| Last week, Live Action Video released their newest video, the first in the Rosa Acuna project, which reveals undercover footage showing a abortion practitioner and staff making erroneous statements about fetal development and abortion's risks, to two young women (played by Lila Rose and a friend), in a counseling session at a Planned Parenthood in Appleton, Wisconsin. Wisconsin informed consent law requires that women receive medically accurate information before undergoing an abortion. Lila Rose, the 21-year-old UCLA student and Live Action president, told LifeNews.com, that medical lies and manipulative counseling are routine at Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. In the video, one of the two women, ask a Planned Parenthood counselor if the pregnant woman's 10-week-old unborn child has a heartbeat. The counselor emphasizes "heart tones," and answers, "Heart beat is when the fetus is active in the uterus--can survive--which is about seventeen or eighteen weeks."
The explination of heart tones is in particular, dishonest. Biologists and embryologists agree that a rudimentary heart has formed in the developing human embryo and has began to beat by day 22-25 or 3 weeks since ovulation, 5 weeks since LMP, and is not dependent upon viability (a seperate event), which occurs somewhere around 23 to 25 weeks.
"Heart – begins to beat in Humans by day 22-23, first functioning embryonic organ formed." - http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/Notes/week4.htm
"A primitive S-shaped tubal heart is beating and peristalsis, the rhythmic muscle contractions propelling fluids throughout the body, begins" -
http://www.visembryo.com/baby/11.html
"The heart begins beating 3 weeks and 1 day following fertilization [5 weeks LMP - Ed.]." -
http://www.ehd.org/resources_bpd_documentation_english.php#chapter9
"Embryonic Heart Rate (EHR), early in development the heart starts to spontaneously beat" - http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/Notes/heart6.htm This scientific information contrasts to the misinformation Planned Parenthood employees gave.
The Planned Parenthood counselor then says, "A fetus is what's in the uterus right now. That is not a baby."
Dr. Polhaska, the abortion practitioner, insists "It's not a baby at this stage or anything like that."
Furthermore, when asked, "When does it become a baby," he and the counselor give conflicting and subjective philosphical statements:
Planned Parenthood counselor: "A baby is what's born at fourty weeks."
Dr. Polhaska: "When you're like seven months pregnant or so. Six, seven months pregnant."
While "fetus" is a correct medical term to describe the developing human during pregnancy, the term "baby" is not incorrect and is a layman's term, which may be used at the woman's indiscretion. To give you an idea of what the pregnancy looks like at this stage of development, here are some images of the embryo at 56 - 60 days post-ovulation (8 weeks fetal age, 10 weeks, LMP): http://embryo.soad.umich.edu/carnStages/stage23/stage23.html
"Most embryos at [Carnegie] stage 23 are approximately 56-57 postovulatory days old and measure 23-32 mm in length. Distinguishing criteria for this stage include fusion of the eyelids at the medial and lateral margins, clear distinction of the subdivisions of the upper and lower limbs, the forearms appear at or above the level of the shoulders, the superficial vascular plexus of the head is very close to the vertex, and the external genitalia are well developed but not always sufficiently to distinguish the embryo's sex."
More on the embryonic development at this stage:
Head and Neck
Head is erect and rounded. External ear is completely developed. The eyes are closed, but the retina of the eye is fully pigmented. The eyelids begin to unite and are only half closed. Taste buds begin to form on the surface of the tongue. The primary teeth are at cap stage. Bones of the palate begin to fuse. Scalp plexus reaches head vertex.
Abdomen
Intestines begin to migrate from the umbilical cord into the body cavity.
Pelvis
External genitals still difficult to recognize.
Limbs
Upper and lower limbs are well formed. Fingers get longer and toes no longer webbed and all digits are separate and distinct.
Spine, Skeleton, and Muscles
Layer of rather flattened cells, the precursor of the surface layer of the skin, replaces the thin ectoderm of the embryo. Tail (the enlongated spinal cord) has disappeared.
http://www.visembryo.com/baby/23.html
"Most embryos at stage 23 are approximately 56-57 postovulatory days old and measure 23-32 mm in length. Distinguishing criteria for this stage include fusion of the eyelids at the medial and lateral margins, clear distinction of the subdivisions of the upper and lower limbs, the forearms appear at or above the level of the shoulders, the superficial vascular plexus of the head is very close to the vertex, and the external genitalia are well developed but not always sufficiently to distinguish the embryo's sex."
Definately not just a "mass of tissue" or "undifferentiated cells" as most pro-choicers will claim.
The abortion practitioner then goes on to say that having an abortion will be "much safer than having a baby," warning, "You know, women die having babies."
