If you click here, you can use your credit card or PayPal account to pay for one envelope to be sent to the White House today as part of Red Envelope Day.
So far, estimates are that the White House has received one million red envelopes, each stating on the back, "This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception."
The goal is to cause Obama to have pangs of conscience, but it has struck me as far more likely that White House aides and postal workers will be the ones to notice and to ponder. Pray that each person whose hands touch one of these red envelopes in getting them to the White House has his or her heart touched.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Today's devotion email - and Bud Feldkamp's investment strategy
These were the Scriptures in the devotional email I got this morning:
The first thing that flew to mind was abortion investor Irving 'Bud' Feldkamp, who lost two daughters, their husbands, and their five children in the plane crash in Montana -- in a Catholic cemetery near the Tomb of the Unborn. He gave death (invested in it actually, by buying out Fast Eddie Allred's abortion empire four years ago) -- and gave it abundantly to the families of California. And death came back to him, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
I realize that this isn't something that happens all the time. The Bible itself recognizes this:
Job, who was a righteous man, suffered even more loss than Bud Feldkamp, when he had done nothing to invite tragedy. And we can think of examples of other good and decent folk who had horrible tragedy befall them. What evil did that family in Boston do, to come home to find that their son had murdered two of their daughters and was trying to murder the third when the cops shot him dead? Why do these things happen to some and not to others, with no pattern that we as ordinary human beings can discern?
One writer pointed out that if God simply punished all wickedness and rewarded all righteousness, we'd become nothing but rats in an enormous Skinner box. We'd be doing good because it was rewarded, as a kneejerk reaction, and not because we chose, out of our will and character, to do good. We'd be avoiding evil not because we had chosen, out of our will and character, to shun evil, but as a kneejerk reaction, the way a rat avoids running down the part of the maze where he gets a shock. There could be no true virtue in a world where good was always rewarded and evil always punished.
Why did Bud Feldkamp reap what he sowed, while Fast Eddie Allred - who had built that abortion empire in the first place - thrived and prospered?
Greater minds than mine have wrestled with this. But I suppose there is one simple lesson: You have no cause to grouse when your own evil comes back and bites you in the ass. You were warned. You might get away with it for a long time. Maybe even for a lifetime. But ultimately you'll be held accountable.
We have no idea what these two men will face in the world to come. Maybe Bud Feldkamp is actually getting off light.
GALATIANS 6:7 NKJ
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
LUKE 6:38 NKJ
38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your
bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
The first thing that flew to mind was abortion investor Irving 'Bud' Feldkamp, who lost two daughters, their husbands, and their five children in the plane crash in Montana -- in a Catholic cemetery near the Tomb of the Unborn. He gave death (invested in it actually, by buying out Fast Eddie Allred's abortion empire four years ago) -- and gave it abundantly to the families of California. And death came back to him, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
I realize that this isn't something that happens all the time. The Bible itself recognizes this:
Jeremiah 12:1 “You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?”
Job 21:7 “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?”
Psalm 73: 3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. 5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. 8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. 9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. 10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. 11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Job, who was a righteous man, suffered even more loss than Bud Feldkamp, when he had done nothing to invite tragedy. And we can think of examples of other good and decent folk who had horrible tragedy befall them. What evil did that family in Boston do, to come home to find that their son had murdered two of their daughters and was trying to murder the third when the cops shot him dead? Why do these things happen to some and not to others, with no pattern that we as ordinary human beings can discern?
One writer pointed out that if God simply punished all wickedness and rewarded all righteousness, we'd become nothing but rats in an enormous Skinner box. We'd be doing good because it was rewarded, as a kneejerk reaction, and not because we chose, out of our will and character, to do good. We'd be avoiding evil not because we had chosen, out of our will and character, to shun evil, but as a kneejerk reaction, the way a rat avoids running down the part of the maze where he gets a shock. There could be no true virtue in a world where good was always rewarded and evil always punished.
Why did Bud Feldkamp reap what he sowed, while Fast Eddie Allred - who had built that abortion empire in the first place - thrived and prospered?
Greater minds than mine have wrestled with this. But I suppose there is one simple lesson: You have no cause to grouse when your own evil comes back and bites you in the ass. You were warned. You might get away with it for a long time. Maybe even for a lifetime. But ultimately you'll be held accountable.
We have no idea what these two men will face in the world to come. Maybe Bud Feldkamp is actually getting off light.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Missing by a mile
Single, pregnant and panicked starts off well enough, looking at the complex dynamics that lead smart, well-educated 20-something women to get cavalier about their birth control. But it ends with beating the "More contraceptives education" drum -- completely dismissing out of hand the dynamics of relationships.
And of course we have the sidebar courtesy of Planned Parenthood:
And, my personal favorite:
Not "the one" as in "the one man you want to build a family with" but "the one" as in "the Pill you want to avoid a family via".
I'll close with this one:
How about getting smart enough to drop the hubris? The drive to reproduce is powerful -- one of the most powerful forces in the universe. And we think that we can throw pharmaceuticals at it and tame it.
HT: The Dawn Patrol
And of course we have the sidebar courtesy of Planned Parenthood:
Not ready to be a mom? Follow these rules to avoid an unwanted pregnancy.
....
3. Watch for interactions. [Not between you and other people -- between other substances and your Pills]
....
4. Learn to love condoms. [Again, ignoring human dynamics. One of Robert A Heinlein's characters once dismissively characterized condoms as "making love without touching". And it is a bizarre idea. "I love you enough to want you inside me -- as long as we don't have any actual physical contact."]
And, my personal favorite:
5. Find “the one.”
Not "the one" as in "the one man you want to build a family with" but "the one" as in "the Pill you want to avoid a family via".
I'll close with this one:
6. Get smart.
How about getting smart enough to drop the hubris? The drive to reproduce is powerful -- one of the most powerful forces in the universe. And we think that we can throw pharmaceuticals at it and tame it.
HT: The Dawn Patrol
1924: Fatal Chicago abortion
On March 29, 1924, 30-year-old Etta Marcus died at Chicago's Francis Willard Hospital from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. The coroner concluded that Dr. William J. Wick had performed the fatal abortion at his office. However, on April 10, Wick was acquitted.
Etta's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was attributed to a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Etta's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was attributed to a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
What's better than an abortion? 40 days of love... and counting...
HT: The Anchoress
The Story of Faith Hope
A diagnosis of anencephaly has not stopped this young single mom from embracing every day, every moment, of her child's life. A life that an abortion would have stolen from the child, the mother, and the entire family.
The Story of Faith Hope
A diagnosis of anencephaly has not stopped this young single mom from embracing every day, every moment, of her child's life. A life that an abortion would have stolen from the child, the mother, and the entire family.
1975: Safe and legal and dead
On March 25, 1975, 18-year-old Sharon Floyd went to Associated Concern in Chicago for a safe and legal abortion. Three days later, she died of pelvic infection and blood poisoning.
Fortunately for other women, on July 1, 1975, public health officials closed Associated Concern, which was one of the abortion mills featured in the Chicago Sun-Times "Abortion Profiteers" series.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Fortunately for other women, on July 1, 1975, public health officials closed Associated Concern, which was one of the abortion mills featured in the Chicago Sun-Times "Abortion Profiteers" series.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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1942: Prosecutor's golfing buddy acquitted in abortion death
On March 28, 1942, 19-year-old Cleo Florence Moore died at New Rochelle Hospital in New York from peritonitis from an illegal abortion.
Upon admission, Cleo told authorities that she had taken some pills to induce the abortion, but before her death she changed her story and said that Dr. Frank F. Marino had performed the fatal abortion.
According to Cleo's roommate, Alice Petersen, Cleo met a man through her work, and discovered that she was pregnant in January.
On March 5, Cleo visited Marino to arrange an abortion, which he performed at his home office on March 9.
By March 11, Cleo was ill and summoned Marino, who sent her to the hospital with instructions not to inform anyone that he had operated on her. Alice also said that Dr. Marino's wife told her to protect her husband, lest "you and Miss Moore...go to prison."
Marino testified that he had examined Cleo on March 5, refused the requested abortion, and did not hear from Cleo again until the 11th, when he was summoned to her home and sent her to the hospital without reporting the abortion.
Marino, who had been a member of the County Board of Supervisors, the New Rochelle Board of Education, and the New Rochelle Zoning Board of Appeals, was also a golfing buddy of the prosecutor of the case. Marino was acquitted.
Cleo's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Upon admission, Cleo told authorities that she had taken some pills to induce the abortion, but before her death she changed her story and said that Dr. Frank F. Marino had performed the fatal abortion.
According to Cleo's roommate, Alice Petersen, Cleo met a man through her work, and discovered that she was pregnant in January.
On March 5, Cleo visited Marino to arrange an abortion, which he performed at his home office on March 9.
By March 11, Cleo was ill and summoned Marino, who sent her to the hospital with instructions not to inform anyone that he had operated on her. Alice also said that Dr. Marino's wife told her to protect her husband, lest "you and Miss Moore...go to prison."
Marino testified that he had examined Cleo on March 5, refused the requested abortion, and did not hear from Cleo again until the 11th, when he was summoned to her home and sent her to the hospital without reporting the abortion.
Marino, who had been a member of the County Board of Supervisors, the New Rochelle Board of Education, and the New Rochelle Zoning Board of Appeals, was also a golfing buddy of the prosecutor of the case. Marino was acquitted.
Cleo's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Friday, March 27, 2009
Tiller jury: Evil, stupid, or both?
George Tiller Jury Finds Him Not Guilty of Violating State Late-Term Abortion Laws
I could cry. Basically they have established that this man can do anything he damned well pleases, and will never in this world be held accountable for it.
Kansas is entirely the Land of Abortionists, where there's no point even passing a law, because you can blatantly break it and get a jury to shrug it off.
What would this man have to do before anybody will hold him accountable?
I could cry. Basically they have established that this man can do anything he damned well pleases, and will never in this world be held accountable for it.
Kansas is entirely the Land of Abortionists, where there's no point even passing a law, because you can blatantly break it and get a jury to shrug it off.
What would this man have to do before anybody will hold him accountable?
1929: The death of a NOW poster child
According to the National Organization for Women web site, Clara Bell Duvall was a 32-year-old married mother of five, aged 6 months to 12 years. She and her family were living with her parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to financial problems. NOW says that Clara attempted a self-induced abortion with a knitting needle. Though she was seriously ill and severe pain, NOW says, Clara's doctor delayed hospitalizing her for several weeks. Her death, at a Catholic hospital on March 27, 1929, was attributed to pneumonia.
I'd welcome any verifying information on Mrs. Duvall'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.) But if people who think abortion is a good idea want to blame Clara's death on abortion, I'll let them claim her as somebody their ideology killed.
Clara Duvall seems to be the woman described in the chapter, "Marilyn," in The Worst of Times by Patricia G. Miller. Marilyn was Clara's daughter. There are differences in Marilyn's story and in the story NOW relates, but so many other details match that it is unlikely that they're describing different women.
Marilyn gives her mother's name as Claudia, and her age as 34. The difference in ages may be attributed to people taking the years of the woman's birth and death and calculating her age without taking the months into account. Marilyn also said that her mother sang with the Pittsburgh light opera company, so it is possible that Marilyn might be using a false name for her mother to preserve the family's privacy.
Clara/Claudia's association with the opera company may also explain the elegant portrait on NOW's site -- a portrait that a poverty-stricken and desperate woman would have been unlikely to afford.
The following facts match:
Marilyn said that her brother Gerald was the oldest, twelve years old when Clara died. Eileen was ten. Rose was eight, Marilyn was six, and Constance was 18 months. Marilyn describes poignantly the difference between her life before her mother's death and her life after losing her mother. The loss was truly shattering for the entire family.
Marilyn said that her mother had gotten help from a friend for a successful abortion between the births of Marilyn and Constance. Marilyn didn't have any details of the first abortion, and got what she knew about the fatal abortion from her sister Eileen, who had spoken at length with their mother when she was hospitalized -- though it seems odd that a dying woman would be explaining to a 10-year-old girl how she performed a knitting-needle abortion on herself.
NOW's story differs from Marilyn's in many aspects, however. Aside from the different age and name, the following aspects do not match:
So there are two possibilities:
All I could find of Clara's story in Pittsburgh papers is a death notice verifying that she died at Mercy Hospital on March 27, 1929. Her husband was Grafton Duvall, her parents Joseph H. and Sadie E. Bell, nee Cain. It also verifies that services were held at the family home.
If what NOW and Marilyn describe is accurate, then Clara/Claudia's abortion was unusual in that it was self-induced, rather than performed by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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I'd welcome any verifying information on Mrs. Duvall'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.) But if people who think abortion is a good idea want to blame Clara's death on abortion, I'll let them claim her as somebody their ideology killed.
Clara Duvall seems to be the woman described in the chapter, "Marilyn," in The Worst of Times by Patricia G. Miller. Marilyn was Clara's daughter. There are differences in Marilyn's story and in the story NOW relates, but so many other details match that it is unlikely that they're describing different women.
Marilyn gives her mother's name as Claudia, and her age as 34. The difference in ages may be attributed to people taking the years of the woman's birth and death and calculating her age without taking the months into account. Marilyn also said that her mother sang with the Pittsburgh light opera company, so it is possible that Marilyn might be using a false name for her mother to preserve the family's privacy.
Clara/Claudia's association with the opera company may also explain the elegant portrait on NOW's site -- a portrait that a poverty-stricken and desperate woman would have been unlikely to afford.
The following facts match:
- Five children, from an infant to a 12-year-old
- Living in Pittsburgh
- Died in March of 1929
- Death originally attributed to pneumonia
- The woman used a knitting needle
- Was at home for several days before being hospitalized
- Died in a hospital
- Cared for until her death by her usual doctor who seemed at a loss as to how to care for his moribund patient
Marilyn said that her brother Gerald was the oldest, twelve years old when Clara died. Eileen was ten. Rose was eight, Marilyn was six, and Constance was 18 months. Marilyn describes poignantly the difference between her life before her mother's death and her life after losing her mother. The loss was truly shattering for the entire family.
Marilyn said that her mother had gotten help from a friend for a successful abortion between the births of Marilyn and Constance. Marilyn didn't have any details of the first abortion, and got what she knew about the fatal abortion from her sister Eileen, who had spoken at length with their mother when she was hospitalized -- though it seems odd that a dying woman would be explaining to a 10-year-old girl how she performed a knitting-needle abortion on herself.
NOW's story differs from Marilyn's in many aspects, however. Aside from the different age and name, the following aspects do not match:
- NOW has the family living with the woman's parents; Marilyn said that they were living in a large house owned by her mother's parents.
- NOW indicates that the family were too poor to afford a home of their own. Marilyn said that they lived in a large house, and that her father was an editor of one of Pittsburgh's daily newspapers, and that he did freelance public relations for sports events. Marilyn also said that one of her mother's friends was the wife of a well-known Pittsburgh industrialist. This is not a likely friendship for a destitute woman forced to move her family of seven into her parents' home. Marilyn also said that her mother was laid to rest in a magnificent mahogany casket with a satin lining, hardly the sort of burial a poverty-crushed widower could afford for his dead wife. Marilyn also said that the casket lay in the parlor, not a room that poor people were likely to have. In fact, Marilyn describes how shocking it was, after her mother's death, to go live with poor relatives. Poverty was a new experience for the child. In fact, Marilyn describes a riverboat outing the family took before her mother's death. She described how the girls were dressed in matching navy blue coats with red satin linings, and her brother had a jacket and tie.
So there are two possibilities:
- Clara Bell Duvall and Claudia are two different women, both with five children, both of whom lived in homes owned by their parents, who both performed knitting-needle abortions in the same city in the same month, and who both died in hospitals and both had their deaths wrongly attributed to pneumonia.
- Clara and Claudia are the same woman, and but NOW turned her from a prosperous matron and opera singer into a wretched slum mother in order to make her situation seem more desperate.
All I could find of Clara's story in Pittsburgh papers is a death notice verifying that she died at Mercy Hospital on March 27, 1929. Her husband was Grafton Duvall, her parents Joseph H. and Sadie E. Bell, nee Cain. It also verifies that services were held at the family home.
If what NOW and Marilyn describe is accurate, then Clara/Claudia's abortion was unusual in that it was self-induced, rather than performed by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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1926: Fatal abortion by midwife
On March 27, 1926, 24-year-old Louise Maday died at Chicago's West End Hospital from complications of an abortion performed that day. Midwife Amelia Becker was held by the coroner on April 27.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1940: Abortion by doctor proves fatal
On March 27, 1940, Mrs. Mary Ann Maria Page of Alton, Illinois, died from a botched criminal abortion. She was 20 years old.
The Coroner's jury identified the perpetrator as 69-year-old Dr. C.E. Trovillion, also of Alton, former managing officer of Illinois state hospitals.
Mary Ann's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.
During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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The Coroner's jury identified the perpetrator as 69-year-old Dr. C.E. Trovillion, also of Alton, former managing officer of Illinois state hospitals.
Mary Ann's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a doctor.
During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Another ringing endorsement
Still so sad:
This woman is in too much pain to realize that by continuing to embrace "choice" -- the idea of abortion as palliative -- she is assuring other women that they won't suffer what she's suffering. She's letting other women walk through that door without any forewarning.
Post-abortion women out there -- does knowing that your testimony is a warning to other women, that it might spare them the anguish you live with, help any?
No amount of reasoning seems to work in convincing myself that my arguments were sound. It's way, way, WAY past time I realized that my life has moved on. ...
I spent the entire [recent] pregnancy just thinking about the last time I was pregnant (before the abortion). And how that time I had felt so excited even though I new what I was going to do. I spent this entire pregnancy hiding it from friends, family, work and avoiding talking about it, avoiding anyone with babies or anything on tv with babies or children or pregnant women. Even when I got to the point where it wasn't feasible to hide it I still forbade the father to be excited about it around me. .... Even now, whenever I have a quiet minute, on almost a daily basis, my head is just reliving the abortion. ....
Just hating every minute of being alive and wanting to undo everything. I'm punishing myself, but in aid of what I don't know. I thought that giving birth and deciding 'the other way' would help me think about something else but it hasn't.
This woman is in too much pain to realize that by continuing to embrace "choice" -- the idea of abortion as palliative -- she is assuring other women that they won't suffer what she's suffering. She's letting other women walk through that door without any forewarning.
Post-abortion women out there -- does knowing that your testimony is a warning to other women, that it might spare them the anguish you live with, help any?
1986: Septic abortion death
Gail Wright was 29 years old when she underwent a legal abortion. She was 20 weeks pregnant. After her abortion, she developed sepsis. She died of adult respiratory distress syndrome on March 26, 1986, leaving behind a husband.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tiller defense: Larry said I could
George Tiller Testifies, Says State Medical Board OKd Him Doing Illegal Abortions
Larry supposedly is gonna take the stand later in the trial. Moe and Curly are waiting in the wings.
UPDATE: Tiller Admits He Personally Profited Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Due to Neuhaus’ Consultations:
Tiller pointed to his 1999 conversations with [then-Medical Board chief Larry] Buening and claimed he said it would be alright for Neuhaus to sign off on the abortions in a potential violation of state law.
"He said, 'Why don't you use Kris Neuhaus and that will take care of all of your problems,'" Tiller testified.
Larry supposedly is gonna take the stand later in the trial. Moe and Curly are waiting in the wings.
UPDATE: Tiller Admits He Personally Profited Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Due to Neuhaus’ Consultations:
At one point, Tiller began to refer to his relationship with Neuhaus saying, “When she was working for me,“ but quickly issued a correction stating, “when she was providing consultations for patients.”
....
Another dramatic moment regarding how Tiller actually viewed his affiliation with Neuhaus came when he discussed how long it took to make arrangements for Neuhaus to begin consulting for him.
“When someone new was going to join your organization, it would take time [to set up],” he said.
Tiller testified that he approved the amount of Neuhaus’ consulting fee. She charged $250-300 per consultation.
Tiller admitted that he profited financially by Neuhaus consulting with his patients. He estimated that he did 250-300 post-viability abortions in 2003 at an average cost of $6,000. He said that without Neuhaus’ help, he would not have been able to do those abortions.
He told the court that his overhead is 62% of the fees generated by his clinic. His salary is 38% of the gross income of his clinic. Tiller never said how much money he made from abortions prior to viability.
“Doing the math, Tiller personally made at least $684,000 killing viable babies in 2003, and we don’t know how much he made killing non-viable babies,” said Newman. “But we do know it would be a huge blow to the Tiller income if he were unable to do the late-term abortions for lack of a second Kansas referring physician.”
Obama nixes funds for ADULT stem cell research.
How many people you can actually provide treatment for is clearly irrelevant -- since it's ONLY adult stem cells that have been providing anything that actually works in real life.
1962: Something too trivial to hold against such a great guy
Want an interesting exercise? Google "Dr. Henrie abortion". You'll get sites like these:
Professors profile Grove doctor who performed 5,000 abortions:
Missives from the Grove:
What a swell guy!
But they're forgetting someone. There's one name you won't find in these hagiographic articles: Jolene Griffith.
On March 3, 1962, kindly Dr. Henrie, an osteopath, performed an abortion on Jolene Joyce Griffith at his clinic in Grove, Oklahoma. Jolene developed an infection, and, according to her survivors, Griffith abandoned her and provided no care to treat the infection.
On March 10, Jolene was admitted to a hospital in Tulsa. She died there on March 25, leaving behind a husband and three minor children.
Henire was conviced, and served 25 months of a 4-year sentence. Upon his release, he went right back to doing abortions.
Much to the applause of people who don't even care enough about Jolene Griffith to learn her name.
How is it that to the self-appointed champions of women's lives, the life of Jolene Griffith is beneath their notice?
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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GROVE, Okla. - In 1953, a strapping 17-year-old broke away from the small-town life he had known to join the U.S. Navy, fulfilling a duty to which he said he felt called.
More than 50 years later, Hank "Buster" Henrie returned to the town of his youth to learn about a father he wanted to know better. His father, Dr. William Jennings Bryan Henrie, was Grove's only physician for many years. The doctor also operated an underground abortion clinic and performed 5,000 abortions over a 23-year period, according to a claim the doctor himself made at his 1962 trial.
This past week, Dr. Henrie's son sat down with two professors from Pennsylvania's Gettysburg College, Jennifer Hansen and Kristen Eyssell, who are filming a research documentary about the doctor's life, his practice and the impact he had on Grove.
"I learned that Dad was loved by the community," said the younger Henrie. "I didn't know the intensity of the love for my father, and I was surprised at the level of protection (against the law) he was given by the community."
You want to know what the difference between Grove 1956 and Grove 2006 is? In 1956 abortions were illegal, but you could get one from Dr. Henrie and no one thought much of it. .... In 1956 when abortion was illegal, you could count on getting a safe, compassionate one from your local doctor and not necessarily have to pay a dime.
What a swell guy!
But they're forgetting someone. There's one name you won't find in these hagiographic articles: Jolene Griffith.
On March 3, 1962, kindly Dr. Henrie, an osteopath, performed an abortion on Jolene Joyce Griffith at his clinic in Grove, Oklahoma. Jolene developed an infection, and, according to her survivors, Griffith abandoned her and provided no care to treat the infection.
On March 10, Jolene was admitted to a hospital in Tulsa. She died there on March 25, leaving behind a husband and three minor children.
Henire was conviced, and served 25 months of a 4-year sentence. Upon his release, he went right back to doing abortions.
Much to the applause of people who don't even care enough about Jolene Griffith to learn her name.
How is it that to the self-appointed champions of women's lives, the life of Jolene Griffith is beneath their notice?
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tiller Trial: The Plot Thickens
A Hostile Neuhaus Begrudgingly Admits Details Of Affiliation
Kristin Neuhaus, the disgraced erstwhile abortionist who rubber-stamped post-viability abortions for George Tiller, was on the stand again today.
That seems to establish pretty clearly that the second opinions weren't provided by an independent physician.
Neuaus was declared a hostile witness. This means that the attorney who called the witness may question her in a different manner than usual, as if he were cross-examining the witness.
Larry Buening, the former Medical Board head, was also present but not called on. Tiller's defense claims that Buening gave him the green light to have Neuhaus do all of the second opinions on Tiller's post-viability abortion patients, telling Tiller that “all of his problems would go away.”
He'd better hope Tiller walks, because otherwise he's implicated in some crimes himself.
Kristin Neuhaus, the disgraced erstwhile abortionist who rubber-stamped post-viability abortions for George Tiller, was on the stand again today.
Neuhaus had politely and succinctly answered questions all morning during cross examination by Tiller’s attorney, Dan Monnat. However, her attitude abruptly changed when Disney began to question her from Monnat’s podium.
Disney told the court that he would be questioning her from that podium since Neuhaus seemed to have a better memory of questions asked from there.
“Thanks for the smart remark,” Neuhaus responded.
....
Disney did manage to establish through Neuhaus’ testimony that she was recruited by Tiller, who consulted with her about the amount of her fee. He then set up a situation where she could only see patients at his request, at times of his determination, in an environment that he controlled. When she did the consultations by telephone, patients paid Tiller’s staff, and they held the cash for Neuhaus until the next time she came to the clinic. The form letter that she signed, referring patients to Tiller for late-term abortions was drafted by Tiller’s attorneys and provided to her by Tiller’s staff.
Disney also established that patients were not free to choose their own second physician, and that Tiller controlled the fact that each patient saw Neuhaus, and only her.
....
After Neuhaus’s testimony, the prosecution rested.
That seems to establish pretty clearly that the second opinions weren't provided by an independent physician.
Neuaus was declared a hostile witness. This means that the attorney who called the witness may question her in a different manner than usual, as if he were cross-examining the witness.
Larry Buening, the former Medical Board head, was also present but not called on. Tiller's defense claims that Buening gave him the green light to have Neuhaus do all of the second opinions on Tiller's post-viability abortion patients, telling Tiller that “all of his problems would go away.”
Buening resigned in disgrace after a scandal involving reluctance of the Board to discipline dangerous physicians, and allegations of incompetence. Buening was an appointee of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. His wife, Vicki, is Sebelius’ head of Constituent Affairs.
