NEW! Apparent Botched Abortion at George Tiller's Center Comes Days Before His Trial

More Research Links Abortion with Preterm Births in Subsequent Pregnancies

Nebraska Abortionist Ordered to Close Immediately for Operating Illegally

Abortion Business Owner Charged in Human Fetus Disposal

Video: Planned Parenthood Staff Explains How They Allow Infanticide After "Failed" Live Birth Abortions

Planned Parenthood Targets Poland for Abortion with US Funds, Courtesy of New U.S. Administration

Mexican Supreme Court Issues Final, Limited Ruling on Abortion

Abortionist Faces September Trial for Killing Woman in Botched 2007 Abortion

CONSCIENCE: Pro-Life Advocates Can Respond to Obama About Dumping Abortion Conscience Clause / U.S. Senator Says He Would Practice Civil Disobedience If Obama Repeals Abortion 'Conscience Clause'

Facts on Teen Abortion Risks

Democratic Majority Protects UNFPA-Forced Abortion Funding / 180 Congressmen Pledge to Protect Hyde Amendment

NEW! Abortion-Breast Cancer Link is Real; Pregnancy Reduces Risk, Researcher Says

Glamour Mag Abortion Stories Point to Need for More Recovery Groups

HHS RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE REGS will take effect on Inauguration Day, 20Jan09

Abortion Advocates Have Options to Kill Bush Rule Protecting Rights of Pro-Life Doctors

Jamaica Pressured to Meet Non-Existent UN “Goal” on Abortion

Police in Moscow are Investigating the Discovery of 5 Dead Babies in a Rubbish Bin

Post-Abortion Counselor Confirms Abortions Cause Women Mental Health Issues

Nation's First Government-Funded Abortion Alternatives Program Helps 20,000 Women in 2007-08

Former “Card-Carrying Member of NARAL” to March for Life in January West Coast Walk for Life

NEW! Study Finds Father's Support Plays Key Role in Abortion

True Heroism: NY Times Tells Story of Woman Who Chose Homeless Shelter over Abortion

Possible Pre-Natal Screening Test for Autism Sparks Eugenics Debate in UK

Unlicensed Abortion Practitioner Bertha Bugarin Gets Three Year Prison Term

Medical Board Revokes License of Abortion Practitioner in Florida Born Alive Case

Repeat abortions among teenage girls have risen by 70% in the UK

Hodari and his Abortion Business Given Six Month "Probation" Period in Patient Records Charges

State Training Midwives to Perform Abortions: Pilot Project Suspends Rules to Allow 'Suction Aspiration' Procedures

Study Finds Abortion Not Needed When Pregnant Women Face Cancer Treatment...

Apparent Botched Abortion at George Tiller's Center Comes Days Before Trial. An apparent botched abortion has occurred at the late-term abortion business of George Tiller in Kansas just four days before jury selection begins in his trial for allegedly doing illegal late-term abortions. An ambulance transported a woman from Women's Health Care Services to a local hospital.

Eyewitnesses say Sedgwick County ambulance number 23 left Tiller's abortion center Thursday at mid-afternoon and transported a woman to Wesley Medical Center.

The ambulance had no lights or sirens running -- which is customary with many abortion facilities that don't want to draw attention to failed abortions.

The patient was rushed into the emergency room with her head covered, leaving witnesses to wonder if she was alive, Operation Rescue president Troy Newman informed LifeNews.com.

Tiller followed the ambulance to the medical center in a vehicle driven by unlicensed "nurse" Cathy Reavis and dropped him off at an entrance on the east side of the building, out of sight from Operation Rescue staffers who were photographing the incident near the Emergency Room entrance.

"Tiller's abortion clinic operates outside the bounds of the law and moral decency," Newman said. "How many women must suffer life-threatening injuries or even death until he is jailed and his dangerous abortion business is shut down?"

Tiller has been accused of violating state law requiring a second, independent, physician to sign off on his late-term abortions.

Tiller was slapped with 19 criminal charges for failing to follow the law and using a fellow abortion practitioner with whom he has a financial relationship to claim the abortions were medically necessary.

Sedgwick County District Court Judge Clark Owens released a decision last month dismissing a request from Tiller attorneys that the evidence in the case be suppressed because of claims that it was improperly obtained.

Judge Owens addressed all the concerns Tiller's attorneys brought up over six days of testimony, including claims that former Attorney General Phill Kline acted in a way that should allow the case to be dismissed.

Owens' ruling exonerated Kline and allows the trial to move ahead.

"While Phill Kline testified that he would like for all abortions to be outlawed, his investigations made no attempts to prevent lawful abortions from being performed in the State of Kansas," Owens ruled.

"His conduct in the investigation does not merit the sanction of the dismissal of the charges or suppression of evidence," Judge Owens added. "The motion to dismiss or suppress is therefore denied." [12March09, Ertelt, Wichita, KS www.LifeNews.com]
 

More Research Links Abortion with Preterm Births in Subsequent Pregnancies. A newly published meta-analysis (a study comprised of data from numerous other research studies) has shown a strong link between induced abortion and subsequent pre-term births.

Published in the February edition of the prestigious Journal of Reproductive Medicine, the study reviewed international data from 21 studies from 1995 to 2007 on preterm births related to induced abortion and spontaneous miscarriage.

It concluded that "induced and spontaneous abortions are associated with similarly increased instances of preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies." The researchers found that prior induced abortions increased a woman's odds of having a preterm delivery by 64 percent.
[http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09030404.html, Life Site News; ALL Pro-Life Today, 4March09]


Nebraska Abortionist Ordered to Close Immediately for Operating Illegally. LeRoy Carhart was ordered to close his abortion facility yesterday until his building passes inspection and he obtains an occupancy permit. Carhart has been illegally operating in his fire-damaged abortion mill since Saturday.

Larry Donlan, Director of Rescue the Heartland, reported Carhart to the City of Bellevue yesterday morning. It was confirmed to Donlan that Carhart had no current occupancy permit and that he had been ordered to shut down his abortion business until it would be properly inspected.

Carhart's abortion clinic was damaged in an accidental fire in January. He reopened on Saturday, with a generator apparently providing electricity for his surgeries, despite lacking the proper permits.
Donlan described the exterior of the dilapidated building as being surrounded by rusted-out vehicles and other junk, including the generator.