According to Jezebel, the claim "Abortion is safer than childbirth" comes from 2002 CDC statistics.
in 2002, the CDC recorded 9 deaths out of 845,573 abortions. That's a little over 1 in 100,000. Also in 2002, the CDC recorded 8.9 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. From there, they deduct carrying a child to term was about 9 times more dangerous than having an abortion. However, there are some issues with this approach and deduction, with the comparison of abortion mortality and maternal mortality rates. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control report for pregnancy-related mortality rates: "In this report, a woman's death was classified as pregnancy-related if it occurred during pregnancy or within 1 year of pregnancy and resulted from 1) complications of the pregnancy, 2) a chain of events that was initiated by the pregnancy, or 3) the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of the pregnancy or its management" (source). This means pregnancy-related mortality rates are broadly defined to included the following: aggravation of a maternal pre-existing, non-pregnancy-related medical condition, pregnancy-induced maternal medical condition, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, still birth, post-partum complications, and includes induced abortion. Therfore we are not comparing with the pregnancy mortality rate alone. In addition, regarding the CDC and AGI reports for Induced Abortions, mortalities resulting from induced abortion are typically under-reported as such. One reason is that a medical examiner may code the underlying cause of death on the autopsy report as the complication alone, i.e. embolism, septsis, hemorrhage, or anesthesia complications, rather than correctly as a legally induced abortion with specified complication. A good explination of this can be found here. Therefore it is misleading to compare pregnancy-related mortality rates to abortion mortality rates to obtain the conclusion that abortion is safer than childbirth.
Teri Huyck, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, told the Appleton Post-Crescent newspaper the video is questionable and Planned Parenthood dismisses the attacks as false and inflammatory. Also, Planned Parenthood once again cites the context of the video as unclear in part because the video is edited. However Lila Rose said her group plans to provide the raw, unedited video to authorities. She said she also will post full footage on the Live Action Web site but declined to say when.
Despite Planned Parenthood's attempts to dismiss this video, I think the facts of the matter speak loud and clear, that Planned Parenthood did indeed provide misleading and subjective information, in order to persuade this woman to choose abortion. Planned Parenthood has come under fire recently after Live Action's investigations found its centers willing to conceal sexual abuse and accept donationstargeted to preform abortions on African-Americans specifically. | |
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| Irony in Life
Lovingly and humorously dedicated to my parents, aunts, and uncles.
You Know You're Over 50 When....
1. You've began to receive mailings for the AARP.
2. You've received a free trial for Life Alert and considered using it.
3. A waitress at a restraunt gave you a senior discount...even though you're not over 65.
4. One of your co-workers invited you to join the local chapter of the Red Hat Society...eventhough you're not over 55.
5. Your shopping list primarily consists of high fiber foods, ibruprofen, hair coloring, and Icy Hot.
And last but not least...
6. One morning, as you look in the mirror, you've realized everything's moved south. | |
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| The coat-hanger has become the pro-choice movement's rallying cry and you will often hear the claim that if abortion is restricted or made illegal again, abortion will become unsafe and women will resort self-induced abortion or dangerous means of obtaining one. But how accurate or true are these claims? Nicolas R.P. Lewine addresses one of the sources for these claims in an op-ed piece, entitled "Stumping for Stupak," published in the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson: The Harvard Crimson
"Stumping for Stupak" (Excerpt)
By NICOLAS R. P. LEWINE
Published: Thursday, December 03, 2009 ...Finally, opponents of the Stupak amendment claim that the amendment would lead to more unsafe abortions, which are likely to harm women. Participants in an anti-Stupak rally in Harvard Square on Nov. 18 brandished coat hangers and handed out flyers that said legal restrictions on abortion “just make abortions dangerous.” This claim likely has its roots in a 2007 Guttmacher Institute study of worldwide abortion that concluded that countries in which abortions were illegal had significantly higher rates of unsafe abortions. However, the fatal flaw in this conclusion is that the countries where abortions are illegal are almost entirely developing countries, including most of Africa. The countries where abortions are legal include the United States, Europe, and other already developed nations. Moreover, 97 percent of unsafe abortions were in developing nations. This argument attributes the disparity in unsafe abortions to legal restrictions while not addressing the fact that medical care in countries where abortion is illegal is vastly inferior, much less available, and often not performed by adequately trained professionals. So it is misleading to claim, based on this study, that making abortions illegal would cause a rise in unsafe abortions. (Moreover, it is important to remember that the Stupak amendment does not actually make abortions illegal.)....
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/12/3/abortions-abortion-right-amendment/ If we look at abortion practice before legalization: "Mary Claderone (then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood) and Nancy Howell Lee (a pro choice researcher) both investigated the practice of criminal abortion in the pre-legalization era. Calderone estimated that "90% of all illegal abortions are presently (1960 - ed) being done by physicians." Calderone further estimated that 8% were self-induced and that 2% were induced by someone other than the woman or a doctor. Lee estimated that 89% of pre-legalization abortions were done by physicians, an additional 5% by nurses or others with some medical training, and 6% were done by non-medical persons or the woman herself. Calderone's numbers came from "43 men and women from the various disciplines of obstetrics, psychiatry, public health, sociology, forensic medicine, and law and demography." Lee interviewed women who had undergone pre-legalization abortions. The discrepancy between Lee's and Calderone's breakdowns of non-physician abortions is probably due to sampling errors."
