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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Demolishing Strongholds

This week in Scripture we've been looking at strongholds:

  • Sunday: Do not war in the flesh
  • Monday: Material or financial strongholds
  • Tuesday: Sexual strongholds
  • Wednesday: Physical strongholds
  • Thursday: Relational strongholds
  • Friday: Spiritual strongholds

    Today, we'll look at how to demolish strongholds.

    First of all, we need to go on the attack. Proverbs 21:22 says, "A wise man scales the city of the mighty And brings down the stronghold in which they trust." We aren't to just sit around waiting for things to get better. We are to go on the offensive.

    But how? Remember 2 Corinthians 10:3: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh"

    Our primary weapons are:

    Prayer -- James 5:16: The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

    Truth -- John 8:32: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

    The abortion lobby would have you believe that standing between a woman and an abortionist is some sort of bad news. But we are there to proclaim to the vulnerable woman the Good News. Remember Isaiah 61:1:

    The Spirit of the Almighty LORD is with me because the LORD has anointed me to deliver good news to humble people. He has sent me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to announce that captives will be set free and prisoners will be released.


    She is not alone. She is not abandoned. And she doesn't need to sacrifice her child.

    Now get out there and take it on.
  • 2002: Mom bleeds to death after abortion at Planned Parenthood

    Diana Lopez, age 25, was 19 weeks pregnant when she went to a Planned Parenthood for a safe and legal abortion on February 28, 2002. She was 19 weeks pregnant.

    Before the day was over, Diana had bled to death. She left two sons, 4-year-old Frankie and 2-year-old Fabian, motherless. The taxpayers of California paid for the fatal abortion, courtesy of Medi-Cal.

    After the abortion, Diana had been rushed by ambulance to County Women‘s Hospital, where a hysterectomy was performed and Diana was given five units of whole blood in a futile attempt to save her life.

    Diana‘s autopsy noted that Diana had hemorrhaged from a perforation of her cervix.

    Diana‘s husband, David, filed suit, alleging that the abortionist‘s haste caused severe lacerations that killed his wife. The suit says that Diana‘s abortion was rushed through in ony six minutes, although Planned Parenthood‘s own web site says such a procedure should take 10 to 20 minutes.

    The lawsuit also blames Planned Parenthood for proceeding with an abortion even though her hemoglobin levels were abnormally low prior to the procedure.

    The family‘s attorney also noted that in 2000, the same Planned Parenthood rushed another woman though a similar 6-minute abortion, lacerating the patient‘s cervix, rupturing her uterus, perforating her sigmoid colon and causing the loss of 2 liters of blood. Planned Parenthood also delayed three hours before transferring the patient to a hospital. Fortunately, this patient survived her ordeal.

    A review of Los Angeles County civil cases indicates that this patient was probably Kimberly Thomas, who sued on April 19, 2002, after her abortion by Joseph Marmet. Kimberly‘s suit was one of roughly 50 filed against the Los Angeles Planned Parenthood from 1983 to 2002. The medical board took no action against Marmet.

    The medical board took no action against Diana‘s abortionist, Dr. Mark Maltzer, either. However, the California Department of Health Services investigated the facility and cited Planned Parenthood for:

  • Failing to institute a necessary change in medical protocol relating to the use of laminaria (used to expand the cervix) in the dilation and evacuation procedure.
  • Lacking the evidence to show a completed assessment of the competency and credentials of the physician who carried out the abortion.
  • Inadequately advising against a potentially dangerous second-trimester D&E procedure based on low hemoglobin levels.
  • Failing to follow proper surgical abortion policy and procedure by administering Cytotec to the patient on day one of the two-day abortion procedure, when policy requires it to be administered 90 minutes before the abortion procedure.
  • Failing to inform Planned Parenthood‘s governing body of any adverse outcome related to patient care within the facility.
  • Failing to notify the Health Department of a patient's death within 24 hours of the occurrence.
  • Keeping incomplete records describing the services provided to Lopez.

    The fact that the Planned Parenthood has made "corrections" to satisfy the state does not satisfy Diana‘s family. "It was wrong. It was wrong," said Judy Lopez, Diana‘s older sister. "She was healthy. She was fine."
  • 1993: Planned Parenthood referral proves fatal

    Andrea Corey was 31 years old when she was referred by a nearby Planned Parenthood to Southern Tier Women's Services in New York for a safe and legal abortion. Andrea was sent home after her abortion, but she had retained tissue that caused an infection. She died of this infection on February 28, 1993.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    1992: Little-noted abortion death

    The only information I've been able to gather on Diane Adams comes from pro-life web sites. Human Life International mentions that abortionist Angel Acevado Montalvo was charged with manslaughter in two cases of maternal deaths from safe and legal abortion. HLI also notes that after his conviction, Montalvo went right back to business doing abortions.

    Priests for Life posts a list of women who have died from legal abortions, including Diane Adams, whose date of death they give as February 28, 1992. They cite a March 5, 1992 article in the Virgin Islands Daily News. They cite one other death, that of Rosael Rodriguez, from that article.

    Rosael Rodriguez and Diane Adams are most likely the two women referred to by HLI.

    Friday, February 27, 2009

    Spiritual strongholds

    In Sunday's scripture, we looked at how to wage war spiritually against the strongholds keeping abortion practice thriving, while women suffer and their children die.

    Let's look again at 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 5:

    King James Bible
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

    In particular, I want to look again at the word translated "strongholds" (Ochuroma a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness; anything on which one relies, of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent) and the word translated "imaginations" (Logismos: a reckoning, computation; a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith; a judgment, decision: such as conscience passes).

    In this final post on different kinds of strongholds, I'd like to look at spiritual strongholds. In a nutshell, they amount to not trusting God.

    I'm gonna borrow a metric buttload of Scriptures from this page.

    And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. —Psalm 9:10


    Note here that we are to seek God, then trust Him to care for us. If we're out seeking our own ends, He'll leave us to our own ends. Isn't that how a lot of women pregnant when they didn't want to be ended up pregnant? By following after their hormones, or their loneliness, or their desire for earthly security, instead of seeking God?

    I'm going to emphasize something in this next one:

    Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
    Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

    Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
    He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday. —Psalm 37:3-6


    I can tell you from experience, this doesn't mean "Trust God and He'll act like Santa Claus and give you everything on your wish list." Trust in God, and delight in Him, and He will fill your heart with different desires. You won't want what you wanted before. He will give you new desires, desires He can fulfill. And they won't necessarily all be "holy roller" desires. You might find yourself with perfectly healthy, innocent desires for good things -- travel, nice food, friends -- that God will then fulfill. But the important thing is to let go of what you currently want -- what you currently think will make you happy -- and trust God to show you where your desires should be.

    Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
    In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths. —Proverbs 3:5-6


    How many times does it seem like what God plans for you is utterly insane? When I found out I was pregnant with my son, I thought it was a disaster, that it was totally the wrong time for a baby. I was utterly and completely wrong. My son became the catalyst to fix many things that were screwed up on my life. Far from a financial burden, my son became the catalyst to fix some problems and to free up money that we didn't realize we had. We went from pawning keepsakes to pay for food, to being out of debt and being able to have guests over for meals. Had I trusted in my own understanding, I'd have ended up aborting and would have stayed broke and hungry.

    You keep him in perfect peace
    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you.
    Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. —Isaiah 26:3-4


    I can't count the number of times it looked as if things were a disaster, and turned out to be the gateway to blessing. Even after becoming a Christian, I've often fretted needlessly, only to see that God was steering me into something good. He just needed a 2X4 to divert me from where I was headed on my own.

    Thus says the Lord:
    “Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
    He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
    He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.
    “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
    He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
    and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
    and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.” -- —Jeremiah 17:5-8


    How many post abortion women are there who can certainly vouch for the first half of this Scripture? Who trusted in the abortion clinic counselors, or in other people who told them abortion was the only way? Who found that it led only to heartache and anguish and despair?

    And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
    And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” —Matthew 14:23-33


    I have to admit, I love Peter. He's so much like me, always going off half-cocked then losing faith, getting scared, and having to have his sorry ass pulled out of trouble. Peter's problem was that he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the storm. How often do we all need to take our eyes off the storm and turn them back on Jesus?

    At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
    “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. —Matthew 18:1-6


    There's a goldmine in this Scripture for an abortion blog!

    First, Jesus tells us to be like children in being humble. Children trust the adults to take care of them. And we should likewise trust in Christ.

    Then consider that Christ tells us that whoever receives a child in His name, receives Him. Can there be any clearer instruction for what to do when faced with the birth of a child? We are to welcome the child as we would welcome our Lord.

    Finally, consider the warning, "whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea." This is a profound warning to Christians who get tangled up in youth programs that take a "they're just going to do it anyway" attitude. Yes, it's especially hard for young people today to resist sexual sin, since they live in a society that practically worships sex. But we're to be in the world, not of it, and that includes a responsibility to teach youth to be in the world but not of it. We should be arming them with the tools to live virtuous lives, not making excuses for sin and even facilitating the sin by providing birth control and abortion. Doing so is damaging their souls -- something you'll be called to account for when you meet your Maker. We just read in Proverbs 3 not to trust our own understanding, but to lean on God. Ask him to grant the young people wisdom and virtue, not merely to keep them from disease and pregnancy. Is that the most we dare to hope for? Or can God deliver more?

    It's important to remember that we need to apply these Scriptures to our own struggles and strongholds, not just use them to address other people's struggles and strongholds.

    Pre-Roe, perfectly legal, not exactly safe

    "Roseanne" was in the second trimester of pregnancy when she chose safe and legal abortion in 1971. She was 37 years old, had had four children.

    She was infused with saline for the abortion. Two days later, she began vomiting and having siezures. She aspirated some of the vomit and developed pneumonia.

    The pneumonia took its toll. Roseanne died on February 27 from the pneumonia and anoxic brain damage.

    See Legal Abortion Deaths Before Roe for similar cases.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    1926: Fatal Chicago abortion

    On February 27, 1926, 36-year-old Anna Welger died in her home from complications of an abortion performed that day.

    Theresa Struhala was indicted for felony murder in Anna's death. Struhala's profession is not listed.

    John Welger, whose relationship to Anna was not disclosed, was booked as an accomplice, but was later released.

    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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    Thursday, February 26, 2009

    Relational strongholds

    In Sunday's scripture, we looked at how to wage war spiritually against the strongholds keeping abortion practice thriving, while women suffer and their children die.

    Let's look again at 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 5:

    King James Bible
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

    In particular, I want to look again at the word translated "strongholds" (Ochuroma a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness; anything on which one relies, of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent) and the word translated "imaginations" (Logismos: a reckoning, computation; a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith; a judgment, decision: such as conscience passes).

    Today's strongholds, relational, relate to the sexual strongholds I discussed earlier in the week. But it's not always a sexual hold that people have on us.

    I first became aware of what really goes on in abortion mills when my babysitter, Sherri, shared with me how her mother had forced her into two unwanted abortions. Family members might threaten to withhold love and support. Doctors might use their professional clout to push for abortion. Social workers, bosses, boyfriends, and counselors may be pushing the woman. Who can withstand an assault like that? Before judging the woman resorting to abortion, think of how well you could withstand losing the love and support of people dear to you.

    Sometimes these people mean well. Sometimes they're just pushing their own agenda for their own benefit. But one constant I've seen between legal and illegal abortions is the fear of a loss of a relationship.

    Another awakening I had into how relational strongholds maintain the abortion status quo came after the election. I was crying out in pain to my social network, only to have some people I thought were friends attack me for raining on their Obamadoration. I thought how much it hurt to have these people turn on me. And I wasn't even that close to them. They were just women I'd confided in sometimes during Bible study.

    I thought of all the women who are suffering horribly after their abortions, but who continue to mouth "choice" words. I can understand why. If they stand true to what they've learned through their own horrible, agonizing experience -- that abortion is not a salve to the soul but a deep, festering wound -- they must face that agony alone, alienated from the "prochoice" friends who supported them up to the moment they awakened from the daze that allowed them to go through with the abortion. The only way to maintain any closeness to the people who matter to them, they have to maintain the bubble that those friends and family members have put up around abortion. They must see themselves as aberrations, as exceptions to the rule that abortion is a boon to womankind. If nobody near them is willing to acknowledge their suffering, they must stuff it aside and convince themselves that all is well. The baby is already dead, and there's no bringing her back. So these women must cling even more tightly to the very circle of friends that led them to the wound in the first place.

    Is it any wonder I could see the hand of Satan long before I could see the hand of God? The machinations of the Father of Lies are many, and staggering to behold. And how can one fight something so labyrinthine in it's diabolical complexity, as to manage to get the wounded women to feed those they care about into the maw of the beast under the belief that this is the only way to not be utterly, totally alone.

    When all it does is make them even more alone because they can never reveal their true selves now. They have to pretend that all is well, or risk losing what little they have.

    And then there the abortion workers. How can they leave? For to leave the business -- to admit that you'd been in the wrong, hurting women and killing children -- means making the most horrific discoveries about yourself, while facing total, abject social isolation.

    We need to have our own relationships right -- starting with our relationship with God, since if we're not right with Him we'll never really be right with anybody. And then we need to pray for and support women as they deal with the relational strongholds in their own lives that are pushing them toward abortion. And we must pray for those who promote abortion because staying in the good graces of their social group demands that they "stand for choice". And we must pray for those trapped in the abortion machine as cogs in the wheels.

    And, most of all, we must love them -- right where they are. Even when they're being as unlovable as these girls, who are cutting off all hope for troubled women.