Buening is a long-time associate of Tiller’s and was involved in Tiller’s case with the KSBHA when Tiller was disciplined for drug and alcohol abuse. Buening is expected to offer testimony for the defense.
He'd better hope Tiller walks, because otherwise he's implicated in some crimes himself.
“The more we hear in court, the more shady these people appear. Neuhaus didn’t do herself any favors with her surly attitude. She appeared to be a hyper-paranoid person who lives in constant fear of criminal prosecution,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Please continue to bathe this trail in prayer.”
And when the economy recovers, the baby will still be dead
Economic Problems Causing Potential Record High Abortion Figures Nationwide
Some abortion mills are reporting an increase in women who can't see any way out of a financial crisis but aborting their babies.
Of course, instead of helping the women see the big picture, these facilities scrape them out and send them home.
My father had just gotten laid off from work when Mom found out she was pregnant with me. Thank God there was no sympathetic abortion "provider" to "help". Mom would have been alone when Dad died. That ill-timed baby was the adult daughter who was able to move in and help her adjust to widowhood.
We'd sold our wedding rings to buy food when I found out I was pregnant with my son. Thank God that my husband's best friend was a prolife Catholic who helped us to solve our real problem -- our apartment -- and not some well-meaning prochoicer who would have held my hand at Planned Parenthood and deprived my family of my son.
Other families clearly aren't as fortunate. For abortionists, booming business is a good thing. The women's personal tragedies? Well, who's there to see the aftermath? Nobody but the prolifers.
Some abortion mills are reporting an increase in women who can't see any way out of a financial crisis but aborting their babies.
Of course, instead of helping the women see the big picture, these facilities scrape them out and send them home.
My father had just gotten laid off from work when Mom found out she was pregnant with me. Thank God there was no sympathetic abortion "provider" to "help". Mom would have been alone when Dad died. That ill-timed baby was the adult daughter who was able to move in and help her adjust to widowhood.
We'd sold our wedding rings to buy food when I found out I was pregnant with my son. Thank God that my husband's best friend was a prolife Catholic who helped us to solve our real problem -- our apartment -- and not some well-meaning prochoicer who would have held my hand at Planned Parenthood and deprived my family of my son.
Other families clearly aren't as fortunate. For abortionists, booming business is a good thing. The women's personal tragedies? Well, who's there to see the aftermath? Nobody but the prolifers.
Must-watch video: Kids don't wake for fire alarms
Every parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or other caregiver of children should watch this:
1947: Slimebag boyfriend's abortion plan proves fatal
On March 21, 1947, Ilene Eagen was brought to Mankato, Minnesota, to the dental office of W. A. Groebner for an abortion. Court records indicate that Ilene was pressured into the abortion by her paramour, Raymond Older, who refused to marry her and threatened her with bodily harm if she refused an abortion.
After the abortion, Ilene became violently ill and lost consciousness. Groebner and Older failed to seek or provide proper care for the sick woman. Instead, Older took Ilene to his service station in Granada, Minnesota and kept her there through the remainder of the night, into the morning of March 22.
Older allowed Ilene to languish without medical care. She died March 24.
Ilene left a seven-year-old daughter motherless.
Older tried to escape civil liability on the grounds that despite his refusal to marry her, and the threats, Ilene had consented to the abortion and that therefore she was responsible for her own sickness and subsequent death.
It seems the current aims of the abortion lobby are to provide more options and fewer barriers to creeps like Raymond Older, and to shut down the pregnancy centers that would provide support and help to women like Ilene.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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After the abortion, Ilene became violently ill and lost consciousness. Groebner and Older failed to seek or provide proper care for the sick woman. Instead, Older took Ilene to his service station in Granada, Minnesota and kept her there through the remainder of the night, into the morning of March 22.
Older allowed Ilene to languish without medical care. She died March 24.
Ilene left a seven-year-old daughter motherless.
Older tried to escape civil liability on the grounds that despite his refusal to marry her, and the threats, Ilene had consented to the abortion and that therefore she was responsible for her own sickness and subsequent death.
It seems the current aims of the abortion lobby are to provide more options and fewer barriers to creeps like Raymond Older, and to shut down the pregnancy centers that would provide support and help to women like Ilene.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Monday, March 23, 2009
Did Medical Board chief give nod and wink to Tiller's law-breaking?
George Tiller Attorneys Give Preview of Late-Term Abortion Defense During Trial
It's a little unclear to me, but Tiller's attorney seems to be putting forward one or both of the following defenses:
1. He got permission from the medical board's then-director, Larry Buening, to have disgraced physician Kristen Neuhaus rubber-stamp all his post-viability abortions.
2. The medical board didn't bitch-slap him for getting Neuhaus to rubber-stamp Christin Gilbert's fatal abortion, so he figured it was okay.
Will bigger heads than Tiller's roll?
It's a little unclear to me, but Tiller's attorney seems to be putting forward one or both of the following defenses:
1. He got permission from the medical board's then-director, Larry Buening, to have disgraced physician Kristen Neuhaus rubber-stamp all his post-viability abortions.
2. The medical board didn't bitch-slap him for getting Neuhaus to rubber-stamp Christin Gilbert's fatal abortion, so he figured it was okay.
Will bigger heads than Tiller's roll?
1979: Antiquated abortion method leaves two children motherless
Life Dynamics lists 24-year-old Lynn McNair on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legal abortions. LDI notes that Lynn was 23 weeks pregnant when she was injected with saline by Dr. Edward Rubin at Jewish Memorial Hospital. The first injection of saline failed to kill the fetus, so Lynn was given a second injection. After this second dose, Lynn went into contractions and slipped into a coma. She died March 23, 1979 of a pulmonary embolism of amniotic fluid -- amniotic fluid that got into her lungs through her bloodstream. She left two children motherless.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Two early 20th Century deaths
On March 23, 1905, Mrs. Ida Pomering died in Chicago from an abortion performed earlier that day. A midwife named Apollonia Heinle was held by the coroner's jury for Ida's death.
On March 23, 1907, Mrs. Dora Swan, age 24, died at Englewood Union Hospital in Chicago from the effects of a criminal abortion. Mrs. Louise Achtenberg, whose profession is not given, was held responsible by the coroner, but there is no record that charges were filed.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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On March 23, 1907, Mrs. Dora Swan, age 24, died at Englewood Union Hospital in Chicago from the effects of a criminal abortion. Mrs. Louise Achtenberg, whose profession is not given, was held responsible by the coroner, but there is no record that charges were filed.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Saturday, March 21, 2009
Special Olympics bowler can kick Obama's ass
B.O. and bowling...
Of course, the MSM will turn this into a sappy story about how much B.O. just LOVES them inferior retard types. He even condescends to bowl with one of them! What a great guy!
Although this might be a chance for those around B.O. to learn that people with developmental disabilities are -- fancy that! -- people. Somehow I can't see B.O. being able to catch on to that little fact.
UPDATE: See Kolan in action at Newsbusters.
The top bowler for the Special Olympics looks forward to meeting President Barack Obama in an alley. (You can bet it would never be televised. Too bad!)
"He bowled a 129. I bowl a 300. I could beat that score easily," Michigan's Kolan McConiughey (KO-lahn Mc-KAHNA-he) told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.
Of course, the MSM will turn this into a sappy story about how much B.O. just LOVES them inferior retard types. He even condescends to bowl with one of them! What a great guy!
Although this might be a chance for those around B.O. to learn that people with developmental disabilities are -- fancy that! -- people. Somehow I can't see B.O. being able to catch on to that little fact.
UPDATE: See Kolan in action at Newsbusters.
9-year-old Brazilian rape victim apparently pawn in pro-abortion machinations
International Pro-Abortion Group Conspired With Hospital to Kill Unborn Twins in Famous Brazilian Case
The girl, 9 years old, was 4 months pregnant as a result of being raped by her stepfather. The first hospital her family brought her to has publicly stated that her life was not in danger at the time of the abortion. The girl was, for some reason, transferred to another hospital. Her illiterate mother, who was opposed to abortion in general and for her child and grandchildren in particular, was given forms to "sign" via fingerprint. The family's priest was denied a chance to visit the girl. The girl's father was called into a meeting with hospital staff, and he also opposed the abortion, but was told that it had to be carried out because the girl's mother had already "signed" the consent form. The father was then told that the child's life was in danger and that without the abortion she would die.
The whole thing is fishy. But it always was fishy. Abortion advocates are always looking for a desperate "hard case" they can use as a wedge to establish abortion as a good thing that they then argue should be made available for the benefit of everybody. And the doctor? He got a standing ovation from a gathering of abortion enthusiasts. Why not? He had given them their "wedge case" to try to open the door to unfettered abortion:
It wasn't about "helping" this girl. It was about giving abortionists a sympathetic appearance in the public eye. And it's deplorable that they used an abused child to achieve this evil end.
The girl, 9 years old, was 4 months pregnant as a result of being raped by her stepfather. The first hospital her family brought her to has publicly stated that her life was not in danger at the time of the abortion. The girl was, for some reason, transferred to another hospital. Her illiterate mother, who was opposed to abortion in general and for her child and grandchildren in particular, was given forms to "sign" via fingerprint. The family's priest was denied a chance to visit the girl. The girl's father was called into a meeting with hospital staff, and he also opposed the abortion, but was told that it had to be carried out because the girl's mother had already "signed" the consent form. The father was then told that the child's life was in danger and that without the abortion she would die.
The whole thing is fishy. But it always was fishy. Abortion advocates are always looking for a desperate "hard case" they can use as a wedge to establish abortion as a good thing that they then argue should be made available for the benefit of everybody. And the doctor? He got a standing ovation from a gathering of abortion enthusiasts. Why not? He had given them their "wedge case" to try to open the door to unfettered abortion:
"The fact that I was excommunicated will not keep me from going to Mass, praying, conversing with God, and asking him to illuminate me and my colleagues in our medical team to help us take care of people in similar cases," one doctor said.
It wasn't about "helping" this girl. It was about giving abortionists a sympathetic appearance in the public eye. And it's deplorable that they used an abused child to achieve this evil end.
1927: Doc, midwife implicated in fatal abortion
On March 21, 1927, Nancy Dawson died on-site in Chicago from a criminal abortion performed that day. That same day, Dr. J.F. Peck and midwife Christine Sedwig were booked for murder. They were indicted for felony murder on April 1.
Nancy's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Nancy's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Why condoms aren't the answer.
From Saint Peter’s Square to Harvard Square:
This is why throwing contraceptives at people isn't reducing unintended pregnancy.
UPDATE: Thanks to John Jansen for pointing out that people need to stop using the Bullwinkle Approach to STD prevention.
"We have found no consistent associations between condom use and lower HIV-infection rates, which, 25 years into the pandemic, we should be seeing if this intervention was working.”
So notes Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, in response to papal press comments en route to Africa this week.
....
“The pope is correct,” Green told National Review Online Wednesday, “or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope’s comments. He stresses that “condoms have been proven to not be effective at the ‘level of population.’”
“There is,” Green adds, “a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded ‘Demographic Health Surveys,’ between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates. This may be due in part to a phenomenon known as risk compensation, meaning that when one uses a risk-reduction ‘technology’ such as condoms, one often loses the benefit (reduction in risk) by ‘compensating’ or taking greater chances than one would take without the risk-reduction technology.”
This is why throwing contraceptives at people isn't reducing unintended pregnancy.
UPDATE: Thanks to John Jansen for pointing out that people need to stop using the Bullwinkle Approach to STD prevention.
Mom forces abortion pills on daughter, throws baby in trash
Evidently Florida is the Land of the Trashed Babies.
HT: Life News, Woman Forces Daughter to Have an Abortion, Dumps Body of Baby in the Trash
Woman Accused Of Tossing Newborn In Trash
Tonuya Rainey reportedly didn't want her 16-year-old daughter to have her baby, so over the girl's objections she got abortion drugs at a clinic and made the girl take them. The girl was about six months pregnant. She gave birth to a child who was described as "moving his hands and breathing." Rainey put the baby in a trash bag and threw him away.
She's facing a number of charges, none of which is murder.
HT: Life News, Woman Forces Daughter to Have an Abortion, Dumps Body of Baby in the Trash
Woman Accused Of Tossing Newborn In Trash
Tonuya Rainey reportedly didn't want her 16-year-old daughter to have her baby, so over the girl's objections she got abortion drugs at a clinic and made the girl take them. The girl was about six months pregnant. She gave birth to a child who was described as "moving his hands and breathing." Rainey put the baby in a trash bag and threw him away.
She's facing a number of charges, none of which is murder.
How the "Raise Your Hand" baby got that way
Here's the new ad from Priests for Life:
The story of this particular child is here.
How come the arm isn't attached? Read Dr. Leroy Carhart's testimony, in which he was questioned about how he performs his extraction abortions. Carhart indicates that he tried to grab the baby and get it positioned to where he can suck out the brain without taking the baby apart first. But sometimes, he indicates, the baby sticks a limb out through the cervix, and it's just easer to pull that part off and go from there:
This is how a normal second trimester abortion is done. D&E.
The story of this particular child is here.
How come the arm isn't attached? Read Dr. Leroy Carhart's testimony, in which he was questioned about how he performs his extraction abortions. Carhart indicates that he tried to grab the baby and get it positioned to where he can suck out the brain without taking the baby apart first. But sometimes, he indicates, the baby sticks a limb out through the cervix, and it's just easer to pull that part off and go from there:
Carhart: My normal course would be to dismember that extremity and then go back and try to take the fetus out either foot or skull first, whatever end I can get to first.
Question: How do you go about dismembering that extremity?
Carhart: Just traction and rotation, grasping the portion that you can get a hold of which would be usually somewhere up the shaft of the exposed portion of the fetus, pulling down on it through the os, using the internal os as your counter-traction and rotating to dismember the shoulder or the hip or whatever it would be. Sometimes you will get one leg and you can’t get the other leg out.
Question: In that situation, are you, when you pull on the arm and remove it, is the fetus still alive?
Carhart: Yes.
Question: Do you consider an arm, for example, to be a substantial portion of the fetus?
Carhart: In the way I read it, I think if I lost my arm, that would be a substantial loss to me. I think I would have to interpret it that way.
Question: And then what happens next after you remove the arm? You then try to remove the rest of the fetus?
Carhart: Then I would go back and attempt to either bring the feet down or bring the skull down, or even sometimes you bring the other arm down and remove that also and then get the feet down.
Question: At what point is the fetus...does the fetus die during that process?
Carhart: I don’t really know. I know that the fetus is alive during the process most of the time because I can see fetal heartbeat on the ultrasound.
This is how a normal second trimester abortion is done. D&E.
1906: Home abortion proves fatal
The year was 1906. Anna Gosch's boyfriend, Mr. Edwards, admitted that he knew Anna, that they'd had a sexual relationship, and that she had called him to tell him that her period was late. He admitted that he went to Kearney, and got a hotel room with the intent of performing an abortion. While Anna and her boyfriend were in the room, a bellboy came and objected to the presence of a woman in Edwards' room.
The next day, Edwards said, he took her to her home, and using a speculum he tried to insert a catheter into her uterus, but was unsuccessful. He said that Anna went upstairs and returned with a catheter with a wire in it. He said that he used this on Anna, and then bent the wire and threw it away.
A witness said that Edwards denied having done the abortion himself. He said that Anna had gone upstairs, then come down and told him that she thought "she had done it." But a speculum and three catheters were in Edwards' valise when he was arrested.
A physician, Dr. Cameron, was called on Thursday, March 15. He saw her twice a day until the Monday before her death, at 2 or 3:00, consulted with another physician, and concluded that Anna was going to die.
Dr. Cameron testified,"I asked her what had been done to make her sick, and she said there had been a man had passed an instrument into her with a wire in it, rubber with a wire in it. I asked her when that had been done, and she said Monday; she thought it was Monday night." When asked about who the man was, "She said he was a man who traveled for rubber goods or instruments of some kind, said he was a traveling man."
Anna Gosch died on Tuesday, March 20, 1906, at 6:10 PM.
Edwards was convicted of homicide.
Anna's death is similar to the death of "Daisy" Roe, a systems analyst who died in 1990 after allowing her boyfriend to attempt to perform an abortion on her with a piece of aquarium tubing.
It was also unusual in that it was performed by an amateur, rather than by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
The next day, Edwards said, he took her to her home, and using a speculum he tried to insert a catheter into her uterus, but was unsuccessful. He said that Anna went upstairs and returned with a catheter with a wire in it. He said that he used this on Anna, and then bent the wire and threw it away.
A witness said that Edwards denied having done the abortion himself. He said that Anna had gone upstairs, then come down and told him that she thought "she had done it." But a speculum and three catheters were in Edwards' valise when he was arrested.
A physician, Dr. Cameron, was called on Thursday, March 15. He saw her twice a day until the Monday before her death, at 2 or 3:00, consulted with another physician, and concluded that Anna was going to die.
Dr. Cameron testified,"I asked her what had been done to make her sick, and she said there had been a man had passed an instrument into her with a wire in it, rubber with a wire in it. I asked her when that had been done, and she said Monday; she thought it was Monday night." When asked about who the man was, "She said he was a man who traveled for rubber goods or instruments of some kind, said he was a traveling man."
Anna Gosch died on Tuesday, March 20, 1906, at 6:10 PM.
Edwards was convicted of homicide.
Anna's death is similar to the death of "Daisy" Roe, a systems analyst who died in 1990 after allowing her boyfriend to attempt to perform an abortion on her with a piece of aquarium tubing.
It was also unusual in that it was performed by an amateur, rather than by a doctor, as was the case with perhaps 90% of criminal abortions.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1926: Legal or illegal? Outrage or not?
On March 20, 1926, 19-year-old Alice Annalora died at the County Hospital in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. Dr. Wilford Vine was booked for Alice's death, as was her husband, Joseph Annalora. Vine was indicted for felony murder.
Ultimately, the coroner was unable to determine the legal status of the abortion that killed Alice, so Dr. Vine and Mr. Annalora were released.
Alice's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Ultimately, the coroner was unable to determine the legal status of the abortion that killed Alice, so Dr. Vine and Mr. Annalora were released.
Alice's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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AbortionInfo - a fascinating read
I stumbled across this LiveJournal community while checking out searches that brought people to my blog. Where else did it bring folks? I came in on their "recommended clinics" page. But I was drawn to Multiple abortions. Here's a sampling:
This has been a very familiar theme in talking to prochoice women who have had multiple abortions. They are -- I think justifiably -- angry that they can't simply get their tubes tied, that there are so many obstacles.
Now don't get me wrong -- I think that vasectomies and tubal ligations are mutilating healthy bodies. I guess you could say I'm "personally opposed" to vasectomies and tubal ligations. But they're a wrong you choose to do to yourself. Unlike abortion, vasectomy and tubal ligation really are just a matter of what you do to your own body. Why is it so much harder for a woman who knows she doesn't want children to get a tubal ligation? Yeah, it's (usually) irreversible mutilation of a healthy body. But abortion is utterly irreversible destruction of a healthy body. Why should it be easier to take action to kill somebody else in order to prevent yourself from parenting than it is to do something to your own body to prevent yourself from parenting?
Here's a puzzler -- why aren't the "prochoice" lobbying groups screaming bloody murder about barriers to tubal ligation? They say they're all about women making choices about their own bodies. They vehemently oppose informed consent and waiting periods for abortions. But they don't have equal outrage about virtually insurmountable barriers to tubal ligations. Shouldn't they be beating this drum? Because women might later regret their tubal ligations? That can't carry much weight -- women often later regret their abortions to the point where there's a culture of post-abortion support and counseling. I don't see any similar thing for tubal-ligation regret.
Something very fishy there.
1. So much for the idea that throwing contraceptives at people will prevent abortions. Would this woman have been as sexually adventuresome if she'd internalized that any act of intercourse could result in a pregnancy? Especially if it could result in a pregnancy she couldn't just pop down the street and get scraped out?
2. So much for the idea that nobody aborts cavalierly.
3. Here again we visit the theme, "Where are the 'choice' people screaming bloody murder when women who want tubal ligations can't get them?" This woman chose more than ten times to end somebody else's life -- with no barriers to that choice whatsoever -- largely because the "choice" lobby isn't as averse to barriers to sterilization as they are to "barriers" to abortion.
No comment.
Well, I have to leave for work now.
so I've got records for 3 of my abortions. one place agreed to fax them to my doctor, too- this accounts for five procedures. [whew]
one place I went to twice has closed down since I went there. I have no idea how to get those records!
I'm hoping to try to get all of them; I want ammo for my appointment, I'm about fed up trying to get the tubes tied.
This has been a very familiar theme in talking to prochoice women who have had multiple abortions. They are -- I think justifiably -- angry that they can't simply get their tubes tied, that there are so many obstacles.
Now don't get me wrong -- I think that vasectomies and tubal ligations are mutilating healthy bodies. I guess you could say I'm "personally opposed" to vasectomies and tubal ligations. But they're a wrong you choose to do to yourself. Unlike abortion, vasectomy and tubal ligation really are just a matter of what you do to your own body. Why is it so much harder for a woman who knows she doesn't want children to get a tubal ligation? Yeah, it's (usually) irreversible mutilation of a healthy body. But abortion is utterly irreversible destruction of a healthy body. Why should it be easier to take action to kill somebody else in order to prevent yourself from parenting than it is to do something to your own body to prevent yourself from parenting?
Here's a puzzler -- why aren't the "prochoice" lobbying groups screaming bloody murder about barriers to tubal ligation? They say they're all about women making choices about their own bodies. They vehemently oppose informed consent and waiting periods for abortions. But they don't have equal outrage about virtually insurmountable barriers to tubal ligations. Shouldn't they be beating this drum? Because women might later regret their tubal ligations? That can't carry much weight -- women often later regret their abortions to the point where there's a culture of post-abortion support and counseling. I don't see any similar thing for tubal-ligation regret.
Something very fishy there.
I've had more than 10 abortions. I'm 36.
I had my first when I was 16, and my most recent just two weeks ago. I've had two 2nd trimester abortions, one at 19 weeks, and the most recent one was at 18.3 weeks. all the rest were fairly early first trimester. (i can't remember all the specifics and don't want to make this post too too long.)
....
I've been pregnant twice while using the pill, once on the patch. I wasn't forgetting anything or doing anything wrong, apparently hormonal methods don't work very well for me. with one of these I was taking antibiotics and wasn't told it'd interfere with my birth control. thanks doc!
I've gotten pregnant once on the shot- I forgot my appt date and went in a week late for my third installment...bingo.
I've gotten pregnant using condoms (every single time I've been pregnant!) and once with an IUD!
....
I am apparently a baby machine...except I have never wanted children. I have tried several times to get a tubal, and been refused because I'm childfree and single...and "might change my mind". also, the cost...it's more than I usually have available. (ive been without insurance for fifteen years.)
....
I don't regret any of my abortions. I have never, and still don't, want children.
I do get mad that I was unable to prevent pregnancy even by trying many different methods, and I get angry at the patronizing tone I've gotten from gyn.s when I've asked for more reliable birth control (sterilization)
1. So much for the idea that throwing contraceptives at people will prevent abortions. Would this woman have been as sexually adventuresome if she'd internalized that any act of intercourse could result in a pregnancy? Especially if it could result in a pregnancy she couldn't just pop down the street and get scraped out?
2. So much for the idea that nobody aborts cavalierly.
3. Here again we visit the theme, "Where are the 'choice' people screaming bloody murder when women who want tubal ligations can't get them?" This woman chose more than ten times to end somebody else's life -- with no barriers to that choice whatsoever -- largely because the "choice" lobby isn't as averse to barriers to sterilization as they are to "barriers" to abortion.
There was no broken condom or bad vasectomy; I got pregnant because I was an idiot with a strong sex drive. I was having a lot of sex with a dear friend of mine, and we usually used condoms. One night, we were having a really, extraordinarily wild time out on the couch, far from the nightstand with the condoms in it. He stopped just before pushing himself inside me and said, "wait, is this ok?"
I lied.
"Yes," I whispered; "I can't get pregnant right now." In truth, I had no idea where I was in my cycle or even what day of the month it was; what I wanted was for him to fuck me until we both screamed. I didn't want to stop the momentum to get up, go into the bedroom and laboriously put on the loathsome condom. Also, the man in question had only one testicle; how fertile could he be?
The sex was amazing.
I got knocked up.
No comment.
Well, I have to leave for work now.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Who sent the troops to Sampson, Alabama?
Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree
We are being reassured that all the troops did was help direct traffic and keep people out of a massive crime scene. The cops were short handed.
Then you call in the fire department. It's a whole crew of trained local folks who are accustomed to directing traffic and keeping people away from areas where they don't belong.
Somebody is trying to get us used to the sight of soldiers patrolling the streets. I don't like it.
The U.S. Army has launched an inquiry into how and why active duty troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., came to be placed on the streets of Samson, Ala., during last week's murder spree in that tiny South Alabama community. The use of the troops was a possible violation of federal law.
We are being reassured that all the troops did was help direct traffic and keep people out of a massive crime scene. The cops were short handed.
Then you call in the fire department. It's a whole crew of trained local folks who are accustomed to directing traffic and keeping people away from areas where they don't belong.
Somebody is trying to get us used to the sight of soldiers patrolling the streets. I don't like it.
1907: Doc's work fatal for Chicago woman
On March 19, 1907, Mrs. Bessie Simons, age 30, died at her Chicago home from complications of a criminal abortion performed there that day. Dr. C. D. Hughes was arrested in the death. Bessie's abortion was typical in that it was performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Another one bites the dust: Joseph Durante
HT: Deacon for Life
License to Kill: Infamous abortionist Joseph Durante dead at 80
Durante launched into his career as an abortionist when California legalized abortion in 1970.
His license was revoked by the Medical Board in 1978, then stayed the decision and suspended him for 30 days for acts of negligence in his care of female patients.
He was dismissed from the staff of both JFK Hospital and Desert Hospital because of complaints from other doctors about cases Durante had botched, and it was determined that he had no malpractice insurance.
Durante wasn't disciplined by the medical board until 1996, when he was given five years of probation for his negligence in the case of the surviving San Diego baby. But evidently Riverside County considered him good enough to hire to provide care to female inmates.