And on the 5% of amature and self-induced abortions: "Lee's interviews with women who had self-aborted found a different picture from the women who had sought professional (however illegal) abortions. These self-aborting women tended to be less rational, and more self-destructive, than the women seeking competent abortionists. Lee also found that the women attempting self-abortion were likely to have had a death wish at the time of the abortion.
This finding is in keeping with psychiatric literature of the time, which treats self-induced abortion as a peculiar manifestation of the self-mutilating behavior common in patients with certain psychiatric disorders. Self-mutilation in patients with these disorders can range from superficial cuts and cigarette burns to self-trepanning (drilling holes in the skull), enoculation (gouging the eyes out), and amputation of limbs.
Mutilation of the genitals is not rare in these patients, and self-induced abortion was often regarded as an extreme form of genital mutilation aimed at attacking the patient's own femininity. It was in the political context, not the psychiatric or psychological context, that self-induced abortions were considered to be the expected behavior of normal women. This politicized view of self-aborting women eclipsed the reality, and case studies stopped showing up in the literature, although occasional stories still do make it into the newspaper.
This is not to say that all women who self-induce abortions are mentally ill. Investigators of post-Roe self-induced abortion injuries and deaths found other factors, such as distrust of the medical profession, a perception of home herbal abortion as more "natural," cultural preferences, and "ideosyncratic" factors nobody could readily explain. These women, however, carefully research abortion methods and use common sense and intelligence to select a method likely to be efficacious and comparatively safe.(source)
Just how many criminal abortions were there before legalization? This is an excellent question, and a difficult one to answer.
Abortion-rights advocates often parrot the claim, "There were 5,000 to 10,000 unsafe abortion deaths before legalization." This claim is nothing more than a well-established myth. In debunking this myth, let's look at the source:
"In the case of the 5,000 - 10,000 claims, the original source was a book -- Abortion, Spontaneous and Induced -- published in 1936 by Dr. Frederick Taussig, a leading proponent of legalization of abortion. Taussig calculated an urban abortion rate based on records of a New York City birth control clinic, and a rural abortion rate based on some numbers given to him by some doctors in Iowa. He took a guess at a mortality rate, multiplied by his strangely generated estimate of how many criminal abortions were taking place, and presto! A myth is born!
Even if Taussig's calculations, by some mathematical miracle, had been correct, they still would have been out of date by the end of WWII. Antibiotics and blood transfusions changed the face of medicine. But not only are the Taussig numbers dated, they were never accurate to begin with. At a conference in 1942, Taussig himself appologized for using "the wildest estimates" to generate a bogus number. Although it took Taussig six years to reject his own faulty calculations, at least he did admit that he'd been wrong. Other abortion enthusiasts lacked Taussig's compunctions. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL, admitted that he and his associates knew that the claims of 5,000 to 10,000 criminal abortion deaths were false. They bandied them about anyway, Nathanson confessed, because they were useful. This, too, is old news -- Nathanson came clean over twenty years ago."(source)
Because this is before the Centers for Disease Control began Abortion Surveillance Activities in 1968, and began looking at abortion mortality in earnest in 1972, all abortion deaths were typically counted together: legal (or "therapeutic"), illegal, and spontaneous (miscarriage). Mary Calderone, who was then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood, reported on a conference studying abortion in America. She indicated that in 1957, there were 260 abortion deaths nationwide. That number included all abortions: legal, illegal, and spontaneous. The caluclations based on state maternal mortality investigations are fairly close to Calderone's numbers based on national data. These numbers were based on alerting doctors, law enforcement, coroners, and hospital administrators, along with public records officials, of their responsiblity to report these deaths(source)However, even without the CDC's intervention, public health officials were watching maternal mortality in general, and abortion mortality in particular, very carefully. Mary Calderone, who was then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood, reported on a conference studying abortion in America. She indicated that in 1957, there were 260 abortion deaths nationwide. That number included all abortions: legal, illegal, and spontaneous. The caluclations based on state maternal mortality investigations are fairly close to Calderone's numbers based on national data. These numbers were based on alerting doctors, law enforcement, coroners, and hospital administrators, along with public records officials, of their responsiblity to report these deaths. (source).