"Connected to the mill by a long extension cord sat a generator that purred away all morning, making one question if they even had electricity. I've often wondered how anyone could patronize such a junk yard posing as a 'health clinic,'" said Donlan.

"Can you even imagine what would have happened if that generator had run out of gas? This just goes to show how much contempt Carhart has for the law and for women," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "The law is nothing more than words on a paper to him. His belligerent disregard for the law is only surpassed by his disregard for human life."

"It is obvious that pro-lifers are the best watchdogs of the arrogant and out-of-control abortion industry," said Newman. "We encourage other pro-lifers around the nation to carefully watch their local abortionists and report illegal activity to the appropriate authorities. We congratulate Mr. Donlan for his vigilance and pray that Carhart's closure will result in the saving of many innocent human lives."

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Kansas Abortion Clinic Sends Another Woman to Hospital Weeks After Reported Death
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05021802.html

Grandmother, 72, Violently Attacked Outside Nebraska Abortion Mill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08101403.html

Electrician Quits Repairs on Nebraska Abortion Facility in Response To Calls
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021711.html
[10March09, BELLEVUE, NE, www.LifeSiteNews.com]

Late-Term Abortion Center in Nebraska Closed for Operating Without City Permit. An Omaha, Nebraska-area late-term abortion center has been closed down almost immediately after re-opening.

Late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart re-opened his abortion business following damage in an accidental fire, but it didn't stay open long.That's because the repairs on his abortion center have yet to pass a city inspection and he has not obtained an occupancy permit.

As a result, Carhart has been illegally operating in his fire-damaged abortion center, known as the Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska, since Saturday because city officials had not given him the go-ahead to re-open.

The director of a local pro-life group known as Rescue the Heartland called the City of Bellevue this morning. Officials there confirmed Carhart had no current occupancy permit and that he had been ordered to shut down his abortion business until it would be properly inspected.

He describes the exterior of the building as dilapidated and says it is surrounded by rusted-out vehicles and other junk.

He says women who get abortions are at risk because Carhart is relying on a generator for power with an electrical cord running outside from the generator to the abortion facility to provide electricity. Should it fail, women could be in medical danger.

"I've often wondered how anyone could patronize such a junk yard posing as a 'health clinic,'" said Donlan.

Troy Newman [Operation Rescue] said Carhart's flouting of building safety codes is just one example of a widespread mindset amongst abortion practitioners that they are somehow above the law. This mindset is endangering the lives of women, he tells LifeNews.com.

"Can you even imagine what would have happened if that generator had run out of gas? This just goes to show how much contempt Carhart has for the law and for women," Newman said.

"The law is nothing more than words on a paper to him. His belligerent disregard for the law is only surpassed by his disregard for human life," Newman adds.

Newman says the incident goes to show that pro-life advocates must do more to monitor abortion businesses in their back yard.

"It is obvious that pro-lifers are the best watchdogs of the arrogant and out-of-control abortion industry," said Newman. "We encourage other pro-lifers around the nation to carefully watch their local abortionists and report illegal activity to the appropriate authorities. We congratulate Mr. Donlan for his vigilance and pray that Carhart's closure will result in the saving of many innocent human lives."

It has been released that Carhart has close ties to pro-abortion Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who has been nominated by Obama to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Carhart and his wife, Mary Lou, attended a secret party Sebelius hosted at the governor's mansion in April 2007.

"We can only assume that if Carhart's friend, Gov. Sebelius, is placed in charge of our nation's health care, that we will see an increase in horrific conditions throughout the abortion industry." [Sullenger]

She criticizes Sebelius for opposing or vetoing several bills in Kansas that would have provided minimum safety standards for abortion facilities and would have forced them to clean up or close.

Former abortion clinic employees who have worked with Carhart at Tiller's late-term abortion business in Wichita, Kansas, have told Operation Rescue that he has a reputation for sloppy personal and professional habits, and for laziness, which shows in his Bellevue abortion building.

Local pro-life advocates are reaching out with help to women who go to Carhart's abortion center and reported one woman on Saturday changed her mind about her scheduled abortion thanks to their help.

Last month, the electrician working on Carhart's fire repairs quit on moral grounds after he was informed by pro-lifers that he was enabling Carhart to continue to do abortions.

The Nebraska-based center is one of the few in the nation to do late-term abortions and Carhart's name became famous when the Supreme Court ruled for him against a partial-birth abortion ban. [9March09, Ertelt, www.LifeNews.com Bellevue, NE]

 

Abortion Business Owner Charged in Human Fetus Disposal. A Hialeah abortion business owner was arrested Tuesday, more than two years after witnesses told police she disposed of a fetus born during a botched late-term abortion.

Belkis Gonzalez, 43, co-owner of A GYN Diagnostic Center, was not charged with the fetus' death. She was, however, charged with practicing as an unlicensed healthcare professional resulting in injury -- a second-degree felony -- and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

The case began in July 2006. A woman called police anonymously from a pay phone outside the clinic to say a baby had been born alive and killed by employees.

The next day, Hialeah detectives located the 18-year-old woman who had given birth at the clinic.

She said clinic employees gave her drugs to begin dilation, and she returned the next day to complete the procedure. In a room waiting for the doctor to arrive, she gave birth.

The teen told detectives she saw the fetus gasping for five minutes as clinic staffers began shrieking, according to a search warrant.

Detective searched the clinic on July 22, 2006. They found no body. Five days later, a source told police the fetus had been tossed on the roof of the one-story strip mall.

On July 28, 2006, investigators again raided the clinic, finding the fetus inside a red biohazard bag.

Prosecutors determined the fetus was 21 weeks, 4 days old -- well within the 24-week legal limit for clinic abortions.

Experts consider 21-week-old fetuses not viable because the overwhelming majority don't survive.

Last month, state regulators found the doctor in the case, Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, guilty of medical malpractice, delegating responsibility to unlicensed personnel and failing to maintain medical records. His license was revoked.

