Mark Driscoll on Birth Control and Abortion

You can also read Driscoll's notes, which include links. I'll give you an excerpted version to whet your appetite:

There are five levels of birth control, ranging from no birth control to abortion. Levels 1-3 should be considered acceptable for Christian couples, level 4 is more complicated and requires prayerful consideration, and level 5 is forbidden and sinful. ....

Level 1 — No Birth Control
Some Christian couples determine to only use prayer in their family planning. As a result, they simply enjoy normal marital sexual relations and trust that if God desires for them to have a child, He will provide according to His timing. When this is chosen as the course of action by a Christian couple, family planning by simply praying and trusting that whatever happens is God’s good will is acceptable. The only problem is when this conscience preference is legalistically imposed on others as if it were the only acceptable option for a Christian married couple.

Level 2 — Natural Birth Control
Natural methods include any method of contraception where pregnancy is prevented by abstaining from vaginal sexual intercourse on days where the wife is likely to be fertile. .... Natural methods are approved for use by the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, abstaining from sexual intercourse does not necessarily require abstaining from all sexual activity.
Natural birth control methods have many benefits. Included among them are the fact that, unlike most forms of birth control, they involve the husband, are free, require no surgery, no chemicals, no devices, no drugs, no side effects, are safe, reversible, and can also be used with other methods such as a condom during fertile times. One of the potential difficulties is that they require discipline and planning, which not everyone is equally faithful to pursue. In conclusion, natural birth control is permissible for a Christian couple.

Level 3 — Non-Abortive Birth Control
Like the natural methods, non-abortive birth control methods also seek to influence the timing of conception but do so by taking either temporary or permanent additional measures. Temporary non-abortive birth control methods are generally barrier methods. ....

Permanent non-abortive birth control methods are those chosen by couples who have decided not to have any more children. This can be achieved either by female sterilization, also called tubal ligation, or vasectomy for men.

Three things need to be mentioned regarding permanent non-abortive birth control methods. First, the heart really needs to be examined regarding motive on this issue; this method should never be used to abandon the blessing of children. Second, it is unwise for this decision to be made too early in life because it is not uncommon for a couple to later desire more children, or for someone to become remarried after being divorced or widowed and desire to have children with their next spouse. Third, there are Christians who are legalistic on this issue and declare that there is essentially never a good reason for such a permanent measure. However, life in a fallen world is complicated and painful. For example, a pastor and his wife who are good friends of mine suffered eighteen miscarriages before he had a vasectomy to stop what had become for them incredible physical and emotional pain.

To summarize, levels 1-3 are options for Christian couples to consider without concern that they may terminate a fertilized egg and thereby take a human life. At the next level we tread into more murky waters that are more difficult to discern for Christian couples.

Level 4 — Potentially Abortive Birth Control
The pill is a categorical term for more than forty types of oral contraceptives, which are also referred to as birth control pills and sometimes combination pills because they contain a mixture of estrogen and progestin. These hormonal contraceptives are designed to override the female body’s normal cycle and “trick” the brain into believing she’s already pregnant, thus preventing the release of an egg from the ovaries.

[Driscoll reviews the evidence of potential abortifacient effects of the Pill. The research I've seen indicates that breakthrough ovulation results in enough of the woman's own hormones to override the effects of the Pill. In short -- there is suspicion, evidence, and belief, but no conclusive proof, that the Pill prevents implantation.]

The bottom line is this, the first two purposes for birth control pills are contraceptive in nature and therefore acceptable for use by a Christian couple. However, the third use of birth control pills is potentially abortive in that it seeks to disrupt the ongoing life of a fertilized egg. That potentiality is incredibly controversial; thus, faithful Christians who are staunchly pro-life and believe that life begins at conception are divided over the issue. Even Focus on the Family and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations (CMDA) are undecided on the issue.

Therefore, whether or not a Christian couple should use birth control pills is a very complicated issue on which faithful pro-life Christians and doctors disagree. As a result, it seems legalistic and inappropriate to declare that use of the pill is sinful. Yet, at the same time it seems that Christian couples need to be informed of the potential abortive nature of birth control pills so that they can study the matter further and prayerfully come to an informed decision according to their own conscience and the leading of God the Holy Spirit.

Level 5 — Abortive Murder
Abortion is the taking of a human life through the killing of a fertilized egg. Biblically, it is also known as the sin of murder. Abortions include medical procedures of various kinds as well as RU-486 or the morning-after pill. Other items that cause abortion are the intrauterine device (IUD) and Norplant, which do not prevent conception but prevent implantation of an already fertilized ovum. The result is an abortion, the killing of a conceived person.

....

It may seem odd for me, as a pastor writing primarily for Christian readers, to include this level as a form of birth control. Yet, tragically, many people, including Christians, use abortion as a form of birth control. Undoubtedly, there are very rare cases where even the most devoutly Bible-believing, pro-life Christians are caught on the horns of an ethical dilemma involving abortion (e.g., when the mother’s life is at stake), but for the purposes of this blog I am speaking of abortion in its majority sense as a murderous form of birth control. ....