What did the abortion lobby think of all this? According to California Catholic Daily, "The National Organization of Women (NOW) of the Desert honored Durante as their doctor of the year."
License to Kill: Infamous abortionist Joseph Durante dead at 80
Durante launched into his career as an abortionist when California legalized abortion in 1970.
His license was revoked by the Medical Board in 1978, then stayed the decision and suspended him for 30 days for acts of negligence in his care of female patients.
In 1981 when Durante was performing abortions at Indio Community Hospital (now JFK Hospital), he injected a late term pregnant mother with saline solution and her son, ‘Baby Boy Sanchez,’ was delivered alive by nurses. The next morning, when Durante finally came to the hospital, he went alone to see the baby, pronounced the baby dead and had the body incinerated immediately in the hospital lab. After the incident, hospital personnel, including doctors and nurses, signed a petition that they would never again have anything to do with abortion. The hospital announced it would no longer be able to allow abortions.
He was dismissed from the staff of both JFK Hospital and Desert Hospital because of complaints from other doctors about cases Durante had botched, and it was determined that he had no malpractice insurance.
In 1992 while Durante was working part time in San Diego at the Feminist Women’s Clinic, he attempted to abort a very late term baby. The baby survived and a malpractice case was filed on behalf of the baby for inflicted scars on the head.
Durante wasn't disciplined by the medical board until 1996, when he was given five years of probation for his negligence in the case of the surviving San Diego baby. But evidently Riverside County considered him good enough to hire to provide care to female inmates.
Durante opened abortion centers in Moreno Valley, Victorville and Palm Desert. He hired Dr. Bruce Steir of San Francisco as a “fly-in” abortionist. Steir was already on strict discipline with the Medical Board for injuring women during abortions in Sacramento and he was supposed to be acting only under a Medical Board appointed monitor. But Durante never told the Medical Board that Steir was working for him in Southern California. Sharon Hamptlon [pictured] ... went to Dr. Durante’s office and had an abortion performed by Steir. Riverside County criminal court records state that Steir left the office while Hamptlon was in shock. Hamptlon died on her way home in the back seat of her mother’s car. One of Durante’s employees came forward and testified that Steir knew he had perforated Hamptlon’s uterus, but ran out the door to catch a plane to San Francisco, leaving Hamptlon to bleed to death. Steir was later convicted of manslaughter and sent to jail.
In 1998 the Medical board again disciplined Durante for falsifying his Medi-Cal application for provider privileges. Medi-Cal authorities revoked his privileges and the Medical Board placed him on another five years of probation.
In 2001 the Medical Board ordered 10 days of actual suspension against Durante’s license.
What did the abortion lobby think of all this? According to California Catholic Daily, "The National Organization of Women (NOW) of the Desert honored Durante as their doctor of the year."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Stem cell success the MSM doesn't want you to see
HT: Mary Meets Dolly
From Medical News Today:
THIS is what opponents of embryonic stem cell research want to see more of:
Ask yourself why the MSM is keeping this from you. Ask why politicians and activists are keeping this from you.
QUESTION AUTHORITY, PEOPLE!
From Medical News Today:
DaVinci Biosciences, in collaboration with Luis Vernaza Hospital in Ecuador, announced today the publication of study results demonstrating the safety and feasibility of its acute and chronic spinal cord injury treatment platform in issue 17(12) of Cell Transplantation, a peer-reviewed journal focused on regenerative medicine. ....
The study documents eight patients (four acute and four chronic) who were administered autologous bone marrow derived stem cells using a multiple route delivery technique. A two-year follow-up was performed on all the patients in the study who received the treatment. .... Participating spinal cord injury patients experienced varying degrees of improvement in their quality of life, such as increased bladder control, regained mobility and sensation. Most importantly, the study demonstrated no adverse effects such as tumor formation, increased pain, and/or deterioration of function following administration of autologous bone marrow derived stem cells. ....
.... The study published by DaVinci Biosciences and Luis Vernaza Hospital in Cell Transplantation, which used stem cells derived from the patient's own bone marrow, documents the restoration of significant movement, sensation, and bladder function in patients suffering from a spinal cord injury.
THIS is what opponents of embryonic stem cell research want to see more of:
Ask yourself why the MSM is keeping this from you. Ask why politicians and activists are keeping this from you.
QUESTION AUTHORITY, PEOPLE!
Tiller getting favorable jury
As Jury Selection Continues, Operation Rescue Calls Pro-lifers To Wichita For Prayer
Pray, pray, pray for justice in the Tiller case -- because it's looking more and more hopeless. Jurors are being dismissed for being too pro-life, but not for being too prochoice. Which means that they're getting a jury that is strongly slanted to find Tiller innocent purely because of their ideology and not because of the evidence -- which is frankly incontrovertible, for two reasons:
1. It's nonsensical on its face that any situation could meet Kanas law. If the baby is past viability, the treatment of choice for over half a century has been to induce labor or do an emergency c-section, to get the pregnancy ended as quickly as possible. Just ask yourself this -- what possible severe health problem can a pregnant woman have for which any responsible physician would prescribe three days at the Wichita LaQuinta with her mother? If her health is in danger, she belongs in a fully-equipped hospital, attended by doctors and nurses.
2. It's nonsensical on its face that Tiller had independent physicians verifying a medical justification for abortions -- mainly because of point #1. Add to that the fact that the same doctor signed off on every single one, a doctor that Tiller provided space for in his facility.
Tiller is so patently guilty that if he gets acquitted, the precedent will be clear: If an abortionist does it, it is by definition legal. And don't think that the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, and independent quacks don't have their lawyers watching this case and getting ready to break the law with equal impunity.
"House of David, this is what the LORD says: 'Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done-burn with no one to quench it.'" (Jeremiah 21:12)
This jury will have to answer to God if they let this man walk.
Oh -- and watch this Discovery Channel video of a fetus crying in response to being startled by a loud sound. Tell me what Tiller's doing isn't killing babies.
Pray, pray, pray for justice in the Tiller case -- because it's looking more and more hopeless. Jurors are being dismissed for being too pro-life, but not for being too prochoice. Which means that they're getting a jury that is strongly slanted to find Tiller innocent purely because of their ideology and not because of the evidence -- which is frankly incontrovertible, for two reasons:
1. It's nonsensical on its face that any situation could meet Kanas law. If the baby is past viability, the treatment of choice for over half a century has been to induce labor or do an emergency c-section, to get the pregnancy ended as quickly as possible. Just ask yourself this -- what possible severe health problem can a pregnant woman have for which any responsible physician would prescribe three days at the Wichita LaQuinta with her mother? If her health is in danger, she belongs in a fully-equipped hospital, attended by doctors and nurses.
2. It's nonsensical on its face that Tiller had independent physicians verifying a medical justification for abortions -- mainly because of point #1. Add to that the fact that the same doctor signed off on every single one, a doctor that Tiller provided space for in his facility.
Tiller is so patently guilty that if he gets acquitted, the precedent will be clear: If an abortionist does it, it is by definition legal. And don't think that the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, and independent quacks don't have their lawyers watching this case and getting ready to break the law with equal impunity.
"House of David, this is what the LORD says: 'Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done-burn with no one to quench it.'" (Jeremiah 21:12)
This jury will have to answer to God if they let this man walk.
Oh -- and watch this Discovery Channel video of a fetus crying in response to being startled by a loud sound. Tell me what Tiller's doing isn't killing babies.
1907: Doctor implicated in deathbed statement
On March 17, 1907, Paulina Schneider died at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, Illinois, from complications of a criminal abortion.
Paulina gave a deathbed statement implicating Dr. Robert Emery in her abortion. Paulina's mother had also fingered Emery.
For reasons not given in the source document, Emery -- identified as "Old Doctor Robert Emery" -- was found not guilty.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below..
Paulina gave a deathbed statement implicating Dr. Robert Emery in her abortion. Paulina's mother had also fingered Emery.
For reasons not given in the source document, Emery -- identified as "Old Doctor Robert Emery" -- was found not guilty.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below..
A patient's death and an abortionist's idea of a fun Florida vacation
Cycloria Vangates underwent a safe and legal abortion on March 13, 1976, performed by Dr. Paul Glassman.
She suffered a cervical laceration. The Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine found that Glassman failed to adequately treat Cycloria's injury. She died on March 17.
Glassman's license was finally revoked for three years beginning in 1981. He later recovered his license on the condition that he undergo close supervision and not perform any more abortions.
Glassman moved to Missouri, but his attorney revealed to the Florida Board that Glassman performed 17 abortions while visiting in Fort Lauderdale, in an effort to prove that the ban against Glassman performing abortions was unnecessary. (Don't you have to wonder what goes on in somebody's head, that while they're vacationing in Florida, they decide to do a few abortions? Aside from the idea that you can show people that they can trust you by doing sneaky things behind their backs. Tell me abortionists aren't nuts.)
Glassman also faced a 1978 Florida conviction for felony grand larceny involving filing insurance claims for a faked automobile accident.
Glassman paid out $386,875 to Cycloria's survivors, according to a malpractice liability search.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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She suffered a cervical laceration. The Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine found that Glassman failed to adequately treat Cycloria's injury. She died on March 17.
Glassman's license was finally revoked for three years beginning in 1981. He later recovered his license on the condition that he undergo close supervision and not perform any more abortions.
Glassman moved to Missouri, but his attorney revealed to the Florida Board that Glassman performed 17 abortions while visiting in Fort Lauderdale, in an effort to prove that the ban against Glassman performing abortions was unnecessary. (Don't you have to wonder what goes on in somebody's head, that while they're vacationing in Florida, they decide to do a few abortions? Aside from the idea that you can show people that they can trust you by doing sneaky things behind their backs. Tell me abortionists aren't nuts.)
Glassman also faced a 1978 Florida conviction for felony grand larceny involving filing insurance claims for a faked automobile accident.
Glassman paid out $386,875 to Cycloria's survivors, according to a malpractice liability search.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Monday, March 16, 2009
Historic abortion case brings change in law
On March 16, 1869, Magdalena Philippi died of complications of an abortion performed on her, evidently by a Dr. Gabriel Wolff.
Although Magdalena was four or five months pregnant, prosecutors had no way of proving that she had felt movement in the fetus, so they could not prosecute Dr. Wolff.
The next day, a bill was introduced in Albany to eliminate the quickening distinction in prosecuting abortion cases. This would make it easier to prosecute abortionists like Wolff.
Magdalena's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Although Magdalena was four or five months pregnant, prosecutors had no way of proving that she had felt movement in the fetus, so they could not prosecute Dr. Wolff.
The next day, a bill was introduced in Albany to eliminate the quickening distinction in prosecuting abortion cases. This would make it easier to prosecute abortionists like Wolff.
Magdalena's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1899: Doctor implicated in criminal abortion death
Harriet "Hattie" Reece was a 25-year-old primary school teacher in Browning, Illinois. Her husband, Frank, was also a teacher and principal at the school where Hattie taught. They had been married two and a half years in 1899, when the events unfolded that ended Hattie's life on March 16. And the finger pointed at Dr. James W. Aiken, who seemed to be a bit of a George Tiller precursor -- somebody who would find a "life of the mother" case in any pregnancy. But unlike Tiller, Aiken couldn't just buy his way out of trouble. He was found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years.
News coverage in The Quincy Daily Journal gives us two perspectives -- Frank Reece's and James Aiken's -- with a bit of other folks' input scattered about. See whose testimony seems more credible to you.
Frank's Story
Frank testified to the coroner's jury that he had been unaware of his pregnancy, but then testified that they had suspected pregnancy two months earlier and had consulted Dr. Blankinship, who was not certain but believed that Hattie was indeed pregnant. Hattie, Frank said, reported severe pains. Frank said that "Dr. Blankinship said it would be best for her health if such was the case." The "it" to which Blankinship referred seemed to be continuing the pregnancy.
But Frank evidently had some concerns about his wife's plans after they spoke to Blankinship. "In talking with her I learned that she did not want to have a child, as she wished to continue teaching. She said if there was any way out, she did not want the burdens. We called Dr. Blankinship in again. She was feeling blue and despondent and I asked him in her presence if he had any medicine for despondency. He said that there was a medicine that would relieve her but that he had no right to give it. Neither of us asked him for it. That was a month ago."
This seemed to have been a roundabout way to request an abortion to remove the underlying cause of Hattie's "despondency".
Frank indicated that he wrote to Dr. Stremmel of Macomb, Illinois, at his wife's request. Stremmel, Frank said, also recommended continuing the pregnancy because, Frank said, "an operation would ruin her health."
"She then said she was going to write to Dr. Aiken of Tennessee. I told her as far as I was concerned I would have nothing more to do with it. I knew Dr. Aiken only by heresay and had no conficence in him."
Hattie wrote to Aiken and showed her husband the letter she got in response, indicating that "such an operation would be a delicate one, but that he could take her through it safely and have her on her feet in ten days. .... I said I would not listen to such a proposition nor tolerate it." Hattie continued a correspondence with Aiken, over her husband's protests. "I said to her, 'If you do what you contemplate it will result in death and disgrace.'" He would only consent to an abortion if it was a legal abortion, necessary to protect her health. Hattie proposed going to Aiken for a consult. Frank thought a consult was a good idea but was opposed to Aiken. He offered to pay for the expenses if she went to see doctors in Macomb, but would not underwrite any involvement with Aiken.
Hattie went anyway, paying the expenses from her salary, leaving on the 24th and planning to stay somewhere under Aiken's care. She sent Frank a letter "in which she said she had done nothing but what clear conscience would approve and that I would when she saw me." She sent several other letters to Frank, saying she was not well, concluding with a telegram -- which was later presented as evidence at trial. Frank finally went to Tennessee to speak to her.
When Frank arrived, Hattie said that Aiken had examined her, told her she would not survive childbirth but that he could "safely take her through it" -- presumably meaning an abortion. Aiken told Frank that "the danger was not over and that the trouble was with her stomach."
Frank went back to Hattie's room, begged her forgiveness for having been harsh with her, and returned home.
He got a telegram from his wife saying that she was worse and to come at once. When Frank arrived, Aiken told him that Hattie was dying and that he'd sent for her father. The prosecution was able to present this telegram to confirm that Aiken had contacted Hattie's family:
This missive had been sent to Hattie's parents the day before her death.
Then Aiken told Frank that "he had told the people Mrs. Reece had died of peritonitis. That was the story he had been telling and we must both stick to it as I was in it as deep as he." Frank told Aiken that he'd tell the truth, and went to speak with his wife.
She told Frank that the abotion had been performed on Saturday (most likely March 4) with blunt instruments, and that she had expelled the dead baby on Wednesday (most likely March 8). Aiken had put the baby in his pocket and left with it.
The coroner's jury concluded that Hattie had died of peritonitis caused by an abortion performed by Aiken. Aiken told the coroner's jury that he was innocent and would reveal the real culpret.
The Trial
Aiken's trial was held before a packed courtroom in Macomb, Illinois.
When the defense cross-examined Frank, they brought out that he had met John Shippey on the evening train the first time he'd gone to see Hattie. Shippey had said, "How is this, are you not teaching at Browning?" to which Frank had replied that there would be no school that week. He told Shippey that Hattie had gone to Colchester to see a sick aunt, and had herself come down with tonsilitis. I'm uncertain as to the significance of this testimony; perhaps it was meant to discredit Frank as a liar, or perhaps it was intended to show that Hattie had been sick from something other than an abortion.
The defense also asked Frank if he had paid Mrs. Ellis (on whose premises Hattie had died, and who had witnessed Hattie's statement exonerating Aiken) $15. This question related to supposed efforts to cover up the real cause of Hattie's death. The prosecution objected.
The defense questioned the telegraph operator who had supposedly sent the telegram to Frank from Hattie; he said he had no such telegram in his files. A different telegraph operator said that he had sent a telegram from Aiken, summoning Frank, on March 15.
Anna Aiken, Aiken's niece, testified for the defense that she had gone through her uncle's office and had found no letters from Frank or Hattie Reece.
Aiken's Story
Aiken took the stand in his own defense. He admitted that he had corresponded with Hattie, who he had known since before her marriage and had treated earlier for tonsillitis. He could not produce the letters in question. He said that she had written complaining of being run down, suffering from hemorrhiods and "suppressed menses". She had asked, he said, if he could either treat her without seeing her or if he could come to her home in Browning and treat her there. He denied there being anything in the letter about "being in a delicate condition" or requesing an abortifacient -- odd claims, since "suppressed menses" was at that time coy way of referring to pregnancy while not outright admitting it, and a woman with severe hemorrhoids would hardly want to undertake a long train ride to get treatment when there were any number of doctors closer to home.
Aiken said that his reply had been that he could not come to her, but that if she came to him he could treat her, but that "some rectal troubles required delicate operations" but he could have her okay in a week or two, or maybe ten days, and that this care might cost as much as $35. She had, he said, replied, "If nothing happens I will come to Tennessee March 3rd." She had also, he said, indicated that she didn't want her friends to know she was there until she had recovered and could visit them. He had, he said, secured accomodations for Hattie at Mrs. Ellis' place. He also said that he'd gotten a letter from Frank indicating that Hattie was coming to him for care.
Aiken said that he met Hattie at the train station, took her to Mrs. Ellis, introducing her as "the lady who came to saty with you for a short time; you may call her Hattie for the present." He said that he left her, and returned on Saturday morning to find her in bed with a fever. He examined her, he said, "for piles and also for female trouble". Twice during the examination, he said, Hattie asked him to stop. She also, he said, asked him if she was pregnant. He asked her if she had taken any drugs. She said that she had. Aiken said that he then treated her for constipation, fever, and "nervousness".
Frank arrived on Thursday night, which would have been March 9. Aiken met him on the sidewalk and took him to Hattie. Aiken said that he told Frank that Hattie's period had started on Tuesday and that she'd caught cold. The coverage gets confusing at this point -- it says "he did not tell Reece then that he had performed the operation". Whether this consistutes Aiken admitting that he had performed "the operation" but not telling Frank, or a denial that Aiken had performed "the operation" at all I can't discern.
At any rate, Aiken said that Hattie's condition worsened, so he told her to send for her mother, but Hattie declined. He then suggested that she hire a nurse and get a second opinion. She agreed to this. Aiken first telegraphed Dr. Bolles, but couldn't get him. He then telegraphed Dr. Lewis.
Mrs. McKenzie (another witness to Hattie's statement) arrived at "the hotel" before Dr. Lewis did. Lewis and Aiken consulted briefly, then Lewis examined Hattie. Lewis testified about his examination, which involved instruments for "cleansing the organs". The details of his testimony were not reported. After Lewis left, Aiken telegraphed Hattie's parents and husband. He then asked Hattie if she wanted to leave any message for her parents in case she died before they arrived. Aiken said that Hattie told him, "I want to make a statement that you did not perform an abortion on me, and have always treated me like a gentleman." He then wrote up the statement as dictated by Hattie, Miss McKenzie copied it. Hattie by then was too weak, he said, to sign it, but the witnesses signed it. The defense presented it as Exhibit B:
Miss Willia McKenzie testified before the coroner's jury, corraborating evidence given by her mother and by Mrs. Ellis. They indicated that Hattie had indeed signed the statement exonerating Dr. John W. Aiken.
Hattied died Thursday at around 4 p.m. Her father had arrived Wednesday evening, her mother the next morning. Aiken expected to be arreseted. He consistently held that he had never performed an abortion on Hattie or given her an abortifacient, and denied that she had miscarried wile under his care. His defence brought forth about twenty character witnesses who said that he'd been practicing for over thirty years and had a good reputation.
Aiken was typical of criminal abortionists in that he was a doctor.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
News coverage in The Quincy Daily Journal gives us two perspectives -- Frank Reece's and James Aiken's -- with a bit of other folks' input scattered about. See whose testimony seems more credible to you.
Frank's Story
Frank testified to the coroner's jury that he had been unaware of his pregnancy, but then testified that they had suspected pregnancy two months earlier and had consulted Dr. Blankinship, who was not certain but believed that Hattie was indeed pregnant. Hattie, Frank said, reported severe pains. Frank said that "Dr. Blankinship said it would be best for her health if such was the case." The "it" to which Blankinship referred seemed to be continuing the pregnancy.
But Frank evidently had some concerns about his wife's plans after they spoke to Blankinship. "In talking with her I learned that she did not want to have a child, as she wished to continue teaching. She said if there was any way out, she did not want the burdens. We called Dr. Blankinship in again. She was feeling blue and despondent and I asked him in her presence if he had any medicine for despondency. He said that there was a medicine that would relieve her but that he had no right to give it. Neither of us asked him for it. That was a month ago."
This seemed to have been a roundabout way to request an abortion to remove the underlying cause of Hattie's "despondency".
Frank indicated that he wrote to Dr. Stremmel of Macomb, Illinois, at his wife's request. Stremmel, Frank said, also recommended continuing the pregnancy because, Frank said, "an operation would ruin her health."
"She then said she was going to write to Dr. Aiken of Tennessee. I told her as far as I was concerned I would have nothing more to do with it. I knew Dr. Aiken only by heresay and had no conficence in him."
Hattie wrote to Aiken and showed her husband the letter she got in response, indicating that "such an operation would be a delicate one, but that he could take her through it safely and have her on her feet in ten days. .... I said I would not listen to such a proposition nor tolerate it." Hattie continued a correspondence with Aiken, over her husband's protests. "I said to her, 'If you do what you contemplate it will result in death and disgrace.'" He would only consent to an abortion if it was a legal abortion, necessary to protect her health. Hattie proposed going to Aiken for a consult. Frank thought a consult was a good idea but was opposed to Aiken. He offered to pay for the expenses if she went to see doctors in Macomb, but would not underwrite any involvement with Aiken.
Hattie went anyway, paying the expenses from her salary, leaving on the 24th and planning to stay somewhere under Aiken's care. She sent Frank a letter "in which she said she had done nothing but what clear conscience would approve and that I would when she saw me." She sent several other letters to Frank, saying she was not well, concluding with a telegram -- which was later presented as evidence at trial. Frank finally went to Tennessee to speak to her.
When Frank arrived, Hattie said that Aiken had examined her, told her she would not survive childbirth but that he could "safely take her through it" -- presumably meaning an abortion. Aiken told Frank that "the danger was not over and that the trouble was with her stomach."
Frank went back to Hattie's room, begged her forgiveness for having been harsh with her, and returned home.
He got a telegram from his wife saying that she was worse and to come at once. When Frank arrived, Aiken told him that Hattie was dying and that he'd sent for her father. The prosecution was able to present this telegram to confirm that Aiken had contacted Hattie's family:
Tennessee, Ill., March 15, '99 -- Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy -- Your daughter Hattie is here quite sick from tympanus of stomach and bowels. In all probability she can't get well. Come at once, as there is no time to lose. Yours, Dr. J.W. Aiken
This missive had been sent to Hattie's parents the day before her death.
Then Aiken told Frank that "he had told the people Mrs. Reece had died of peritonitis. That was the story he had been telling and we must both stick to it as I was in it as deep as he." Frank told Aiken that he'd tell the truth, and went to speak with his wife.
She told Frank that the abotion had been performed on Saturday (most likely March 4) with blunt instruments, and that she had expelled the dead baby on Wednesday (most likely March 8). Aiken had put the baby in his pocket and left with it.
The coroner's jury concluded that Hattie had died of peritonitis caused by an abortion performed by Aiken. Aiken told the coroner's jury that he was innocent and would reveal the real culpret.
The Trial
Aiken's trial was held before a packed courtroom in Macomb, Illinois.
When the defense cross-examined Frank, they brought out that he had met John Shippey on the evening train the first time he'd gone to see Hattie. Shippey had said, "How is this, are you not teaching at Browning?" to which Frank had replied that there would be no school that week. He told Shippey that Hattie had gone to Colchester to see a sick aunt, and had herself come down with tonsilitis. I'm uncertain as to the significance of this testimony; perhaps it was meant to discredit Frank as a liar, or perhaps it was intended to show that Hattie had been sick from something other than an abortion.
The defense also asked Frank if he had paid Mrs. Ellis (on whose premises Hattie had died, and who had witnessed Hattie's statement exonerating Aiken) $15. This question related to supposed efforts to cover up the real cause of Hattie's death. The prosecution objected.
The defense questioned the telegraph operator who had supposedly sent the telegram to Frank from Hattie; he said he had no such telegram in his files. A different telegraph operator said that he had sent a telegram from Aiken, summoning Frank, on March 15.
Anna Aiken, Aiken's niece, testified for the defense that she had gone through her uncle's office and had found no letters from Frank or Hattie Reece.
Aiken's Story
Aiken took the stand in his own defense. He admitted that he had corresponded with Hattie, who he had known since before her marriage and had treated earlier for tonsillitis. He could not produce the letters in question. He said that she had written complaining of being run down, suffering from hemorrhiods and "suppressed menses". She had asked, he said, if he could either treat her without seeing her or if he could come to her home in Browning and treat her there. He denied there being anything in the letter about "being in a delicate condition" or requesing an abortifacient -- odd claims, since "suppressed menses" was at that time coy way of referring to pregnancy while not outright admitting it, and a woman with severe hemorrhoids would hardly want to undertake a long train ride to get treatment when there were any number of doctors closer to home.
Aiken said that his reply had been that he could not come to her, but that if she came to him he could treat her, but that "some rectal troubles required delicate operations" but he could have her okay in a week or two, or maybe ten days, and that this care might cost as much as $35. She had, he said, replied, "If nothing happens I will come to Tennessee March 3rd." She had also, he said, indicated that she didn't want her friends to know she was there until she had recovered and could visit them. He had, he said, secured accomodations for Hattie at Mrs. Ellis' place. He also said that he'd gotten a letter from Frank indicating that Hattie was coming to him for care.
Aiken said that he met Hattie at the train station, took her to Mrs. Ellis, introducing her as "the lady who came to saty with you for a short time; you may call her Hattie for the present." He said that he left her, and returned on Saturday morning to find her in bed with a fever. He examined her, he said, "for piles and also for female trouble". Twice during the examination, he said, Hattie asked him to stop. She also, he said, asked him if she was pregnant. He asked her if she had taken any drugs. She said that she had. Aiken said that he then treated her for constipation, fever, and "nervousness".