If convicted, Gonzalez, who owned another clinic in Miramar, faces one to five years in prison. She is on probation in Broward County after an unrelated 2007 conviction for unlicensed practice of healthcare.
[3Mar09, David Ovalle, , http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/breaking-news/story/930625.html]



Video: Planned Parenthood Staff Explains How They Allow Infanticide After "Failed" Live Birth Abortions.
A national pro-life group for college students has released footage of an undercover video taken last year showing a Planned Parenthood staff member telling a pregnant woman than babies are left to die after induced labor abortions where the baby survives the abortion procedure.

Students for Life of America told LifeNews.com on Tuesday that it has released the footage of a member posting as a pregnant woman.

The video shows the student going to a Title X, federally funded Planned Parenthood facility located in Freehold, New Jersey. A Planned Parenthood staffer describes how an abortion would be performed on a 22 week unborn child.

In the footage, the Planned Parenthood nurse describes to the pregnant woman that the abortion would entail delivering her son alive. After the woman asks if the baby can be born alive, the nurse admits that "it does happen...but it wouldn't be able to survive on its own, so eventually the baby does die."

Kristan Hawkins, the director of Students for Life of America, says the footage is shocking on multiple fronts.

She says the video proves the practice of leaving babies born alive during abortions to die, which is defined as infanticide, is still being practiced today.

"I was stunned when the Planned Parenthood nurse revealed so comfortably that allowing a baby to die after being born alive is a common practice for abortionists," she told LifeNews.com.

"This is outright infanticide, and this video shows that it is still being practiced routinely in the United States. Obviously, we are not doing enough to protect the lives of infants in this country," Hawkins added.

Hawkins says the footage brings to mind the case of a Florida botched abortion that has been in the news in recent weeks where a baby was born alive on the second day of a two-day abortion procedure, killed, and then hidden from investigating authorities.

The abortion practitioner in the case, Pierre Renelique, saw the Board of Medicine revoke his medical license last month.

This month, unlicensed abortion center staffer Belkis Gonzalez was arrested and jailed on two felony counts related to the death of a baby, named Shanice, who was born alive after the botched abortion in the 2006 case.

According to the arrest warrant, Gonzalez was charged with the unlicensed practice of a health care profession resulting in serious bodily injury, a second degree felony, and with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, a third degree felony.

Hawkins also says it touches on the ad that abortion survivor Gianna Jessen made during the presidential election, asking why, as an Illinois State Senator, Barack Obama voted 4 times against a bill that would have protected babies born alive during an abortion.

The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act was drafted after Chicago nurse Jill Stanek discovered that babies were being born alive during abortions and left to die in utility closets at Christ Hospital in 1999.

Senator Obama spoke out against the bill in 2002 on the Illinois Senate floor, attacking the bill as burdening "the original decision of the woman and the physician to induce labor and perform an abortion."

Hawkins says her group is urging Congress to immediately investigate Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion chain and recipient of over $300 million federal taxpayer dollars each year.

She also wants Obama to explain and reconsider his opposition to giving human rights to babies born alive during abortions.

View the video here: http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=e46UZuaGSU

Related: Students for Life of America - http://www.studentsforlife.org
[10March09, Ertelt, www.LifeNews.com, DC, http://www.lifenews.com/nat4897.html]


Planned Parenthood Targets Poland for Abortion with US Funds, Courtesy of New U.S. Administration. The International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) has wasted little time in putting to use the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been made available to it by President Obama's decision to rescind the Mexico City Policy, which forbade U.S. funds from going to organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas.

In a letter advocating a series of Women's Day marches in Poland which took place yesterday and which were advertised with the words "Come and Join Us Because ... Poland is Ill," the IPPF urged support for the pro-contraception, pro-abortion and pro-homosexual agenda of the marchers.

The Women's Day event "has become a grassroots democratic movement," the "biggest demonstration of women's rights supporters," says the IPPF. According to the organization, last year Women's Day marches in cities around the country attracted some 4,000 participants.

"Among the demands, they make are: easy access to contraception; abolishing the gender role stereotypes that people are socialized into; right to decide about oneself and one's body; no more treating women as sexual objects; proper sex education in schools; and treating equally women who are elderly, poor, homosexual, of different ethnicity, of low social standing or handicapped."

In the letter IPPF also denounced a law being drawn-up by a bioethics committee aimed at protecting human life.  According to the IPPF, the proposal seeks to ban certain in vitro procedures and some abortifacient contraceptives such as the morning after pill, as well as reverse the current law that forces doctors to refer patients to an abortionist even if doing so violates their conscience.

While abortion in Poland is illegal in many circumstances, it is permitted in cases where the mother's health or life is endangered by the pregnancy, where the pregnancy is the result of a criminal act, or where the fetus is seriously malformed. Poland has long been a target of anti-life forces due to its comparatively conservative abortion laws, traditional understanding of the family, and strong Catholic identity.

John Smeaton, the director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) and one of Europe's most prominent pro-life and pro-family activists, responded that in his view that the IPPF is just "patronizing" women of a country who know better than to trust the world's largest abortion provider.

In the Women's Day statement IPPF "blatantly and falsely claim to represent all Polish women in calling for easy access to contraceptives, including abortifacient contraceptive drugs and devices, attacking the Catholic Church, and opposing doctors' right to conscientious objection to abortion," said Smeaton. 

"Armed with millions of US dollars promised by Barack Obama to fund the killing of unborn children overseas, they are now concentrating their anti-life propaganda on Poland."

Read more at John Smeaton's blog: http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/

Read the IPPF letter here: http://www.ippf.org/en/News/Intl+news/March+8+in+Poland+Still+Marching+Together+for+Freedom+and+Equality.htm
[9March09, Tim Waggoner, Warsaw, www.LifeSiteNews.com]


Mexican Supreme Court Issues Final, Limited Ruling on Abortion. Mexican pro-life lawyers are claiming at least partial victory in a final decision just handed down by the Mexican Supreme Court. In a convoluted document of more than 1,000 pages, the Supreme Court provided the legal reasoning behind its August 2008 initial decision upholding the legislative act of Mexico City that allowed for abortion up to the 12th week of gestation. What the Supreme Court did not do was establish abortion as a constitutional right that would affect all states and jurisdictions in Mexico.

According to Wenceslao Renovales, a Mexican attorney who was involved in challenging the law passed by Mexico City’s Legislative Assembly, the decision does not grant a broad-based right to the procedure.  Rather, the chief implication of the Court’s holding is that there is “no constitutional obligation to criminalize abortion.” Thus, under Mexico’s federal system of government, abortion remains a criminal offense in those states maintaining laws protecting unborn life.