Some will argue that there is a difference between a child in a mother’s womb and one outside, yet the early church saw both as equally living people and the taking of life in either state as equally murderous. Their convictions were based on Scripture, which uses the same word (brephos) for Elizabeth’s unborn child John the Baptizer in Luke 1:41, 44, as is used for the unborn baby Jesus in Mary’s womb in Luke 2:12, and also for the children brought to Jesus in Luke 18:15. ....

Thankfully, Jesus can forgive any sin, even the sin of murder, as he did while hanging on the cross and asking God the Father to forgive those who murdered him. Furthermore, pro-life ministries are devoted to extending the love, grace, mercy, compassion, and support needed for men and women who have suffered from abortion to experience healing and new life. In our church this includes a ministry to post-abortive women run by female deacons who were once sexually active, fornicating feminists who aborted their own children only later to meet Jesus, repent, experience new life, and become godly wives, mothers, and church leaders.

In summary, as a pastor I would support Christian couples practicing levels 1-3 of birth control, urge those considering level 4 to prayerfully and carefully reflect on their decision, and oppose any Christian couple considering level 5, unless there were extremely weighty extenuating circumstances. In eleven years as the pastor of Mars Hill Church, which has seen hundreds and hundreds of weddings and pregnancies, I have not yet faced such circumstances and by God’s grace pray I never do. Should that occasion occur, I would work with the family, aided by prayer from our church, counsel from my fellow elders, and outside expert medical counsel to arrive at a decision based on carefully examining all of the variables involved.

1961: Life-saving abortion kills California woman

Erika Peterson, age 28, died July 23, 1961 during a legal abortion at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California.

At this time, abortion was only legal in California if it was done to save the life of the mother.

Erika had entered the hospital on July 11, 1961 during the first trimester of pregnancy, because of problems breathing. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and placed in a tank respirator.

Her physicians made the decision to abort her child as soon as she was well enough to undergo the abortion.

On July 21st, Erika's condition was improved, and her husband signed the consent form for the abortion, which was scheduled to take place two days later.

Erika went into cardiac arrest during the abortion and was unable to be resuscitated. The abortion that was intended to save her life ended her life instead.

After autopsy, it was believed that Erika's original illness was caused by a hereditary disease that was exacerbated by the medications she was taking for her schizophrenia.

Erika'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.

Barbara Hoppert died after an abortion recommended due to a congenital heart problem.

Christin Gilbert died after an abortion George Tiller holds was justified on grounds of maternal health.

"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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Roundup

From JJ, a post I'd summarize as "He's nasty, but at least he kills babies."

Abortions are down in Michigan. Maybe this will free up a less rude abortionist for the clinic JJ posted about.

A tip of the hat to Big Blue Wave for this one: A guy who feels compelled to defend women who have the audacity to give birth to children other people think should have been aborted. How soon a "right to abort" begins morphing into a duty to abort.

Jill Stanek points out the bizarre spectacle of young people getting fired up in favor of an organization that would have gladly killed them just a few years earlier. Which is sort of like Zionist Jews becoming fans of the Third Reich after they escape to the Holy Land.

The Mystery of NAF and Steven Chase Brigham

This article is excellent, condensing a long and warped career into a reasonable chunk for public digestion. Brigham has always been trouble But he's going down now, it seems. Much the same way Al Capone did. For cheating on his taxes:

During Brigham's travails, his enterprise has continually evolved. Over the years, he has created at least 20 corporate entities - some with names such as Peaceful Corp., Goodness Inc., and Kindness Corp. - and added clinics in Virginia and Maryland.

The IRS now has a big claim against all of it.

"We have made a demand for payment of this liability, but it remains unpaid," say April IRS notices demanding $234,536 for unpaid payroll taxes. "Therefore, there is a lien in favor of the United States on all property and rights to property belonging to this taxpayer for the amount of these taxes, and additional penalties, interest, and costs that may accrue."

Who is this guy, anyway?

Steven Chase Brigham, a physician whose medical license has been revoked, relinquished, or temporarily suspended in five states, is now facing regulatory and tax troubles that could jeopardize his chain of 15 abortion clinics.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health this month ordered Brigham to permanently shut his four clinics in the state for repeatedly employing unlicensed caregivers.

The article quickly summarizes Brigham's history:

Pennsylvania was the first setback. In a confidential 1992 settlement, Brigham agreed to permanently give up his license amid an investigation of his practice in Wyomissing.

Despite this restriction, Brigham continued to own and expand his abortion business in the state.

In 1994, New York took his license, finding him guilty of "gross negligence" and "inexcusably bad judgment" involving two late-pregnancy abortions. The patients suffered life-threatening bleeding and required emergency hospital operations, public records show. ....

New Jersey suspended Brigham's license in 1993, citing the same botched abortions as New York, plus other charges. After three years of defending himself against an action by the state Attorney General's Office, Brigham won full reinstatement of his medical privileges.

