Well I'm glad we have the Planned Parenthood Seal of Approval

Catholic Hospital Saves Pregnancies of Women Undergoing Abortions

First off, I have a beef with Fox News for that headline. It's not pregnancies being saved, it's babies.

That said, I'll move on.

The article is another look at the Chicago hospital that is doing what other hospitals have been doing for years: removing the abortion-initiating laminaria from the ill-counseled customers of abortion facilities. What makes this hospital stand out is that they've actually developed a specific protocol, and, evidently, somebody put out a press release about it.

The topic of laminaria removal was brought up at a National Abortion Federation seminar decades ago. In that context, an abortionist was complaining about the prolifers outside his clinic stealing his customers by taking them to the hospital to have the laminaria removed. Rather than chide the abortionist for his poor counseling protocols -- and for doing abortions on women so uncertain of their decisions that a chance encounter with a stranger on the sidewalk changed their minds -- the NAF members suggested making the women sign contracts agreeing to go ahead with the abortions even if they'd changed their minds.

Which brings me back to our story:

Planned Parenthood of Illinois supports the hospital’s way of handling the situation. Vice President for Public Policy, Pamela Sutherland, said that as long as the women weren’t coerced into changing their minds, it seems they were treated well.

“Based on the statements made by Resurrection …regarding women who come to them to interrupt a second-trimester abortion in process, Planned Parenthood of Illinois agrees with the Hospital’s Standard of Care. We are very pleased that they are counseling women to be sure women are comfortable with their decision. And we support what we also consider to be good medical practice.”

Where is Planned Parenthood's careful consideration of the counseling at the clinics whose patients are so uncertain of the abortion decision? Note how they look carefully at whether the woman was adequately counseled prior to continuing a pregnancy, but they seem utterly indifferent to the counseling prior to initiating an abortion?