Moreover, the unborn appear entitled to at least some juridical protection, if not the rights of full personhood. Renovales told the Friday Fax that most of the 11 justices accepted the argument that the fetus is a “juridically-protected good,” or “bien jurídico tutlelado.”

Renovales stressed that each judge who wound up upholding the law did so for a different reason, while the dissenting justices issued a unified dissent that considered the liberalized law unconstitutional. According to Renovales, the lack of unified reasoning in the majority concurrences means the ruling cannot be interpreted broadly to overrule other laws.

Another victory for pro-lifers is that it appears that only two of the concurring justices mentioned supposed international treaty obligations as a rationale for abortion rights. Three years ago the Colombian high court mandated revision of that country’s abortion laws and cited statements of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women as a reason. The Mexican court did not do this. [This expansive reading of a country’s obligations under international law was opposed in an informal amicus brief submitted to the Mexican Supreme Court last year by the International Organizations Law Group, the public interest law arm of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, or C-FAM, publisher of the Friday Fax.]

The breakdown among the judges provides an interesting political footnote: four of the judges who voted to uphold the liberalized abortion law were nominated by Vicente Fox, a member of the Catholic-dominated National Action Party (known by its Spanish acronym PAN). Fox, the first modern Mexican President elected from an opposition party, was generally regarded as pro-life, as is his PAN successor, current Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

The three dissenting pro-life justices were nominated by presidents from the traditionally left-wing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. PRI’s roots can be traced to Mexico’s anti-clericalist revolution of the 1920s, and it dominated Mexican politics for decades.

The Supreme Court will likely again visit the abortion issue in the near future. A number of Mexican states enacted constitutional provisions protecting life from the moment of conception in response to the liberalization of Mexico City’s abortion law, and a challenge to Baja California’s constitutional provision is slated to be heard by the Supreme Court.  
[5March09, Friday Fax, www.c-fam.org, Piero A. Tozzi, New York]

 
Abortionist Faces September Trial for Killing Woman in Botched 2007 Abortion. Abortion practitioner Rapin Osathanondh, who has been charged with manslaughter after killing one of his patients in a botched legal abortion, will face trial in September.

Osathanondh did the abortion on 22-year-old Laura Smith, who died in September 2007 at his Women's Health Center abortion business. Osathanondh was indicted last July by a grand jury after an investigation by local police, state police and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.

Laura, who was adopted at the age of four from Honduras by her parents, was 13 weeks into the pregnancy when she had the abortion. Osathanondh reportedly sedated her and did not have another other staff members on site who had appropriate medical training to monitor Smith's vital signs during the abortion. Smith died shortly after the abortion, on September 13, 2007. Officials say Laura died from "cardiac pulmonary arrest during anesthesia during a voluntary termination of pregnancy" -- known as an abortion. The September trial in Barnstable Superior Court is expected to last two weeks.  [7March, Hyannis, MA, www.LifeNews.com]

CONSCIENCE

Pro-Life Advocates Can Respond to Obama Dumping Abortion Conscience Clause. After waiting for the Obama administration to fix an email issue, pro-life advocates can now respond to Obama's decision to dump the Provider Conscience Clause. That is the regulation President Bush put in place to protect doctors and medical centers not wanting to do abortions.

Three different federal laws provide legal protections for medical professionals. After determining those laws were not always followed by local governments and some medical centers, the Bush administration sought to strengthen them.

The Bush administration put the rules in place to require a written agreement to follow the conscience laws and gave victims better access to federal employment discrimination agencies to consider legal action if their rights were violated. Relying on claims from leading pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, Obama instructed his administration to overturn the new rules.

The Obama administration published its proposal and provided an email address the public could use to comment on his plan to dump the rule. The email address has not been working since it was first made public last Friday. That has changed and, now, pro-life advocates can express their opposition to the Obama proposal by emailing The deadline for submitting comments is April 9.
[11Mar09,Washington, DC  www.LifeNews.com]


U.S. Senator Says He Would Practice Civil Disobedience If Obama Repeals Abortion 'Conscience Clause'
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who is also an OB/GYN, told CNSNews.com on Friday that many medical practitioners, including himself, will go to prison before agreeing to engage in medical practices they morally oppose, such as abortion.
 
Earlier that same day, the Obama administration had announced it was “reviewing” a Bush administration regulation known as the “conscience clause.” That Health and Human Services regulation protects health-care workers at federally funded institutions from having to engage in practices that violate their moral or religious beliefs. These practices include performing or referring abortions, performing sterilizations, or giving or receiving training in these practices.

Federal funding is widespread in the health care sector owing to such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, the newly expanded SCHIP insurance program for children, and the many billions in federal funds spent each year on medical research.
 
The Obama administration’s “review” is considered the precursor to rescinding the regulation.
 
“I think a lot of us will go to jail,” Coburn told CNSNews.com when asked what would happen if the administration reverses the policy. “Let’s see them prosecute the first one of us for not doing that.”
 
By that comment, Coburn meant that doctors, himself included, are willing to defy the law before agreeing to perform medical procedures that violate their conscience, a Coburn spokesman clarified.
 
Coburn spoke to CNSNews.com after he delivered a speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., on Friday. [12March2009, By Josiah Ryan, CNSNews.com; http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=44269; www.prolifeamerica.com]
 

Facts on Teen Abortion Risks
Teenagers are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide if they have had an abortion in the last six months than are teens who have not had an abortion.1

Teens who abort are up to 4 times more likely to commit suicide than adults who abort,2 and a history of abortion is likely to be associated with adolescent suicidal thinking.1

Teens who abort are more likely to develop psychological problems,3 and are nearly three times more likely to be admitted to mental health hospitals than teens in general.4

About 40% of teen abortions take place with no parental involvement,5 leaving parents in the dark about subsequent emotional or physical problems.