What the article doesn't mention is that Michael Burnhill, then Vice President for Medical Affairs of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a high-profile moderator of Risk Management Seminars with the National Abortion Federation, was a key witness and ally for Brigham in regaining his New Jersey license. A license he lost because the New York medical board said, in very thinly veiled language, that Brigham is a freaking psychopath.

[Brigham's corporation], American Women's Services does about 3,600 abortions a year in Pennsylvania, state records show. It has clinics in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, and State College. Until last month its website also listed 11 locations in Philadelphia, Bristol Borough, King of Prussia, and Willow Grove where patients could rendezvous for "free transportation" to a clinic.

Because it's cheaper for Brigham to bus them in and scrape them out himself than to hire a local quack to do it for him in Pennsylvania.

Now here comes the deep and abiding mystery:

Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said this week, "We applaud Pennsylvania's decision."

WTF? The guy is a former member. Their boy Mikey helped him to regain his New Jersey license. AFTER the blatant quackery that nearly killed his patients. There have been NO allegations of such quackery since then. So why did NAF do a 180 on Steve?

All of this stuff -- New York yanking his license for being a clueless quack, Brigham willingly surrendering his Pennsylvania license to halt a medical board investigation -- NAF welcomed him with open arms, and a high NAF spokesman defended him before the medical board.

But now?

The most recent violation cited in the July 7 order occurred in 2008, when a woman who was not a nurse worked as one in the Pittsburgh clinic, according to Health Department charges.

Big, fat, hairy deal for NAF. Hanan Rotem had his receptionist administering general anesthesia. He was still a NAF member.

In 1997, Brigham employed an obstetrician-gynecologist who was under suspension for, among other things, sexually molesting patients.

Abu Hayat, "The Butcher of Avenue A", best known for ripping the arm off an unborn baby who was shortly thereafter born alive, molested his own patients. He was a NAF member. A NAF member clinic in Kentucky hired a man as a security guard who then used the clinic as a rape site. Lovejoy Surgicenter had a child pornographer on staff.

[Saporta's] trade association, which has 400 abortion providers that meet its clinical standards, has long criticized the quality of care at Brigham's clinics.

1. As if they care that much about quality care, given the quacks they still harbor. What in the world could Brigham be doing that's any worse than what other NAF members have been caught doing?

2. NAF took Brigham in AFTER the most egregious of his quackery became public. Something else quietly happened to darken him in their eyes. The mystery is, what?

There are a couple of points I'd like to raise:

1. The guy was originally recruited and trained by Planned Parenthood.

2. Michael Burnhill of the National Abortion Federation AND PPFA testified on Brigham's behalf to help him get his New Jersey license reinstated.

3. Given points 1 and 2, why is the National Abortion Federation applauding the action rather than doing their usual cry of unfair treatment of abortion providers? Brigham is a former member. Why not a current member?

There's either something darker underneath that they're not telling us, or they have some weird criteria for who they defend and who they throw to the wolves. Why did they change their minds about him along the way? NAF doesn't behave this way. They have a legal defense team that goes to bat to "beat the shit out of" (their attorney's phrase) any woman who dares to sue a member for malpractice, in order to intimidate her into dropping her lawsuit. Why are they willing to tolerate -- to even defend -- malpractice among their ranks, but they shun Brigham?

Three deaths, years apart

On July 21, 1907, Mrs. L. Paffrath died at German American Hospital in Chicago. The coroner's jury determined that she had died from an abortion performed. They held two midwives -- Alice Rastone and Hacrone Schuetner -- responsible. Another woman, Alice F. Gustafson, whose profession is given as "abortion provider" was also arrested.

On July 21, 1916, Miss Elizabeth Radcliffe died in Olney, Illinois. An autopsy confirmed pregnancy, but showed no external signs of violence and all her reproductive organs appeared normal. However, upon cutting open her heart, air escaped. There were also signs of air embolism in the brain. There were no lung lesions to explain the air in Elizabeth's bloodstream. Investigation found that a man had discarded some sort of abortion instrument while going to the sanitarium. The instrument was located. The man in question, who had admitted to friends that he was familiar with such an instrument, was Roy Hinterliter. Hinterliter had showed up at a sanitarium with the unconscious Elizabeth in his buggy. Hinterliter was held without bail after the coroner's jury verdict.

On July 21, 1923, 28-year-old Mrs. Mary Federowicz died at Chicago's St. Mary's Hospital from complications performed that day. Mrs. Anna Mithnewicz, whose profession was not given, was identified by the coroner as the person responsible, but no arrest was made.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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1970: Doc-recommended abortion leaves patient dead

Barbara Riley was 23 years old when, under guidance of doctors, she agreed to undergo a safe and legal abortion. She had a history of sickle cell anemia and three previous term pregnancies -- two live births and a stillborn child.

She was in her first trimester of pregnancy when she underwent the abortion on July 11, 1970 at Harlem Hospital. The abortion had been recommended by hospital staff because Barbara had a history of sickle cell disease. The abortion would probably have been recommended as beneficial to Barbara's health, under New York's old abortion law, and so would have been legal even if the new abortion-on-demand law hadn't been passed earlier in the year.