Frank arrived on Thursday night, which would have been March 9. Aiken met him on the sidewalk and took him to Hattie. Aiken said that he told Frank that Hattie's period had started on Tuesday and that she'd caught cold. The coverage gets confusing at this point -- it says "he did not tell Reece then that he had performed the operation". Whether this consistutes Aiken admitting that he had performed "the operation" but not telling Frank, or a denial that Aiken had performed "the operation" at all I can't discern.
At any rate, Aiken said that Hattie's condition worsened, so he told her to send for her mother, but Hattie declined. He then suggested that she hire a nurse and get a second opinion. She agreed to this. Aiken first telegraphed Dr. Bolles, but couldn't get him. He then telegraphed Dr. Lewis.
Mrs. McKenzie (another witness to Hattie's statement) arrived at "the hotel" before Dr. Lewis did. Lewis and Aiken consulted briefly, then Lewis examined Hattie. Lewis testified about his examination, which involved instruments for "cleansing the organs". The details of his testimony were not reported. After Lewis left, Aiken telegraphed Hattie's parents and husband. He then asked Hattie if she wanted to leave any message for her parents in case she died before they arrived. Aiken said that Hattie told him, "I want to make a statement that you did not perform an abortion on me, and have always treated me like a gentleman." He then wrote up the statement as dictated by Hattie, Miss McKenzie copied it. Hattie by then was too weak, he said, to sign it, but the witnesses signed it. The defense presented it as Exhibit B:
Tennessee, Ill., March 15, '99 -- I want to make this statement before these witnesses. Dr. Aiken has not produced an abortion on me. I think I took cold. The doctor has treated me kindly for which I am thankful. Signed in the presence of these witnesses. Hattie Reece. Witnesses -- Willia McKenzie, S.E. McKenzie, Lydia Ellis
Miss Willia McKenzie testified before the coroner's jury, corraborating evidence given by her mother and by Mrs. Ellis. They indicated that Hattie had indeed signed the statement exonerating Dr. John W. Aiken.
Hattied died Thursday at around 4 p.m. Her father had arrived Wednesday evening, her mother the next morning. Aiken expected to be arreseted. He consistently held that he had never performed an abortion on Hattie or given her an abortifacient, and denied that she had miscarried wile under his care. His defence brought forth about twenty character witnesses who said that he'd been practicing for over thirty years and had a good reputation.
Aiken was typical of criminal abortionists in that he was a doctor.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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1973: Safe and legal in Chicago
Reports on death of Evelyn Dudley, age 38, alleged that she was treated at Friendship Medical Center in Chicago on March 16, 1973. Later, at home, she collapsed in the driveway. She was taken to a hospital, where attempts to save her failed.
Her death was due to shock, due to hemorrhage from a ruptured cervix and vagina, from "remote abortion." T.R. Mason Howard stated that Evelyn was treated at Friendship for infection sustained in an abortion in Detroit. But Evelyn's brother stated that she had come to Chicago specifically to have the abortion.
Julia Rogers and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Her death was due to shock, due to hemorrhage from a ruptured cervix and vagina, from "remote abortion." T.R. Mason Howard stated that Evelyn was treated at Friendship for infection sustained in an abortion in Detroit. But Evelyn's brother stated that she had come to Chicago specifically to have the abortion.
Julia Rogers and Dorothy Brown also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Saturday, March 14, 2009
Tiller trial: Will Dr. McHugh testify?
Late-Term Abortion Provider on Trial for Allegedly Aborting Fetuses Illegally
First of all, I'd like to know how the "Fox news as right-wing mouthpiece" theory jibes with the fact that the article lamented every time Tiller faced opposition, while ignoring the lawsuits against him, the death of Christin Gilbert, and the utterly nonsensical idea that any woman could face a life-threatening or health-threatening pregnancy complication for which the safest course of action is to strenuously avoid all inpatient care at fully-equipped hospitals and to instead spend three days at the La Qunita attended by your mom or boyfriend.
That said, let's look at exactly what justification there was for these abortions.
Kansas law only allows third-trimester abortions (post-viability abortions done on fetuses who could have been delivered alive) for two reason:
“(1) The abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman; or (2) a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
Now, these reasons are clearly bogus in the first place, since a pregnant woman whose life or health is in danger in the third trimester would need care in a fully-equipped hospital, not in the La Quinta. There's no medical reason not to do an emergency c-section or delivery in a hospital, where the mother will be attended by medical professionals. There can be no medical reason to have her spend three days in a motel attended by her husband, partner, sister, parents, or friends. But the Supreme Court, in Doe v. Bolton created a "health" need for post-viability abortions. The "need" is a judicial one, not a medical one, invented by men in black robes, not doctors in white coats.
Dr. Paul R. McHugh, who reviewed the redacted medical records on George Tiller's post-viability abortions, explores the reasons given as justification:
Highlights: Interviewer reviews Dr. McHugh's impressive qualifications. Dr. McHugh explains that Attorney General Kline asked him to review the records to "confirm or reject the idea" that the women were "in danger of suffering a substantial and irreversible impairment if the pregnancies continued -- impairment of a psychiatric kind." He did not think those records supported the claim that the women would suffer any substantial and irreversible impairment, as spelled out in Kansas law. The question he was asked was did he, an independent psychiatrist, concur with the idea that an abortion was necessary to prevent substantial and irreversible psychiatric damage.
Dr. McHugh indicated that he looked for evidence of the following: Where the records adequate to develop a diagnosis? Did the diagnoses represent a substantial and irreversible impairment? Would an abortion resolve the problem? Were these adequate psychiatric justifications?
He pointed out that the records were redacted, since names and identifying information were removed. He was to look at the quality and adequacy of the examinations done to determine a psychiatric justification for abortion. The interview establishes that Dr. McHugh was the state's expert witness, and that he wrote an affidavit of his findings.
Paul Morrison, who replaced Phil Kline, never contacted Dr. McHugh to follow through on the case.
What were some of the reasons given by the mothers for these late-term abortions? These abortions were done at 26 to 30 weeks. I address the issue of accuracy in estimating gestational age, and the potential these babies had for survival, here. In a nutshell, assuming that Tiller's estimates of these babies' ages were 100% accurate (odds are against that but we'll assume), they had at least an 80% chance of survival if delivered live via emergency c-section or labor induction, as is the standard of care for treating women with third-trimester pregnancy complications.
So what did Dr. McHugh find were the reasons for these compelling, health-preserving late term abortions?
"The mothers were expressing ... great senses of distress and worry about their future. They were tearful, and preoccupied that only an abortion would help them. They said that they were sad and frightened, and they spoke about fears that their future life would be changed. They expressed ideas that they were not being given adequate support, and that they felt that the abortion would help them."
The interviewer asks him to summarize his findings. Dr. McHugh says these records were "very inadequate psychiatric records." He described them as being very brief, lacking a patient history, lacking detail. "There was no clear work of -- in those records that would be construed of capable of giving you a full picture of the mental condition of these women. They highlighted certain kinds of things that .... were sometimes of a most trivial sort, from saying that 'I won't be able to go to concerts' or 'I won't be able to take part in sports'" to a reluctance to surrender the child for adoption or concern about the child's future. "At no time could you see and understand the future of these individuals and in what way they could be seen as full people, people capable of being helped in this situation. Rather, they were highlighted for certain kinds of -- well, preoccupations and concerns." Dr. McHugh pointed out, "I could pick out only bits and pieces of this. This is not a -- None of them represented a full psychiatric history."
Highlights: Interviewer asks for Tiller's justifications. "He had mostly social reasons for thinking that the late term abortions were suitable. That the children wouldn't ... that the offspring would not thrive. That the woman would have her future re-directed. That they wouldn't get a good education after they had a child. That they would be always guilty in some way about having that child. That they had been abused already and that this -- to have the baby would be another form of abuse. These ... are not psychiatric ideas... These were social ideas. .... There was nothing to back these things up in a substantial way."
Dr. McHugh also stressed the lack of follow-up planning, no follow-up care of any sort, including a lack of a psychiatric aftercare plan. There were also no explorations of alternative treatments other than abortion. "You couldn't even begin to try to get a true picture of the person." He noted again that some of the justifications included concerns about attending the prom, or concerts, or sporting events. Dr. McHugh also noted that attending concerts and sporting events, or pursuing an education, are things many people pursue after having a baby.
"Occasionally you would hear someone say their suicidal ideation would increase." Dr. McHugh noted that "being pregnant and being the mother of a child up to age one actually reduces the suicide risk to women from three to eight-fold." He also noted that abortion and miscarriage are known to increase suicide risk. There was nothing in the records to indicate why Tiller felt that these women's situations ran so far contrary to the established patterns of suicide risk.
He again noted the paucity of information on these cases, and the lack of proper psychiatric work-ups. "These cases have not been studied thoroughly. And the diagnoses that have been made, such as depression, adjustment disorder and the like -- those are not substantial and permanently impairing conditions. Those are conditions we psychiatrists deal with all the time." He points out that most psychiatric practice involves helping patients to overcome these diagnoses "and restoring people to their mental health. We do that all the time."
Dr. McHugh says, "I think that these young women were all in a demoralized state of mind. You -- These diagnoses become almost interchangeable, at least on the evidence that's produced here. They're all fundamentally demoralized young women and what they needed was support, help, care, and long-term treatment for the situation that they had, in which they felt abandoned, so that they could once again feel, as they should feel, that their future is rich."
The interviewer asked if it wasn't a breach of medical care to lack follow-up plans. Dr. McHugh says, "It relates to my concern about these records as not being adequate, either in what they brought to the case, or what they propose for the case other than the abortion. And I had to ask myself, looking at these records, is any person who comes to this clinic ever found not to be appropriate on psychological or psychiatric grounds for abortion?"
The interviewer asked if Tiller ever rejected a patient. He said he'd seen no such records. "I'm saying that looking at these records, and what they were employed to do, I can't imagine that anyone wouldn't satisfy those criteria." He added, "From these records -- anybody could have gotten an abortion if they wanted one."
"When I look at the records, as far as I can tell, all these young women were very similar in the sense that they were all demoralized. And what other diagnostic term you wanted to give it was almost interchangeable on the basis of these records. They were discouraged -- fearful, worried young women who needed support, and would express a variety of ideas in that context to win what they were looking for. And that's -- that's the way to understand these people in my opinion. And a thorough psychiatric examination, and a thorough and adequate psychiatric plan was needed by them, and was not received -- here, anyway."
Highlights: She asked about Tiller's training in psychiatry and psychology. Dr. McHugh says he doesn't know, though he does understand Tiller worked in pathology for a while and is not a psychiatrist. And he stresses that he wasn't called upon to judge Tiller's qualifications, just to review the records and their adequacy as far as psychiatric evaluations and psychiatric treatment planning.
The psychiatric assessments justifying the abortions evidently were being done by Tiller, and each file included a letter from a second doctor who expressed "her" opinion -- indicating that it was always the same doctor (Likely Dr. Kristen Nuehaus) -- seconding Tiller's opinion that the woman would indeed suffer a substantial and irreversible impairment of a bodily function, psychiatrically, should they not have abortions. Dr. McHugh noted, "that letter did not come with the kind of pages of psychiatric study, evaluation, biographical details, understanding of the person on which -- from that record you could confirm that opinion." He noted, "At least from the record,that second opinion ... rested upon an encounter with the young woman and a statement of her present state of mind. So it was an opinion derived in much the same way, from the statements of the patients themselves of how distressed they were." He noted that the letters were not highly detailed, but a letter was "brief, symptom-only based, and unsubstantiated in its prognosis on the basis of a rich detailed study of the young woman and her potentials."
He looks at the lack of any review of the woman's situation, or her resources. "One wonders looking at this why some consideration isn't being made to employ them for the benefit of these patients." He notes that the impression one gets from reviewing the cases is, "These young women came here for an abortion, and the effort on the part of the psychiatric assessment was to support that -- that idea that an abortion is appropriate rather considering the alternatives, the risks and benefits of this to this person in a life."
The interviewer asked if any of the files showed sufficient psychiatric evidence to justify an abortion. Dr. McHugh saw none. They were all based on the "present state of mind of being distressed" and the social idea that the patient's opportunities might be lessened if they bore their children.
Dr. McHugh felt that the records were inadequate to perform a diagnosis, and very inadequate to understand the women in question. He picked up that they were "discouraged" and "demoralized" and "disheartened" and a psychiatric diagnosis of depression seemed very inadequate to him. The records were so inadequate that they did not, in his opinion, support the diagnoses given, nor of any other diagnosis. He felt that no psychiatrist would consider them adequate records to make a diagnoses or make a psychiatric plan. And, he noted, despite the paucity of information on which to base a psychiatric plan, these files were in fact being used to make a psychiatric plan -- to perform an abortion as a treatment for the diagnoses in question.
The interviewer went through the diagnoses given and asked did they constitute permanent and irreversible impairments, and Dr. McHugh indicated no, and that furthermore these conditions, if the diagnoses were correct, are treatable in pregnancy.
Highlights: "How would you summarize ... Tiller's findings that justify these late term abortions?" McHugh noted, "All I can carry away from this is that by these criteria, is that no person that would want an abortion -- a late-term abortion --would be turned away from that. So I presume that the idea here is to justify that surgical procedure. That -- And these records on a psychiatric basis do not justify that."
The interviewer asked about the social reasons Tiller used. Dr. McHugh referred to his notes. Tiller claimed that a patient would end up uneducated -- which is a social prediction, not a medical prognosis. That the patient feared occupational setbacks or family disapproval.
Dr. McHugh said, "I don't mean to say that if you do lose out in your education that that's not harm, but it's a social harm, and those kinds of things should be treated in a social fashion. And by supporting the individual, re-moralizing her, giving her her strengths ... she then, as we know, independently can demand the kinds of support ... that she would be entitled to!"
Dr. MrHugh quoted one of Tiller's notes justifying one of these third-trimester abortions: "If she was forced to carry to term, she would end up as an uneducated person without occupational skills and have multiple other pregnancies. ... All of those things are social predictions! .... I'm saying, and we psychiatrists would say, will be avoided if you can get this person once again to feel what she's entitled to feel, that she is an independent individual with rights.... If you teach her that the only thing that can be done here is that this viable human being has to be killed in order for her to have anything in her future, that's a lesson, that's a social lesson, that may well... take from her the sort of sense that she can overcome hurdles that life brings her."
He points out that this sort of defeatist attitude toward women in any other context would be treated with the appropriate scorn.
Dr. McHugh expressed a sense that Tiller was reinforcing the patients' views of themselves as powerless and incapable, with no promise and no strengths, that Tiller was underscoring and reinforcing a sense of hopelessness.
Dr. McHugh says, "Doctors are supposed to give hope to people, and give support to people, and they have to believe that there is such hope to be found in them. And usually ... that kind of hopeful attitude comes out of taking the full history of the person, noticing not simply what life has imposed upon her, but what she has brought to life, what her strengths are. If we approach a psychiatric problem as though there are only deficits rather assets for a person, we will never have an optimistic and future-oriented therapy for people. We've got to see their assets as well as their vulnerabilities.... And those don't come across in these records."
He adds, "By the records, anyway, what is being looked at is the state of mind of the woman right at the time, in which the issues of the stressing aspects of her present context are emphasized, and her strengths, her assets, the things that she brought, and, by the way, our capacity to open up for her and broader her horizons as to what can happen in the future for her is neglected. It's as though, from the records .... one has the idea that the purpose of this visit is to justify an abortion, rather than the purpose of this visit is to have a full psychiatric understanding of this person and see all of the alternative ways that she could approach her life."
The interviewer then reinforced that these are viable fetuses, late in pregnancy. "These are the very kinds of little babies that are being taken care of in ICUs all around our country. .... To eliminate them is a serious business. .... There's no psychiatric reasons for that."
Dr. McHugh notes that "There is no psychological condition for which abortion is the cure."
The interviewer asked why Dr. McHugh chose to speak out. He noted that he was invited to this situation by an attorney general, and that psychiatry was being called in to justify these abortions. "This is not a full psychiatric practice that we are seeing here. Rather, psychiatric terms are being employed to justify doing a procedure." He sees speaking out as "speaking out for my discipline."
Dr. McHugh said, "These records are not adequate records for the support of a serious decision for abortion, and that they do not represent psychiatry at its best, and psychiatry at its best should be employed when serious decisions are being made."
"The people of Kansas have written these laws," Dr. McHugh stressed. "'Viable fetuses should not be aborted unless there is a substantial and irreversible condition that the pregnancy will produce.' Well, when a psychiatric diagnosis is brought forth, I think that the people should understand that that requires a heck of a lot more than I found in these records. That's what I' here and that's what I'm trying to report."
And the narrator recaps.
The things Dr. McHugh brought forth are in keeping with what investigators found when they researched abortion lobby claims that late abortions are done only in desperate situations where either mother or baby had a terrible diagnosis. In fact, what Dr. McHugh describes being done in Kansas to get around laws against post-viability abortions is highly reminiscent of the rubber-stamping psychiatrists used to do to enable women to get around laws banning elective abortions prior to legalization.
As this woman's testimony bears out that these abortions are not being done to address women's critical health issues, and also, Tiller is not reporting statutory rape. She was only 14 years old.
She describes pushing her baby out into a toilet, which was the standard way the abortions were being done.
You can hear Michelle Arnesto's unedited testimony about her illegal late-term abortion at Tiller's mill here. And there are summaries of other cases here. The cases, in a nutshell, are 26 weeks for Anxiety Disorder Not Otherwise Specified or Adjustment Disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood; 29 weeks with no reason given for declaring the fetus "non-viable"; 28 weeks for Major Depressive Disorder Single Episode, 28 weeks with no note on the mother's medical condition, 28 weeks for Major Depressive Disorder Single Episode, etc.
First of all, I'd like to know how the "Fox news as right-wing mouthpiece" theory jibes with the fact that the article lamented every time Tiller faced opposition, while ignoring the lawsuits against him, the death of Christin Gilbert, and the utterly nonsensical idea that any woman could face a life-threatening or health-threatening pregnancy complication for which the safest course of action is to strenuously avoid all inpatient care at fully-equipped hospitals and to instead spend three days at the La Qunita attended by your mom or boyfriend.
That said, let's look at exactly what justification there was for these abortions.
Kansas law only allows third-trimester abortions (post-viability abortions done on fetuses who could have been delivered alive) for two reason:
“(1) The abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman; or (2) a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
Now, these reasons are clearly bogus in the first place, since a pregnant woman whose life or health is in danger in the third trimester would need care in a fully-equipped hospital, not in the La Quinta. There's no medical reason not to do an emergency c-section or delivery in a hospital, where the mother will be attended by medical professionals. There can be no medical reason to have her spend three days in a motel attended by her husband, partner, sister, parents, or friends. But the Supreme Court, in Doe v. Bolton created a "health" need for post-viability abortions. The "need" is a judicial one, not a medical one, invented by men in black robes, not doctors in white coats.
Dr. Paul R. McHugh, who reviewed the redacted medical records on George Tiller's post-viability abortions, explores the reasons given as justification:
Highlights: Interviewer reviews Dr. McHugh's impressive qualifications. Dr. McHugh explains that Attorney General Kline asked him to review the records to "confirm or reject the idea" that the women were "in danger of suffering a substantial and irreversible impairment if the pregnancies continued -- impairment of a psychiatric kind." He did not think those records supported the claim that the women would suffer any substantial and irreversible impairment, as spelled out in Kansas law. The question he was asked was did he, an independent psychiatrist, concur with the idea that an abortion was necessary to prevent substantial and irreversible psychiatric damage.
Dr. McHugh indicated that he looked for evidence of the following: Where the records adequate to develop a diagnosis? Did the diagnoses represent a substantial and irreversible impairment? Would an abortion resolve the problem? Were these adequate psychiatric justifications?
He pointed out that the records were redacted, since names and identifying information were removed. He was to look at the quality and adequacy of the examinations done to determine a psychiatric justification for abortion. The interview establishes that Dr. McHugh was the state's expert witness, and that he wrote an affidavit of his findings.
Paul Morrison, who replaced Phil Kline, never contacted Dr. McHugh to follow through on the case.
What were some of the reasons given by the mothers for these late-term abortions? These abortions were done at 26 to 30 weeks. I address the issue of accuracy in estimating gestational age, and the potential these babies had for survival, here. In a nutshell, assuming that Tiller's estimates of these babies' ages were 100% accurate (odds are against that but we'll assume), they had at least an 80% chance of survival if delivered live via emergency c-section or labor induction, as is the standard of care for treating women with third-trimester pregnancy complications.
So what did Dr. McHugh find were the reasons for these compelling, health-preserving late term abortions?
"The mothers were expressing ... great senses of distress and worry about their future. They were tearful, and preoccupied that only an abortion would help them. They said that they were sad and frightened, and they spoke about fears that their future life would be changed. They expressed ideas that they were not being given adequate support, and that they felt that the abortion would help them."
The interviewer asks him to summarize his findings. Dr. McHugh says these records were "very inadequate psychiatric records." He described them as being very brief, lacking a patient history, lacking detail. "There was no clear work of -- in those records that would be construed of capable of giving you a full picture of the mental condition of these women. They highlighted certain kinds of things that .... were sometimes of a most trivial sort, from saying that 'I won't be able to go to concerts' or 'I won't be able to take part in sports'" to a reluctance to surrender the child for adoption or concern about the child's future. "At no time could you see and understand the future of these individuals and in what way they could be seen as full people, people capable of being helped in this situation. Rather, they were highlighted for certain kinds of -- well, preoccupations and concerns." Dr. McHugh pointed out, "I could pick out only bits and pieces of this. This is not a -- None of them represented a full psychiatric history."
Highlights: Interviewer asks for Tiller's justifications. "He had mostly social reasons for thinking that the late term abortions were suitable. That the children wouldn't ... that the offspring would not thrive. That the woman would have her future re-directed. That they wouldn't get a good education after they had a child. That they would be always guilty in some way about having that child. That they had been abused already and that this -- to have the baby would be another form of abuse. These ... are not psychiatric ideas... These were social ideas. .... There was nothing to back these things up in a substantial way."
Dr. McHugh also stressed the lack of follow-up planning, no follow-up care of any sort, including a lack of a psychiatric aftercare plan. There were also no explorations of alternative treatments other than abortion. "You couldn't even begin to try to get a true picture of the person." He noted again that some of the justifications included concerns about attending the prom, or concerts, or sporting events. Dr. McHugh also noted that attending concerts and sporting events, or pursuing an education, are things many people pursue after having a baby.
"Occasionally you would hear someone say their suicidal ideation would increase." Dr. McHugh noted that "being pregnant and being the mother of a child up to age one actually reduces the suicide risk to women from three to eight-fold." He also noted that abortion and miscarriage are known to increase suicide risk. There was nothing in the records to indicate why Tiller felt that these women's situations ran so far contrary to the established patterns of suicide risk.
He again noted the paucity of information on these cases, and the lack of proper psychiatric work-ups. "These cases have not been studied thoroughly. And the diagnoses that have been made, such as depression, adjustment disorder and the like -- those are not substantial and permanently impairing conditions. Those are conditions we psychiatrists deal with all the time." He points out that most psychiatric practice involves helping patients to overcome these diagnoses "and restoring people to their mental health. We do that all the time."
Dr. McHugh says, "I think that these young women were all in a demoralized state of mind. You -- These diagnoses become almost interchangeable, at least on the evidence that's produced here. They're all fundamentally demoralized young women and what they needed was support, help, care, and long-term treatment for the situation that they had, in which they felt abandoned, so that they could once again feel, as they should feel, that their future is rich."
The interviewer asked if it wasn't a breach of medical care to lack follow-up plans. Dr. McHugh says, "It relates to my concern about these records as not being adequate, either in what they brought to the case, or what they propose for the case other than the abortion. And I had to ask myself, looking at these records, is any person who comes to this clinic ever found not to be appropriate on psychological or psychiatric grounds for abortion?"
The interviewer asked if Tiller ever rejected a patient. He said he'd seen no such records. "I'm saying that looking at these records, and what they were employed to do, I can't imagine that anyone wouldn't satisfy those criteria." He added, "From these records -- anybody could have gotten an abortion if they wanted one."
"When I look at the records, as far as I can tell, all these young women were very similar in the sense that they were all demoralized. And what other diagnostic term you wanted to give it was almost interchangeable on the basis of these records. They were discouraged -- fearful, worried young women who needed support, and would express a variety of ideas in that context to win what they were looking for. And that's -- that's the way to understand these people in my opinion. And a thorough psychiatric examination, and a thorough and adequate psychiatric plan was needed by them, and was not received -- here, anyway."
Highlights: She asked about Tiller's training in psychiatry and psychology. Dr. McHugh says he doesn't know, though he does understand Tiller worked in pathology for a while and is not a psychiatrist. And he stresses that he wasn't called upon to judge Tiller's qualifications, just to review the records and their adequacy as far as psychiatric evaluations and psychiatric treatment planning.
The psychiatric assessments justifying the abortions evidently were being done by Tiller, and each file included a letter from a second doctor who expressed "her" opinion -- indicating that it was always the same doctor (Likely Dr. Kristen Nuehaus) -- seconding Tiller's opinion that the woman would indeed suffer a substantial and irreversible impairment of a bodily function, psychiatrically, should they not have abortions. Dr. McHugh noted, "that letter did not come with the kind of pages of psychiatric study, evaluation, biographical details, understanding of the person on which -- from that record you could confirm that opinion." He noted, "At least from the record,that second opinion ... rested upon an encounter with the young woman and a statement of her present state of mind. So it was an opinion derived in much the same way, from the statements of the patients themselves of how distressed they were." He noted that the letters were not highly detailed, but a letter was "brief, symptom-only based, and unsubstantiated in its prognosis on the basis of a rich detailed study of the young woman and her potentials."
He looks at the lack of any review of the woman's situation, or her resources. "One wonders looking at this why some consideration isn't being made to employ them for the benefit of these patients." He notes that the impression one gets from reviewing the cases is, "These young women came here for an abortion, and the effort on the part of the psychiatric assessment was to support that -- that idea that an abortion is appropriate rather considering the alternatives, the risks and benefits of this to this person in a life."