Teens are 5 times more likely to seek subsequent help for psychological and emotional problems compared to their peers who carry “unwanted pregnancies” to term.6

Teens are 3 times more likely to report subsequent trouble sleeping, and nine times more likely to report subsequent marijuana use after abortion.6

Among studies comparing abortion vs. carrying to term, worse outcomes are associated with abortion, even when the pregnancy is unplanned.6

Citations

1. B. Garfinkel, et al., “Stress, Depression and Suicide: A Study of Adolescents in Minnesota,” Responding to High Risk Youth (University of Minnesota: Minnesota Extension Service, 1986)

2. M. Gissler, et. al., “Suicides After Pregnancy in Finland: 1987-94: register linkage study,” British Medical Journal, 313: 1431-1434, 1996; and N. Campbell, et. al., “Abortion in Adolescence,” Adolescence, 23:813-823, 1988.
3. W. Franz & D. Reardon, “Differential Impact of Abortion on adolescents and adults,” Adolescence, 27 (105), 172, 1992.
4. R. Somers, “Risk of Admission to Psychiatric Institutions Among Danish Women Who Experienced Induced Abortion: An Analysis Based on National Report Linkage” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Los Angeles: University of California, 1979, Disseration Abstracts International, Public Health 2621-B, Order No. 7926066)

5. “Teenage Pregnancy: Overall Trends and State-by-State Information,” Report by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, Washington, DC.

6. PK Coleman, “Resolution of Unwanted Pregnancy During Adolescence Through Abortion Versus Childbirth: Individual and Family Predictors and Psychological Consequences,”  (2006).

Abortion is the UNchoice.
Unwanted. Unsafe. Unfair.
http://www.unchoice.info

Democrats Protect UNFPA-Forced Abortion Funding / Congressmen Pledge to Protect Hyde Amendment
Rep. Chris Smith hoped to amend the omnibus budget bill to strip UNFPA funding; but not only is UNFPA funding approved, Democrats increased it from $40 million to $50 million for the year and went further by weakening the Kemp-Kasten law that prevents forcing taxpayers to fund groups that back forced abortions.

Members of the House Rules Committee passed a close rule guiding debate on the bill that prevents Smith from getting a debate and vote on his amendment in the full House.

Smith also wanted to offer an amendment to limit international family planning funds to those organizations that certify that they will not perform abortions or lobby for the legalization of abortion. That would have the effect of reversing President Barack Obama's decision to overturn the Mexico City Policy and force taxpayers to fund groups that promote and perform abortions overseas.

However the Rules Committee shot down that potential amendment as well. [26Feb09, DC LifeNews.com]

Over 180 members of Congress signed their names [25Feb09] to a letter that tells Congressional leaders they pledge to fight to protect pro-lifer riders in the budget bill to stop various forms of taxpayer funded abortions.

To Pelosi: "We respectfully request that the pro-life riders be included in any legislation reported out of the Appropriations Committee. We believe that failure to include all of the current policies with regard to the right to life will mark a radical departure from a policy a majority of Americans support".

The Hyde Amendment is the most well-known of the provisions.

Attached to spending bills since the 1970s, the amendment prevents direct taxpayer funding of abortions in almost all circumstances.

According to research from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion group formerly affiliated with Planned Parenthood (pro-abortion), the Hyde Amendment is responsible for a reduction in the number of abortions by as much as 18-38 percent. [26Feb09, DC LifeNews.com]

Abortion-Breast Cancer Link is Real, Pregnancy Reduces Risk, Researcher Says. Baruch College professor and renowned researcher Joel Brind, Ph.D., is one of the world's leading experts on the link between abortion and breast cancer. He says that the link between the two is real and that studies back up his assertion that carrying a pregnancy to term reduces the risk.

In an interview with The Ticker, the Baruch College student newspaper, Brind explains how having an abortion can lead to a higher risk of contracting the disease.

"That’s what the big research argument is about: does abortion increase the risk of breast cancer beyond not getting pregnant in the first place? And the answer is yes," Brind says.

Brind explains that the reason for the link is "obvious" in that "once a woman gets pregnant, her breasts start growing within days or a week or so after getting pregnant. So the number of those Type 1 and Type 2 lobules where breast cancer can form are multiplying and so there are more places where cancer can start as the pregnancy proceeds."

"Well, once 32 weeks pass, all those Type 1 and Type 2 lobules become Type 3 and Type 4 lobules so you actually have fewer places for cancer to form than before the pregnancy started. But if a pregnancy is aborted before the 32-week mark, the risk for breast cancer goes way up from where it would have been even if a woman hadn't gotten pregnant in the first place," he said.

While much of the focus of the debate is on the abortion side of the breast cancer issue, Brind says there is little controversy about the fact that pregnancy helps women.

"No one argues with the fact that when a woman has a full-term pregnancy, breast cancer risk goes down," he told the Thinker newspaper.

"When you look at the medical literature there is acknowledgement that a woman has a lowered risk of breast cancer from a full-term pregnancy and that the same lowered risk of breast cancer is not afforded a woman who has had an aborted pregnancy," he said.

The professor also talked about recall bias -- something abortion advocates have used to try to criticize the studies Brind and others have conducted showing the link.

He said places where there is more accurate medical data about women who had abortions make it easier to draw accurate conclusions. And, in those cases, the conclusion is clear.

"When a woman gets an abortion in New York State she has to file a fetal death certificate, which is medical record-based, not recall-based. It’s not based on a woman remembering whether or not she had an abortion. And guess what? There was a 90 percent increase in breast cancer and this was published in 1989," he said.

"I did a complete review of a decade’s worth of studies like that which was published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons in 2005," Brind added, saying the overall analysis showed the abortion-breast cancer link exists.

Brind told the Thinker that a lot of his work has been looking into the science behind the studies others conduct and determining if they are valid.

"My career in this particular area over the last 10 plus years has not been so much studying the abortion/breast cancer connection as it has been studying the papers which cover it up," he said.

"The abortion/breast cancer link is something that’s real, so a study that’s done well would support the link. So I'm usually pretty confident I can find out why the abortion/breast cancer link doesn't show [in a study] when it’s there," he added.

The cover up extends to some governmental and professional groups such as the National Cancer Institute, that have issued politicized opinions claiming no abortion-breast cancer link exists. Brind talked about that meeting as well.

"In 2003 there was a scientific 'workshop' of 100 invited scientists from around the world that was basically held to throw me and my findings under the bus and to prove that there is this scientific consensus dismissing the link between breast cancer and abortion. But there’s nothing scientific about a consensus. That’s an oxymoron," Brind concluded.