But instead of improving, Barbara's health deteriorated. Her blood started to break down. Nine days after the abortion, July 20, Barbara died of sickle cell crisis triggered by the abortion.

The other women I've identified as dying from sickle cell crisis triggered by an abortion are Margaret Davis and Betty Hines.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Program aims to turn family docs into baby slayers

Buffett Secretly Spending Millions on Abortion Med-School Scheme: NY Times:

OMAHA, Nebraska, July 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Billionaire investing mogul Warren Buffett has been secretly backing a campaign to combat the decrease in doctors who are training as abortionists and to bring abortion into the mainstream of medicine, revealed the New York Times this week.

In her NYT magazine cover story, journalist Emily Bazelon describes how abortion “rights” activists are working to “recast doctors, changing them from a weak link of abortion to a strong one.”

The piece, entitled “The New Abortion Providers,” claims that abortionists and the pro-abort lobby are trying to dispel the image of the “greedy, butchering ‘abortionist’.” “The bold idea at the heart of this effort is to integrate abortion so that it’s a seamless part of health care for women — embraced rather than shunned,” writes Bazelon.

The strategy, she says, aims at moving abortuaries away from stand-alone facilities into hospitals and encourages family physicians to offer abortions within their practices.

If this is really what people want -- for all family doctors to routinely kill babies -- why all the secrecy?

Maybe because most people don't want to be treated by somebody who would prostitute his or her skills to become a paid assassin, that's why. Would you want your streets patrolled by cops who noonlight as hit men?

I think a lot of the motivation behind this isn't just to increase the pool of abortionists. It's to decrease the likelihood that the frightened pregnant woman will find real help. No doubt this abortion curriculum will focus on "teaching" doctors that women NEED abortions, and that they ought not to offer the abortion-vulnerable any real help. Just scrape her out and bill her insurance. It's about keeping women frightened, uninformed, and isolated at a vulnerable time. To have even their own physicians betray a sacred trust and feed women into the maw of the abortion machine.

We really need to clearly divide the medical community into "progressive" practitioners -- who do things like abort babies and euthanize the sick and elderly -- and Hippocratic practitioners who take "First, do no harm" seriously. That way women who already know that they would want their children snuffed can go to baby snuffing docs for all their medical needs, and women who love their children can go to doctors who will provide real care, not just scrape them out and bill their insurance.

Also see this excellent analysis at First Things.

Today's anniversaries

1925: Abortion kills teen: Very little is on record about the death of 17-year-old Gertrude Wynants. According to the New York Times, Gertrude died on July 19, 1925, of a criminal abortion. Mrs. Margaret Shott Higgens, age 23, was indicted for manslaughter in Gertrude's death.

1970: Abortion death sparks outrage, calls for complacency: Carmen Rodriguez was 31 years old when she died from complications of a 14-week saline abortion at Lincoln Hospital in New York City. After Carmen's death, a militant Puerto Rican group, The Young Lords, swung into action. They pointed out that doctors at Lincoln Hospital knew that Carmen had heart problems and failed to take proper precautions. Merle Goldman, spokeswoman of an abortion advocacy organization, said she hoped that Carmen's death wouldn't deter other women from undergoing abortions. She touted abortion's reputed safety and stressed that her group was lobbying against proposed health department regulation of abortion practice. New York City Chief Medical Examiner Milton Helpern, on the other hand, expressed concern that ill-equipped and poorly-staffed freestanding abortion facilities were posing a danger to women.

Anniversary of another pre-Roe abortion death: Betty Hines was 21 years old when she was checked into Doctors Hospital in California for a safe, legal abortion, to be performed by Dr. A. Mitchell on July 19, 1971. Betty went into cardio-respiratory arrest and died. After an investigation, Betty's death was attributed to massive intravascular sickling due to underlying sickle cell disorder.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Two unrelated deaths from 1979

Twenty-year-old Gail Ann Vroman had a safe and legal abortion performed on July 14, 1979, by New York abortionist Taskin Ratharathorn at Ft. Wayne Women's Health Organization. Within two hours, Gail was transferred to a nearby hospital. Gail died of massive infection on July 18. The coroner ruled that the death was caused by clostridium perfringens, or "gas gangrene" -- exactly the kind of death legalization was supposed to put an end to.

As Gail was losing her battle for her life, Geneva Calton, age 21, mother of two, underwent an abortion at Northside Family Planning Service in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 18, 1979. She had no way of knowing that she'd be dead before the day was over.

On the drive back home she was in pain, but she figured that this was just the cramping the clinic had told her to expect. At 8:30 that evening, Geneva was admitted to a hospital, with no vital signs detected. Doctors attempted to resuscitate her, to no avail. She was pronounced dead. The autopsy found that Geneva's uterus had been perforated. She had bled to death.

Northside was eventually sued by their malpractice insurer because they'd allowed one of their abortionists to continue to perform surgery even though his manual dexterity had deteriorated due to multiple sclerosis. The suit by the insurer also alleged failure to meet state health standards, failure to have enough nurses on duty, failure to have proper on-call procedures, and lack of a professional director of medical services.