So the numbers aren't as high as abortion-rights advocates would have you believe. Also, if you looks at statistical trends for abortion deaths from 1940 to 1970, the number of deaths actually began to decrease even before the legalization of abortion began in the 1960's, with 1,407 deaths in 1940, 744 deaths in 1945, 263 deaths in 1950, 224 deaths in 1955, 251 deaths in 1960, 201 deaths in 1965, and 119 deaths in 1970. Source: "Induced termination of pregnancy before and after Roe v. Wade" JAMA, 12/9/92, vol. 208, no. 22, p. 3231-3239. Despite abortion-rights advocates crediting the legalization of abortion, much of the decrease in maternal/infant and abortion mortality during from that time period (from 1940 to 1970) can be better attributed to improvements in antibiotics (such as the finding of penicillin), improved access to blood products, improvements in surgical techniques, improvements in emergency medicine, broader access to adequate prenatal care, improved vaccinations, and improvements in environmental health/sanitation, to name a few. | |
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| To My Dear Readers and Friends... Wishing Everyone a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving! I hope todays brings you lots of good food, fond memories, and lots of laughter and love. Just for fun, here's a Thanksgving survey:
-What were your plans for Thanksgiving?
-Do you have any special traditions for the holiday and what are they?
-What is your favorite food served at Thanksgiving?
-What is your fondest memory of a Thanksigiving?
-And last but not least, what are you thankful for? Original Comments Made for This Entry:
Rachael wrote (11-29-2005)
Plans: I had dinner over at my Grandpa Dale's(mom's dad) on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I had dinner over at Grandma Pat's and George's (mom's mom and step-grandpa), and then dinner over Bryce's Grandma's on Thanksgiving. And I had dinner over at my dad's parents the next day. Phew! That's a lot of turkey. Traditions: Going to the grandparents for Thanksgiving. Oh, and Grandpa Dale always makes stuffed mushrooms and waterchestnuts wrapped in bacen. Favorite Food: Greenbean caserole. Fondest Memory: Going to the grandparents for Thanksgiving Thankful For: I'm thankful for my family, for Bryce and his family, for good friends, 2 job interviews, a roof over my head, and food on the table. | |
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| Are you new to the pro-life movement and aren't sure what you can do to help or looking for some new ideas? Here are over 30 easy things you can do to continue to be a catalyst for life... 1) Be sure to share a pro-life message through blogging. Some great examples of well-written pro-life blogs include: Jill Stanek, The Dawn Patrol, and JivinJehoshaphat to name a few. If you're new to blogging, Blogging Basics 101 can help you get started. 2) If you've had an abortion, share your abortion story (your experience, feelings, how your abortion affected you, and how you found healing or closure) with others and learn how to become involved in the Post-Abortion movement. The negative effects of abortion on women are often downplayed and/or not discussed in dialogues about abortion. Women who've had an abortion, especially when they experience feelings of grief or loss after their abortion, often face stigma and shame from both sides of the abortion debate. In sharing your experience, you can help remove the stigma and shame as well as show other hurting men and women that they're not alone in their feelings/experience, as well as present dialogue and opportunity to help others find healing/closure. 3) Host a baby shower or place a collection crib at your church/non-profit for a mom in need. 4) Volunteer your time with, support, and spread the word about The Nurturing Network. "The objective of the Nurturing Network is not a political one, but a most practical one: to ensure that every woman knows that the resources she needs in order to continue her pregnancy are available by calling the Network's toll free number: 1-800-TNN-4MOM. Volunteer members form an extensive employment, medical, educational, counseling and residential network which enables a mother to continue the life of her unborn child without sacrificing her own hopes and dreams. Services include medical assistance, financial assistance, nurturing homes, educational programs, employment & adoption counseling, preparation for parenthood. Staffed during normal business hours, specializing in help for college and professional women. 5) Support your local pregnancy resource center! You can do this a few ways 1)Volunteer your time at a pregnancy resource center. ( What is a Pregnancy Resource Center). 2) Donate new and gently-used items to your local pregnancy resource center's Earn While You Learn Program. Through this program, women participate in parenting and life skills courses which empower them to become more independent and break the cycle of poverty, poor parenting, neglect, and abuse while earning vouchers for supplemental maternity and baby items. Or 3) Support your local pregnancy resource centers by participating in the Purple Envelope Project. Place 1 dollar inside a purple envelope and a supportive note and send it to Care Net and/or Heartbeat Int. Their addresses can be found at the blog above.