The interviewer asked if any of the files showed sufficient psychiatric evidence to justify an abortion. Dr. McHugh saw none. They were all based on the "present state of mind of being distressed" and the social idea that the patient's opportunities might be lessened if they bore their children.
Dr. McHugh felt that the records were inadequate to perform a diagnosis, and very inadequate to understand the women in question. He picked up that they were "discouraged" and "demoralized" and "disheartened" and a psychiatric diagnosis of depression seemed very inadequate to him. The records were so inadequate that they did not, in his opinion, support the diagnoses given, nor of any other diagnosis. He felt that no psychiatrist would consider them adequate records to make a diagnoses or make a psychiatric plan. And, he noted, despite the paucity of information on which to base a psychiatric plan, these files were in fact being used to make a psychiatric plan -- to perform an abortion as a treatment for the diagnoses in question.
The interviewer went through the diagnoses given and asked did they constitute permanent and irreversible impairments, and Dr. McHugh indicated no, and that furthermore these conditions, if the diagnoses were correct, are treatable in pregnancy.
Highlights: "How would you summarize ... Tiller's findings that justify these late term abortions?" McHugh noted, "All I can carry away from this is that by these criteria, is that no person that would want an abortion -- a late-term abortion --would be turned away from that. So I presume that the idea here is to justify that surgical procedure. That -- And these records on a psychiatric basis do not justify that."
The interviewer asked about the social reasons Tiller used. Dr. McHugh referred to his notes. Tiller claimed that a patient would end up uneducated -- which is a social prediction, not a medical prognosis. That the patient feared occupational setbacks or family disapproval.
Dr. McHugh said, "I don't mean to say that if you do lose out in your education that that's not harm, but it's a social harm, and those kinds of things should be treated in a social fashion. And by supporting the individual, re-moralizing her, giving her her strengths ... she then, as we know, independently can demand the kinds of support ... that she would be entitled to!"
Dr. MrHugh quoted one of Tiller's notes justifying one of these third-trimester abortions: "If she was forced to carry to term, she would end up as an uneducated person without occupational skills and have multiple other pregnancies. ... All of those things are social predictions! .... I'm saying, and we psychiatrists would say, will be avoided if you can get this person once again to feel what she's entitled to feel, that she is an independent individual with rights.... If you teach her that the only thing that can be done here is that this viable human being has to be killed in order for her to have anything in her future, that's a lesson, that's a social lesson, that may well... take from her the sort of sense that she can overcome hurdles that life brings her."
He points out that this sort of defeatist attitude toward women in any other context would be treated with the appropriate scorn.
Dr. McHugh expressed a sense that Tiller was reinforcing the patients' views of themselves as powerless and incapable, with no promise and no strengths, that Tiller was underscoring and reinforcing a sense of hopelessness.
Dr. McHugh says, "Doctors are supposed to give hope to people, and give support to people, and they have to believe that there is such hope to be found in them. And usually ... that kind of hopeful attitude comes out of taking the full history of the person, noticing not simply what life has imposed upon her, but what she has brought to life, what her strengths are. If we approach a psychiatric problem as though there are only deficits rather assets for a person, we will never have an optimistic and future-oriented therapy for people. We've got to see their assets as well as their vulnerabilities.... And those don't come across in these records."
He adds, "By the records, anyway, what is being looked at is the state of mind of the woman right at the time, in which the issues of the stressing aspects of her present context are emphasized, and her strengths, her assets, the things that she brought, and, by the way, our capacity to open up for her and broader her horizons as to what can happen in the future for her is neglected. It's as though, from the records .... one has the idea that the purpose of this visit is to justify an abortion, rather than the purpose of this visit is to have a full psychiatric understanding of this person and see all of the alternative ways that she could approach her life."
The interviewer then reinforced that these are viable fetuses, late in pregnancy. "These are the very kinds of little babies that are being taken care of in ICUs all around our country. .... To eliminate them is a serious business. .... There's no psychiatric reasons for that."
Dr. McHugh notes that "There is no psychological condition for which abortion is the cure."
The interviewer asked why Dr. McHugh chose to speak out. He noted that he was invited to this situation by an attorney general, and that psychiatry was being called in to justify these abortions. "This is not a full psychiatric practice that we are seeing here. Rather, psychiatric terms are being employed to justify doing a procedure." He sees speaking out as "speaking out for my discipline."
Dr. McHugh said, "These records are not adequate records for the support of a serious decision for abortion, and that they do not represent psychiatry at its best, and psychiatry at its best should be employed when serious decisions are being made."
"The people of Kansas have written these laws," Dr. McHugh stressed. "'Viable fetuses should not be aborted unless there is a substantial and irreversible condition that the pregnancy will produce.' Well, when a psychiatric diagnosis is brought forth, I think that the people should understand that that requires a heck of a lot more than I found in these records. That's what I' here and that's what I'm trying to report."
And the narrator recaps.
The things Dr. McHugh brought forth are in keeping with what investigators found when they researched abortion lobby claims that late abortions are done only in desperate situations where either mother or baby had a terrible diagnosis. In fact, what Dr. McHugh describes being done in Kansas to get around laws against post-viability abortions is highly reminiscent of the rubber-stamping psychiatrists used to do to enable women to get around laws banning elective abortions prior to legalization.
As this woman's testimony bears out that these abortions are not being done to address women's critical health issues, and also, Tiller is not reporting statutory rape. She was only 14 years old.
She describes pushing her baby out into a toilet, which was the standard way the abortions were being done.
You can hear Michelle Arnesto's unedited testimony about her illegal late-term abortion at Tiller's mill here. And there are summaries of other cases here. The cases, in a nutshell, are 26 weeks for Anxiety Disorder Not Otherwise Specified or Adjustment Disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood; 29 weeks with no reason given for declaring the fetus "non-viable"; 28 weeks for Major Depressive Disorder Single Episode, 28 weeks with no note on the mother's medical condition, 28 weeks for Major Depressive Disorder Single Episode, etc.
It's Crazy Pete's Abortion Barn! For real!
Remember this guy?
Well, I have a reply for him:
UPDATE:
I found this in a previous blog post. It's from Dr. Leroy Carhart's testimony, in which he was questioned about how he performs his extraction abortions. Carhart indicates that he tried to grab the baby and get it positioned to where he can suck out the brain without taking the baby apart first. But sometimes, he indicates, the baby sticks a limb out through the cervix, and it's just easer to pull that part off and go from there:
Well, I have a reply for him:
UPDATE:
I found this in a previous blog post. It's from Dr. Leroy Carhart's testimony, in which he was questioned about how he performs his extraction abortions. Carhart indicates that he tried to grab the baby and get it positioned to where he can suck out the brain without taking the baby apart first. But sometimes, he indicates, the baby sticks a limb out through the cervix, and it's just easer to pull that part off and go from there:
Carhart: My normal course would be to dismember that extremity and then go back and try to take the fetus out either foot or skull first, whatever end I can get to first.
Question: How do you go about dismembering that extremity?
Carhart: Just traction and rotation, grasping the portion that you can get a hold of which would be usually somewhere up the shaft of the exposed portion of the fetus, pulling down on it through the os, using the internal os as your counter-traction and rotating to dismember the shoulder or the hip or whatever it would be. Sometimes you will get one leg and you can’t get the other leg out.
Question: In that situation, are you, when you pull on the arm and remove it, is the fetus still alive?
Carhart: Yes.
Question: Do you consider an arm, for example, to be a substantial portion of the fetus?
Carhart: In the way I read it, I think if I lost my arm, that would be a substantial loss to me. I think I would have to interpret it that way.
Question: And then what happens next after you remove the arm? You then try to remove the rest of the fetus?
Carhart: Then I would go back and attempt to either bring the feet down or bring the skull down, or even sometimes you bring the other arm down and remove that also and then get the feet down.
Question: At what point is the fetus...does the fetus die during that process?
Carhart: I don’t really know. I know that the fetus is alive during the process most of the time because I can see fetal heartbeat on the ultrasound.
1989: Why call an ambulance when staff have cars?
Survivors of Glenda Davis, age 31, mother of two, said that she underwent a safe and legal abortion performed by Robert Hanson at Aaron Family Planning March 11, 1989.
During the abortion, Glenda suffered a 1.5 - 2 inch long wound to her uterine artery and vein complex, causing massive bleeding. After a delay, staffers decided to transfer Glenda to the hospital. Glenda's husband discovered staffers attempting unsuccessfully to transfer Glenda from a wheelchair to a staffer's car. He helped them get Glenda into the car.
With the IV still in her arm, Glenda was driven to HCA Memorial Hospital. She had no blood pressure and almost no pulse upon arrival.
Glenda fell into a coma, and died three days later.
The family's attorney said, "Prior to the aforementioned breaches and negligence of these Defendants, Glenda H. Davis was a happy and healthy woman. ... Your minor Plaintiffs [Glenda's children] have suffered and will continue to suffer from the great loss of the care, ...guidance, protection, ... love, affection, solace, comfort, companionship, society and assistance from their mother. Plaintiffs experienced the horror of watching the devastation of their mother's condition on a day to day basis. This horror was further complicated by their having to deal with the anguish of missing the love and attention of their mother. They were too young to understand what and why this had happened. They could only feel abandoned. ... Their family has been destroyed and the loving parent-child relationship they once had has been forever terminated."
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
During the abortion, Glenda suffered a 1.5 - 2 inch long wound to her uterine artery and vein complex, causing massive bleeding. After a delay, staffers decided to transfer Glenda to the hospital. Glenda's husband discovered staffers attempting unsuccessfully to transfer Glenda from a wheelchair to a staffer's car. He helped them get Glenda into the car.
With the IV still in her arm, Glenda was driven to HCA Memorial Hospital. She had no blood pressure and almost no pulse upon arrival.
Glenda fell into a coma, and died three days later.
The family's attorney said, "Prior to the aforementioned breaches and negligence of these Defendants, Glenda H. Davis was a happy and healthy woman. ... Your minor Plaintiffs [Glenda's children] have suffered and will continue to suffer from the great loss of the care, ...guidance, protection, ... love, affection, solace, comfort, companionship, society and assistance from their mother. Plaintiffs experienced the horror of watching the devastation of their mother's condition on a day to day basis. This horror was further complicated by their having to deal with the anguish of missing the love and attention of their mother. They were too young to understand what and why this had happened. They could only feel abandoned. ... Their family has been destroyed and the loving parent-child relationship they once had has been forever terminated."
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1930: Physician abortion proves fatal
On March 14, 1930, Alberta Beard, age 29, died at the office of Dr. Davis Lucas from an abortion performed there that day. Lucas was arrested on May 24, on recommendation of the coroner. Lucas was indicted for felony murder in Alberta's death on August 7.
Alberta's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Alberta's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1930s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Friday, March 13, 2009
A real class act, abortionist Carhart
Abortionist Leroy Carhart, most famous for challenging the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, has been running his mill without an occupancy permit -- and without any proper electricity. He put a generator in the parking lot, ran an extension cord to the building, and parked a junked truck in front of the whole mess.
And this the very week the prochoicers were observing Abortionist Appreciation Day.
You'd think they would have chipped in and bought him an occupancy permit. Or a sense of class.
Would you bring your cat there for a flea dip, much less go there for surgery?
Statistical Manipulation 101
What's In a Number? That Depends on How You Define 'Homeless'
How do you drive up the number of "homeless" children so that you can generate the requisite alarm? You change the definition of "homeless" to include kids that aren't in fact homeless.
How do you drive up the number of "homeless" children so that you can generate the requisite alarm? You change the definition of "homeless" to include kids that aren't in fact homeless.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Ignorance is not bliss. Stop this Orwellian bill!
Dems Push Another Fake ‘Fair’ Bill That Will Kill Online Science Research Publishing
In a nutshell -- as I understand it -- the bill wants to prevent federally funded scientists from publishing their research findings anyplace but in expensive scientific journals that the layman has little or no access to, thus effectively preventing the public from knowing anything abut the research their tax dollars are paying for.
Here's the bill.
Read more about it:
Is NIH Public Access Mandate In Danger?
House Hearing on "Fair Copyright in Research Works Act"
The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act is a lot of things, but fair ain’t one of them
Fair Copyright in Research Works Act Challenges Federal Funding
I have to leave for work so I don't have time at the moment to research this myself. I'll get back to it later.
In a nutshell -- as I understand it -- the bill wants to prevent federally funded scientists from publishing their research findings anyplace but in expensive scientific journals that the layman has little or no access to, thus effectively preventing the public from knowing anything abut the research their tax dollars are paying for.
Here's the bill.
Read more about it:
I have to leave for work so I don't have time at the moment to research this myself. I'll get back to it later.
1928: Fatal abortion in Chicago
On March 12, 1928, 24-year-old Julia Agoston died at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Chicago. The coroner concluded that she had died from complications of a criminal abortion that had been performed in her home on February 4.
On March 31, Dr. Anton Feher, Dr. Helen Moskowitz, Susie Kosmos, and Manhart Agoston were held by the coroner. The physicians were held as principals. The two laypersons were held as accessories. Moskowitz was indicted for felony murder on November 23.
Julia's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
On March 31, Dr. Anton Feher, Dr. Helen Moskowitz, Susie Kosmos, and Manhart Agoston were held by the coroner. The physicians were held as principals. The two laypersons were held as accessories. Moskowitz was indicted for felony murder on November 23.
Julia's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Another Ringing Endorsement: "Killing Girls"
"Killing Girls"
Read it and weep. Then watch the trailer. Then tell me what we as a society are buying at such a cost. It doesn't look like freedom to me.
Read it and weep. Then watch the trailer. Then tell me what we as a society are buying at such a cost. It doesn't look like freedom to me.
Equally dead.
On February 13, 1929, 30-year-old Catherine Mau underwent an abortion at the hands of Chicago midwife Anna Heisler. Catherine died on March 11. On July 20, 1929, Heisler was sentenced to Joliet Penitentiary for Catherine's death.
Sidney Knight was facing a number of criminal abortion charges in 1973, when Roe v. Wade made them a moot point. He hung out his shingle and began performing abortions legally. In March of 1974, Janet Blaum went to Knight's New Orleans facility for a safe and legal abortion. Five days later, on March 11, she was dead of brain hemorrhage. Janet's ex-husband sued Knight on behalf of the couple's children, alleging that Knight had administered a fatal dose of anesthesia while preparing Janet for the abortion.
DaNette Adelle Pergusson, a 19-year-old medical assistant, submitted to a safe, legal abortion on February 11, 1992, at the hands of Robert Tarnis of Phoenix, Arizona. During the abortion, DaNette stopped breathing, and paramedics were summoned. The Maricopa County deputy medical examiner determined that DaNette died from a pulmonary embolism.
Sidney Knight was facing a number of criminal abortion charges in 1973, when Roe v. Wade made them a moot point. He hung out his shingle and began performing abortions legally. In March of 1974, Janet Blaum went to Knight's New Orleans facility for a safe and legal abortion. Five days later, on March 11, she was dead of brain hemorrhage. Janet's ex-husband sued Knight on behalf of the couple's children, alleging that Knight had administered a fatal dose of anesthesia while preparing Janet for the abortion.
DaNette Adelle Pergusson, a 19-year-old medical assistant, submitted to a safe, legal abortion on February 11, 1992, at the hands of Robert Tarnis of Phoenix, Arizona. During the abortion, DaNette stopped breathing, and paramedics were summoned. The Maricopa County deputy medical examiner determined that DaNette died from a pulmonary embolism.
"(Some) Women's Lives Matter to Me, How About You?"
I got an email from the erstwhile National Abortion Rights Action League, entitled, "Women's Lives Matter to Me, How About You?"
NARAL talks about women's lives a lot. But I've not seen any evidence that they care about these women at all.
If you meet an untimely end at a legally operating -- or even quasi-legally operating -- abortion mill, too bad. You paid your money, you took your chances. It's only women who might die if the abortion laws change that matter to NARAL.
Look at the Cemetery of Choice. Look at my blog. Do you see me playing the "Only some women's lives matter" game? Do I gloss over or ignore a woman's abortion death because of my particular political opinion? Do you see me being selective about which abortion deaths I mention and which ones I ignore?
But look at NARAL.
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when a Planned Parenthood nurse in California began an abortion procedure on Edrica Goode, in spite of documented evidence of infection that should have been treated first?
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when Rapin Osathanondh had an untrained staffer assisting in general anesthesia in Laura Smith's fatal abortion?
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation member clinics used an off-label method of dispensing RU-486, resulting in a cluster of septic abortion deaths including Orienne Shevin, Holly Patterson, and Chanelle Bryant?
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when George TIller and his staff performed a fatal third-trimester abortion on Christin Gilbert, a mentally disabled teenager who they kept in a motel room under her parents' supervision for three days while her condition deteriorated?
These are actual women whose lives were lost, and NARAL (now calling themselves NARAL Pro-Choice America) never responded to a single one of them by sending me an alarmed email begging for my help in protecting women's lives. It's only when a law threatens to reduce abortion revenues that suddenly there's an urgent need to act, to "protect women".
I'll believe NARAL is concerned with women's lives when they care about all women, not just hypothetical women, or women whose deaths they can score political points with.
NARAL talks about women's lives a lot. But I've not seen any evidence that they care about these women at all.
If you meet an untimely end at a legally operating -- or even quasi-legally operating -- abortion mill, too bad. You paid your money, you took your chances. It's only women who might die if the abortion laws change that matter to NARAL.
Look at the Cemetery of Choice. Look at my blog. Do you see me playing the "Only some women's lives matter" game? Do I gloss over or ignore a woman's abortion death because of my particular political opinion? Do you see me being selective about which abortion deaths I mention and which ones I ignore?
But look at NARAL.
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when a Planned Parenthood nurse in California began an abortion procedure on Edrica Goode, in spite of documented evidence of infection that should have been treated first?
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when Rapin Osathanondh had an untrained staffer assisting in general anesthesia in Laura Smith's fatal abortion?
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation member clinics used an off-label method of dispensing RU-486, resulting in a cluster of septic abortion deaths including Orienne Shevin, Holly Patterson, and Chanelle Bryant?
Did you hear a word of outcry from NARAL about the danger to women when George TIller and his staff performed a fatal third-trimester abortion on Christin Gilbert, a mentally disabled teenager who they kept in a motel room under her parents' supervision for three days while her condition deteriorated?
These are actual women whose lives were lost, and NARAL (now calling themselves NARAL Pro-Choice America) never responded to a single one of them by sending me an alarmed email begging for my help in protecting women's lives. It's only when a law threatens to reduce abortion revenues that suddenly there's an urgent need to act, to "protect women".
I'll believe NARAL is concerned with women's lives when they care about all women, not just hypothetical women, or women whose deaths they can score political points with.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Abortionist Appreciation Day and Why I Don't Appreciate Them Very Much
Here's just one example of why I think a day of appreciation for abortionists is a really lame idea:
Dennis W. Miller performed a safe and legal abortion on eighteen-year-old Erna Fisher, while her mother held her hand, on March 10, 1988. During the abortion, Erna suddenly sat up, went into convulsions, and began to vomit. Miller continued with the abortion while Erna choked to death on her own vomit. When an ambulance crew arrived, they found Erna's airway still full of vomit. Miller was making no attempt at resuscitation, but was holding Erna in his arms.
Miller had already settled six malpractice cases in the Kansas City area. He had failed the Missouri state medical exam three times before finally giving up. It took nine tries for him to pass the exam to be licensed in Kansas.
This is the kind of guy the abortion lobby wants us to "appreciate" today for the "service" the provide to desperate, frightened women.
Let's not forget the other stellar "providers of vital reproductive health care" that the abortion lobby wants us to appreciate today:
Abram Zelikman, who left the hemorrhaging Eurice Agbagaa in the care of an untrained receptionist.
Raymond Showery, erstwhile studio wrestler, who let Mickey Apodaca bleed to death while he was out on bail appealing a murder conviction.
Hanan Rotem, National Abortion Federation member responsible for the death of Gloria Aponte, and who was allowing his untrained receptionist to assist with general anesthesia.
John Biskind, who let Lisa Bardsley and Lou Ann Herron bleed to death.
James Franklin, who sent Betty Damato home with a trash bag to collect her dead baby in.
Hector Zavalos, who sent newlywed Barbaralee Davis home with the face and spine of her unborn baby jammed into a tear in her uterus.
Inno Obasi, who cut a uterine artery and let Synthia Dennard bleed to death from an abortion he performed on her when -- as it turned out -- she wasn't even pregnant in the first place.
Milan Vuitch, who started out as a proper "back alley butcher" then went on to kill Jeannie English and Wilma Harris after legalization.
George Tiller, who runs the late-term abortion mill where Christin Gilbert, a mentally-disabled teenager, was subjected to a fatal third-trimester abortion.
Moshe Hachamovitch, who performed the fatal abortions on Christina Goesswein, Tanya Williamson, and Luz Rodriguez and owned the seedy mills where Lisa Bardsley, Lou Ann Herron, and Jammie Garcia suffered their fatal injuries.
Harvey Johnson, who sent Shary Graham home to bleed to death.
Gideon Kioko, who let both Debra Gray and Suzanne Logan suffer life-ending brain damage.
Thomas Tucker, who cancelled the ambulance his nurse had called for Angela Hall.
Bruce Steir, who left the hemorrhaging Sharon Hamplton in the care of staff who put her in a wheelchair and shoved her out the door to die.
Robert Sherman, who was caught deliberately performing incomplete abortions so he could charge more for aftercare -- killing Rita McDowell.
Carl Armstrong, who sent Sandra Milton home to bleed to death in front of her three children.
Arnold Bickham, who shoved the hemorrhaging Sylvia Moore out the door to bleed to death.
David Benjamin, who did such a botch job on trying to resuscitate Guadalupe Negron that he pumped her stomach full of air instead of getting oxygen into her lungs.
E. Wyman Garrett, who lacerated Germaine Newman internally, then sent her home to bleed to death on the bathroom floor.
Benjamin Munson, erstwhile "back alley butcher", who sent both Linda Padfield and Yvonne Mesteth home to die of sepsis from incomplete abortions.
Suresh Gandotra, who shoved a maimed 32-week fetus through the back of Magdalena Rodriguez's uterus, then left her unattended while he did other patient's abortions.
Scott Barrett, who saved money by overdosing patients on Lidocaine instead of hiring a nurse-anesthetist -- thus killing Stacy Ruckman
Abraham Alberto Hodari, who performed the fatal abortions on Tamiia Russell, whose abuser's sister had arranged the abortion; he also did the fatal abortions on Chivon Williams and Regina Johnson.
Jesse Ketchum, former "back alley abortionist", who went on to kill Carole Schaner and Margaret Smith in just four months time.
The staff of Atlanta Women's Pavillion, who managed to fatally injure two teenage abortion patients almost simultaneously.
Rapin Osathanondh, who had a "hand holder" assisting in general anesthesia on Laura Hope Smith.
Frank Robinson, who sent Jennifer Suddeth home to bleed to death.
Wendell Phillips, who pumped carbon dioxide into Pamela Wainwright's blood stream, killing her.
And this is just a sampling of the stalwart providers of vital reproductive health care services we're to be appreciating today.
With friends like these guys, who needs enemies?
And a warning to those who hold abortionists up as heroes: Ezekiel 35:6 -- "Therefore as surely as I live," declares the Sovereign LORD, "I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you." As, indeed, bloodshed pursues those who embrace bloodshed as a way of solving their problems.
When are we going to decide enough is enough, and turn to nonviolent ways of dealing with pregnant women's problems?
Dennis W. Miller performed a safe and legal abortion on eighteen-year-old Erna Fisher, while her mother held her hand, on March 10, 1988. During the abortion, Erna suddenly sat up, went into convulsions, and began to vomit. Miller continued with the abortion while Erna choked to death on her own vomit. When an ambulance crew arrived, they found Erna's airway still full of vomit. Miller was making no attempt at resuscitation, but was holding Erna in his arms.
Miller had already settled six malpractice cases in the Kansas City area. He had failed the Missouri state medical exam three times before finally giving up. It took nine tries for him to pass the exam to be licensed in Kansas.
This is the kind of guy the abortion lobby wants us to "appreciate" today for the "service" the provide to desperate, frightened women.
Let's not forget the other stellar "providers of vital reproductive health care" that the abortion lobby wants us to appreciate today:
And this is just a sampling of the stalwart providers of vital reproductive health care services we're to be appreciating today.
With friends like these guys, who needs enemies?
And a warning to those who hold abortionists up as heroes: Ezekiel 35:6 -- "Therefore as surely as I live," declares the Sovereign LORD, "I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you." As, indeed, bloodshed pursues those who embrace bloodshed as a way of solving their problems.
When are we going to decide enough is enough, and turn to nonviolent ways of dealing with pregnant women's problems?
Monday, March 09, 2009
Help needed: LGBT crisis pregnancy manual
HT: Turn the Clock Forward:
ProLife Alliance of Gays and Lesibians and the Nonviolent Choice Directory are collaborating on a crisis pregnancy manual for the LGBT community. Please check out their survey and see if you can offer any assistance.
My initial response was, "How can lesbians experience a crisis pregnancy?" But the link explains, and really raises some awareness. And the manual will likely develop into something that will also help in all pregnancy center situations. Look at some of the areas they're exploring:
I can not count the number of times I've lamented that women end up on the abortion table because they're so desperate for acceptance and affection that they'll have sex with men that are, frankly, loathsome. I listened sadly to a tape of National Abortion Federation nurses commiserating about how they couldn't get their patients to abstain from sex while healing from their abortions, not because the patients were unwilling to abstain, but because their "boyfriends" simply won't allow it. Not to mention the "boyfriends" refuse to wear condoms, and have sex with multiple other women.
NB: Don't go if you're going to get snarky about sexuality issues. Gay, lesbian, and other nontraditionally-sexual people don't operate in a nice cocoon of acceptance the way straight prolifers do. They exist largely on the political Left, where they will be under vicious attack for not marching in lockstep on abortion, but when they try to work with prolifers, they get attacked for their sexuality. They have no place to call home, but are under constant attack no matter where they are and what they do. Well, let's look at it this way: Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. These folks are standing up for TRUTH and for LIFE, and as such, whether consciously or not, they are facing persecution for ... Jesus. Fill in the blanks! Let Jesus decide for Himself how much weight he wants to give to who they're sexually attracted to and what they do about it. If you can't work beside them, just leave them in peace. Or you will have to answer to Jesus for tearing them down when they were trying to stand for Truth and Life. Or do you think you have everything 100% nailed down and have no sin?