    "Choice" is groovy -- or whatever term kids are using these days

    Pro-aborts to protest pregnancy care centers

    There's a spot in Hell for whoever is rallying those young useful idiots. If even one of those girls did her homework she'd realize she's being sent out to chant "truth" in support of a concerted effort to keep other young women as ignorant and isolated as possible for the sole benefit of the abortion lobby. She'd realize that if she wanted to stand against lies, she'd have to plant herself outside the local abortion mill, handing out leaflets with the decidedly un-hip and un-cool prolifers, referring women to the CPCs.

    I realize I need to properly identify the real Enemy -- and it's not those empty-headed girls. They no doubt think they're standing up for Women, and for Rights, and for Truth, and for Justice, and for All Manner of Groovy Things. They don't mean any harm. But they're effectively cutting off the last vestiges of hope for women who don't WANT the abortions these girls are assuming that they want.

    It's things like this that allowed me to see the hand of Satan at work long before I could see the hand of God. There has to be some sort of supernatural intelligence to turn mindless trust of The Nice People into the kind of damage these young women are doing, to their own souls as well as to the lives of the women who won't get help because they're there.

    Are youth and blind trust in the wrong people enough of an excuse for the evil that they're accomplishing with their well-meaning, bobble-headed rallying against the only hope and love being offered?

    1924: Fatal abortion and midwife's denial

    On February 26, 1924, Wanda Szidzewicz died in a Massachusetts hospital from septicemia due to an abortion performed on her on February 6 by Ida Cantor. Wanda had developed septicemia and was hospitalized on February 11..

    Testimony at Ida's trial indicated that Ida's profession was midwife, since she delivered at least one baby that Dr. Sawyer and Ida's own husband testified to.

    The jury found that Ida used improperly sterilized or non-sterile instruments in the abortion. A key part of the prosecution's case was a deathbed statement by the injured woman.

    The medical examiner found "no evidence of violence outside or in", but did find evidence that instruments had been used to perform an abortion. He also testified that Wanda had said that Ida Cantor had performed the abortion in question. A Dr. Sawyer testified that he'd told Wanda that she was dying, testimony intended to add credibility to her deathbed statement.

    A doctor from the hospital, however, testified that the death and expulsion of the fetus, along with Wanda's injuries, might have been brought about with "an accidental abortion", such as that caused by lifting a heavy box. Hospital records stated that Wanda had lifted a heavy box at some point, "four days before".

    Ida's attorney's launched a scattershot and ineffectual defense. Part of it was putting forth Ida's assertion that she she'd had to ask the police why she was being arrested -- she claimed that this proved that she'd not known anything abut Wanda's abortion or death. Her lawyer asked an expert witness if the "constant jarring operation of a sewing machine" could ahve caused Wanda to miscarry, but never introduced any evidence that Wanda had operated a sewing machine. The defense had tried to place Ida's grandchild's birth certificate into evidence as proof that she'd been at the child's birthday party in New York at the time of the abortion and thus couldn't have performed it. Ida's husband's testimony did nothing to aid her; in fact, it contradicted her.

    After her conviction, Ida appealed, but her conviction was upheld. Wanda's widower, Waclaw , also successfully sued Ida.

    When reading of abortions in this era, 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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    Wednesday, February 25, 2009

    Stronghold: Personal/Physical

    In Sunday's scripture, we looked at how to wage war spiritually against the strongholds keeping abortion practice thriving, while women suffer and their children die.

    Let's look again at 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 5:

    King James Bible
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

    In particular, I want to look again at the word translated "strongholds" (Ochuroma a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness; anything on which one relies, of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent) and the word translated "imaginations" (Logismos: a reckoning, computation; a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith; a judgment, decision: such as conscience passes).

    Think of a stronghold as an entrenched idea that is holding the person prisoner. Today's stronghold is the personal/physical. And in this case, the stronghold is the idea that we "own" our bodies.

    Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they 'own' their bodies—those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another! -- C. S. Lewis, "The Screwtape Letters"


    Think about it -- how much control do you really have over your body? It goes about its business -- metabolizing, bringing in oxygen and putting out carbon dioxide -- without any input from you whatsoever. Did you choose your sex? Your height? Whether you have a light frame or a heavy one? Whether you have a fast or slow metabolism? You couldn't halt the process of maturation, and you can't stop the process of aging. And you can't avoid death. The more you know about what goes on in your body, the more you realize that you're just a tenant in a vast estate that operates with very little of your say-so.

    Sure, you could kill your body with a bullet to the brain or enough carbon monixide. You can tend it in ways that make it healthier or less healthy. But really, you have very little control at all. And if you're pregnant when you didn't intend to be, you're faced with proof that your body produced and released an ova without your say-so, and somebody else's body cranked out a load of sperm without his say-so.

    You might rail against this powerlessness by destroying the fruit of that union, but in doing so, you're in a way admitting how little control you really have.

    You're a tenant, like it or not. A steward. You have a lot of control over what you do with your body -- whether you use it for good or evil, or whether you sit around like a slug and do nothing. But ultimately you're responsible to the Maker of that body for what you did with it.

    40 Days for Life Prayer of the Day

    Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. -- Matthew 28:19

    Heavenly Father, thank You for this opportunity to join my prayers and fasting with those throughout our country for the end of legalized abortion in America. Have mercy on us all for any time that we have not stood up for life in the past.

    Dear Jesus, I pray for those who are in vigil outside abortion clinics in over 130 cities throughout our nation during this 40 Days for Life. Give them the right words and the right presentation to change the hearts of pregnant girls and women that they will not go through with their planned abortion.

    Come Holy Spirit; renew our nation. Help us with our community outreach so that we might educate and touch the hearts of the apathetic and the pro-choice through our prayers, fasting, and constant vigil. Convert President Obama to our pro-life cause.

    1916: Conflicting evidence in abortion death

    Lillian Hobbs was convicted of murder in the 1916 abortion death of 21-year-old Alda Christopherson. The testimony of John K. McDonald, who was granted immunity in exchange, was crucial in the case. He was the father of Alda's aborted baby.

    Depending on whose testimony you believe, the whole sordid story began either on February 21, or six weeks earlier.

    All the testimony agreed that Alda's lover, John McDonald, had visited Hobbs' office on Monday, February 21, asking if Alda had been there. Testimony agreed that Hobbs denied having seen Alda, even though the girl had indeed been there. Testimony agreed that McDonald had made arrangements for an abortion for Alda, after first inquiring if the procedure would be safe. He had been planning to marry the girl, and although the pregnancy was "an inconvenience" he wasn't willing to pursue an abortion if it would endanger Alda. All the testimony agreed that Hobbs had assured McDonald that as long as Alda followed instructions, an abortion would be perfectly safe.