6) Become a peer counselor and support advocate for teens at your high school. Be a non-judgemental and safe person for other teens to approach with their questions and issues. Be prepared to direct them to community resources as needed, but most of all, just be a listening ear and supportive. 7) Participate in activities which support single and teen moms who choose life, for example: create a single moms support group in your community, start a home daycare or create a daycare co-op for parenting teen and college students, provide rides to doctor's appointments, WIC appointments, job interviews, etc. 8) Become a visible volunteer in your community. Being prolife encompasses more than just activism on behalf of the unborn and their mothers, it also means caring for the disadvantaged in our communities and our enviroment. Some ideas include volunteering at your local soup kitchen, food pantry, or homeless shelter, becoming a Big Brother/Big Sister to an at-risk child, becoming a foster parent to an at-risk child, volunteering at the local animal shelter, or organizing a trash pickup day along a highway or in your neighborhood. 9) Reach out to change the hearts and minds of abortion providers and clinic staff on National Abortion Provider Appreciation Day, March 10th. See this blog entry for ideas. 10) Be a peaceful presence at an abortion clinic: silently praying or sidewalk counseling. This is an opportunity to minister to abortion-minded women as well as those undecided and to abortion clinic staff. Remember: Love and kindness wins hearts better than condemnation and hate. 11) Get involved with your local pro-life organization. There are many pro-life organizations and many different approaches. Be sure you are aware of and agree with their mission statement and activities. You can find listings of groups here and here. If one doesn’t exist in your community, consider starting one. 12) Get involved with your college's pro-life organization, Students for Life (national organization), or Feminists for Life's college outreach. If there's not pro-life group at your school, considering starting one. Be sure to check with your student affairs or activities department for the guidelines and rules. 13) Host an informational pro-life booth at your employer's or college's health or activities fair. Be sure follow guidelines and get written permission. Heritage House76 is a great source for pro-life literature and materials. 14) Attend the annual March for Life and other pro-life marches and peaceful protests. Also present a pro-life presence for life at state houses and government buildings on the anniversary or Roe v. Wade and when laws pertitant to pro-lifelife issues are being debated/passed. Also you can participate in a Life Chain or speak out at Silent No More events. Remember, no matter how heated it gets, not to engage in screaming, name-calling, obscenities, or threatening gestures. 15) Don't forget to speak out on other issues important to supporting women and their children, including, advocating for male responsibility in sex and reproduction, prevention of unplanned pregnancies through acess to better and more reliable contraception and education, paid maternity and family leave and better living wages, support services for pregnant and parenting women at educational institutions, affordable and quality prenatal and children's health care/day care, and safe drinking water and food sources for pregnant and breastfeeding women and their children. 16) Thank local businesses as well as large corporations for standing up for life. Send out “thank you” notes/emails to organizations which support local PRCs, boycotted pro-choice projects, and who have donated time and money to the pro-life movement. 17) Read and support pro-life publications. There are a myriad of movies with a pro-life theme, books and blogs out there. Check out my sidebar for my favorite sites and my Amazon book list for a pro-life tool box of books! 18) Share a pro-life message with those in your community by wearing a shirt, bracelet, necklace, lapel pin, button, etc. Don’t have any of this stuff? Make something! With that said, don't forget National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week! 19)Find out how your money is being spent. Don’t support pro-choice companies or organizations unless it is unavoidable. A boycott list of companies/organizations which support pro-choice causes can be found here. 20) Write to and call your senators and congressmen and urge them to vote pro-life. Sometimes, we have to remind them why the pro-life issue is important! Click here to locate your Congressperson. Click here to locate your Senator. 21) VOTE! This is the most effect way to have an impact on support for pro-life measures. Research the candidates voting background and stances on the issues. Vote for representatives and leaders who have a pro-life voting record, but also have beliefs consistant with your other views Most importantly, please share these ideas with others. Rachael's Note:
Following concerns regarding a prior, similiar entry I had posted, I have re-written the entry in my own words. | |
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| Keep Calm and Carry On has some good insight on inexpensive ways to stay cool this summer 1. Fans are great. They use much less energy than air conditioners. I run my ceiling fans all day long to keep the cool air circulating. 2. Keep shades/curtains drawn. Sunlight is hot!
3. If your bathroom has one and doing so would not attract Peeping Toms & Tinas, shower with the window open to let out the steam. Otherwise, open the window immediately after your shower. If you belong to a gym, you can use their facilities and avoid steaming up your own. Of course, you could always shower with cold water. Having done this for several months two years ago, I don't recommend it. You will feel deprived the rest of the day, and probably cram yourself full of chocolate/sugar/salt until you realize what is missing.
4. At night, rinse off in cold water just before you get in bed. The evaporation will cool you as you fall asleep. 5. Close your closet doors. No need to air condition your closets. See the rest of the tips here | |
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| In the wake of late term abortion provider, George Tiller's Death, many pro-choicers have been harping on how much of a hero he was and the services he provided were medically necessary for severe fetal deformaties and grave threat to the health or life of the pregnant woman. Myth: Late term abortions are rarely preformed. Fact: 4% of abortions are late term, broken down as 3% are preformed at 16-20 weeks and 1% are preformed at 21 weeks or later ( source), which translates to 4% of 1.3 million abortions preformed annually or 52,000 late term abortions each year. Because there is no regular reporting system implemented in place and we are relying on the clinics providing the information on a volunteer basis, we cannot get an accurate prediction of how many late term abortions are actually taking place.
Myth:
Late term abortion providers are rare and difficult to find. Fact: Going to the Abortion Clinics Online listing of late term abortion providers brings up a listing of 49 abortion providers which advertise for preforming elective abortions up to 20 to 25 weeks LMP with 4 abortion providers advertising abortions greater than 24 weeks for fetal or maternal indications.