"The official position [of NCI and such groups] is that there is no link between abortion and breast cancer, but of course there is," he said.

For more information on the abortion-breast cancer link, visit the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute’s web site at http://www.BCPInstitute.org
[23Feb09, Ertelt, New York, NY LifeNews.com]

Glamour Mag Abortion Stories Point to Need for More Recovery Groups
 In its March issue, Glamour magazine explores the real life stories of women who have had an abortion. Care Net President Melinda Delahoyde thanked the magazine for giving voice to women whose abortion was a traumatic experience and has caused them emotional pain. However, she called on Glamour to do more to point their readers to the healing found through a post-abortion recovery group. Sadly, only one of the women featured in the article found such help, and no information was provided for readers about where to find it. That woman, Lisa Gaylord, now leads the recovery group at Hopeline Pregnancy Resource Center, a Care Net center in Danbury, Connecticut.

"All too often, magazines like Glamour will shy away from publishing women's raw abortion stories," Delahoyde said. "By allowing some women to share about the 'emotional hell' they have gone through, this issue treats the abortion experience more honestly. However, it does a poor job of presenting a balanced viewpoint about where to find healing. The only resources Glamour refers readers to are those offered by abortion advocates."

Delahoyde leads a national network of Care Net pregnancy centers - a majority of which offer post- abortion recovery groups. Real healing happens in these groups when individuals are free to acknowledge and grieve the loss of their unborn child and receive the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. In 2007, more than 10,700 women and men participated in post-abortion programs at Care Net's 1,100 affiliated pregnancy centers.

Many of these recovery groups lead participants through a bible study called "Forgiven and Set Free" written by Linda Cochrane, R.N., who is also the executive director of Hopeline Pregnancy Resource Center. "For twenty-five years Care Net centers have quietly and compassionately helped tens of thousands of women and men find healing after abortion," said Cochrane. "Hopefully more women and men will search for and find true peace after their abortion experience because of Glamour's acknowledgement of this 'serious health decision.'"

Delahoyde encouraged those who have experienced post-abortion healing through the "Forgiven and Set Free" bible study or another similar program to share their story with others on Glamour's website. To find a local recovery group near you or to learn more, call 1-800-395-HELP or visit www.optionline.org and click on "After Abortion".

[LANSDOWNE, VA, 11Feb09, Christian Newswire; CareNet 12Feb09]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A remarkable 12 year old Texas girl's speech on abortion.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOR1wUqvJS4
 

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HHS RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE REGS will take effect on Inauguration Day, 20Jan09. This 127 page document pulls together all present federal Rights of Conscience into one strong document.

However, the new administration already is planning to dismantle this protection for medical professionals: http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-30134_PI.pdf   or
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-30134.htm
(Doc. 2008-30134 Filed 12/18/2008 at 8:45 am; Publication Date: 12/19/2008) 

The right of federally funded health care providers to decline to participate in services to which they object, such as abortion, is affirmed by a final regulation that has been issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

Over the past three decades, Congress enacted several statutes to safeguard the freedom of health care providers to practice according to their conscience. 

The new regulation will increase awareness of, and compliance with, these laws. "Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience."
 

Specifically, the final rule:
 - Clarifies that non-discrimination protections apply to institutional health care providers as well as to individual employees working for recipients of certain funds from HHS
- Requires recipients of certain HHS funds to certify their compliance with laws protecting provider conscience rights; and
- Designates the HHS Office for Civil Rights as the entity to receive complaints of discrimination addressed by the existing statutes and the regulation.

HHS officials are charged with working with any state or local government or entity that may be in violation of existing statutes and the regulation to encourage voluntary steps to bring that government or entity into compliance with the law.

If, despite the Department's efforts, compliance is not achieved, HHS officials will consider all legal options, including termination of funding and the return of funds paid out in violation of the nondiscrimination provisions.
 

In the preamble to the final regulation, the Department also encourages providers to engage their patients early on in "full, open, and honest conversations" to disclose what services they do and do not provide. 

While it would strengthen provider conscience rights, the regulation would in no way restrict health care providers from performing any legal service or procedure.

If a procedure is legal, a patient will still have the ability to access that service from a medical professional or institution that offers it. For example, the regulation does not affect the ability of medical institutions to perform abortion.
 

"Many health care providers routinely face pressure to change their medical practice - often in direct opposition to their personal convictions," said HHS Assistant Secretary of Health, Admiral Joxel Garcia, M.D.

"During my practice as an OB-GYN, I witnessed this first-hand. Health care providers shouldn't have to check their consciences at the hospital door.  Fortunately, Congress enacted several laws to that end, but too many are unaware these protections exist."
 

Federal protection of provider conscience rights dates back to the 1970s, when Congress enacted the Church Amendments.  The Amendments protect health care providers and other individuals from discrimination by recipients of HHS funds on the basis, among other things, of their refusal, due to religious belief or moral conviction, to perform or participate in any lawful health service or research activity.

In 1996, Congress prohibited federal, state or local governments from discriminating against individual and institutional health care providers (including participants in medical training programs) who refused to, among other things, receive training in abortions; require or provide such training; perform abortions; or provide referrals for, or make arrangements for, such training or abortions.

Provider conscience protections were expanded again as part of the Department's fiscal year 2005 appropriations act.  In that law, and in subsequent years' appropriations acts, Congress prohibited the provision of HHS funds to any state or local government or federal agency or program that discriminates against institutional or individual health care entities on the basis that the entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortion.

The rule went on display today at the Federal Register and is available at http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-30134_PI.pdf
[18Dec08, John-Henry Westen, www.LifeSiteNews.com]

Abortion Advocates Have Three Options to Kill Bush Rule Helping Pro-Life Docs. Once Barack Obama becomes the next president last this month, abortion advocates have three options to use to kill a new Bush rule that protects pro-life doctors and medical centers. The new Bush regulations provide better enforcement for laws helping medical staff avoid being involved in abortions.

The new rule, which takes effect on January 20, probably won't stay in place for long now that pro-abortion forces control the White House and Congress.

Obama himself has criticized protecting medical professionals as have top pro-abortion members of Congress and leading abortion advocacy groups.