The clinic where Geneva's fatal abortion was performed seems to be the same clinic where Catherine Pierce underwent her fatal abortion in 1989.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Two dead patients and a lot of lame excuses

Thirty-four-year-old Debra M. Gray went to Hillview Women's Medical Center for a safe and legal abortion on July 8, 1989. She went through their conseling procedure and underwent lab work.

Debra returned for the actual procedure on July 12. An ultrasound was performed and she was estimated to be 16.5 weeks pregnant. Debra signed an undated consent form for the abortion and anesthesia.

The records don't indicate who initiated IV Brevitol for anesthesia, nor do they document the dosage or concentration, nor Debra's weight or the amount of fluid given. There was also no record of a physical exam or any exam to determine if Debra was an appropriate candidate for this type of anesthesia.

The abortionist, Gideon Kioko, indicated that the nurse and other staff expected the drug to induce "twilight sleep" rather than general anesthesia. There was no anesthesiologisst on duty, and no physician supervising the administration of anesthesia medication.

Kioko initiated the abortion. There was no documentation of the effect of the medication, nor of Debra's vital signs. A hospital note indicated that Debra had "responded rather rapidly to the anesthesia" and that three minutes after Kioko had started the abortion, Debra's blood was noted to be "very dark" and she was having trouble breathing. Kioko spent five minutes completing the abortion.

A code note dated July 12, 1989, by a Dr. Raymond Taylor, indicates that Debra was unresponsive, with a low blood pressure and sluggish pulse. Dr. Taylor's note indicated that after fifteen minutes of CPR and advanced cardiac life support, Debra was transported by ambulance to the hospital.

When paramedics arrived, they estimated that Debra's brain had been deprived of oxygen for twelve minutes. Debra had a racing heart, then went into ventricular fibrillation. She was resuscitated, but never regained consciousness. She was pronounced dead on July 15.

The autopsy found traces of heroin in Debra's bloodstream. There was no evidence that the facility had screened Debra for possible drug use.

Hillview staff also allowed Suzanne Logan to suffer an eventually fatal lack of oxygen during an abortion that same year. Suzanne languished in a nursing home for three years before her death.

Kioko made the following excuses to the medical board regarding the fatal abortions:

In the first two cases where Brevital was given, I did not give it, nor did I consent to it. I was not consulted or asked about it. I did not even start intravenous fluids. The decision to administer Brevital was made by the patient and the clinic, and during those [sic] time, I would be called in. I would be notified that "the patient is now asleep, Doctor. You may start the procedure." ....

I, therefore, had nothing to do with the Brevital administered to these two patients. Other contract physicians were also working under similar terms, and, like me, they had nothing to do with the administration of Brevital. I suppose that I was just unlucky at that time and happened to be there when this incident happened.

....

[Regarding Debra Gray]. I understand that [the Brevital] was given by Dr. Barbara Lofton-Clinical Practitioner. My initial contact with the patient was the initial sizing evaulation and to determine the gestational age of the pregnancy. The next contact by me was when the patient was already asleep. As I was finishing the procedure, I called the attention to the administers [sic] of the anesthetic, that the patient's blood was getting unusually dark. At that time, in my view, adequate resuscitation efforts was [sic] immediately instituted with airway established and 911 was called. EKG and oxygen were available and were used. Dr. Taylor, a Cardiology fellow headed the resuscitation effort. It is just not true that adequate resuscitation was not done and that the equipment was not available. Indicenttally, this patient had recently used Opium [sic], though the patient had denied this in her medical history.

The case of [Suzanne Logan] is similar. The patient was put to sleep, with Brevital. I was not in the Operating Room at the time. Once again I was called in to do the procedure once the patient was deemed asleep. I was not consulted, nor did I participate in the decision to give the agent, but once again, I know there was immediate and adequate resuscitation effort. (Please refer to the letter from Dr. [sic] Barbara Lofton). The only case I directly had complete responsibility for is that of ... [Patient C].

The medical board noted that Kioko, as the physician performing the procedure, was still responsible for ensuring that the patient was being provided with appropriate care, regardless of how the clinic chose to assign tasks. The board also noted that nobody was monitoring either woman's vital signs while Kioko was operating on them.

The board noted that "In the above cases, [Kioko] performed surgical procedures under conditions that failed to meet appropriate standards for the delivery of quality medical and surgical care. .... In the event that [Kioko} was unable to correct these conditions, the appropriate standard of care required that [he] not perform these procedures at this facility until these conditions were so corrected."

The board also noted that "Kioko demonstrated a serious lack of judgment.... Kioko assumed that his role was limited to performing technical procedures upon anesthetized patients, leaving overall management of the patients to others. Dr. Kioko's gullibility in this regard proved fatal."

Debra's sister, Tam, who had known her sister was going to Hillview that day and had been planning on meeting her for dinner that night, told 60 Minutes, "It's sad to think that people can go in and have a safe procedure, what they think is safe, and die. The outcome was just like a back-alley abortion."