Myth: Late-term abortions are only preformed for severe fetal deformaties and grave threat to the health or life of the pregnant woman, medically necessary reasons. From Planned Parenthood's Q&A on Abortion: "There are a variety of health conditions in which abortion may become critical to protect a woman's life. There is, for example, a form of pregnancy-related high blood pressure that can be life threatening. The medical term for it is preeclampsia. It occurs in seven percent of pregnant women. If it is untreated or doesn't respond to treatment, it can lead to convulsions, failure of various organ systems, coma, or death. Abortion may be the only way to save the woman's life. Certain other conditions, such as severe diabetes, heart disease, or trauma from car accidents, may also require abortion to save a woman's life. Termination of pregnancy is also essential to save the life of a woman with an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy." Fact:Abortion is no longer indicated for many of the above suggested conditions.... According to Emedicine, Medscape's Continually Updated Clinical Reference: "A pregnancy complicated by mild preeclampsia at or beyond 37 weeks should be delivered. Prior to 37 weeks, expectant management is appropriate. When severe preeclampsia is diagnosed after 34 weeks' gestation, delivery is most appropriate. In addition, because delivery is always appropriate for the mother, some authorities consider delivery as the definitive treatment regardless of gestational age. However, delivery may not be optimal for a fetus that is extremely premature. Therefore, in a carefully chosen population, expectant management may benefit the fetus without greatly compromising maternal health. In most cases, patients should be hospitalized and monitored carefully for the development of worsening preeclampsia or complications of preeclampsia." ( source). If a patient presents with severe preeclampsia before 34 weeks' gestation, but appears stable and fetal condition is reassuring, expectant management may be considered provided they meet the strict criteria..This type of management should be considered only in a tertiary center. In addition, because delivery is always appropriate for the mother, some authorities consider delivery as the definitive treatment regardless of gestational age. However, delivery may not be optimal for a fetus that is extremely premature. Therefore, in a carefully chosen population, expectant management may benefit the fetus without greatly compromising maternal health. Preeclampsia resolves after delivery. However, patients may still have elevated blood pressure postpartum. Liver function tests and platelet counts must be performed to document decreasing values prior to hospital discharge. In addition, one third of seizures occur in the postpartum period, most within 24 hours of delivery, and almost all within 48 hours. Therefore, magnesium sulfate seizure prophylaxis is continued for 24 hours postpartum. ( source). For eclampsia, the standard medical protocol is to prioritize stabilizing the patient, followed by emergency delivery via either vaginal birth or c-section. ( source) In both conditions, theraputic abortion with fetal demise is not medically indicated in medical literature. What life-threatening pregnancy conditions warrant terminating the pregnancy in an outpatient ambulatory surgical clinic over a 3 day period vs. close monitering and a swift induction and birth (c-section or vaginal) in a hospital setting where advanced life support is available if needed? And if all these abortion providers were doing was inducing labor (supposedly for the mother's health),why in the world would they need to end a much wanted pregnancy first? Why not expectant management in a hospital setting and/or an emergency delivery to protect the mother's health and give her the ability to carry the wanted pregnancy to term, in addition to careful post-partum monitering and care? American Heart Association: Sex, Pregnancy, and Birth Control
"Many women with congenital heart disease can have a successful pregnancy....In many cases, women will be advised to have their pregnancy monitored by a high-risk obstetrician, often along with with a cardiologist familiar with their condition. Usually, babies can be delivered vaginally. A Caesarean section isn't necessary unless problems develop during birth." Diabetes and Pregnancy (from the American Diabetes Association)"Health care providers no longer discourage women with diabetes from becoming pregnant. We now know that the key to a healthy pregnancy for a woman with diabetes is keeping blood glucose (sugar) in the target range -- both before she is pregnant and during her pregnancy. To do this, you need a diabetes treatment plan that keeps meals, exercise, and insulin in balance. This plan will change as you change with pregnancy. You will also need to check your blood glucose often and keep a record of your results. With your blood glucose in the target range and good medical care, your chances of a trouble-free pregnancy and a healthy baby are almost as good as they are for a woman without diabetes."
Study Finds Abortion Not Needed When Pregnant Women Face Cancer Treatment
Dr. Beth Beadle, who works at the prestigious medical center and is the lead author of the study, told AP that both mother and baby can be cared for during treatment. Ruth O'Regan, an associate professor at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, also told AP that cancer doctors can treat both mother and child without the need for an abortion. Breast Cancer is Treatable During Pregnancy (PDF) by Eileen Ellig " For decades, the consensus among physicians was that any cancer puts a mother and fetus in competition for survival, says Carter’s physician Richard Theriault, D.O., professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Breast Medical Oncology. “The idea was if you terminated the pregnancy, the outcome would be better because you would eliminate the big hormone surge that occurs during this time,” Theriault says. High levels of estrogen produced during pregnancy were thought to cause the tumor or feed its growth. Ironically, the majority of pregnant women who Theriault and Hahn see have estrogen-receptor negative tumors. This contradicts earlier theories that pregnancy-associated breast cancer was driven by this hormone. Although pregnant and non-pregnant patients do just as well after the same treatment, resistance to aggressively treating pregnant women still exists, Hahn says. “Unfortunately, many patients are advised to end their pregnancies.”The REAL Reason the pro-choice side advocates to keep late-term abortions legal...