    But Hobbs testified in her trial that when Alda had arrived earlier, she'd admitted to having "taken dope" for six weeks to try to cause an abortion. She also claimed that Alda had admitted to having used a buttonhook on herself the previous Sunday. (It is unclear if she meant the day before, February 20, or the Sunday before that.)

    Hobbs, along with her son, William Heyward, and her nurse, Ada Kanter, testified that upon her arrival on the 21st, Alda was very ill, walking slowly and as if in great pain. They all also testified that Alda had spoken of taking dope and trying to self-abort with a buttonhook, and that Hobbs had advised Alda to go to a hospital.

    Hobbs also testified that she'd instructed Alda to go home, take some quinine and a hot bath, and gave her permission to return the next day.

    A five-and-dime clerk, Lillian Thompson, testified that Alda had come to the store at about 10 a.m. on the 21st to buy sanitary napkins. Thompson testified that when she'd asked Alda what her trouble was -- because Alda seemed to be very ill and in great pain -- Alda ha pointed to a buttonhook on the counter and said she'd used a buttonhook and a crochet hook on herself and was going to see a doctor about it. However, Thompson's employer testified that the clerk's "reputation for truth and veracity was bad."

    Whatever Alda's condition on the 21st -- and whatever Hobbs' reason for concealing from McDonald that his lover was supposedly deathly ill and in need of hospitalization when he'd arrived on Tuesday, the 22nd, to arrange an abortion -- McDonald met Alda at about 1:30 that afternoon and brought her to Hobbs' office.

    McDonald testified that Alda had been in good health when he'd brought her for the abortion, and that though both he and Alda had been worried, Hobbs had reassured the couple that the girl would be fine as long as she followed instructions.

    Here, again, the testimony all agrees. The couple arrived shortly before 2 p.m., entering through the first floor reception area. Alda was sent by the front way down to the basement, while Hobbs went down the back way.

    Hobbs testified that during the time she'd been in the basement with Alda, she'd merely examined her to determine how much damage the girl had done with the buttonhook. She said she'd found some oozing blood and signs of great inflammation. She said that she swabbed Alda with antiseptic on a bit of gauze, using small dressing forceps.

    Hobbs' daughter-in-law and husband, George, both testified that Alda seemed very sick and miserable. Mr. Hobbs said that Alda was moaning and crying. The daughter-in-law said that Alda was pale and walking slowly, as if in great pain, and asked Hobbs to see how much damage the buttonhook had done.

    The daughter-in-law also testified that Hobbs called her in to the exam room. Alda was hysterical, weeping and crying aloud, "Oh, my! If I hadn't used the buttonhook I would not have to be here!"

    All testimony agreed that Hobbs had returned within about 15 minutes to the reception area to speak with McDonald, and that the result of the consultation was McDonald giving her $50.

    McDonald said that Hobbs had come to get her fee for the abortion. Hobbs said she'd collected money to admit Alda to the hospital. She said she phoned American Theatrical Hospital and arranged to admit Alda.

    Nobody testified about whether or not American Theatrical Hospital ever got a call from Hobbs to admit a patient. What everybody did testify to is that McDonald and Alda left Hobbs' office, with Hobbs insisting that Alda was wretchedly ill, and McDonald testifying that she seemed fine.

    McDonald sent Alda home by streetcar, to the home of Mrs. G.E. Holmes, where Alda was the housekeeper. Later that evening he went to pick her up for a date. He testified that she seemed well. Her sister, Kitty, noted that Alda seemed to be in good health when McDonald picked her up, as well as later when Kitty joined the couple at the picture show. Their other sister, Nellie, also testified that Alda seemed to be in good health late on the 22nd.

    But at about 2:30 on the morning of Wednesday, the 23rd, Alda took ill, with vomiting, cramps, and chills. She improved somewhat over the course of the day, but kept to her bed. Hobbs claimed that McDonald came to her practice at about 2 p.m that day to tell her that Alda was well, prompting her to cancel plans to admit the girl to the hospital.

    On Thursday, February 24, somebody summoned Dr. Barnsbach at around 9 a.m. He found Alda collapsed, and, based on what little information he'd been given, he diagnosed ptomaine poisoning and had her removed to Lakeside Hospital. As she was being taken from the house, Hobbs arrived and inquired after the girl. When told that Alda was being taken to the hospital for ptomaine poisoning, she did not mention anything to the attending physician about any abortion, or abortion infection -- a grave omission, regardless of whether she or Alda had performed the abortion in question, and showing little regard for her patient's well-being.

    It was Alda's sister Kitty who told told physicians at the hospital the true cause of Alda's sickness. She had learned the truth when she'd called McDonald to tell him of Alda's collapse. Dr. A. R. Johnson performed surgery on Alda. He found her abdomen full of blood and blood clots, an enlarged uterus consistent with 2 to 2 1/2 months of pregnancy, and placental tissue protruding through a large hole in the top of her uterus. He cleaned up the mess in Alda's abdominal cavity and sutured the hole in her uterus. Johnson later testified that a buttonhook can not have done that much damage. The hole, Johnson insisted, must have been made by a much larger instrument, capable of being spread open.

    Despite Dr. Johnson's efforts, and no thanks to Dr. Hobbs, Alda died on the 25th. During the post-mortem, her uterus was removed and preserved, to be presented as evidence in the trial. Three other doctors, called as expert witnesses, had examined the uterus after Alda's death and said that a buttonhook could possibly have caused the damage, and estimated that the way the edges of the hole were soughing, the injury had to have occurred prior to Alda's visit to Hobbs' practice to have caused such extensive infection.

    The jury evidently decided that Hobbs' story didn't hold together well, for they voted to convict her of murder in Alda's death. Hobbs was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

    Between the death and the trial, Hobbs had been indicted for the abortion death of Ellen Mastson. Ellen died in early November of 1917.

    Hobbs appealed on multiple grounds, including the fairly feeble one that only on court documents, she was referred to once as "Lillian Hobbs otherwise Lillian Seymour", but elsewhere on court documents only as "the said Lillian Hobbs". She also protested that it was inappropriate to bring up the death of Ellen Matson as evidence of her practice as a criminal abortionist, since Ellen died nearly two years after Alda's death and thus her abortion wasn't evidence of prior criminal behavior. She also protested that it would have been sufficient to show evidence that she had performed an abortion Ellen, that introducing the reality of Ellen's death was prejudicial.

    The appeal succeeded. The conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered. However, Hobbs' conviction and sentencing for Ellen Matson's death rendered this rather a moot point.

    Hobbs was also implicated, but never tried, for the 1917 abortion death of Ruth Lemaire.

    These fatal abortions were typical of pre-legalization abortions in that they were 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 information about early 20th Century abortion mortality, see Abortion Deaths 1910-1919.

    And lest you think the sorts of things that happened in Alda's death stopped happening with legalization, consider:

  • When Evelyn Dudley collapsed in the driveway of her home, her safe and legal abortionist tried to claim he'd only been treating her for injuries she'd sustained elsewhere.

