Thursday, February 01, 2007

Pushing abortion at UCLA

Undercover at the health center
UCLA Health Services should remain apolitical. .... But for young, pregnant women, it instead operates much like a referral program to abortion providers.In November of 2006, I gathered the proof personally by posing as a young student, accidentally pregnant.


UCLA Health Services Counselor Ann Brooks told the student: "[Look} forward to the physical difficulties of pregnancy. The embarrassment of your classmates, both this quarter and next quarter: living in the dorm, being pregnant in the dorm, would be a little different. Frequency of urination -- you know, you're sitting in class. You'd have to go to the bathroom."

So, your classmates will be embarrassed and you might have to leave class sometimes to pee. These are reasons for abortion.

Brooks also said, "UCLA doesn't support people who are pregnant and make things easier for them necessarily."

No kidding.

She's not kidding. UCLA has two abortion doctors on campus, but no prenatal-care, no adoption referral services, and no pregnancy support groups.

Brooks admitted, "I occasionally get letters from either people who want to represent people who want to adopt or people who are trying to adopt themselves. But I don't investigate it at all." Brooks chooses to reject this option for students who come to her, rather than pass this information on to students who might make an adoption plan, if they knew that there were families that would adopt their babies.

Brooks pushes abortion, giving the advantages of both chemical and surgical abortion. "They both have very, very low risk. As far as medical concerns, neither of them can affect your future fertility."

Tell that to women who've had to have hysterectomies due to complications of safe, legal abortions.

The student indicated that she believed she was 6 or 7 weeks pregnant. Brooks told her that "You have a collection of cells that could potentially develop into a human being if left in the uterus... I prefer to look at the potential part of it rather than on the child part of it."

First of all, the student hadn't asked Brooks what she personally preferred to look at.

Second of all, at 6 weeks, "Jaw and facial muscles are now developing. The nasofrontal groove becomes distinct and an olfactory bulb (sense of smell) forms in the brain. .... The dental laminae or teeth buds begin to form. The pituitary ... bgins to form. Trachea, the larynx and the bronchi begin go form. The heart begins to separate into four chambers. Diaphragm, the tissue that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen, forms. Intestines begin to develop .... Hand region of upper limb bud differentiates further to form a central carpal part and a digital plate. The thigh (rostrolateral part), leg (the caudomedial part) and foot areas can be distinguished in the lower limb buds. Digital rays appear in the foot plates and finger rays are more distinct." And at 7 weeks, "Nerve plesuses begin to develop in the region of the scalp. Eyes are pigmented and eyelids begin to develop and may fold. Within the heart, the trunk of the pulmonary artery separates from the trunk of the aorta. Nipples appear on the chest. .... Kidneys begin to produce urine for the first time. The critical period of arm development ends.... The wrist is clearly visible and the hands already have ridges or notches indicating the future separation of the fingers and the thumbs. Ossification of the skeleton begins."

This is a pretty sophisticated "collection of cells."

Brooks spoke about her job: "I agree with abortion... Which is one of the reasons why I get to do it."

Brooks also counseled the student on how to get Medi-Cal to pay for an abortion in order to avoid her parents see it on their medical insurance: "I have a place that I can send you where they will get you signed up for the Medi-Cal coverage and they just don't ask. ... But I don't think they could do that [ignore your insurance and give you Medi-Cal coverage] for pregnancy, for on-going pregnancy."

This is coaching Medi-Cal fraud. The California Health and Human Services Agency notes that people requesting Medi-Cal must "report to the county department, and to the health care provider, any health care coverage/insurance they carry or are entitled to use. If they willfully fail to give this fact, they may be guilty of a criminal offense."

Counselor Christine Miller discouraged the student from consulting her clergy: "A lot of religious leaders are kind of like, 'Abortion is bad, don't do it.' If you talk to someone like that ... you'd feel pressured to do something you don't want to do." But first of all, the student had not indicated that she wanted an abortion. She was asking where to go for help. And she was specifically told not to consult a member of the clergy.

And what about telling your parents?

Ann Brooks: "This is something that is maybe not best for them to take care of."

HT: National Review Online, via Life Ethics.

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