While there are the occasional rare case of maternal indication or poor prenatal diagnosis, overwhelming evidence points to the vast majority of late-term abortions are preformed for purely elective, socio-economic reasons: According to AGI, abortions for indication of fetal abnormaility only consists of 2% of all late term abortions, other reasons given include: Woman did not realize she was pregnant 71% Difficulty making arrangements for abortion 48% Afraid to tell parents or partner 33% Needed time to make decision 24% Hoped relationship would change 8% Pressure not to have abortion 8% Something changed during pregnancy 6% Didn’t know timing was important 6% Didn’t know she could get an abortion 5% Other 11% Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute: An Overview of Abortion in the United StatesReasons for Abortions After 16 Weeks Since Last Menstrual Period. Of the 30 original criminal complaints filed against Tiller, which is available as a PDF here, based on a review of patient records, the compelling medical reasons given in Tiller's records for these third-trimester abortions were: Anxiety Disorder Not Otherwise Specified or Adjustment Disorder With Mixed Anxiety and Depressed Mood: 1 Major Depressive Disorder, Single Episode: 9 Fetus "non-viable" but with no record of how non-viability was determined: 2 Acute Stress Disorder: 2 Anxiety Disorder Not Otherwise Specified: 1 No medical basis documented: 14 Christina at Real Choice has documented cases of late-term abortions which were elective and fatal or near fatal to the woman.
The most famous denunciation of the claim was by Ron Fitzsimmons, head of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers. Said Fitzsimmons:
"When you're a doctor who does these abortions and the leaders of your movement appear before Congress and go on network news and say these procedures are done in only the most tragic of circumstances, how do you think it makes you feel? You know they're primarily done on healthy women and healthy fetuses, and it makes you feel like a dirty little abortionist with a dirty little secret."
Source: American Medical News, Abortion rights leader urges end to "half truths"
In the middle of 1998, the state of Kansas instituted a mandatory reporting policy that required Tiller to submit information about the abortions that he performs. The Kansas Department of Health and Environmental Statistics has recently published this information: http://www.kdhe.state.ks.us/hci/absumm.html.
Myth:
Third-trimester abortions are illegal for any reason other than severe fetal deformity and grave threat to the health or life of the pregnant woman.
Fact:
Supreme Court Ruling, Doe V Bolton, which came shortly after Roe v. Wade, allows abortion at any time during pregnancy for "health" of mother, in which "health" is broadly and loosely defined.
'...a woman has a constitutional right to abortion from six months to birth, if her doctor "in his best clinical judgment," in light of the patient's age, "physical, emotional, psychological [and] familial" circumstances, finds it "necessary for her physical or mental health."
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=410&invol=179
Are Late-Term Abortions Safe for the Woman?
"Frequency of complications depends on gestational age (GA) at time of abortion and method of abortion. Complication rates according to GA at time of abortion are as follows: Second trimester - Up to 50%, possibly higher."
"Mortality and morbidity depend on gestational age (GA) at time of abortion. In the US, mortality rates per 100,000 abortions are as follows: (3) 16-20 weeks, 14; and (4) more than 21 weeks, 18."
EMedicine/Medscape: Abortion, Complications
Author: Slava V Gaufberg, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Also, here are some testimonies and late-term abortion experiences of medical malpractice and neglect at Tiller's Women's Health Care Services:
Luhra Tivis
Luhra Tivis used to work at Tiller's clinic. She testified at the "Meet The Abortion Providers" conference about what it was like to work for him LaDonna's Story
was rushed by her local doctor into aborting, and later reflected, "I am no longer grateful for Dr tiller 'helping me' he didn't help me at all. I wish now I would of had the courage to deliver my little girl and let her get even just one breath of air before she passed...
Michelle Armesto's Story
Michelle Armesto spoke out last month about an abortion performed on her at 24 weeks, under duress, by Shelley Sella at Tiller's facility in 2003. Mrs. Armesto, (maiden name Berge), came forward in 2007, and testified before a joint legislative committee that she was given an abortion at WHCS against her will on May 13, 2003, in her 24th week of pregnancy. Mrs. Armesto discovered only after receiving her medical records years later that abortionist Shelley Sella had made a determination that her baby was non-viable. [View the document.] Mrs. Armesto testified that she was in good health with an uncomplicated pregnancy and had no reason to believe that her baby was not viable.
Patient S.