ProLife Alliance of Gays and Lesibians and the Nonviolent Choice Directory are collaborating on a crisis pregnancy manual for the LGBT community. Please check out their survey and see if you can offer any assistance.
My initial response was, "How can lesbians experience a crisis pregnancy?" But the link explains, and really raises some awareness. And the manual will likely develop into something that will also help in all pregnancy center situations. Look at some of the areas they're exploring:
The Lifesaving, Life-Affirming Power of Acceptance (Acceptance by others and one’s self as a preventive for suicide, substance abuse, sexual abuse, unprotected and risky sex, & other problems with a bearing on the incidence of crisis pregnancy & abortion. Some “how to’s” for achieving acceptance.)
I can not count the number of times I've lamented that women end up on the abortion table because they're so desperate for acceptance and affection that they'll have sex with men that are, frankly, loathsome. I listened sadly to a tape of National Abortion Federation nurses commiserating about how they couldn't get their patients to abstain from sex while healing from their abortions, not because the patients were unwilling to abstain, but because their "boyfriends" simply won't allow it. Not to mention the "boyfriends" refuse to wear condoms, and have sex with multiple other women.
NB: Don't go if you're going to get snarky about sexuality issues. Gay, lesbian, and other nontraditionally-sexual people don't operate in a nice cocoon of acceptance the way straight prolifers do. They exist largely on the political Left, where they will be under vicious attack for not marching in lockstep on abortion, but when they try to work with prolifers, they get attacked for their sexuality. They have no place to call home, but are under constant attack no matter where they are and what they do. Well, let's look at it this way: Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. These folks are standing up for TRUTH and for LIFE, and as such, whether consciously or not, they are facing persecution for ... Jesus. Fill in the blanks! Let Jesus decide for Himself how much weight he wants to give to who they're sexually attracted to and what they do about it. If you can't work beside them, just leave them in peace. Or you will have to answer to Jesus for tearing them down when they were trying to stand for Truth and Life. Or do you think you have everything 100% nailed down and have no sin?
1921: Abortion by doctor leaves children motherless
On March 1, 1921, Dr. C.W. Milliken performed an abortion on Iva J. Triplett. Milliken was practicing in Akron, Ohio. Immediately after the abortion, Iva became severely ill. She continued under Milliken's care until she died of septicemia and peritonitis on March 9, leaving a widower and children.
Iva's survivors sued, not only for the injury but for failure to inform Iva's family of the nature of her illness so that they could seek and provide appropriate care for her.
Iva's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Eight years later, on March 9, 1929, Alline L. Brown died in Chicago from a criminal abortion. The culprit was never identified or brought to justice.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Iva's survivors sued, not only for the injury but for failure to inform Iva's family of the nature of her illness so that they could seek and provide appropriate care for her.
Iva's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
Eight years later, on March 9, 1929, Alline L. Brown died in Chicago from a criminal abortion. The culprit was never identified or brought to justice.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Historic abortion death from 1889
Twenty-two-year-old Miss Bellville died Friday, March 8, 1889, from complications of an attempted abortion. "Her death aroused increased excitement in Astoria."
A week before her death, Miss Bellville made a deathbed statement that Arthur B. Roosa had helped her to abort another pregnancy the previous June, "furnishing the instrument and instructing her in its use".
Roosa, Miss Bellville said, was the father of both aborted children. He had not helped her with the second, fatal abortion. News coverage attempted to quell rumors that any local physicians, or any party other than Miss Bellville herself, "had any part in this criminal act."
I would appreciate any help in deciphering the jargon in the article that states: "On the other side it can be shown that the girl has been 'unfortunate' on three former occasions, and that some three other men have paid sums of money at her suit as being each the author of these respective troubles." I take this to mean that she had sued three men prior to her involvement with Roosa for "seducing" her and "inducing" her to abort these pregnancies.
Miss Bellville had been blind for four years, though what role this played in her troubles is not in any way spelled out or speculated upon in the news coverage of her death.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
A week before her death, Miss Bellville made a deathbed statement that Arthur B. Roosa had helped her to abort another pregnancy the previous June, "furnishing the instrument and instructing her in its use".
Roosa, Miss Bellville said, was the father of both aborted children. He had not helped her with the second, fatal abortion. News coverage attempted to quell rumors that any local physicians, or any party other than Miss Bellville herself, "had any part in this criminal act."
I would appreciate any help in deciphering the jargon in the article that states: "On the other side it can be shown that the girl has been 'unfortunate' on three former occasions, and that some three other men have paid sums of money at her suit as being each the author of these respective troubles." I take this to mean that she had sued three men prior to her involvement with Roosa for "seducing" her and "inducing" her to abort these pregnancies.
Miss Bellville had been blind for four years, though what role this played in her troubles is not in any way spelled out or speculated upon in the news coverage of her death.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
1975: Intentional incomplete abortion kills teen
Sixteen-year-old Rita McDowell was the daughter of Ethel Kennedy's part-time housekeeper. On March 4, 1975, Robert Sherman performed a safe and legal abortion on Rita. When Rita was discharged, her mother was informed that she would probably expel the fetus that night.
Rita did not expel the fetus. Instead, she developed a fever. Her mother called Sherman's facility on March 5 to seek care for her daughter. She said that Sherman would not speak to her, and that the receptionist told her to bring Rita in two days later.
In the early morning hours of March 7, Rita awoke screaming, then collapsed in her mother's arms. Doctors at the hospital where Rita was taken removed the fetus, but she died just after midnight on March 8.
An investigation into Rita's death revealed evidence that Sherman deliberately performed incomplete abortions so that he could charge more for follow-up care. Sherman was charged with murder in Rita's death, and prosecutors presented witnesses and evidence that Sherman re-used disposable medical equipment, failed to perform tests to verify pregnancy, failed to do pathology examinations of abortion tissues, allowed a nurse's aide to perform surgery, and falsified medical records.
Sherman claimed to develop heart problems during the murder trial. He plea-bargained, getting the murder charge dropped in exchange for a guilty plea on the perjury charges. The prosecutor defended the plea bargain on the grounds that the felony convictions would block Sherman from ever practicing medicine again. Sherman served two years in a federal prison, then set up a legal abortion practice in Boston.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Rita did not expel the fetus. Instead, she developed a fever. Her mother called Sherman's facility on March 5 to seek care for her daughter. She said that Sherman would not speak to her, and that the receptionist told her to bring Rita in two days later.
In the early morning hours of March 7, Rita awoke screaming, then collapsed in her mother's arms. Doctors at the hospital where Rita was taken removed the fetus, but she died just after midnight on March 8.
An investigation into Rita's death revealed evidence that Sherman deliberately performed incomplete abortions so that he could charge more for follow-up care. Sherman was charged with murder in Rita's death, and prosecutors presented witnesses and evidence that Sherman re-used disposable medical equipment, failed to perform tests to verify pregnancy, failed to do pathology examinations of abortion tissues, allowed a nurse's aide to perform surgery, and falsified medical records.
Sherman claimed to develop heart problems during the murder trial. He plea-bargained, getting the murder charge dropped in exchange for a guilty plea on the perjury charges. The prosecutor defended the plea bargain on the grounds that the felony convictions would block Sherman from ever practicing medicine again. Sherman served two years in a federal prison, then set up a legal abortion practice in Boston.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Two beneficiaries of New York's abortion law
March 8 of 1972 saw two dubious beneficiaries of New York's "liberal" abortion law.
In early March of 1972, "Colleen" traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion. She was 21 years old and 20 weeks pregnant. Colleen had a history of asthma. During the abortion, she went into respiratory arrest. She died March 8.
"Connie" was 31 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion in New York on March 3, 1972. She went into cardiac arrest during the abortion. Attempts to save her life were futile; she died on March 8, five days after her abortion. She left behind one child.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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In early March of 1972, "Colleen" traveled from Michigan to New York for a safe and legal abortion. She was 21 years old and 20 weeks pregnant. Colleen had a history of asthma. During the abortion, she went into respiratory arrest. She died March 8.
"Connie" was 31 years old when she underwent a safe and legal abortion in New York on March 3, 1972. She went into cardiac arrest during the abortion. Attempts to save her life were futile; she died on March 8, five days after her abortion. She left behind one child.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Saturday, March 07, 2009
A fatal case from 1908
On March 7, 1908, Nellie M. Shuff, aka Mrs. E. C. Coulter, age 26, of New Berling, Illinois, died at a Chicago residence. The coroner's jury determined that she died from comlications of an abortion.
Johanna White, whose profession was not given, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to Joliet for the death.
Nellie's abortion was atypical in that it was not performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
Johanna White, whose profession was not given, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to Joliet for the death.
Nellie's abortion was atypical in that it was not performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
How things have changed!
Coroner Simms last night resumed the inquest touching the death of Miss Antoinette Fennor. Seated in a corner of the room ... was the father of the unfortunate girl, buried in the great crowd which surged about the doorway and pressed against the railing which inclosed the space where the jury, reporters and counsel were seated, anxious to hear every word as it fell from the witnesses' mouths.
News coverage of the March, 1875 coroner's inquest into the March 7, 1875 death of Antoinette Fennor gives us an interesting glimpse into how abortion was practiced, investigated, and prosecuted in Brooklyn in the late 19th century, and how the public responded to abortion deaths.
This article focused mostly on the testimony of Detective James H. Roche, give March 17.
On the previous Saturday, March 13, Roche went to Mrs. Catherine Maxwell's home, and found her seated at the window in the front parlor. Mr. Maxwell admitted him. Roche had to wait for a couple, not identified, to finish whatever business they had with Mrs. Maxwell.
Posing as a young woman's debaucher, Roche indicated to Mrs. Maxwell that he wanted to arrange an abortion. Mrs. Maxwell asked how advanced the pregnancy was, and he said about five months. "She said that was a very bad case but that she could attend to it all right as she had forty years' experience in New York City in that kind of business."
She asked how old the girl was and if she was living with her parents. Roche said that the girl had been living with him for about two years. Mrs. Maxwell asked for $100, and said that Roche would leave the girl at a nearby boarding house run by a friend of hers, who would charge $25 a week. He would also have to furnish a doctor to provide aftercare, and that Mr. Maxwell would check on the girl daily to see to it that the aftercare was adequate.
Roche asked if there was a risk of death, and Mrs. Maxwell said that there was no more risk for the abortion than for an ordinary childbirth. She also said that the procedure itself could be done in half the time they had spent talking about it.
When asked about instruments and medicines, Mrs. Maxwell said that she would use a syringe and some medicine.
Finally, Roche asked if it was better to have a woman, rather than a man, performing such a procedure. Mrs. Maxwell told him "they were much better, and that men should not be allowed to touch women at all". She cited a case in Brooklyn, in which she said Dr. Estes had been arrested and his patient had died.
Roche spent some time dickering the price down to $75, then tried to get a discount on the boarding house. There Mrs. Maxwell stood firm, saying that it was not she, but her friend, who set the price for that, and the price was not negotiable.
It was then that Roche admitted his true identity and presented his warrant for her arrest in Antoinette Fennor's death -- the Brooklyn girl whose death Mrs. Maxwell had mentioned.
Mrs. Maxwell wanted to know what evidence he had against her. Roche told Mrs. Maxwell that a woman had said she had come to Maxwell's home with the girl. Mrs. Maxwell said that she'd be in the workhouse if she didn't go into the abortion business, since her husband was "feeble" and unable to work, that she had rent to pay, servants to pay. She admitted that she'd been arrested twice for abortion previously. As her husband went to get the carriage to bring her to the station, she told Roche that she felt sorry not for herself, but for her children, since she would likely die in prison.
One of Mrs. Maxwell's priors was then brought out in the inquest. On February 16, 1846, she had been found guilty under the name of Catherine Costello, alias Maxwell, of doing an abortion on Emily D. She had been sentenced to 6 months, and fined $250. The girl's "seducer", Charles Mason, who had arranged the abortion, was sentenced to four months. The other abortion had evidently performed on a Mrs. Jennie Gale, who testified against Mrs. Maxwell at the inquest at some point, and who evidently had referred for the abortion that had killed Antoinette. Mrs. Gale was arrested as an accessory, and her attorney protested that she had come to the inquest as a witness and therefore should not have been subject to criminal charges.
Mrs. Maxwell was then brought into the room to be identified by Roche. Snidely Whiplash couldn't have gotten a more negative response:
As she is unable to walk, she was carried into the court room on her chair by two officers, who placed her in the centre of the room, facing [Roche]. In answer to the Coroner's inquiry, "Do you identify that woman as the person whom you arrested?" the officer replied, "I do," and the woman was wheeled back to the private room on the Coroner waving his hand, saying, "Take that woman away." The woman is anything but an agreeable looking personage, and the great crowd that looked upon her seemed to feel the contempt and disgust which the Coroner's words and actions showed he had for the woman as he turned his gaze from her and ordered her taken from the room.
Dr. J.J. Skene and Dr. Ford had attended Antoinette during her fatal deterioration. Skene testified about her physical condition. Dr. A. W. Shepherd had participated in the autopsy. He testified that the baby had been of four months' gestation. He testified that Antoinette had died from abortion injuries, which he described but the news coverage skipped.
Mrs. Ellen Wood was an acquaintance of John H. Betts, the father of Antoinette's baby. She testified that he had spoken to her the previous July about an abortion for Miss Annie Clews, and had offered her $30. Annie was called. She testified that she had a baby by Betts. He'd offered her money to abort the child in question, but she had refused.
The verdict was that Antoinette died of peritonitis March 7, 1875, from an abortion performed about February 26 by Mrs. Maxwell. Jennie Gale and John Betts were accessories. All three were arrested.
In striking contrast to a modern abortion death case, there were none of the signs of concern for women's lives that you see nowadays. There was no knot of supporters outside holding signs saying "Mrs. Maxwell Helps Women". There was no ad-hoc coalition of lobbying and activist organizations forming a legal defense fund for the woman who killed Antoinette. And there was no group of young admirers asking Mrs. Maxwell to come speak to them about how they could follow in her footsteps. There were none of those familiar signs we see nowadays about how important it is to protect women from lethal butchery. No, back then, when nobody cared about women's lives, being party to a woman's abortion death just got you scorn, infamy, and a prison sentence.
How times have changed.
1978: Risky outpatient abortion proves fatal for mother of six
Gloria Small, a 43-year-old mother of six, went to Ronald Tauber for a safe ane legal abortion. Despite Gloria's obesity, asthma, chronic lung disease, and family history of high blood pressure, Tauber elected to perform the 15-week abortion at his Orlando Birthing Center on March 7, 1978.
Gloria's uterus was punctured in the abortion. She died despite an emergency hysterectomy. The medical examiner said that Gloria's medical history should have precluded performing an abortion in an outpatient setting. A court-appointed panel found Tauber negligent in Gloria's death.
Tauber's license was suspended the month Gloria died; this means that if the Centers for Disease Control counted Gloria's death, they would have tabulated it as a death from an illegal abortion. (They count abortions as legal only if they are performed by a physician with an active license.)
Learn more about abortion deaths in the 1970s here.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Gloria's uterus was punctured in the abortion. She died despite an emergency hysterectomy. The medical examiner said that Gloria's medical history should have precluded performing an abortion in an outpatient setting. A court-appointed panel found Tauber negligent in Gloria's death.
Tauber's license was suspended the month Gloria died; this means that if the Centers for Disease Control counted Gloria's death, they would have tabulated it as a death from an illegal abortion. (They count abortions as legal only if they are performed by a physician with an active license.)
Learn more about abortion deaths in the 1970s here.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Friday, March 06, 2009
Hebrews 4:13
Hebrews 4:13:
Scary words. There's no such thing as a secret when you're dealing with God.
You might hide your sin from your family, friends, neighbors. You might hide it from the authorities. You might even do it while you're drunk so that you don't remember it in the morning -- effectively hiding it from yourself. But you can't hide it from God.
International Standard Version (©2008)
No creature can hide from him, but everyone is exposed and helpless before the eyes of the one to whom we must give a word of explanation.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
No creature can hide from God. Everything is uncovered and exposed for him to see. We must answer to him.
King James Bible
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Bible in Basic English
And there is nothing made which is not completely clear to him; there is nothing covered, but all things are open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
English Revised Version
And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Young's Literal Translation
and there is not a created thing not manifest before Him, but all things are naked and open to His eyes -- with whom is our reckoning.
Scary words. There's no such thing as a secret when you're dealing with God.
You might hide your sin from your family, friends, neighbors. You might hide it from the authorities. You might even do it while you're drunk so that you don't remember it in the morning -- effectively hiding it from yourself. But you can't hide it from God.
1969-70: Safe, legal, and a lingering death for California teen
A 16-year-old girl underwent a safe and legal second-trimester saline abortion on August 26, 1969. A journal article on her death identifies her as "F.S." Life Dynamics identifies her as "Fay" on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a legal abortion.
F.S. developed an infection and symptoms of meningitis after her abortion. She continued to be treated for ten days before she was transferred to another hospital in San Francisco for further treatment.
Doctors performed two heart valve replacements of F.S., and had scheduled her for yet another before she died on March 6, 1970. The cause of death was severe congestive heart failure and pneumonia.
F.S. developed an infection and symptoms of meningitis after her abortion. She continued to be treated for ten days before she was transferred to another hospital in San Francisco for further treatment.
Doctors performed two heart valve replacements of F.S., and had scheduled her for yet another before she died on March 6, 1970. The cause of death was severe congestive heart failure and pneumonia.
1985: Tea and sympathy. And death.
Chatoor Bisal Singh did an abortion on 38-year-old Ellen Lorena Williams at Dadeland Family Planning in Miami. On March 2, 1985. On March 4, Ellen returned, doubled over and rocking back and forth in pain. Betty Eason gave her some tea, then called Singh, who arrived four hours later. Singh examined Ellen, then turned her over to Nabil Ghali, who performed a second D&C and sent Ellen home with a bottle of antibiotics. On March 5, Ellen was rushed by ambulance to Coral Reef Hospital, where she was rushed into surgery. She died in the intensive care unit on March 6. The autopsy revealed that she had uterine and bowel perforations, causing the peritonitis that killed her.
Singh told the Miami Herald that he didn't usually work at Dadeland, but was "strapped for cash" and agreed to fill in for Robert Kast while he was away. Singh described himself as "not an abortionist, just an honest, easygoing guy looking for something temporary. After Ellen's death, Singh quit working at Dadeland, saying, "It was a bad month." It certainly was: the same day he'd performed the first abortion on Ellen Williams, Singh also did an abortion on a woman identified as "Patricia W.," who afterward hemorrhaged and passed a portion of her fetus, which Singh had failed to remove. When she returned with it to the clinic, staff told her it was "a blood clot," but a hospital later verified that it was a 16-week fetal head.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Singh told the Miami Herald that he didn't usually work at Dadeland, but was "strapped for cash" and agreed to fill in for Robert Kast while he was away. Singh described himself as "not an abortionist, just an honest, easygoing guy looking for something temporary. After Ellen's death, Singh quit working at Dadeland, saying, "It was a bad month." It certainly was: the same day he'd performed the first abortion on Ellen Williams, Singh also did an abortion on a woman identified as "Patricia W.," who afterward hemorrhaged and passed a portion of her fetus, which Singh had failed to remove. When she returned with it to the clinic, staff told her it was "a blood clot," but a hospital later verified that it was a 16-week fetal head.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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1945: Seattle abortion proves fatal
Beatrice Fern Fisher, age 36, operated a gas station and grocery store with her husband, Lyle, in Snohomish county, about seventeen miles north of Seattle. The couple had three children, aged 14, 13, and 4. Around 1937, Beatrice had successfully sought an abortion, performed by the same Seattle doctor who had delivered her oldest child. Around March 4 of 1945, Beatrice informed her husband that she was pregnant, and that she intended to return to Seattle for an abortion to be performed by the woman who'd done the first abortion. Her husband wasn't happy with the plan, but left the matter to his wife.
On March 5, Beatrice took her four-year-old daughter and $100 in cash and drove to Seattle to seek her former physician. On the way to Seattle, Beatrice stopped at the home of her mother-in-law, Ethel Howard. Mrs. Howard was a practical nurse. While at her mother-in-law's house, Beatrice called a "Dr. T" and spoke to him about having an abortion done. This was the first Mrs. Howard learned of the pregnancy.
At some point that morning, Beatrice called her husband and said that she'd not been able to talk to her doctor, but that the nurse at the doctor's office had referred her to "Dr. T" in Seattle.
Beatrice, her mother-in-law, and the little girl went to Seattle, to Dr. T's office. They arrived at around noon. Dr. T was not available, but his nurse gave Beatrice a business card from Dr. T. On the back, she wrote the name of Dr. Frank C. Hart, along with the address of his office in the Joshua Green building in Seattle.
Beatrice and her companions went to Hart's office, where they found a waiting room full of women but no nurse. Later, Hard came into the waiting room and announced, "Five of you women that came in just now leave and those that were here yesterday remain." Mrs. Howard left with the little girl, but Beatrice stayed.
On the drive home, at about 5:00, Beatrice stopped at her mother-in-law's home. She said she had a severe headache. She was perspiring heavily. Mrs. Howard, following Dr. Hart's instructions, gave her daughter-in-law black tea and put a hot water bottle under her back. That was when she noticed that Beatrice's genitals were bandaged.
Beatrice stayed in bed for about 45 minutes, then got up for dinner with her in-laws. She left for home at about 8:30, stopping at the gas station to pick up her husband.
The following morning, Beatrice told her husband that she was returning to Dr. Hart to have "blood clots" removed. She looked tired. She took her daughter with her again, stopping again at her mother-in-law's house. The three went into Seattle, ate lunch, then went to Hart's office. During the trip, Beatrice reported chest and arm pain, and her face was flushed deep red.
At Hart's office, the women again found a waiting room full of women, but no nurse. Again, Hart made the announcement that those who were there for the first time were to leave, and the rest were to remain. He told Beatrice to proceed into the office. Mrs. Howard told Hart that she was very concerned about Beatrice. Fisher told her, "This is no place for relations and children. Meet her downstairs in the lobby."
Expecting her daughter-in-law to be ready to leave in about 20 minutes, Mrs. Howard went to do some shopping. On returning to the building, she found a crowd of people gathered in the lobby near the flower shop. Mrs. Howard approached the group and found Beatrice lying dead.
The autopsy determined that Beatrice had been about two months pregnant. There were clear signs that somebody had performed a curettage. The uterine wall had been gouged in several places. Clots had formed over these gouges. The coroner concluded that one of these clots had formed an embolism that had lodged in Beatrice's lung, causing her death.
On March 7, Hart was arrested. He showed authorities through his premises and gave instruments into evidence, including sponge-forceps and irrigating curettes. When questioned, Hart said that he kept no patient records and didn't give receipts.
Hart was convicted of abortion and manslaughter in Beatrice's death.
Beatrice's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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On March 5, Beatrice took her four-year-old daughter and $100 in cash and drove to Seattle to seek her former physician. On the way to Seattle, Beatrice stopped at the home of her mother-in-law, Ethel Howard. Mrs. Howard was a practical nurse. While at her mother-in-law's house, Beatrice called a "Dr. T" and spoke to him about having an abortion done. This was the first Mrs. Howard learned of the pregnancy.
At some point that morning, Beatrice called her husband and said that she'd not been able to talk to her doctor, but that the nurse at the doctor's office had referred her to "Dr. T" in Seattle.
Beatrice, her mother-in-law, and the little girl went to Seattle, to Dr. T's office. They arrived at around noon. Dr. T was not available, but his nurse gave Beatrice a business card from Dr. T. On the back, she wrote the name of Dr. Frank C. Hart, along with the address of his office in the Joshua Green building in Seattle.
Beatrice and her companions went to Hart's office, where they found a waiting room full of women but no nurse. Later, Hard came into the waiting room and announced, "Five of you women that came in just now leave and those that were here yesterday remain." Mrs. Howard left with the little girl, but Beatrice stayed.
On the drive home, at about 5:00, Beatrice stopped at her mother-in-law's home. She said she had a severe headache. She was perspiring heavily. Mrs. Howard, following Dr. Hart's instructions, gave her daughter-in-law black tea and put a hot water bottle under her back. That was when she noticed that Beatrice's genitals were bandaged.
Beatrice stayed in bed for about 45 minutes, then got up for dinner with her in-laws. She left for home at about 8:30, stopping at the gas station to pick up her husband.
The following morning, Beatrice told her husband that she was returning to Dr. Hart to have "blood clots" removed. She looked tired. She took her daughter with her again, stopping again at her mother-in-law's house. The three went into Seattle, ate lunch, then went to Hart's office. During the trip, Beatrice reported chest and arm pain, and her face was flushed deep red.
At Hart's office, the women again found a waiting room full of women, but no nurse. Again, Hart made the announcement that those who were there for the first time were to leave, and the rest were to remain. He told Beatrice to proceed into the office. Mrs. Howard told Hart that she was very concerned about Beatrice. Fisher told her, "This is no place for relations and children. Meet her downstairs in the lobby."
Expecting her daughter-in-law to be ready to leave in about 20 minutes, Mrs. Howard went to do some shopping. On returning to the building, she found a crowd of people gathered in the lobby near the flower shop. Mrs. Howard approached the group and found Beatrice lying dead.
The autopsy determined that Beatrice had been about two months pregnant. There were clear signs that somebody had performed a curettage. The uterine wall had been gouged in several places. Clots had formed over these gouges. The coroner concluded that one of these clots had formed an embolism that had lodged in Beatrice's lung, causing her death.
On March 7, Hart was arrested. He showed authorities through his premises and gave instruments into evidence, including sponge-forceps and irrigating curettes. When questioned, Hart said that he kept no patient records and didn't give receipts.
Hart was convicted of abortion and manslaughter in Beatrice's death.
Beatrice's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician.