  • When Alicia Hannah was caught trying to dump the body of Angela Sanchez in 1993, she claimed Angela had collapsed at her clinic after having an illegal abortion elsewhere.

  • Abortionist Andre Neharoayoff failed to hospitalize "Ellen" Roe, and sent her home with a fetal leg protruding from her uterus, in 1983.

  • Abortionist Suresh Gandotra delayed hospitalizing Magdalena Rodriguez in 1994, sending her to the hospital with the mangled fetus protruding from a tear in her uterus.

    Quackery, it seems, is truly timeless.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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  • 1879: The body in the trunk

    In the late winter of 1879, Jennie P. Clark's body was found stuffed into a trunk in a river at Lynn, New York. An investigation pieced together how she ended up there.

    On February 12, Jennie left her home in the Highlands. She was seen shortly thereafter going into the Boston home of Dr. C. C. Goodrich, which she leased from Dr. James L. Simons, who passed himself off as a dentist but was actually the owner of several abortion mills. The abortion was evidently performed at Goodrich's practice. Jennie left on February 15 and went to the home where the an unnamed mother and daughter cared for her. Jennie delivered her dead fetus and seemed to be on the mend. She took a sudden turn for the worse and died on February 25. Dr. Kimball, who lived in the same house as Jennie, as well as Dr. Goodrich were informed when Jennie's health started deteriorating, but they didn't arrive until after her death on February 25.

    They packed up the body into the trunk, with Goodrich for some reason removing the dead girl's nose with dental forceps. The next evening, Kimball brought the trunk to Lynn and looked for someplace to dump it. Most of the streams were frozen. He finally tossed it off the Foxbill Bridge into the Saugus River.

    Dr. C. C. Goodrich was arrested as the abortionist. Dr. Kimball was arrested as an accessory. Mr. Altin M. Adams, at whose house Jennie worked, was arrested as secondary accessory, as were the mother and daughter living in the house where Jennie had died.

    I have no information on overall maternal mortality, or abortion mortality, in the 19th century. I imagine it can't be too much different from maternal and abortion mortality at the very beginning of the 20th Century.

    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 on this era, see Abortion Deaths in the 19th Century.

    Lest you think dumping the body disappeared with legalization, read the story of Angela Sanchez. Her family found her abortionist and an accomplice trying to stuff Angela's stiffening body into the trunk of her own car, which they'd planed to ditch. And this was in 1993 -- more than a hundred years after an abortionist and her accomplices stuffed Jennie Clark's body into a trunk.

    You can't change what abortion is or the type of people it's going to attract to the business.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Tuesday, February 24, 2009

    Addictive strongholds: Sexuality

    In Sunday's scripture, we looked at how to wage war spiritually against the strongholds keeping abortion practice thriving, while women suffer and their children die.

    Today we'll look at another area that is allowing abortion, not families, to thrive: habitual or addictive strongholds.

    Let's look again at 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 5:

    King James Bible
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

    In particular, I want to look again at the word translated "strongholds" (Ochuroma a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness; anything on which one relies, of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent) and the word translated "imaginations" (Logismos: a reckoning, computation; a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith; a judgment, decision: such as conscience passes).

    Think of a stronghold as an entrenched idea that is holding the person prisoner. And we know how addiction to drugs or alcohol can keep a person prisoner. And the idea of a sex addiction has been creeping into people's awareness. I'd like to look at this idea of sexual addiction a bit.

    An addiction, by definition, can never satisfy; it only drives the person for more of the thing he or she is addicted to.

    I'll go to one of the blog posts that brings my blogs the most page views: How to induce a miscarriage herbally (and safely). If you read the comments there, you don't get a picture of women leading rich, satisfying lives:

    I am almost 44 and going through a divorce and custody battle over 2 little girls. In a flash with a man I conceived (I think he sneezed in my direction) and cannot believe I am going through this at my age!


    We all know you don't get pregnant from getting sneezed on. This woman had sex with a man she had so little relationship with that she described the act as him sneezing in her direction.

    I was at a friends party on the 16 june and i passed out waking up to my friends asking me if i remebered last nigh. Well apparently I had sex with someone and he said he does not remember if he wore a condom...and i dont even remeber at all.....so yeah I am married and stationed overseas with my husband who i love to death and i cant tell him this....


    Getting drunk until you pass out and being raped while unconscious.

    my ex-boyfriend is abusive and i refuse to carry his child simply b/c i will be stuck with him 4 the rest of my life! i already have a daughter and i never want to give him the chance to start hitting her. so im not having this DAMN BABY!


    Sucked into a relationship with an abusive man, to the point where she's still having sex with him even though he's hurting her and a threat to her daughter.

    But i havent taken a pregnancy test because i live with my boyfriend and he keeps a close eye on me. He is very abusive and controling and i lack going anywhere outside of the yard.


    Another woman stuck in an abusive relationship.

    I shouldn't have had sex if I didn't want to get preggers, but there you go and here I am!


    Her biological drives overrode the thinking, choosing part of her and she ended up pregnant when she didn't want to be.

    Here we have a man chiming in on behalf of another sad woman:

    Ive been seeing a very nice lady and ofc have had sex. She is getting her 3rd divorce and all of them have been abusive :( . She already has 6 children and dont need another one while she is going through her divorce. Im divorced with 3 children and a grandson of my own.


    A woman who seems to be addicted to relationships with bad men.

    I am in a very stressed relatioship with one child and I recently found out i was pregnant. I don't want to have anther child. Before I could explain this to my boyfriend, he told everyone. I feel stuck. I don't want everyone to know that I had an abortion so I deceided to use the vitamin C at first then I incorparated Dong Quai but stopped only after two doses. I found this website and I feel encouraged. I have continued the Vitamin C and just started the parsley insert and will drink the infusion soon. Please pary for me and my family. I am a student in college and workk full time. I don't spend enough time with my first child.


    Again, sex in what she knows is an untenable situation. She knows it will lead to heartache. But she can't see living without the sex so she copes again and again with the consequences.

    And this is just one site. Read prochoice sites and you will see the common thread of women in miserable, unsatisfying relationships, or no relationships at all, but they're unable to hold back from submitting sexually to their urges. They're trapped in a relentless cycle of sex that brings no intimacy, only panic and stress, increased risk of STDs and the long-range risks of these (including cancer and death), pregnancy scares and pregnancies they don't feel they can cope with.

    The picture is even more bleak if you go behind the doors of an abortion clinic. I listened to the lamentations of abortion clinic nurses who were unable to help their patients abstain from sex while healing from their abortions. These patients were in "relationships" -- I hate to dignify their situations by using such a word -- with men who would not tolerate abstaining from sex while the women recovered. Not taking "no" for an answer when seeking sex from a woman has a name: RAPE. These women were submitting to unwanted sex -- unprotected sex, since the men in question refused to wear condoms -- regularly and frequently. Men who were walking petri dishes of STDs, since they were also having unprotected intercourse with other women. And it never occurred to the nurses caring for these women -- and I believe the nurses really did care -- to refer to rape crisis, to a battered women's shelter, to in any way suggest that these women deserved better in their lives.