A complaint has been filed with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts
Patient S. suffered life-threatening abortion complications at Tiller’s abortion clinic, including a high fever and respiratory and cardiac arrest during the abortion. There have been 8 emergency ambulance runs of abortion patients with life-threatening complications from Tiller's clinic between 2000 and 2009:
Tiller Abortion Patient Transported to Hospital, “No Lights, No Sirens”
March 12, 2009
Ambulance Transports Yet Another Tiller Abortion Patient To Hospital
October 29, 2008
Ambulance Transports Another Injured Woman From Tiller’s Abortion Clinic
October 1, 2008
Janice's Abortion Story (scroll down)
"Cathy's" Abortion Story
A patient accuses Tiller of mistreating her and botching her abortion.
"Dolores" Abortion Story
A patient accuses Tiller of having a severe lack of respect for choice.
Christin Gilbert: "Health" Abortion Proves Fatal
Died after third trimester abortion at Tiller's late term clinic
Sarah Brown
Sarah was born with birth defects after a failed late-term abortion attempt at Tiller's clinic and lived until the age of five | |
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| Dr. George Tiiler, a contraversial, late-term abortion doctor was murdered while attending service at his church. This is indeed a sad day, for a crime has been committed in the name of "pro-life" and the division between pro-life and pro-choice has grown even deeper. While there are many claims that the murder was motivated by pro-life beliefs and the blame is being extended to anyone who identifies themself as pro-life (guilty by association fallacy and profiling), it was not pro-life beliefs nor any member of the pro-life movement, but an individual with a history of untreated mental illness and member of an anti-goverment faction, acting alone. Please bear in mind that no person who condones murder is pro-life, as murder (and even the death penalty) is not consistant with pro-life beliefs, which call to honor the sanctity of human life from conception until natural death, even with those with whom and actions which we vehmently disagree. This is also evident by the statements of nonviolence made by many mainstream pro-life organizations. In fact the majority of pro-lifers were praying for a change of heart and convictions and they wished no harm upon Dr. Tiller, nor any other abortion provider. Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life released YouTube statement Several of the Comments Made By Pro-Life Individuals on Anti-Abortion Activist's Jill Stanek's blog: "By word and deed, let us teach that violence against abortionists is not the answer to the violence of abortion. Every human life is precious. George Tiller's life was precious. We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life. Let our "weapons" in the fight to defend the lives of abortion's tiny victims, be chaste weapons of the Spirit."
Well said. Two wrongs have never made a right.
I hope Dr. Tiller had a chance to make peace with God before he took his last breath. No one is beyond redemption.
My prayers are with his family.
May whoever murdered Dr. Tiller realize the terrible wrong he did and plead for God's mercy.
I used to have elaborate daydreams about his conversion. Now all the secrets that would have been brought to light are taken to the grave....But it's somebody who, had he only lived to convert, would have been a mighty warrior for life. And now he's stone cold dead, a martyr for abortion advocacy. [named removed -ed] , I also had hoped and prayed for his conversion....
I agree with you, too, [named removed -ed]. I had such hopes that something good could come of all things, including Tiller's actions. I've read that a suspect is in custody, and hopefully we can all start to respect life enough that nothing like this ever, ever happens again.
Absolutely *no* human being deserves to be shot down in cold blood...let alone in a house of worship, which should be a place of safety, peace, and refuge for *all* God's children who seek it there...no matter what they do for a living and no matter how objectionable we may find their means of livelihood.
*No* human being should usurp that power of life and death over another.
There is *no* justification or extenuating circumstances for this murder of a fellow member of humankind.
May peace and healing come to George Tiller's loved ones.
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| I was inspired by a suggestion Keep Calm and Carry On made of creating basic care bags to distribute to the indigent homeless individuals you come across at street corners and traffic lights. Well I'd like to follow her example and take it one step further, and start a non-profit organization for this purpose. We will be filling gently used backpacks with items and distributing them to the indigent homeless of greater Indiana. The basic care bags will contain travel/sample-size hygiene items, seasonal care items (i.e. sunscreen, hats, and gloves), clothing items, simple non-perishable food items, as well as a small card with the phone numbers and addresses of local social service organizations. We need your help and your donations! We are in need of unopened travel-size and sample-size hygiene items: shampoo/conditioners, body soap, lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, sunscreen, hair brushes and combs, antiperspirant/deodorant (solid only), wet wipes, tissues, as well as simple non-perishable food items (i.e. trail mixes, dried fruit, Carnation Instant Breakfast packets, etc), old backpacks, and seasonal items and clothing such as: solid water bottles, socks, hats, scarves, mittens, light-jackets, and umbrellas. We CANNOT accept hygiene items containing alcohol, alcoholic beverages, medications, razors, cigarettes, lighters, knives, guns, or any other weapons for liability reasons. If you'd be interested in helping out with this program or donating items, please leave a comment below with your e-mail address and I will contact you. UPDATE: We now have a group on Facebook: Helping Hands for the Homeless- Mood:contemplative
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