During the 1940s, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality from abortion. The death toll fell from 1,407 in 1940, to 744 in 1945, to 263 in 1950. Most researches attribute this plunge to the development of blood transfusion techniques and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more here.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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1929: Midwife abortion proves fatal for Chicago woman
On March 6, 1928, Lucille Smith, a 23-year-old store clerk, died at Chicago's Burrows Hospital from complications of an abortion performed that day at the office of midwife Emma Schulz.
Schulz was indicted for felony murder on April 1, 1929.
The following year, Schulz was arrested after the death of 23-year-old Gladys Schaffer.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
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Schulz was indicted for felony murder on April 1, 1929.
The following year, Schulz was arrested after the death of 23-year-old Gladys Schaffer.
Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see Abortion in the 1920s.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Psalm 100:3
Psalm 100:3
This hearkens back to what I said about physical strongholds -- the idea that we somehow own our bodies. But we didn't make them. I dare say the vast majority of us have plenty of ideas about how we'd far prefer our bodies to be: taller or shorter, curvier or slimmer, with different hair, different teeth, different skin, different eyes. We came into being without our own volition, and our bodies are what they are, regardless of our opinions on the matter.
It behooves us to remember that from time to time. We didn't make ourselves, and we're not nearly as much in charge of the show as we like to think. All it takes is a head cold to remind us of that.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Realize that the LORD alone is God. He made us, and we are his. We are his people and the sheep in his care.
King James Bible
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Bible in Basic English
Be certain that the Lord is God; it is he who has made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep to whom he gives food.
Webster's Bible Translation
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Young's Literal Translation
Know that Jehovah He is God, He made us, and we are His, His people -- and the flock of His pasture.
This hearkens back to what I said about physical strongholds -- the idea that we somehow own our bodies. But we didn't make them. I dare say the vast majority of us have plenty of ideas about how we'd far prefer our bodies to be: taller or shorter, curvier or slimmer, with different hair, different teeth, different skin, different eyes. We came into being without our own volition, and our bodies are what they are, regardless of our opinions on the matter.
It behooves us to remember that from time to time. We didn't make ourselves, and we're not nearly as much in charge of the show as we like to think. All it takes is a head cold to remind us of that.
1907: Fatal abortion by midwife
On March 5, 1907, Mrs. Ella Brunswick, age 24, died at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Chicago from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day.
A midwife named Kunigundi Hardman was implicated in her death.
Ella's abortion was unusual in that it was not performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
A midwife named Kunigundi Hardman was implicated in her death.
Ella's abortion was unusual in that it was not performed by a physician.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
1980: Fatal reaction to abortion anesthesia
Gwendolyn Cliett, age 29, was about to undergo a safe, legal abortion and tubal ligation at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia on March 5, 1980. She was 8 to 10 weeks pregnant.
Before the proecdure could be done, Gwendolen reacted to the anesthesia and died.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Before the proecdure could be done, Gwendolen reacted to the anesthesia and died.
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
1900: Fatal abortion in Chicago
On March 5, 1900, Mrs. Alice Koester died in German Hospital from complications of an illegal abortion evidently performed there that day by Maria Janke.
Janke was arrested March 10, and held by Coroner's Jury on March 11. She was sentenced by Judge Clifford to Joliet Penitentiary.
Janke's employment status is listed as "professional", but nothing more specific is indicated to clarify why she would be performing an illegal abortion in a hospital.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Janke was arrested March 10, and held by Coroner's Jury on March 11. She was sentenced by Judge Clifford to Joliet Penitentiary.
Janke's employment status is listed as "professional", but nothing more specific is indicated to clarify why she would be performing an illegal abortion in a hospital.
Note, please, that with issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see Abortion Deaths 1900-1909.
For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion
To email this post to a friend, use the icon below.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Ignorance is Mandatory at Planned Parenthood
California Catholic Daily reports on a pamphlet so dangerous that Planned Parenthood would not permit patients to bring it inside.
See the dangerous pamphlet here.
ADDENDUM: I've been sleeping on it, and I think that we're wrong when we're assuming that abortion advocates are necessarily motivated by a desire to push the women into abortions. (Though in some cases that might be true.) I think the real criteria if often, "Does this soothe her?"
They don't oppose informed consent because the information is accurate. They oppose informed consent because the information is not soothing. They don't oppose showing the woman the ultrasound because it gives her information. They oppose it because showing her the ultrasound is not soothing. That is the criteria -- does it tend to soothe the woman?
The idea behind abortion is to get the woman out of her state of distress as quickly as possible. Note that this is a major theme. Why do abortion supporters oppose waiting periods and parental notification? Because they delay the abortion. Why do they want an abortionist on every streetcorner? Because travel delays the abortion. Why do they want tax funding for abortions? Because getting the money elsewhere might delay the abortion. It's the drive for moving as quickly as possible.
We must seem horribly cruel, since we're willing to present information that, after all, adds to the woman's immediate distress. It's distressing to face up to reality sometimes. That to abort isn't merely to hit a reset button that restores you to a non-pregnant state. That abortion kills a child. That abortion is risking your future children. But ignorance is not bliss, and distress is not cruelty. An oncologist putting a patient through chemotherapy would certainly seem cruel to somebody who didn't understand why he was inflicting such agony on a patient whose illness wasn't causing any real suffering. But the oncologist knows from his experience that the short-term agony is terribly necessary. It's the difference between life and death.
Prolifers know that the delays in and of themselves are often enough to allow the woman to get past the distress and come to welcome the baby. We know this because we have the motivation to tolerate the delay, to tolerate sitting through her distress with her. We can see that it's often the very rush to alleviate the distress as quickly as possible that pushes a woman into an abortion that, on informed reflection, she would have rejected. We know that the information, much like chemotherapy, can be horrible in the short term. But we know, like the oncologist, that short term increase in distress can mean long term benefit. And we're willing to walk through that short term suffering with the woman. Because it's the difference between life and death.
The prochoice aim toward alleviating the distress as quickly as possible. The prolife aim toward alleviating the distress while preserving life. Which also means -- fancy that! -- alleviating the distress as honestly and thoroughly and effectively and permanently as possible. Which means that we're in it for the long haul, because doing the right thing often takes time.
Prolifers may be involved with the woman for days, weeks, months, years. Women are still going back to prolife pregnancy centers for diapers or referrals or baby clothes or car seats for two years after the baby is born. They often develop friendships that endure for a lifetime. The prochoicer, on the other hand, never has to see or even think about the woman again once she staggers out the clinic door, clutching her bag of pills and her aftercare instructions. And as a result, they never get to see the damage that we get to see, because it's us the woman comes to with that damage, seeking healing that the abortion supporter can't afford to admit is even there.
This is where you can see the hand of Satan.
The woman is distressed. The abortion advocates want to alleviate the distress as quickly as possible. What can possibly be wrong with that?
Well, that it does damage. It's killing. It wounds the woman deeply and permanently.
Well-intentioned people doing terrible evil, harming the very people they want to help. Feeding the woman soothing lies, withholding distressing truth. That is the work of the Father of Lies. Done by people who only want to help.
See the dangerous pamphlet here.
ADDENDUM: I've been sleeping on it, and I think that we're wrong when we're assuming that abortion advocates are necessarily motivated by a desire to push the women into abortions. (Though in some cases that might be true.) I think the real criteria if often, "Does this soothe her?"
They don't oppose informed consent because the information is accurate. They oppose informed consent because the information is not soothing. They don't oppose showing the woman the ultrasound because it gives her information. They oppose it because showing her the ultrasound is not soothing. That is the criteria -- does it tend to soothe the woman?
The idea behind abortion is to get the woman out of her state of distress as quickly as possible. Note that this is a major theme. Why do abortion supporters oppose waiting periods and parental notification? Because they delay the abortion. Why do they want an abortionist on every streetcorner? Because travel delays the abortion. Why do they want tax funding for abortions? Because getting the money elsewhere might delay the abortion. It's the drive for moving as quickly as possible.
We must seem horribly cruel, since we're willing to present information that, after all, adds to the woman's immediate distress. It's distressing to face up to reality sometimes. That to abort isn't merely to hit a reset button that restores you to a non-pregnant state. That abortion kills a child. That abortion is risking your future children. But ignorance is not bliss, and distress is not cruelty. An oncologist putting a patient through chemotherapy would certainly seem cruel to somebody who didn't understand why he was inflicting such agony on a patient whose illness wasn't causing any real suffering. But the oncologist knows from his experience that the short-term agony is terribly necessary. It's the difference between life and death.
Prolifers know that the delays in and of themselves are often enough to allow the woman to get past the distress and come to welcome the baby. We know this because we have the motivation to tolerate the delay, to tolerate sitting through her distress with her. We can see that it's often the very rush to alleviate the distress as quickly as possible that pushes a woman into an abortion that, on informed reflection, she would have rejected. We know that the information, much like chemotherapy, can be horrible in the short term. But we know, like the oncologist, that short term increase in distress can mean long term benefit. And we're willing to walk through that short term suffering with the woman. Because it's the difference between life and death.
The prochoice aim toward alleviating the distress as quickly as possible. The prolife aim toward alleviating the distress while preserving life. Which also means -- fancy that! -- alleviating the distress as honestly and thoroughly and effectively and permanently as possible. Which means that we're in it for the long haul, because doing the right thing often takes time.
Prolifers may be involved with the woman for days, weeks, months, years. Women are still going back to prolife pregnancy centers for diapers or referrals or baby clothes or car seats for two years after the baby is born. They often develop friendships that endure for a lifetime. The prochoicer, on the other hand, never has to see or even think about the woman again once she staggers out the clinic door, clutching her bag of pills and her aftercare instructions. And as a result, they never get to see the damage that we get to see, because it's us the woman comes to with that damage, seeking healing that the abortion supporter can't afford to admit is even there.
This is where you can see the hand of Satan.
The woman is distressed. The abortion advocates want to alleviate the distress as quickly as possible. What can possibly be wrong with that?
Well, that it does damage. It's killing. It wounds the woman deeply and permanently.
Well-intentioned people doing terrible evil, harming the very people they want to help. Feeding the woman soothing lies, withholding distressing truth. That is the work of the Father of Lies. Done by people who only want to help.
Hosea 12:3
Hosea 12:3:
There's really only one point I want to raise here, and that is the clear continuity between what Jacob did in the womb, as a fetus, and what he did as a man.
Jacob wasn't a non-entity, or a different entity, before his birth. He was still Jacob.
This should give serious pause to those who profess Christianity who nevertheless try to convince themselves that none of the Scriptures addressing justice, hospitality, compassion, protection, or love apply to the smallest and most vulnerable members of the human family. You're standing on very, very shaky ground.
The Bible doesn't mention cats. But it does state and restate that animals are to be treated humanely. From this we can safely conclude that we are to treat cats as humanely as we are to treat animals that are mentioned. Abortion as a form of killing is not specifically mentioned, but enough is said about killing the innocent to make it very plain that it's not an acceptable practice, and enough is said about children in the womb to indicate that they're within the human family. And what's more, the prohibition against cruelty to animals would reinforce the anti-abortion message, since what's unacceptable violence against a sheep or a goat or a bull would certainly be unacceptable violence against a tiny, helpless human. We're not to rip the legs off living livestock; how much more are we not to rip the legs off living unborn children?
Yeah, the Bible never specifically addresses abortion -- just as it never specifically addresses child molestation, arson, or the use of nuclear weapons. But it does address how we are to treat children, and it never makes any distinction whatsoever between a child in the womb and a child that is born.
"Even as you do unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you do unto me." Think about it.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Their ancestor Jacob held on to his brother's heel while the two of them were in their mother's womb. When Jacob became a man, he struggled with God.
King James Bible
He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:
American Standard Version
In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he had power with God:
Bible in Basic English
In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God;
Douay-Rheims Bible
In the womb he supplanted his brother: and by his strength he had success with an angel.
English Revised Version
In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he had power with God:
World English Bible
In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he contended with God.
There's really only one point I want to raise here, and that is the clear continuity between what Jacob did in the womb, as a fetus, and what he did as a man.
Jacob wasn't a non-entity, or a different entity, before his birth. He was still Jacob.
This should give serious pause to those who profess Christianity who nevertheless try to convince themselves that none of the Scriptures addressing justice, hospitality, compassion, protection, or love apply to the smallest and most vulnerable members of the human family. You're standing on very, very shaky ground.
The Bible doesn't mention cats. But it does state and restate that animals are to be treated humanely. From this we can safely conclude that we are to treat cats as humanely as we are to treat animals that are mentioned. Abortion as a form of killing is not specifically mentioned, but enough is said about killing the innocent to make it very plain that it's not an acceptable practice, and enough is said about children in the womb to indicate that they're within the human family. And what's more, the prohibition against cruelty to animals would reinforce the anti-abortion message, since what's unacceptable violence against a sheep or a goat or a bull would certainly be unacceptable violence against a tiny, helpless human. We're not to rip the legs off living livestock; how much more are we not to rip the legs off living unborn children?
Yeah, the Bible never specifically addresses abortion -- just as it never specifically addresses child molestation, arson, or the use of nuclear weapons. But it does address how we are to treat children, and it never makes any distinction whatsoever between a child in the womb and a child that is born.
"Even as you do unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you do unto me." Think about it.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Roundup: Bloody Kansas, FOCA finagling, and more
Defund PP -- Back Sen. Vitter's amendment!
Sen. David Vitter has introduced an amendment to the Appropriations bill currently being debated in the Senate that would strip federal Title X "family planning" funding from Planned Parenthood. Email your senator now and inform him or her about why those in the know don't support Planned Parenthood.
If you can be brief, give an overview as to why Planned Parenthood is bad for women, children, and families. If you like to go into greater depth, pick one reason and stress it:
They perpetrate hoaxes and thus cannot be trusted
They facilitate sexual abuse of underage girls.
They've killed patients with their sloppy practices
They refuse to cooperate with government authorities investigating crimes
There is ample evidence that they defraud the taxpayers
They hire questionable doctors like this kiddie porn collector
At this time of economic trouble, we don't need to be shoring up this abominable, dishonest, creepy institution.
Here is my letter to my Senators:
Though I doubt Arlen Specter will back us on this; he seems to vote straight Democratic party line when dealing with abortion and related issues.
If you can be brief, give an overview as to why Planned Parenthood is bad for women, children, and families. If you like to go into greater depth, pick one reason and stress it:
At this time of economic trouble, we don't need to be shoring up this abominable, dishonest, creepy institution.
Here is my letter to my Senators:
I am writing to ask you to join Senator David Vitter in his attempts to amend the Appropriations Bill so as to remove Title X funding from Planned Parenthood.
I first learned what a seedy, dishonest organization Planned Parenthood is back in 1983, when my babysitter told me of how a San Diego Planned Parenthood had lied to her in order to get her to submit to an abortion her mother was forcing her to undergo. Since then I have encountered plenty of evidence that her experience was not a fluke.
These problems are nationwide and include lying to patients, misleading the public, defrauding taxpayers, referring to dangerous abortion providers, and engaging in sloppy practices that have cost women their lives.
The most recent evidence of how bad Planned Parenthood is comes from the series of "sting" operations by Lila Rose, showing how Planned Parenthood is willing to be complicit in statutory rape.
Please stand up for women and families, and for the taxpayers who do not want their taxes going to harm women, children, and families.
Though I doubt Arlen Specter will back us on this; he seems to vote straight Democratic party line when dealing with abortion and related issues.
1984: Teen is one of many deaths at FPA
Sixteen-year-old Patricia Chacon underwent a safe and legal second-trimester abortion at the hands of either Edward Allred or Leslie Orleans at Allred's Avalon Hospital in Los Angeles on the morning of March 3, 1984. Patricia retained fetal tissues, so she was scheduled for a second procedure that afternoon to complete the abortion.
There are conflicting stories as to what happened next. Allred claimed that Patty died of an embolism during the second surgery. (He pronounced her dead at 4:30 PM.) Patricia's parents claim that their child bled to death while left unattended.
An autopsy found numerous catgut sutures in Patty's vagina and hemorrhage in her uterus. Death was attributed to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a clotting disorder) due to abortion-induced amniotic fluid embolism (amniotic fluid in the bloodstream). This finding is consistent with both stories -- Patricia did suffer an embolism, and bled to death as a result.
Patricia's parents sued Allred and Orleans for their daughter's death.
Avalon Hospital was part of Edward Allred's Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a National Abortion Federation member facility.
Patricia is one of many women to die at one of Edward Allred's facilities. Others known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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There are conflicting stories as to what happened next. Allred claimed that Patty died of an embolism during the second surgery. (He pronounced her dead at 4:30 PM.) Patricia's parents claim that their child bled to death while left unattended.
An autopsy found numerous catgut sutures in Patty's vagina and hemorrhage in her uterus. Death was attributed to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (a clotting disorder) due to abortion-induced amniotic fluid embolism (amniotic fluid in the bloodstream). This finding is consistent with both stories -- Patricia did suffer an embolism, and bled to death as a result.
Patricia's parents sued Allred and Orleans for their daughter's death.
Avalon Hospital was part of Edward Allred's Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a National Abortion Federation member facility.
Patricia is one of many women to die at one of Edward Allred's facilities. Others known to have died after abortion at Allred's facilities include:
- Denise Holmes, age 24, 1970
- Mary Pena, age 43, 1984
- Josefina Garcia, age 37, 1985
- Laniece Dorsey, age 17, 1986
- Joyce Ortenzio, age 32, 1988
- Tami Suematsu, age 19, 1988
- Susan Levy, age 30, 1992
- Deanna Bell, age 13, 1992
- Christine Mora, age 18, 1994
- Kimberly Neil, 2000
- Chanelle Bryant, age 22, 2004
For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:
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Monday, March 02, 2009
Drug court floats abortion loan
Blair County Drug Court Lends Money For Abortion:
One of the ways they decided they wanted to "help" was to float a loan to pay for an abortion, thus making sure that at least one person never got so much as a first chance at life.
Now a dead baby is on a par with eyeglasses, security deposits, or getting your GED.
Since abortion is a known risk factor for future drug abuse, it seems totally moronic, in addition to being immoral, to fork over the cash and justify it because the woman already has drug problems. Sure! Let's introduce another risk factor to make her drug problem worse!
"We aren't guilty of murder for hire! We just lent him money to pay the hit man! He was going to pay us back!"
Not to mention that if the woman is in a crisis, the proper response is to offer her real help, not to capitulate to her despair.
Did the DA intervene as well in demanding that they provide the woman with help with the pressures that made her think abortion was a solution? And the anonymous donor changed nothing. A court still forked over taxpayer money to pay for a child to be put to death, and his mother -- already in a drug rehab program -- to be subjected to something that will only increase the odds that she will fail in her bid to defeat her addiction. Does the fact that an anonymous donor, and not the woman, paid back the court make any real difference?
This is wrong on so many levels.
UPDATE: It's even worse than it originally seemed, per this article.
1. The woman was seeking an abortion because her parents had disowned her when she'd given birth to a child earlier. So instead of providing counseling and support to either heal the breach with her parents, or to develop the strength to withstand pressure from her parents, the drug court just decided to put the money where this woman's parents' mouths were. How is supporting her in caving in to pressure from her parents going to facilitate her learning to stand up to pressure to resume drug use? This is just so wrong.
2. The money wasn't taxpayer money -- it was money from fees the other defendants were contributing. Money that other recovering drug users had contributed was slated to be used, without their input, to pay for a child's death. This is just so wrong.
If -- and this is a big "if" -- people involved in this drug court have it in their heads that the best way to help a troubled mother is to kill her baby (it seems the burden of proof should be on them to prove that it will reduce her odds of relapse), the money should come only from people who agree that a dead baby is a good thing and who volunteer to cough up the dough to pay the hit man.
The Blair County Drug Court has been helping people get a second chance at life since 2000. Its 98 percent success rate is the highest in the nation. Both state and county funded, drug court is an alternative that lessens jail time and provides treatment for drug offenders who want to be helped.
One of the ways they decided they wanted to "help" was to float a loan to pay for an abortion, thus making sure that at least one person never got so much as a first chance at life.
Blair County's President Judge Jolene Kopriva is one of the memebers on the 10-person committee. She told WJAC-TV it's not uncommon to give money to people in the program for eyeglasses, security deposits, even GED tests to help with their rehab.
Now a dead baby is on a par with eyeglasses, security deposits, or getting your GED.
Kopriva said when a woman asked for money to have an abortion, it was a first in the drug court's history.
Since abortion is a known risk factor for future drug abuse, it seems totally moronic, in addition to being immoral, to fork over the cash and justify it because the woman already has drug problems. Sure! Let's introduce another risk factor to make her drug problem worse!
Kopriva said, "The woman was in crisis. We were just lending her the money, but she was going to have to pay us back."
"We aren't guilty of murder for hire! We just lent him money to pay the hit man! He was going to pay us back!"
Not to mention that if the woman is in a crisis, the proper response is to offer her real help, not to capitulate to her despair.
The district attorney intervened before the women had an abortion. An anonymous donor paid the drug court back to prevent it from suffering consequences.
Did the DA intervene as well in demanding that they provide the woman with help with the pressures that made her think abortion was a solution? And the anonymous donor changed nothing. A court still forked over taxpayer money to pay for a child to be put to death, and his mother -- already in a drug rehab program -- to be subjected to something that will only increase the odds that she will fail in her bid to defeat her addiction. Does the fact that an anonymous donor, and not the woman, paid back the court make any real difference?
This is wrong on so many levels.
UPDATE: It's even worse than it originally seemed, per this article.
1. The woman was seeking an abortion because her parents had disowned her when she'd given birth to a child earlier. So instead of providing counseling and support to either heal the breach with her parents, or to develop the strength to withstand pressure from her parents, the drug court just decided to put the money where this woman's parents' mouths were. How is supporting her in caving in to pressure from her parents going to facilitate her learning to stand up to pressure to resume drug use? This is just so wrong.
2. The money wasn't taxpayer money -- it was money from fees the other defendants were contributing. Money that other recovering drug users had contributed was slated to be used, without their input, to pay for a child's death. This is just so wrong.
If -- and this is a big "if" -- people involved in this drug court have it in their heads that the best way to help a troubled mother is to kill her baby (it seems the burden of proof should be on them to prove that it will reduce her odds of relapse), the money should come only from people who agree that a dead baby is a good thing and who volunteer to cough up the dough to pay the hit man.
Plan now for Abortionists' Day
Just a reminder -- "National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers" is creeping up on us. It's March 10.
It's petered out among abortion supporters, but here's where we can step in and fill the void. Though we can't "appreciate" abortion workers in anything but a backhanded sense ("Gee, thanks for all the wounded women and dead babies!"), that doesn't mean we can't reach out to them. And imagine how much more powerful that outreach will be when it's only the prolifers who are remembering them on their designated day.
Find your local abortionist here.
It's petered out among abortion supporters, but here's where we can step in and fill the void. Though we can't "appreciate" abortion workers in anything but a backhanded sense ("Gee, thanks for all the wounded women and dead babies!"), that doesn't mean we can't reach out to them. And imagine how much more powerful that outreach will be when it's only the prolifers who are remembering them on their designated day.
Find your local abortionist here.
Proverbs 24:11-12
This is a favorite with prolifers, and I'm going to look at the verses separately.
Proverbs 24:11
A couple of these translations leap out at me:
This is such a vivid description of what the sidewalk counselors and pregnancy center workers are doing. They are literally saving those who were to be given up to death -- the unborn children -- and providing help to those slipping to destruction -- the mothers.
This translation takes on a bit of a different meaning:
Those that are drawn to death. Is there a better way to describe abortion advocates and abortion workers? Death has a draw to them, a hold on their lives.
Look at some of these quotes:
How much more can one be "drawn to death" than to choose abortion as his profession? For whom this (warning -- graphic) is the fruit of his chosen labors?
And might it be that we are called upon to deliver them, not just the mothers, not just the babies? A minister reached out to Carol Everett while she was still owner and manager of a chain of Dallas abortion mills. A prolifer who protested outside was instrumental in the conversion of Joan Appleton. It was the child of a worker at a pregnancy center that reached out to Norma McCorvey. The Catholic Church has a specific prayer to St. Michael for the conversion of abortion workers. And I have been among others calling for outreach to abortion workers every March 10 on "National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers" (which quickly fizzled among abortion supporters but has rallied the faithful to at least one day a year of prayer for those drawn to death).
Now, with all of this before your minds, let's turn to the next verse. Let's look at Proverbs 24:12:
Or this translation:
Did you really not know before? Or did you not want to know? And even if you didn't know before, you do know now.
Do you have strength enough to do anything about it?
I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. -- Philippians 4:13
No two people will have the same calling. Some are called more to action, some more to speech or writing, some to prayer. Some have a local calling, some statewide, some national, some international. Some are called to be absolutists, some incrementalists. Some are called to politics, some to providing material support. Some may never be called upon except in a very personal way with a friend, relative, or other at-risk woman or girl.
But all are in some way called. We can not say we didn't know.
Proverbs 24:11
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back.
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Rescue captives condemned to death, and spare those staggering toward their slaughter.
King James Bible
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
American Standard Version
Deliver them that are carried away unto death, And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.
Bible in Basic English
Be the saviour of those who are given up to death, and do not keep back help from those who are slipping to destruction.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death forbear not to deliver.
English Revised Version
Deliver them that are carried away unto death, and those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.
World English Bible
Rescue those who are being led away to death! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter!
Young's Literal Translation
If from delivering those taken to death, And those slipping to the slaughter -- thou keepest back.
A couple of these translations leap out at me:
Bible in Basic English
Be the saviour of those who are given up to death, and do not keep back help from those who are slipping to destruction.
This is such a vivid description of what the sidewalk counselors and pregnancy center workers are doing. They are literally saving those who were to be given up to death -- the unborn children -- and providing help to those slipping to destruction -- the mothers.
This translation takes on a bit of a different meaning:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death forbear not to deliver.
Those that are drawn to death. Is there a better way to describe abortion advocates and abortion workers? Death has a draw to them, a hold on their lives.