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Pre-Roe abortion proved fatal for homemaker

Margaret Davis was a 33-year-old homemaker who underwent a safe and legal abortion at Windsor Hills Hospital in Los Angeles County. Christopher Dotson began the abortion at about noon on July 15, 1972.

Dotson said that Margaret started to have breathing and heart problems after the abortion, and that he was unable to revive her. He declared her dead at 3:30 PM of cardiopulmonary failure.

An autopsy revealed that Margaret had suffered acute sickle cell crisis triggered by the abortion. The other women I've identified as dying from sickle cell crisis triggered by an abortion are Sheryl Roe and Betty Hines.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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Faith rewarded

HT: Life Site News

One Wisconsin pro-life organization has adopted a unique and simple strategy to inspire people to celebrate a culture of life.

Wisconsin Right to Life’s new pro-life evangelism is the “Pass this on for me” campaign: a section of their website, where they find uplifting videos posted on YouTube celebrating life and family, allowing others to pass on their powerful and positive messages.

This video is by the mother of Bryce, who describes being encouraged to abort her 35 week baby after a diagnosis of hydrocephaly. She had already had two miscarriages, and they used her fear of losing her fertility as well as her fear of her child suffering -- offering to "decompress" her baby's head "and take him out, so you can have kids again."

But she stayed strong and held on fast to her baby.

When he was born, Bryce didn't move or breathe. His father was told to hand the baby to mom so she'd have a chance to hold him before he died. And the heartbroken new mother prayed, "Lord, please give me more time with my baby."

Watch the video to see how that prayer was answered.



There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18a

Today's anniversaries

On July 12, 1889, Annie Doran, from Cadlock City, Michigan, was found dead in her Chicago room from an illegal abortion performed that day. The crime scene was described as a "Medical facility", with the additional notes, "Midwife, Abortion place" and "Clinic (e.g. abortion facility)". The database notes that both Annie and the person arrested for her death were white, and that they were not related. The abortionist's name and profession are not given.

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 ordinary public health 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.



Fast forward to our utopian days of safe, legal abortion.

"Judy" was a 42-year-old mother of four from upstate New York when she chose safe and legal abortion in 1970. She was to have a tubal ligation done at the same time. Judy underwent the procedure, but went into cardiac arrest. Her heart was started again, but she remained in a coma for six days until her death on July 12.

Of course, we're to believe that though both these women died of complications of abortions performed by medical professionals in medical facilities, Annie's death is an unacceptable tragedy but Judy's death is just a flukey thing that we can safely blow off as insignificant. Move along, folks, nothing to see here.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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1988: Hospital abortion proves fatal

Virginia Wolfe, age 33, was pronounced dead at Methodist Women's and Children's Hospital on July 10, 1998. She had been in the hospital since July 6, when she'd gone there to have an abortion performed by Dr. Lillian Jones. Jones performed a suction abortion. During the procedure, she punctured Virginia's uterus and bladder. Virginia suffered massive hemorrhage, losing so much blood that her heart stopped. Doctors repaired her bladder and removed her uterus, but Virginia's brain had already been damaged by the lack of oxygen.

For more abortion deaths, visit the Cemetery of Choice:



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1934: Mystery abortion kills frat boy's sweetheart

In 1934, pretty Marian Mills, a beauty queen, was the 19-year-old "campus sweetheart" of Neal Myers. Myers, a 21-year-old pharmacy student, was the son of Dr. P.B. Myers of Denver.

On July 10, Marian died in the apartment of Mrs. Hazel Brown, the cook for Myers' fraternity house and "the only person of mature age in the house during the 24 tragic hours preceding the girl's death."

Myers was charged with murder in Marian's death, and could have faced life in prison if convicted.

Dr. Roy Emanuel testified that Myers consulted him about a possible pregnancy but had asked for advise, not for an abortion. Emanuel said that he'd recommended a test to verify the suspected pregnancy, and had also told the young man to consult with his father. "Two or three weeks later he came back ... bringing the report, which showed the girl was not pregnant." Myers had Marian with him, and she said that she wanted an examination, because she didn't think the test was accurate. He did examine her and while he could not definitively say, he didn't think she was pregnant. The couple returned again the Thursday before Marian's death, and this time his examination verified that the girl was pregnant. Again, Emanuel said, he referred the couple to Myers' father.

Mrs. Brown, for her part, said that Myers had loved Marian and had wanted to marry her. He was opposed to the idea of an abortion. Marian, on the other hand, insisted that her parents would never accept Myers. Brown said that Marian had taken "a harmless drug" and that this was the only attempt that she personally knew of to abort the baby.

But evidently Marian had found an abortionist, or had done something herself more drastic than just take mild abortifacients, because doctors who examined her said that some sort of instruments had been used in the abortion that had caused her death.

Myers was supported by Brown, his father, and his fraternity friends during the trial. There were tears of joy in the courtroom when he was acquitted. Marian's father, Professor M. Elbert Mills, "maintained a strict silence."