When they get the chance, the abortion advocates will have three options to potentially use to kill the new rules.

Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington have already put forward legislation that would overturn the rule by preventing the Department of Health and Human Services from implementing it.

Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and Louis Slaughter of New York have filed a companion bill in the House.

While abortion advocates may have the votes to approve the legislation, the bill would be subject to a likely Senate filibuster from pro-life lawmakers and getting the necessary 60 votes to stop that would be difficult.

They may be able to overcome that by putting the language of the bill inside another piece of legislation that is less controversial and one that some lawmakers who would vote against a stand-alone bill wouldn't oppose.

Lawmakers wanting to ditch the protections have an alternative route they can employ. They can use an obscure law called the Congressional Review Act which allows Congress to reject new regulations from an outgoing White House administration approved within 60 legislative days of Congress’s adjournment.

The law would give abortion advocates several months at the beginning of this year in which they can approve a bill based on the CRA to kill the rule.

Although the measure is exempted from a Senate filibuster, the downside to a CRA-based bill is that it can't be added as a rider to another bill for easier passage.

The third, and perhaps most likely option, is for Obama to have his new Health and Human Services Secretary, pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle, to issue new regulations overturning those the Bush administration just put into place.

Representatives of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both abortion advocates, have told various media outlets that they are discussing the options with other Congressional leaders and haven't yet decided which strategy to use to revoke the pro-life Bush rules.

Regardless of the strategy, pro-life advocates may take any legislation or Obama administration regulation to court in an attempt to declare it unconstitutional.

They could also urge state legislatures or pro-life governors to pass legislation or implement state versions of the rule to offer more protection for medical centers and staff. [1 Jan 09, Ertelt, Washington, DC, www.LifeNews.com]

Jamaica Pressured to Meet Non-Existent UN “Goal” on Abortion. A Joint Select Committee of the Jamaican Parliament continues to debate whether or not to liberalize the Caribbean nation’s laws which currently protect the unborn, while Jamaican citizens criticize unwanted foreign pressure in support of abortion. Among the pressure points is a push to link abortion liberalization with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

     Jamaica’s Ministry of Health has announced its support for amending the Offences Against Persons Act ostensibly to help the country reach MDG 5, which aims to reduce maternal mortality.

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly, however, rejected tying MDG 5 to abortion when adopting the MDGs in 2000.

Data has consistently shown that reductions in maternal mortality are attributable to improved access to skilled obstetric care, clean water and antibiotics, as opposed to widening abortion access. [25Dec08, http://www.c-fam.org/, Volume 12, Number 2, December 25, 2008, Piero Tozzi, J.D.]

 

Police in Moscow are investigating the discovery of five dead babies in a rubbish bin
http://www.russiatoday.com/features/news/34752

Post-Abortion Counselor Confirms Abortions Cause Women Mental Health Issues.  While numerous studies confirm abortions cause women subsequent mental health issues, abortion advocates downplay them so abortion isn't seed in a negative light. But one doctor who counsels women after abortions says the proof is in the actual experiences of women who regret their choice.

Dr. Linda Mintle, who counsels women after abortions, says she sees problems such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse on a regular basis in the women who have had abortions.

"Abortion is a loss," Mintle told CBN News on Wednesday.

"It's a loss of a life and so it only makes sense that even though you thought in your mind that this is what you wanted to do, it feels very out of control once they do it, so that out of control loss feeling results in anxiety," she explained.

To deal with the psychological pain of an abortion they grieve, Mintle says women often turn to drugs or alcohol and eventually develop additions to those substances.

While groups such as the American Psychological Association, which is controlled by abortion advocates, deny the abortion-mental health link, Mintle told CBN News that an honest evaluation of post-abortion women reveals it exists.

"I have to tell you that I feel there is a lot of political pressure put on researchers and therapists to not really talk about the down side of abortion because there is such a strong pro-choice lobby in this country," Mintle said.

She told the news service that women should be given information before an abortion telling them of these post-abortion mental health complications.

Mintle's comments follow the release of three new studies from researchers across the globe that confirmed an abortion-mental health issue link exists.

Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University, and her colleagues published a study in December in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

The research team found induced abortions result in increased risks for a myriad of mental health problems ranging from anxiety to depression to substance abuse disorders.

The number of cases of mental health issues rose by as much as 17 percent in women having abortions compared to those who didn't have one and the risks of each particular mental health problem rose as much as 145% for post-abortive women.

For 12 out of 15 of the mental health outcomes examined, a decision to have an abortion resulted in an elevated risk for women.

"What is most notable in this study is that abortion contributed significant independent effects to numerous mental health problems above and beyond a variety of other traumatizing and stressful life experiences," they concluded.

Also last month, researchers at Otago University in New Zealand reported their findings in the British Journal of Psychiatry and found that women who have abortions have an increased risk of developing mental health problems.

The study found that women who had abortions had rates of mental health problems about 30% higher than other women. The conditions most associated with abortion included anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders.

Abortions increased the risk of severe depression and anxiety by one-third and as many as 5.5 percent of all mental health disorders seen in New Zealand result from women having abortions.

A third study, from a team at the University of Queensland and published in the December issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, found women who have an abortion are three times more likely to experience a drug or alcohol problem during their lifetime.

The study showed that women who had experienced an abortion were at increased risk of illicit drug and alcohol use compared with women who had never been pregnant or who gave birth.
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4741.html [January 14, 2009, www.LifeNews.com, DC]

Nation's First Government-Funded Abortion Alternatives Program Helps 20,000 Women in 2007-08.  Real Alternatives, the statewide program administrator for the award winning Pennsylvania Alternative to Abortion Services Program, has reported that in fiscal year 2007 -2008 a record 19,742 women were provided comprehensive counseling, mentoring, and support.

In 2007-2008 the program received its highest funding of $6.5 million per year by the Commonwealth's Department of Public Welfare.

"We have seen a steady decrease in annual abortions since the start of the program 13 years ago," said Kevin Bagatta, Real Alternatives President & CEO. "To date, the citizens of Pennsylvania have placed $59 million of tax payer funds to provide pregnancy and parenting support services to 150,000 women experiencing an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. We are striving for the day when no woman in the Commonwealth feels that she must have an abortion – that is what the program is about."