    Which shows how the sexual addiction stronghold is a societal one as well as a personal one. Our society teaches in a thousand ways, some subtle and some blatant, that you are nobody unless somebody's screwing you. Better a dissatisfying, shallow, pointless sexual encounter -- one that leaves you emotionally damaged, infected with an incurable disease, and pregnant with no supportive partner -- than no sexual encounter at all. We live in a society where the greatest compliment you can pay a person is not to say that he or she is strong, diligent, virtuous, patient, pleasant, prudent, or anything else of any actual value. The greatest complement is to say somebody is "hot" -- that their very presence incites lust. Is it any wonder that even believers have sexual addiction strongholds in their personal lives?

    If we step back, we can see the handiwork of the Father of Lies. Satan teaches that sexual licentiousness is "healthy" -- when even a cursory glance reveals a world of STDs. Satan teaches that it is possible -- nay, even desirable -- to totally divorce sexuality from procreation and pair bonding. But it's the very idea that sex and procreation can be separated that leads to problems with side effects from contraceptives, and to unintended pregnancies -- which have increased, not decreased, since the contraceptive culture has become entrenched in society. Satan teaches that sexual restraint is impossible -- yet everybody at some point practices it. Those reading this blog are not indulging their sexual appetites at the moment. It's possible to live a lifetime of moments in which the sexual appetites are put aside and more appropriate urges satisfied -- the desire to eat, sleep, learn, play, accomplish, and love.

    Until we battle spiritually with the strongholds of sexual addiction in society and in our own lives, we will continue to see broken hearts and broken bodies. We need to first of all be removing these strongholds in our own lives. Are we using sex to try to fill a void that it simply can't fill? Or are we being chaste, whether married or single? (For to be chaste is not to be celibate -- to be chaste is to put sexuality in its proper context, which is different for a single person than for a married person.) Are we teaching those in our churches how to be chaste? Are we building a society that values people for something other than that they incite lust?

    Then, having removed the beams from our own eyes, we need to frequently and do spiritual battle against these societal strongholds through prayer. Develop the habit of praying when presented with the omnipresent signs of sexual strongholds in our society.

    1993: NAF abortion leaves woman in fatal coma

    On February 24, 1993, 23-year-old Venus Ortiz sought a safe, legal abortion at National Abortion Federation member Eastern Women's Center.



    Evidence indicated that the abortion of Venus' approximately 15-week pregnancy was performed by a Dr. Leiber. Venus' family later alleged that there was negligence in administering anesthesia to her, and failure to establish an airway. Brevital, fentanyl, and midazolam were administered in dosages and manners contrary to standards of practice, causing Venus to suffer a synergistic reaction.

    Eastern's staff failed to promptly diagnose and attend to cardio-pulmonary arrest. Eastern's notes of 5:35 PM indicate "2:35 PM end of surgery ... we noticed patient's ashen color and the pulse oximeter tracing and digital readout were gone from the monitor." Emergency medical services were called. The reading of Venus' blood pressure at that time was 90/55; four minutes later it was recorded as being 146/62.

    Venus was transported by ambulance to a hospital, accompanied by Dr. Cyrus, Dr. Goodman, and/or Dr. Jeffrey P. Moskowitz. However, the damage had already been done. Venus was left in permanent need of respirator, with profound brain damage. Venus remains in a coma/vegetative state. She was hospitalized a little over five months before being transferred to permanent nursing home care.

    To further underscore Eastern's neglect of patients' needs, the suit also noted that although this was her 4th abortion, Venus had not been referred to a social worker.

    Venus remained in a permanent vegetative state for the remainder of her life. She died in New York on December 16, 1998 at the age of 29.

    Two other patients, Dawn Ravenelle and Dawn Mack, also died of complications of abortions done at Eastern Women's Center.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Monday, February 23, 2009

    Searches: Deaths and more

  • Abortion deaths: For all the ones I know about, check out the Cemetery of Choice. If you're looking for something more specific I have the safe-n-legal deaths, anesthesia deaths, embolism deaths, septic abortion deaths, and hemorrhage deaths. I have women who died under the tender ministrations of the National Abortion Federation, or of Planned Parenthood. I have teens killed by abortion. If you're looking by time period, I have The 19th Century, 1900-1909, 1910-1919, the 1920's, the 1930's, the 1940's, the 1950's, the 1960's, the 1970's, the 1980's, the 1990's, and since 2000. If there's any other category of abortion death you're interested in, let me know.

  • Rosie Jimenez (pictured): The woman who died because the abortion lobby needed a corpse. The seventeen women who died from safe, legal abortions in 1977 died umourned by the abortion lobby. They were examples of "all surgery has risks" -- even Barbaralee Davis, who died because a member of the newly-founded National Abortion Federation sent her home with the face and spine of her unborn baby jammed into a tear in her uterus -- and thus not worth getting upset about.

  • Abortion videos: I have a collection here.

  • Clinic abortions no safer than back alley: Well, statistically, legalization had no visible impact on abortion mortality. And I know of three erstwhile criminal abortionists who waited until after legalization to start killing patients: Milan Vuitch (pictured), Jesse Ketchum, and Benjamin Munson.

  • Dr. Anthony J Lund: is one of the pervert abortionists featured in this post.

  • Life of the mother abortions: are an obsolete concept. They should have gone the way of leaching and using whiskey for anesthesia after the c-section became safe.

  • Self-induced abortion: I have information gathered here. Don't try this at home!

  • Belkis Gonzales (pictured): is the Florida abortion clinic owner in trouble for reportedly putting a live-born baby girl in a biohazard bag and tossing her onto the roof to hide the body from police.

  • Abortion songs: I have a collection here, complete with videos. A real cheery batch of ditties. Ain't abortion grand?

  • Seth Gilbertson: is one of the people who was either suckered in by the Planned Parenthood "monster CPC" hoax, or was in on it. He even added a comment when he signed their petition: "Every woman should have the ability to recieve balanced information so they can make their own decisions." Which would mean that they should speak to somebody who isn't part of Planned Parenthood.

  • Marla Cardamone (pictured): was browbeaten into an unwanted abortion by a hospital social worker. She died along with her baby.

  • Nicholas Braemer: One of the quack abortionists who worked at the seedy Clinica Medica Para la Mujer De Hoy.

  • Lysol douches: were evidently once considered healthful. Which might explain some of the "lysol abortion" stories.

  • Rapin Osathanondh: is the guy who had a hand-holder assisting in general anesthesia on Laura Hope Smith (pictured), with fatal results. Her mother, Eileen Smith, has become an outspoken proponent of the church taking a more active role in preventing abortions.