I have been unable to find if the perpetrator of Marian's fatal abortion was ever identified.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

The horror!

Family planning clinics in North Jersey brace for closings, cutbacks

First let's get something out of the way -- they're not family planning clinics. They do not help you to plan a family. They are BIRTH CONTROL CLINICS. They are about AVOIDING a family, not planning one.

That said, let's move on.

Family planning clinics around the state are bracing for closures, reduced hours and fewer staff and services if a $7.5 million cut contained in the state budget signed this week is not reversed.

Ya know, if the left wants us to "stay out of people's bedrooms", why are they wanting us in there rolling condoms on the guys' dicks? If your sex life is purely your business, why do you want me to underwrite it?

Planned Parenthood provides many preventive services, including screening for breast and cervical cancers, high blood pressure, anemia and diabetes, and testing for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections.

Have people get these things from regular medical facilities, not facilities that exist primarily to promote risky sexual behaviors. As Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right To Life pointed out, "There are a number of primary health care facilities that provide the same non-abortion services as Planned Parenthood, so women in New Jersey will have other places to obtain this type of health care. The state is not obligated to fund Planned Parenthood." Cause ya know, there'd be a lot less need for cervical cancer screenings and STD screenings and treatments if there was less of the causal sex that PP promotes.

The closing paragraph is the kicker:

"What are the men of this state going to do when they realize the women can't get birth control?" asked Brooks, of the Greater Northern New Jersey Planned Parenthood. "Are we supposed to tell the adults of this state, 'Just say no?' "

The horror! Men having to either keep it zipped or buy their own condoms!

It all boils down to "Men are entitled to frequent sex with women who won't get pregnant -- or who will at least scrape it out if they DO get pregnant!"

Yeah, they do it "for the women". In a pig's eye.

ADDENDUM: The discussion about "prevention" (read: "putting more money into PP's pockets") prompted me to look up this blast from the past. I'll repost it here verbatim:

HT: Imago Dei

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate issued a press release ironically titled, Guttmacher Institute Rates California Number One in Preventing Unintended Pregnancies

You'd think that to rate #1 in preventing unintended pregnancies, you'd have, well, the fewest unintended pregnancies. But California's abortion rate is #1 in the nation, not #50.

Then how did California, with its astronomical abortion rate, manage to rate #1 in "preventing unintended pregnancies"?

The study, Contraception Counts, rated states on service availability, laws and policies, and public funding to determine which states make the greatest efforts at preventing unintended pregnancies.

So the AGI gives an A for effort, not for results. So, based on the AGI's standards, the states that are best at "preventing unintended pregnancy" are 1. California, 2. Alaska, 3. South Carolina, 4. Alabama, and 5. New York.

The lowest ranked states were: 51. Nebraska, 50. North Dakota, 49. Indiana, 48. Ohio, 47. Utah.

Let's look at how these states rank in abortion rates (abortions per 1,000 live births, a good measure of what proportion of pregnancies were intended versus unintended.) I use the CDC rankings because they're more recent, and also because they count abortions among residents, including those who travel out-of-state for their abortions:

California is -- #1. Alaska is #35. South Carolina #29. Alabama is #28. New York is #2. Average ranking: 19

So of the states that AGI thinks are best at preventing unintended pregnancy, none of them are even in the top ten of lowest abortion rates! And the two states with the highest abortion rates get ranked #1 and #5 at "preventing unintended pregnancy"!

Nebraska rates #42 in abortion rate, North Dakota #46, Indiana #38, Ohio #17, and Utah #49. So four of the states ranked "worst" at "preventing unintended pregnancy" were in the bottom 20 for abortion rates, three of them in the bottom 10, two of them in the bottom 5. Average ranking: 38

So, the worse the state is at "preventing unintended pregnancies," the lower the abortion rate.

Tell me that makes any sense.

To my thinking, the five states that are best at preventing unintended pregnancies are Colorado, Idaho, Utah, South Dakota, and Arizona. These are the states with the lowest abortion rates. The states worse at preventing unintended pregnancy are California, New York, Florida, DC, and Delaware, the states with the highest abortion rates.

Would somebody please explain to me the logic that rates the state with the highest abortion rate the "best at preventing unintended pregnancies"?

Clearly, the AGI's idea of "success" is some strange, new usage of the word which I'd previously been unaware of, to paraphrase Arthur Dent.

PP fraud case moving forward

ACLJ Wins 9th Circuit Appeal in Massive Fraud Case Against Planned Parenthood Affiliates in California

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled in favor of the American Center for Law and Justice’s (ACLJ) client in a multi-million dollar fraud case against Planned Parenthood (PP) affiliates in California. ACLJ attorneys are representing a former employee of the PP affiliate in Los Angeles, who is now a federal whistleblower. A federal district court in California had dismissed the case, but the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, dated yesterday, reinstates the lawsuit.

....

The federal False Claims Act (FCA) forbids government contractors from submitting “false or fraudulent” claims for payment. The FCA also authorizes private individuals to bring suit against the offenders to recover the fraudulently obtained funds.