Look at some of these quotes:
So when I went back to doing abortions and saw the fetus on the ultrasound, I recalled the early days of my pregnancies, when I found out I was pregnant and saw the baby on the ultrasound, and it really felt like this is a baby, a very real and potential being. Now, I do feel that this is a potential person and it does not have a life of its own outside of the mother, but I also am really aware that when you're ready to embrace a pregnancy, you can embrace it from the very moment you conceive or are aware that you are pregnant. Faye Wattleton said recently, "I think we have deluded ourselves into believing that people don't know that abortion is killing. So any pretense that abortion is not killing is a signal of our ambivalence, a signal that we cannot say yes, it kills a fetus, but it is the women's body, and therefore ultimately her choice. I believe that very firmly. You look at the ultrasounds and there's a fetus with a heartbeat and then after the procedure, there's the fetus, usually in pieces, in a dish. It was alive one moment and it's not the next. I don't believe it's a painful experience for the fetus because its nervous system is not 'wired' so that it can feel pain at that point. I don't believe, as some anti-abortion people would have you believe, that there's a silent scream.' But it's very clear to me that it's killing a potential life. And I found that hard at first. -anonymous, quoted by Camille Peri in Salon Magazine
I was trained by a professional marketing director in how to sell abortions over the telephone. He took every one of our receptionists, nurses, and anyone else who would deal with people over the phone through an extensive training period. The object was, when the girl called, to hook the sale so that she wouldn't get an abortion somewhere else, or adopt out her baby, or change her mind. We were doing it for the money. -- Nina Whitten, chief secretary at a Dallas abortion clinic under Dr. Curtis Boyd
They [the women] are never allowed to look at the ultrasound because we knew that if they so much as heard the heart beat, they wouldn't want to have an abortion."-Dr. Randall, 'Pro-Choice 1990: Skeletons in the Closet" by David Kuperlain and Mark Masters in "New Dimensions" magazine
Every woman has these same two questions: First, "Is it a baby?" "No" the counselor assures her. "It is a product of conception (or a blood clot, or a piece of tissue)" Even though these counselors see six week babies daily, with arms, legs and eyes that are closed like newborn puppies, they lie to the women. How many women would have an abortion, if they told them the truth?"--Carol Everett, former owner of two clinics and director of four, "A Walk Through an Abortion Clinic" by Carol Everett ALL About Issues magazine Aug-Sept 1991, p 117
Sometimes we lied. A girl might ask what her baby was like at a certain point in the pregnancy: Was it a baby yet? Even as early as 12 weeks a baby is totally formed, he has fingerprints, turns his head, fans his toes, feels pain. But we would say 'It's not a baby yet. It's just tissue, like a clot. -- Kathy Sparks told in "The Conversion of Kathy Sparks" by Gloria Williamson, Christian Herald Jan 1986 p 28
It is when I am holding a plastic uterus in one hand, a suction tube in the other, moving them together in imitation of the scrubbing to come, that woman ask the most secret question. I am speaking in a matter-of-fact voice about 'the tissue' and 'the contents' when the woman suddenly catches my eye and says 'How big is the baby now?' These words suggest a quiet need for definition of the boundaries being drawn. It isn't so odd, after all, that she feels relief when I describe the growing buds bulbous shape, its miniature nature. Again, I gauge, and sometimes lie a little, weaseling around its infantile features until its clinging power slackens. -- abortion worker Sallie Tisdale "We Do Abortions Here" Oct 1987 Harpers Magazine p 68
I look inside the bucket in front of me. There is a small naked person in there, floating in a bloody liquid- plainly the tragic victim of a drowning accident. But then perhaps this was no accident, because the body is purple with bruises and the face has the agonized tauntness of one forced to die too soon. I have seen this face before, on a Russian soldier lying on a frozen snow-covered hill, stiff with death, and cold. -- Pro-abortion author Magda Denes, "In Necessity and Sorrow: Life and Death in an Abortion Hospital"
The first time, I felt like a murderer, but I did it again and again and again, and now, 20 years later, I am facing what happened to me as a doctor and as a human being. Sure, I got hard. Sure, the money was important. And oh, it was an easy thing, once I had taken the step, to see the women as animals and the babies as just tissue. -- abortionist quoted from a radio talk show by John Rice in "Abortion" Litt D. Murfreesboro, TN.
There is no possibility of denial of an act of destruction by the operator...the sensations of dismemberment flow through the forceps like an electric current. -- Abortionist Warren Hern, quoted in "Meeting of American Association of Planned Parenthood Physicians" OB GYN News P 196
The procedure changes significantly at 21 weeks because fetal tissues become much more cohesive and difficult to dismember. (p 154); A long curved Mayo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus. (p. 154); Television interviews in particular should focus on the public issue involved (right to confidential and professional medical care, freedom of choice and so forth) and not on the specific details of the procedure. (p. 323) -- "Abortion Practice" by Warren Hern, M.D., Boulder Colarado Abortionist published in 1984 by the J.B. Lippenott Company. Hern promotes abortion as the default "treatment"' for the "sexually transmitted disease" of pregnancy.
I have angry feelings at myself for feeling good about grasping the calvaria, for feeling good about doing a technically good procedure that destroys a fetus, kills a baby. -- abortionist quoted in "Abortion Providers Share Inner Conflicts" which appeared in the July 12 1993 issue of American Medical Association News
If the abortion is well done, we don't have to watch the baby die. So we inject a salt solution. The result is like putting salt on a slug, but we don't have to watch it. -- Dr. Russell Sacco M.D. quoted in James Long "Infants Aborted Alive: Officials Wink at Laws"
How much more can one be "drawn to death" than to choose abortion as his profession? For whom this (warning -- graphic) is the fruit of his chosen labors?
And might it be that we are called upon to deliver them, not just the mothers, not just the babies? A minister reached out to Carol Everett while she was still owner and manager of a chain of Dallas abortion mills. A prolifer who protested outside was instrumental in the conversion of Joan Appleton. It was the child of a worker at a pregnancy center that reached out to Norma McCorvey. The Catholic Church has a specific prayer to St. Michael for the conversion of abortion workers. And I have been among others calling for outreach to abortion workers every March 10 on "National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers" (which quickly fizzled among abortion supporters but has rallied the faithful to at least one day a year of prayer for those drawn to death).
Now, with all of this before your minds, let's turn to the next verse. Let's look at Proverbs 24:12:
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
If you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
When you say, "We didn't know this," won't the one who weighs hearts take note of it? Won't the one who guards your soul know it? Won't he pay back people for what they do?
King James Bible
If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
Bible in Basic English
If you say, See, we had no knowledge of this: does not the tester of hearts give thought to it? and he who keeps your soul, has he no knowledge of it? and will he not give to every man the reward of his work?
Young's Literal Translation
When thou sayest, 'Lo, we knew not this.' Is not the Ponderer of hearts He who understandeth? And the Keeper of thy soul He who knoweth? And He hath rendered to man according to his work.
Or this translation:
Douay-Rheims Bible
If thou say: I have not strength enough: he that seeth into the heart, he understandeth, and nothing deceiveth the keeper of thy soul, end he shall render to a man according to his works.
Did you really not know before? Or did you not want to know? And even if you didn't know before, you do know now.
Do you have strength enough to do anything about it?
I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. -- Philippians 4:13
No two people will have the same calling. Some are called more to action, some more to speech or writing, some to prayer. Some have a local calling, some statewide, some national, some international. Some are called to be absolutists, some incrementalists. Some are called to politics, some to providing material support. Some may never be called upon except in a very personal way with a friend, relative, or other at-risk woman or girl.
But all are in some way called. We can not say we didn't know.
Anniversary: "This baby won't stop breathing"
On March 2, 1977, a high school student named Mary W. checked into Westminster Community Hospital in California for a saline abortion to be performed by Dr. William Baxter Waddill (pictured). 
She had been examined by another ob/gyn on February 22, and he had informed her that, since she was 28 weeks into her pregnancy by his estimate, she was too far along for an abortion. He advised Mary to consider making an adoption plan. But somehow Mary had learned that Waddill would be willing to do the abortion, even at this late point in pregnancy. Waddill initiated the abortion by saline injection and left Mary in the care of the nurses.
Mary's baby, a 2 lb, 8 oz infant girl, was expelled that evening and discovered by a nurse who was attending Mary. The nurse clamped the cord and was about to put the baby in a bucket for transport to the pathology lab, when she noticed that the infant was moving and crying. Another nurse suggested putting the baby in the bucket anyway. Yet another nurse testified that she had seen the infant move but said nothing about this to avoid distressing Mary. The first nurse summoned the nursing supervisor, who noted that the baby was pink and making sucking motions. She sent the baby to the nursery and summoned Waddill.
A nurse at the nursery cleared the infant's throat, placed her in an isolette, and charted a heartrate of 88. A neonatal ICU nurse began providing respiratory assistance on the little girl, and asked for help performing an intubation, which is routine NICU care. Waddill arrived and dismissed all the others from room. Several witnesses heard Waddill instruct staff "not to do a goddam thing for the baby." An ER doctor saw Waddill squeeze the umbilical cord, whereupon the "child jerked its body and gasped for air."
During Waddill's trial, a tape was entered into evidence of a call from Waddill to a pediatrician, Dr. Ronald Cornelsen. The tape had Waddill telling Dr. Cornelsen to come to the hospital, because the law required a pediatrician to assist when a newborn was in distress. Waddill said, "If we all tell the same story, there will be no trouble. ... So long as we stand together, no one anywhere can make any accusations anywhere. ... Do not get squirrely. Just tell them exactly as we've discussed. Just say you went in, there was no heartbeat and you left."
Dr. Cornelsen testified that when he arrived at the hospital the infant, a baby of about 31 weeks gestation, was breathing and had a heart rate of 60-70. There were bruises on her neck. Dr. Cornelson said that Waddill told him, "Sorry to get you in this mess. We had a baby that came out live from a saline abortion, and it can't live!" Dr. Cornelsen testified that he saw Waddill press on the infant's neck, saying, "I can't find the goddam trachea," and "This baby won't stop breathing." Dr. Cornelsen testified, "I said, 'Why not just leave the baby alone?' He said, 'This baby can't live or it will be a big mess.'" Waddill requested potassium choloride, for an injection to stop the baby's heart, but Dr. Cornelsen wouldn't let the nurse get it. Dr. Cornelsen said Waddill also asked for a bucket to drown the baby in.
Waddill claimed that he hadn't strangled the baby, that she had died of natural causes before he even arrived at the hospital to deal with the delivery. He also said that all of his actions were done in the best interests of the mother and the baby.
A pathologist examined the baby's lungs and concluded that she'd been alive for at least 30 minutes. The neck trauma was "consistent with manual pressure, and inconsistent with saline." This pathologist also testified that only the infant's placenta and small bowel seemed to have been "significantly affected by the saline," meaning that the baby had not suffered fatal injury from exposure to the saline in-utero. The autopsy found the cause of the baby's death to have been "manual strangulation." The baby's gestational age was determined to have been 29 to 31 weeks at autopsy. This is consistent with the gestational age estimated by the ob/gyn who had suggested an adoption plan.
All told, over 13 weeks of testimony, the witnesses described three unsuccessful attempts by Waddill to strangle Mary's baby, and the fourth, successful, attempt. But during deliberations, the jury asked for clarification of a procedural point. A few phone calls to clarify the point led to the discovery by the attorneys and judge that there was a definition of "death" in the California health and safety code that the jury had not been informed of. Because the testimony hadn't directly addressed this particular definition of "death," the jurors became hopelessly deadlocked over whether Waddill's actions, though clearly causing what laymen would consider the "death" of the baby, had caused what the law would call the "death" of the baby. The judge had to delcare a mistrial. A second jury was also deadlocked, and the charges against Waddill were eventually dismissed.
Mary later sued Waddill, saying that he'd never told her that her baby might been born alive, and that she never would have consented to the abortion had she known this was possible. She said that Waddill "willfully and unlawfully used force and violence upon the person of the baby [W.] ... causing the decedent baby [W.] to die."
Waddill continued to perform abortions in California, and as of 2000 was working for National Abortion Federation member Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a chain where the following women and girls suffered fatal abortions: Deanna Bell, Chanelle Bryant, Patricia Chacon, Laniece Dorsey, Josefina Garcia, Denise Holmes, Susan Levy, Christine Mora, Kimberly Neil, Joyce Ortenzio, Mary Pena, and Tami Suematsu.
She had been examined by another ob/gyn on February 22, and he had informed her that, since she was 28 weeks into her pregnancy by his estimate, she was too far along for an abortion. He advised Mary to consider making an adoption plan. But somehow Mary had learned that Waddill would be willing to do the abortion, even at this late point in pregnancy. Waddill initiated the abortion by saline injection and left Mary in the care of the nurses.Mary's baby, a 2 lb, 8 oz infant girl, was expelled that evening and discovered by a nurse who was attending Mary. The nurse clamped the cord and was about to put the baby in a bucket for transport to the pathology lab, when she noticed that the infant was moving and crying. Another nurse suggested putting the baby in the bucket anyway. Yet another nurse testified that she had seen the infant move but said nothing about this to avoid distressing Mary. The first nurse summoned the nursing supervisor, who noted that the baby was pink and making sucking motions. She sent the baby to the nursery and summoned Waddill.
A nurse at the nursery cleared the infant's throat, placed her in an isolette, and charted a heartrate of 88. A neonatal ICU nurse began providing respiratory assistance on the little girl, and asked for help performing an intubation, which is routine NICU care. Waddill arrived and dismissed all the others from room. Several witnesses heard Waddill instruct staff "not to do a goddam thing for the baby." An ER doctor saw Waddill squeeze the umbilical cord, whereupon the "child jerked its body and gasped for air."
During Waddill's trial, a tape was entered into evidence of a call from Waddill to a pediatrician, Dr. Ronald Cornelsen. The tape had Waddill telling Dr. Cornelsen to come to the hospital, because the law required a pediatrician to assist when a newborn was in distress. Waddill said, "If we all tell the same story, there will be no trouble. ... So long as we stand together, no one anywhere can make any accusations anywhere. ... Do not get squirrely. Just tell them exactly as we've discussed. Just say you went in, there was no heartbeat and you left."
Dr. Cornelsen testified that when he arrived at the hospital the infant, a baby of about 31 weeks gestation, was breathing and had a heart rate of 60-70. There were bruises on her neck. Dr. Cornelson said that Waddill told him, "Sorry to get you in this mess. We had a baby that came out live from a saline abortion, and it can't live!" Dr. Cornelsen testified that he saw Waddill press on the infant's neck, saying, "I can't find the goddam trachea," and "This baby won't stop breathing." Dr. Cornelsen testified, "I said, 'Why not just leave the baby alone?' He said, 'This baby can't live or it will be a big mess.'" Waddill requested potassium choloride, for an injection to stop the baby's heart, but Dr. Cornelsen wouldn't let the nurse get it. Dr. Cornelsen said Waddill also asked for a bucket to drown the baby in.
Waddill claimed that he hadn't strangled the baby, that she had died of natural causes before he even arrived at the hospital to deal with the delivery. He also said that all of his actions were done in the best interests of the mother and the baby.
A pathologist examined the baby's lungs and concluded that she'd been alive for at least 30 minutes. The neck trauma was "consistent with manual pressure, and inconsistent with saline." This pathologist also testified that only the infant's placenta and small bowel seemed to have been "significantly affected by the saline," meaning that the baby had not suffered fatal injury from exposure to the saline in-utero. The autopsy found the cause of the baby's death to have been "manual strangulation." The baby's gestational age was determined to have been 29 to 31 weeks at autopsy. This is consistent with the gestational age estimated by the ob/gyn who had suggested an adoption plan.
All told, over 13 weeks of testimony, the witnesses described three unsuccessful attempts by Waddill to strangle Mary's baby, and the fourth, successful, attempt. But during deliberations, the jury asked for clarification of a procedural point. A few phone calls to clarify the point led to the discovery by the attorneys and judge that there was a definition of "death" in the California health and safety code that the jury had not been informed of. Because the testimony hadn't directly addressed this particular definition of "death," the jurors became hopelessly deadlocked over whether Waddill's actions, though clearly causing what laymen would consider the "death" of the baby, had caused what the law would call the "death" of the baby. The judge had to delcare a mistrial. A second jury was also deadlocked, and the charges against Waddill were eventually dismissed.
Mary later sued Waddill, saying that he'd never told her that her baby might been born alive, and that she never would have consented to the abortion had she known this was possible. She said that Waddill "willfully and unlawfully used force and violence upon the person of the baby [W.] ... causing the decedent baby [W.] to die."
Waddill continued to perform abortions in California, and as of 2000 was working for National Abortion Federation member Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a chain where the following women and girls suffered fatal abortions: Deanna Bell, Chanelle Bryant, Patricia Chacon, Laniece Dorsey, Josefina Garcia, Denise Holmes, Susan Levy, Christine Mora, Kimberly Neil, Joyce Ortenzio, Mary Pena, and Tami Suematsu.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Pastor Dave on Galations
An excellent sermon by my old pastor from Korea, here. It touches on many things I've blogged about this week, but he brings much more depth and wisdom.
Deuteronomy 27:19
Deuteronomy 27:19:
The word translated "cursed" is 'arar, which simply means cursed. Perverting the cause of the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow is asking for trouble.
The word translated "perverteth" is natah, with many meanings focusing on the idea of bending or turning aside. We are not to turn aside the justice that is due them.
The word translated "stranger" or "sojourner" is ger, meaning sojourner, temporary inhabitant, or newcomer. Those last two -- temporary inhabitant or newcomer -- certainly can apply to the unborn child who is certainly a newcomer and who is only, after all, temporarily inhabiting his mother's womb. Wronging him certainly seems to be a risky gambit.
The word translated "fatherless" is yathowm, a straightforward word meaning fatherless or orphan. This would certainly apply to children, born or unborn, whose fathers had abandoned them.
The word translated "widow" is 'almanah, another straightforward word meaning widow, but which interestingly enough is also sometimes translated "desolate house" or "desolate place".
The three categories of people to whom justice is particularly due -- strangers, widows, and orphans -- represent the most vulnerable people known to the ancient Hebrews. The less the person is able to assert on his or her own behalf, the more care must be taken to see to it that they are given the justice that is their due.
Now, abortion advocates argue that the woman contemplating abortion could be considered the "widow", since she is female and vulnerable, and that the "justice" due to her is the killing of her unborn child. But how does that idea stand up to any scriptural scrutiny? Is there anyplace in the law where mere unwelcome presence is to be punished by death? We are called upon again and again to welcome the stranger, the fatherless, the wanderer. The woman seeking the death of her baby isn't seeking justice. We can see the abandoned woman in the role of "widow", but to provide justice to her is not to assist her in denying hospitality to the newcomer. Remember again the high value placed on hospitality, on providing a place of rest and refreshment and safety to strangers as well as to fellow believers. In what way could assisting in the killing of the stranger possibly constitute any form of justice? We need to be part of the chain of hospitality that includes the vulnerable woman and her child.
We can also look at those in power -- at legislators and judges and those in law enforcement. Far too often, when it comes to abortion, they take up the cause of the killer and oppressor, and turn away the justice due to the vulnerable person. It's taking a massive public outcry to seek justice for baby Shanice. Abortionist George Tiller has been brazenly and openly defying Kansas abortion law, taking up the cause of oppressors and killers, with the support and assistance of the medical board and the Governor -- all of whom will be called upon to justify their perversion of justice, their denial of justice to Christin Gilbert, to other young women brought for late abortions by overbearing parents, to the unborn children he burns in his oven.
We need to be part of a chain of justice, just as we need to be part of a chain of hospitality. We need to support the women pressured to abort, so that they can do justice to their children, and we need to stand up and be voices for the children. To do otherwise is to invite a curse upon ourselves.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
'Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
"Whoever deprives foreigners, orphans, or widows of justice will be cursed." Then all the people will say amen.
King James Bible
Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
American Standard Version
Cursed be he that wresteth the justice due to the sojourner, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Bible in Basic English
Cursed is he who gives a wrong decision in the cause of a man from a strange land, or of one without a father, or of a widow. And let all the people say, So be it.
World English Bible
'Cursed is he who wrests the justice [due] to the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'
Young's Literal Translation
Cursed is he who is turning aside the judgment of fatherless, sojourner, and widow, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
The word translated "cursed" is 'arar, which simply means cursed. Perverting the cause of the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow is asking for trouble.
The word translated "perverteth" is natah, with many meanings focusing on the idea of bending or turning aside. We are not to turn aside the justice that is due them.
The word translated "stranger" or "sojourner" is ger, meaning sojourner, temporary inhabitant, or newcomer. Those last two -- temporary inhabitant or newcomer -- certainly can apply to the unborn child who is certainly a newcomer and who is only, after all, temporarily inhabiting his mother's womb. Wronging him certainly seems to be a risky gambit.
The word translated "fatherless" is yathowm, a straightforward word meaning fatherless or orphan. This would certainly apply to children, born or unborn, whose fathers had abandoned them.
The word translated "widow" is 'almanah, another straightforward word meaning widow, but which interestingly enough is also sometimes translated "desolate house" or "desolate place".
The three categories of people to whom justice is particularly due -- strangers, widows, and orphans -- represent the most vulnerable people known to the ancient Hebrews. The less the person is able to assert on his or her own behalf, the more care must be taken to see to it that they are given the justice that is their due.
Now, abortion advocates argue that the woman contemplating abortion could be considered the "widow", since she is female and vulnerable, and that the "justice" due to her is the killing of her unborn child. But how does that idea stand up to any scriptural scrutiny? Is there anyplace in the law where mere unwelcome presence is to be punished by death? We are called upon again and again to welcome the stranger, the fatherless, the wanderer. The woman seeking the death of her baby isn't seeking justice. We can see the abandoned woman in the role of "widow", but to provide justice to her is not to assist her in denying hospitality to the newcomer. Remember again the high value placed on hospitality, on providing a place of rest and refreshment and safety to strangers as well as to fellow believers. In what way could assisting in the killing of the stranger possibly constitute any form of justice? We need to be part of the chain of hospitality that includes the vulnerable woman and her child.
We can also look at those in power -- at legislators and judges and those in law enforcement. Far too often, when it comes to abortion, they take up the cause of the killer and oppressor, and turn away the justice due to the vulnerable person. It's taking a massive public outcry to seek justice for baby Shanice. Abortionist George Tiller has been brazenly and openly defying Kansas abortion law, taking up the cause of oppressors and killers, with the support and assistance of the medical board and the Governor -- all of whom will be called upon to justify their perversion of justice, their denial of justice to Christin Gilbert, to other young women brought for late abortions by overbearing parents, to the unborn children he burns in his oven.
We need to be part of a chain of justice, just as we need to be part of a chain of hospitality. We need to support the women pressured to abort, so that they can do justice to their children, and we need to stand up and be voices for the children. To do otherwise is to invite a curse upon ourselves.
Thanks for the disillusionment
Well, I think I've solved part of the mystery of why we have such a screwed-up church: Stupid "Christian" Email Forwards.
The blog post is about a corny email:
Now, the email is corny as Iowa. But the message was still spot-on: Any faith you're not ready to die for isn't faith at all.
Does anybody remember the revival (evidently brief) that followed the rumors that during the Columbine massacre, one student, Cassie Bernall, was asked, "Do you believe in God?" The rumor was that even after she'd seen another student gunned down for saying so, she still said "Yes."
It turned out that it was just a rumor. Cassie didn't say that she believed in God knowing that saying yes would get her a bullet in the brain. But the brief period of time that many of us believed it to be so was electrifying. We talked about it -- and our fear wasn't that in such a situation we'd be shot. Our fear was that in such a situation, we'd be Peter -- we'd deny our Lord. We wanted to be faithful. We wanted to be what we'd believed Cassie to have been.
Does anybody remember this?
There are still martyrs -- people being persecuted, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and killed for their faith. Given the rise of radical Islam, any of us might end up staring down a rifle barrel and being told to deny our Savior if we want to live.
And I pray that I would have the foolishness of God at such a moment. That I would trust in my Lord even with my dying breath:
Daniel 3:15-19:
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." -- Job 13:15
Do I think I would have that faith? Left to myself, I wouldn't. Left to myself, I'm as big a weenie as ever walked the earth. I run from pain. I run from things that frighten me. Would I stand my ground? Would I say, "Though he slay me, yet I will trust in him"? Would I have that faith? Faith like that is a gift. A gift I pray for.
And if that makes me stupid, so be it.
The blog post is about a corny email:
One Sunday morning during service, a 2,000 member congregation was surprised to see two men enter, both covered from head to toe in black and carrying submachine guns. One of the men proclaimed, "Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ remain where you are." Immediately, the choir fled…the deacons fled… and most of the congregation fled….
Out of the 2,000 there only remained around 20.
The man who had spoken took off his hood…
He then looked at the preacher and said "Okay Pastor, I got rid of all the hypocrites… Now you may begin your service. Have a nice day!"
Now, the email is corny as Iowa. But the message was still spot-on: Any faith you're not ready to die for isn't faith at all.
Does anybody remember the revival (evidently brief) that followed the rumors that during the Columbine massacre, one student, Cassie Bernall, was asked, "Do you believe in God?" The rumor was that even after she'd seen another student gunned down for saying so, she still said "Yes."
It turned out that it was just a rumor. Cassie didn't say that she believed in God knowing that saying yes would get her a bullet in the brain. But the brief period of time that many of us believed it to be so was electrifying. We talked about it -- and our fear wasn't that in such a situation we'd be shot. Our fear was that in such a situation, we'd be Peter -- we'd deny our Lord. We wanted to be faithful. We wanted to be what we'd believed Cassie to have been.
Does anybody remember this?
There are still martyrs -- people being persecuted, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and killed for their faith. Given the rise of radical Islam, any of us might end up staring down a rifle barrel and being told to deny our Savior if we want to live.
And I pray that I would have the foolishness of God at such a moment. That I would trust in my Lord even with my dying breath:
Daniel 3:15-19:
15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." -- Job 13:15
Do I think I would have that faith? Left to myself, I wouldn't. Left to myself, I'm as big a weenie as ever walked the earth. I run from pain. I run from things that frighten me. Would I stand my ground? Would I say, "Though he slay me, yet I will trust in him"? Would I have that faith? Faith like that is a gift. A gift I pray for.
And if that makes me stupid, so be it.
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