  • Nabil Ghali: The only one I know about is a pervy quack of an abortionist, whereabouts currently unknown.
  • Pulling down material or financial strongholds

    In yesterday's scripture, we looked at how to wage war spiritually against the strongholds keeping abortion practice thriving, while women suffer and their children die.

    Today we'll look at one stronghold that is allowing abortion, not families, to thrive: material or financial concerns.

    Let's look again at 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 5:

    King James Bible
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

    In particular, I want to look again at the word translated "strongholds" (Ochuroma a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness; anything on which one relies, of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent) and the word translated "imaginations" (Logismos: a reckoning, computation; a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith; a judgment, decision: such as conscience passes).

    Think of a stronghold as an entrenched idea that is holding the person prisoner.

    How many of us are held prisoner by the idea that we don't have enough money, or enough of the stuff money buys, to accomplish what we need to accomplish?

    The woman feeling driven to abortion might be trapped by a material stronghold.

    It may be very concrete, in that she is lacking in basic necessities for her family because she is not tapped into God's provision. We can help her in concrete ways, by providing necessities, but we can also help her by praying for and with her that she move forward in faith, not in fear. If she is a believer, she might learn that tithing is a powerful weapon against material strongholds. In worldly calculations, it makes no sense for somebody who is already struggling to make ends meet to take a tenth of their income off the top and give it away, but remember we are not battling a worldly war. Our battle is also metaphysical. Taking the leap of faith -- putting ten percent in the offering plate when money is already tight -- turns your finances into a powerful weapon against Satan, rather than a foothold for him in your life.

    Other material obstacles are not readily visible to outsiders. But remember that we're fighting "imaginations" as well as "strongholds". The woman who looks well-off to us might still feel just as trapped by material constraints. Watch "Dr. Phil" often enough and you'll see guests living in lavish houses, driving new cars, owning boats, who are in debt beyond the point where it looks they can ever escape. They are trapped in the stronghold of belief that material goods are the path to happiness. One need not be trapped in debt to be trapped in thinking that material goods are the path to happiness. For these women, prayer is our strongest weapon -- but we need also to be living lives that find joy in relationships, with God and with others, as examples to follow. We can encourage these women to restructure their lives in ways that are not dependent upon owning expensive, prestigious items in order to try to be happy and satisfied. And, again, if these women are women of faith they will find tithing to be a powerful weapon.

    And for any woman feeling trapped, turning her back on the abortion table can be a turning point in the war over strongholds in her life. To commit to welcoming the child, whatever her circumstances, she is beating back the attacks of Satan, who is attempting to drive her away from trust in God and into fear and reliance on self. Stand on Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through He Who strengthens me.

    And what of us? We might have material or financial strongholds in our own lives. We might be holding back a hand of material assistance to others because we fear there will not be enough left for ourselves. We might be holding back from reaching out as organizations because we don't have enough money. As if God is broke and can't provide for His children! If the task before us is set out by God, then He will provide the means. I recommend reading about the lives of faithful believers such as Corrie ten Boom, who always found God's provision sufficient, in order to break strongholds. For individual believers, again, tithing is a weapon. For organizations, prayer and stepping out in faith.

    1944: Abortionist pulls stupid crook trick

    On February 14, 1944, Amelia Cardito, 34-year-old mother of 4, underwent an illegal abortion at the office of Dr. Anthony Renda. Amelia died nine days later in a New York hospital.

    Renda, author of three books on obstetrics, may have been a smart doctor, but he was a stupid crook. He implicated himself when he called police to complain that Amelia's widower was shaking him down for funeral expenses.

    Renda was sentenced to 7 years in Sing-Sing for Amelia's death.

    Amelia's abortion was typical of pre-legalization 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: Mystery abortion fatal for Chicago woman

    On February 23, 1928, 26-year-old Miss Martha Washington died in Chicago from an illegal abortion. The person or persons responsible were never identified or prosecuted.

    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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    Sunday, February 22, 2009

    2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 -- Do not war in the flesh

    2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 5

    New American Standard Bible (©1995)
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

    GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
    Of course we are human, but we don't fight like humans. The weapons we use in our fight are not made by humans. Rather, they are powerful weapons from God. With them we destroy people's defenses, that is, their arguments and all their intellectual arrogance that oppose the knowledge of God. We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.

    King James Bible
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

    American Standard Version
    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;

    Bible in Basic English
    For though we may be living in the flesh, we are not fighting after the way of the flesh (For the arms with which we are fighting are not those of the flesh, but are strong before God for the destruction of high places); Putting an end to reasonings, and every high thing which is lifted up against the knowledge of God, and causing every thought to come under the authority of Christ;

    Young's Literal Translation
    for walking in the flesh, not according to the flesh do we war, for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God for bringing down of strongholds, reasonings bringing down, and every high thing lifted up against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of the Christ,


    There's a lot of meat in there, way too much for simply one post, so I'll latch on to two things:

    The theme of the sermon preached at church today and look at the word translated "strongholds" -- Ochuroma: a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness; anything on which one relies, of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent

    The word translated "imaginations" -- Logismos: a reckoning, computation; a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith; a judgment, decision: such as conscience passes

    We can take some steps to curtail the practice of abortion with worldly means -- passing laws and Constitutional amendments, offering help to abortion-vulnerable women. But to defeat it we must rely upon spiritual means, on attacking the strongholds that allow the practice to thrive as it does.

    The most obvious strongholds are the lies about the unborn -- all of which we're familiar with. But there are also strongholds regarding abortion-vulnerable women. And it is there where both sides have strongholds.

    The supporter of abortion often does so out of certain beliefs about abortion and the women submitting to abortion. I will name just a few:

  • That abortion is palliative; it helps women
  • That women undergo abortions because they are freely choosing to do so
  • That once pregnant, women neither need nor want help avoiding abortion
  • That once the idea of abortion is fixed on, nothing can dissuade or discourage the woman from following through
  • That the fact that the idea of abortion is fixed on means that abortion truly is in the woman's best interests

    But prolifers likewise have certain false beliefs -- strongholds -- about women submitting to abortion. Again, I will name just a few:

  • That they know they're killing babies
  • That they either hate their babies, or are too indifferent to even hate them
  • That their reasons for undergoing abortion are feeble, selfish, and mean-spirited
  • That they're promiscuous

    There are also false beliefs both hold about abortion practice before and after legalization, the impact of laws and regulations on abortion practice, and so on.

    In order to have spiritual power to bring down strongholds and false beliefs among "the other side", we must first address the strongholds and false beliefs among ourselves. One of the false beliefs my work has broken is the belief that before Roe, quack abortionists who killed their patients were promptly and effectively locked away. Researching the work of abortionists like Lucy Hagenow tore down that stronghold.