The allegation in this case is that PP affiliates in California illegally marked up the supposed cost of various birth control drugs when seeking government reimbursement, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of overbilling – at taxpayer expense. State audits in both California and Washington State have found PP affiliates guilty of overbilling.

If you're a current or former abortion worker and have criminal activity to report, visit ClinicWorker.com, or Operation Whistleblower.

NARAL: Closing off all other options in the name of "choice"

Pro-Abortion Group Wants Pregnancy Centers Removed From Internet Directories:

They say they support choice, but the pro-abortion activists at NARAL want to leave women in unplanned pregnancy situations with one option: abortion.

If you offer anything other than abortion, NARAL doesn't want women to know you're there and available. The only "choice" choice is abortion.

Yeah, they dress it up in "Oh, those horrible CPCs LIE to women!" By "lie" they mean "Say things we don't want women to hear because if women hear those things they'll reject abortion, and if they reject abortion we lose political and financial ground"

Follow the money, people. NARAL will go broke if women make choices other than abortion. They MUST keep abortion as the only readily available option for frightened, isolated women. They must keep those women frightened and isolated. A woman who rejects abortion is a defeat for them financially and politically.

This is also a spiritual battle. Satan is the Father of Lies, and he will do everything in his power to keep people away from hope and truth and life. NARAL was founded on lies and deception, starting with the unmitigated lie that 5,000 to 10,000 women were dying from criminal abortions a year.

NARAL seeks to destroy not only babies, but life, love, hope, truth. They exist to promote sin and lies and death. Period. And this attempt to close off any option other than abortion is very graphic proof of that.

As if doctors are immune to fashions

Classic ad: Proof that slapping "MD" after somebody's name doesn't mean he's not caught up in what's trendy. Lots of doctors say abortion is not harmful, is beneficial, yada yada yada. Yeah, and a lot of doctors once told pregnant women to smoke, that it was good for them and good for the baby.

Three days of July abortion deaths

I've had problems with the internet so I didn't blog deaths daily the past few days. So here's catching up for July:

July 1 anniversaries:

Doc implicated in deathbed statement: On Saturday, July 1, 1882, Gussie Ellergood of Carlisle, Illinois, died in a St. Louis hospital. She made a deathbed statement naming Dr. R. McWilliams as her abortionist, though McWilliams denied any knowledge of her.

Man sentenced for arranging fatal abortion: On July 1, 1936, Madell Williams died in a Rocky Mount, North Carolina hospital, from peritonitis caused by a criminal abortion. Melton Baker, a man Madell had been associating with for about 18 months, was found guilty of arranging the fatal abortion, and was sentenced to 3 - 5 years in prison. His conviction was upheld on appeal.

Three children left motherless by safe, legal abortion: "Audrey" was 44 years old when she underwent a safe and legal first-trimester abortion in New York on July 1, 1971.

Fatal embolism after abortion: Sheryl Cottone was 23 years old when she died from a safe and legal first trimester abortion in 1981.

July 2:

One abortion, two women dead: On July 2, 1900, Mrs. Sarah Bonda, age 20, died at her home as a result of a criminal abortion performed on her there that day. When police went to arrest Mrs. Martha Heisig, a midwife, in connection with the death, she committed suicide.

July 3:

House calls for aftercare prove futile for teen: Dorothy Schultz, 19 years of age, died in 1929 from an abortion her mother had arranged for a doctor to perform.

Very crass and crude and flippant and vulgar -- but he nailed it.

He speaks truths, such as:

I love going to abortion rallies to pick up women. 'Cause you know they f*****. You ain't gonna find a bunch of virgins at the abortion rally!

A friend of mine told me about the day he and some buddies were strolling through DC and stumbled onto an abortion rally. Their reaction? Pay dirt! Women that would put out and were highly unlikely to come looking for child support later. Pro-abortion rallies are a dream come true for men just looking for a quick lay.

Ah, the abortion issue, man! It's a woman's issue. A woman get pregnant, she don't wanna hear s**t from the man. .... Unless she decides to have the baby, then she's like, "Where my check?"

No comment.

When a woman gets pregnant, it's a choice between the woman, and her girl friends.

Which is true. And has always been. Nancy Howell Lee's research into criminal abortions even found that the main predictor of whether a woman would seek out an illegal abortion in pre-Roe days was what she perceived to be the normative choice for her peers. So much for how abortion is a sign that the woman is free-thinking and independent.

A woman get pregnant, her and her girl friends get together, and they have a little abortion tribunal, and they vote on the baby like it's Survivor. .... And that's how life is decided in America.

Note how he acknowledges that everybody knows that it's a baby, and a baby's life, that's being discussed up or down.

Guess what, guys? If you suggest abortion, and then she has the baby, when that kid's about five, six years old, he gone be cursing your ass out. You say, "Hey, what's up, Little Man? How you doing, man?" "I'm ALIVE! That's how the f** I'm doing! You wanted me dead, huh, biatch? I'm ALIVE, m-fer. I should bust a cap on your ass!"

And everybody laughs.

Which is sad.