuse by her father. Although the young woman decided to have an abortion and arranged for an appointment, she could not afford either to pay for the procedure or to travel to the abortion provider, who was more than six hours away in Portland, Oregon. The local social services agency would have refused to pay for her medical care because abortions are not covered by medical assistance -- even in rape or incest cases. Two Portland organizations arranged for a free abortion, a ride to Portland, and a place for Spring to stay overnight. But the morning before she was to leave for the clinic, Spring's father shot her to death with a .30 caliber rifle while she lay sleeping.
According to this site, the Idaho Health Department set the ball in motion for Spring's abortion, contacting an the Portland abortionist. 

Let's look at something the abortion lobby glosses over: Rocky Adams had admitted to the incest in a written statement made to the police on June 16 -- two months before he murdered his daughter. Child abuse charges were filed on June 20. Yet Rocky Adams was neither incarcerated nor committed to a mental institution, in spite of a plea he made for treatment for psychological and substance abuse problems. 

Even if the abortion had been preformed the moment social workers knew about the pregnancy, that would have changed nothing: Rocky still would have killed his daughter.

I wish that the first action taken in this case had been to lock Rocky Adams up and throw away the key. If the police had been as aggressive in pursuing the rapist as social workers were in pursuing an abortion, Spring and her baby both might still be alive today.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

How in the world is this the fault of abortion providers?! That is absolutely absurd. Had abortion been a viable, accessible option, she could have contacted a provider, and had her abortion. That the state did not provide housing for this poor girl is hardly the fault of abortion. Perhaps if laws were more accommodating for women in abusive situations, or had the state been capable of providing abortion care via social services (no doubt a result of the Hyde Act, which makes it impossible for state agencies to pay for abortion, even in cases where the woman in question is eligible for state sponsored health care), she may have had a chance. It is not to say that an abortion could have saved her life, but it certainly could have been a step towards attaining further state protection.

Christina Dunigan said...

I didn't blame the abortion clinic; I blamed the prochoicers who knew that the girl was being abused and sent her home for continued abuse because they were so focused on killing the fetus that they completely forgot that Spring had a right to safety.

It's the blinders prochoicers put on. If a pregnant woman -- or girl -- is in a tight spot, they never think to address those problems. For all the complaints that prolifers are obsessed with the fetus, prochoicers are more obsessed. It's like they get into a "THIS FETUS MUST DIE!" mode where even the woman's very life pales by comparison.

Anonymous said...

This is a lie. Spring was sent home to her family, NOT her father. Her father was not living in the home. He broke in in the middle of the night to kill her. Get the facts before you publish this sh*t. If it were your daughter would you want her to have your husband and her fathers baby?

Christina Dunigan said...

Anon, thanks for clarifying that. Do you have a source? Sadly, I'm stuck with primarily PROCHOICE SOURCES that are less than accurate, and I have to go with what I've got access to.

Christina Dunigan said...

I found a news clipping about the case -- Spring was still living in the home with BOTH PARENTS! What the hell was her mother thinking?

Unknown said...

This post personally posses me off Rocky and the local police department are 100% to blame and whoever wrote this story needs to get their facts straight yes he raped her and the police did nothing due to parental consent his and yes she returned to her home I Renner she had started wearing dresses Wich was Wierd because she was a totatl tom boy but her pants didn't fit anymore that's why she finally told but she wasn't sent home to him he at the time was staying in a camper trailer on my grand parents property he rode his motorcycle to the house in the middle off the night walked it up the drive way and snuck in the house locked him self in her room and did it her mom tried to protect her she did everything she could to protect her short of finishing him off and dosent deserve the blame your version lays on her shoulders

Unknown said...

He did not live there this post is wrong on that he snuck in the house

Unknown said...

Why does it say annoumouse and keep taking of my name

Unknown said...

I was there no she wasn't Rocky was staying in a camper trailer on my grandparents property

Christina Dunigan said...

Marie, it has your name.

Rocky should have been in prison, not living anyplace where he could have any access to anybody other than his cellmates.

Unknown said...

I don't know who you are but you are wrong I am springs mom . And she did not wear dresses she did not like them. Yes her father molested her there was no trial he pleaded guilty. He rode a motorcycle to the house hot in and shot her. He was not living st the house.

Christina Dunigan said...

Unknown, I'll go in and update this.

Anonymous said...

He was not on the same property he was at Goldie my aunts Lynn's dad's house in a camper trailer where they thought they could keep an eye on him until the police actually did something he he rode a motorcycle to Lynn's house walked it up the drive way and entered the home while everyone one was asleep they did everything they could to keep him away from the second they found out but the police did nothing the only thing we could have done better would have been shoot him when cops did nothing in the beginning

Christina Dunigan said...

He was a 100% scumbag. I think everybody can agree on that.