    Destroying such strongholds in ourselves have not just material applications -- helping us, for example, to draft more effective laws next time. They have spiritual applications. When we believe a lie, we give The Father of Lies a foothold. Taking away those footholds puts us in a better place to do battle spiritually.
  • 1991: Woman attributes chest pain to abortion, dies of heart attack

    Shirley Hollis, a 30-year-old mother of two, had an abortion performed by Bruce Lucero on February 22, 1991.

    Shortly after she went home, she was short of breath, had pain in her arms, and was vomiting. Her boyfriend called the clinic and was told to bring her to the emergency room. (I give great credit to them for doing this; it's far more typical for the clinic to be the ones reassuring the patient that the symptoms are normal and not to seek care.)

    Shirley wanted to wait, thinking the symptoms were related to the abortion and would go away on their own. Shortly afterward, she had a heart attack, and her boyfriend called 911 and started CPR. The ambulance took Shirley to the hospital, where she died.

    The autopsy found that Shirley had severe coronary artery disease, which had never been diagnosed. Shirley's mother faulted Lucero with Shirley's death because he failed to detect her heart problem when he examined her at the abortion facility.

    Although the abortion did not directly cause Shirley's death, I list her as an abortion death because her belief that the abortion was causing her symptoms led her to delay seeking appropriate medical care. The abortion might also have demoralized her into not caring enough to seek help for her symptoms. I would very much like to see a study to see if, just as women are more prone to violent death after abortion, they are also more prone to die of medical conditions that they allow to go untreated due to post-abortion mental health or drug and alcohol issues.

    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    1983: Doctor-recommended abortion kills teen

    Barbara Hoppert was a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore when she checked into Loma Linda University Hospital for an abortion. She was in the second trimester of her pregnancy. She was having the abortion on the recommendation of her physician, because of a congenital heart condition.

    The abortion was performed on February 22, 1983.

    During the procedure, Barbara's heart stopped. Physicians were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead on the operating table.

    The following comment was posted on the RealChoice blog:

    It's been almost 24 years since I was at the Loma Linda Hospital and was roomed with Barbara Hoppert, but not year goes by when Feb 22nd rolls around and I don't think of her. She died that day during her abortion procedure. I just now put her name into google and found your article on her. It was barely 4 sentences and seemed as cold as her death. She was once alive and had such a sad end and dramatic story. It still brings me to tears today thinking about her last night alive... how she was treated by her own family and the staff at the hospital. We watched Square Pegs that night on tv. And she told me about the boy who had impregnated her... She left early the next morning and I wished her good luck... An hour later a woman came to the room, later I found out that was her "real" mother whom Barbara thought was her sister. She missed seeing Barbara that one last time.... Barbara's story is very tragic. I am so very sad that she was so alone her last night alive. I was her only comfort and I was a complete stranger. Don't know how comforting I was other than I cried with her and listened.... Knowing the pain she was in.... She remains in my prayers. Just thought you should know she was more than just part of your cause.


    Thanks to the woman who came forward to share this memory of Barbara.

    Barbara's was not the only tragic death caused by doctors who recommended (or excused) abortion as a life-saving or health-preserving option for the mother:
    • Allegra Roseberry was pushed into an abortion in order to obtain experimental cancer treatment.
    • Anjelica Duarte sought an abortion on the advice of her physician, and ended up dying under the care of a quack.
    • Christin Gilbert died after an abortion George Tiller holds was justified on grounds of maternal health.
    • Erika Peterson died in 1961 when her doctors obtained her husband's permission to perform a "therapeutic" abortion.
    • "Molly" Roe died in 1975 when her doctors made the dubious decision to perform a saline abortion to improve her chances of surviving a lupus crisis.


    For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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    Saturday, February 21, 2009

    Which is more invasive?

    Annapolis tattoo debate turns into abortion clash

    Seems the Republicans in Annapolis leaped on the chance to stick an amendment onto a bill that would have required parental consent for tattoos -- an amendment requiring parental consent for abortion as well.

    The Lefties went got the vapors. Why a tattoo is something permanent and significant that a parent should know about beforehand and have a chance to veto! But an abortion? Never!

    They couldn't come up with a good reason to mandate parental consent for being stuck with a needle while keeping getting sharp instruments stuck into your internal organs on the "trivial pursuits" list. I'll give them one:

    Mom could SEE that you got a tattoo, so she's bound to find out anyway. But abortion is invisible! So it's not like she'd ever find out!

    But you might get a tattoo on your ass where Mom wouldn't see it anyway... And if you were pregnant enough, she'd notice that your baby bump was missing. So that doesn't work, does it?

    So the Maryland abortion lovers were left with, "well it's just not fair to pollute our bill! We want it to be only about those terribly dangerous tattoos, not about something as ... as... as ...

    ... We'll get back to you on why telling parents before you scrape Susie out is a bad idea."

    Scriptures about the unborn

    Christians most often cite two scriptures when tackling abortion:

    Jeremiah 1:5 - "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart"

    Psalm 139:16 - "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."


    These scriptures certainly speak clearly on the issue of God valuing and treasuring each of us, even before birth. They reflect the marvelous quality of God's handiwork, even before science knew exactly how detailed, complex, and sophisticated the fetus was. By eight weeks -- the time most abortions are performed -- every organ system is present in the fetus. The bones are formed, the hands and feet, kidneys and adrenal grands, eyes and ears and brain. The unborn child is God's handiwork, a masterpiece in progress. The scriptures recognize this.

    Another scriptural reference to unborn life is the wrestling in the womb of Esau and Jacob within Rebekah's body (Genesis 25:21-23):

    Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." (NIV)


    Of course, this scriptural passage was written long before ultrasound allowed us to observe behavior in the womb. But it turns out that twins do indeed wrestle in the womb, do touch and interact with one another. And God uses this normal human behavior, and Rebakah's unusal recognition of this behavior, to reveal the future of her descendants to Rebekah.

    Perhaps the most famous act by a fetus in the Bible is the leaping of John the Baptist within Elizabeth's womb at the sound of her cousin Mary's voice (Luke 1:41-44):

    When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. (NIV)


    As John the Baptist was later to announce the coming of the Messiah to the multitudes as a man, he announced the Incarnation to his mother while still in the womb. His destiny was already in motion, and the Spirit of God already active in him, directing him, even before his birth.

    If we search the Bible for signs of when God first begins to love each of us, we see that His love is eternal -- that it preceeds our existence. But how are we, who live within the limitations of time, to live out that love to one another? We can not act in love toward those who, from within our prison of time, do not yet exist, except to be prepared to welcome our fellows when they arrive in this finite world, to live out their lives among us. To countenance abortion even in theory is to prepare to reject those who God holds in His mind, who He already loves with His perfect love. And to practice abortion in reality is to reject our brothers and sisters, in a very real and concrete way, by killing them. In doing so, we sin not only against our brothers and sisters by breaking the Commandment against murder; we sin against Christ by killing Him in them, for as we do to them, we do to Him.