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, 118 Real Alternatives-funded pregnancy support centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies throughout the Commonwealth provided services to 19,742 women at 83,263 visits. There is a center within an hour of every woman in Pennsylvania. Since its inception 13 years ago, the Pennsylvania Alternative to Abortion Services Program [http://www.realalternatives.org/movie] has served over 150,000 women at over 645,329 office visits.Bagatta said, "This state-funded support program is the only program to lower abortions after there is a crisis pregnancy. It continues to work because of the approximately 500 counselors and mentors statewide meeting the needs of women in unplanned and crisis pregnancies.
“By providing a counselor to be with the woman in need from the moment she finds out she is pregnant to 12 months after the birth of the baby, this program empowers her to overcome her obstacles and crisis. She is not alone. She knows someone is with her to help her. An alternative to abortion is not a pamphlet, it is another person … it is one woman seeing another woman in crisis and loving her and supporting her like she is her own daughter. This program represents the best in America."
To see a movie about this successful program visit: http://www.realalternatives.org/movie ;
[Harrisburg, PA, 13January 2009 www.LifeSiteNews.com]

Former “Card-Carrying Member of NARAL” to March for Life in January West Coast Walk for Life.  A former "card-carrying member of NARAL" will be among the more than 25,000 people expected to peacefully walk along San Francisco's waterfront on Saturday, January 24, in the 5th Annual Walk for Life West Coast.
 
The Walk began in 2005 when a handful of San Franciscans decided they wanted a San Francisco-style walk with an outreach to women, particularly women who have experienced abortion or who are struggling with an unwanted pregnancy.
 
"That's what it is about," said Walk co-chair Dolores Meehan, a fourth-generation San Franciscan. "My grandmother was left on a doorstep as an infant at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 21st century, we want to make having a baby a choice that all of us support. And, we want to make sure that women who have had abortions know we are there for them in sympathy and support."
 
"Women deserve better than abortion," said Feminists for Life speaker Karen Shablin. Shablin, a former member of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and a former acting Medicaid agency director, had an abortion in her 20s. "I can't undo my mistakes over the years - having an abortion, advocating abortion, but I can help others to learn from my mistakes. Every life counts," Shablin said.
 
"Abortion hurts women and families," said Frank Lee, a community leader and coordinator of Asian Americans Against Abortion. "We have allowed abortion to decimate our future for too long by killing our children before they are born.  Americans, regardless of ethnic background, need to stand up and ensure that every life is cherished."
 
Lee and Shablin are among a stellar line-up of speakers at the Walk that includes Black Genocide founder Rev. Clenard Childress and singer Diana Nagy, whose crisis pregnancy at 15 ended in adoption.
 
For more information about the Walk events, go to walkforlifewc.com.
[SAN FRANCISCO, January 12, 2009, www.LifeSiteNews.com] 

New Study Finds Father's Support Plays Key Role in Abortion / Women more likely to experience alcohol abuse, violence after abortion. A new study published in the International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction has found that the relationship between women and their partners and the level of support provided by the father are important factors in whether or not the woman aborts.
 
The study, headed by Prof. Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University, was based on a survey of low-income women undertaken at various hospitals around the country. The women involved had all become pregnant within 18 months of delivering a child and either aborted the second pregnancy or carried to term. Participants were asked about drug and alcohol abuse, their relationship with the child's father and difficulties raising their first child.
 
The study found that women who felt they could not rely on their partner to help in caring for the child were more likely to have an abortion. They also found that women who had undergone an abortion were over three times more likely to report heavy alcohol use and twice as likely to report cigarette smoking.
 
Other studies have found that women who have had abortions have higher rates of subsequent substance abuse, suicide, anxiety disorders, depression, and other problems compared to women who carried to term.

A recent study published by Coleman found that abortion was linked to higher rates of mental health disorders that included panic disorder, panic attacks, agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and major depression.
 
In the current study, women whose first child had medical problems or who had difficulty raising a child did not have a higher abortion rate, the researchers found.
 
"The results clearly suggest that women who feel the first child's father has not assumed enough parental responsibility and/or lacks the ability to contribute to their efforts to raise the child, are reluctant to bear another child," they wrote.
 
They also noted that women who had an abortion were more likely to report subsequently being slapped or kicked by the child's father, suggesting that stress after abortion was leading to an increase in domestic violence.

Other surveys of post-aborted women have also found that the level of support and the attitudes of those around them, both in personal and professional relationships, play a role in determining whether or not an abortion takes place.
 
A survey of women who had abortions, published in the Medical Science Monitor, found that 64 percent of American respondents reported feeling pressured to abort by others and more than 80 percent said they weren't given enough information to make a decision about abortion.

And a survey of women in post-abortion support groups found that more than 83 percent said they would have continued the pregnancy if they had been given more support from others.
 
Women themselves have also shared stories of feeling that they had no choice but to abort. They describe a range of circumstances that can lead to unwanted abortions, including lack of support or resources to have the baby; pressure or threats from those around them; inadequate and deceptive counseling about alternatives, fetal development and abortion risks; and even violence.
 
One woman shared her story of being kicked out of the house by her parents when she became pregnant as a teen:
 
“They told me to leave the house and forget that I was their daughter. I left the house with no job, no money, no home and nowhere to turn, feeling utterly abandoned and alone. Still, I was certain I would not get an abortion. I wanted my child. ...
 
“My father sent several messages urging me to have an abortion. I refused. But as I began to feel more desperate, I shut down my feelings .. functioning more like a surreal observer than someone in control.  ... No one explained to me the baby’s development or what the abortion would be like. ... I lay there just wishing that I could die.”
 
When a woman's partner or family would wish her to continue the pregnancy, however, they may also be mislead by information that suggests it would be too difficult to have a child or that there are no other options but abortion. Pro-life advocates say that awareness of the harm abortion can cause their loved one and the availability of resources and options is needed so that women and teens are able to get the support they need for themselves and their unborn children.
 
The authors of the current study stressed that more attention should be paid to women's relationships with those around them, suggesting that because abortion is framed as a "private women's issue," researchers and social scientists have been hesitant to look at how relationships with others affect pregnancy outcome.
 
They also called for more resources and alternatives for women facing crisis pregnancies, and offered specific suggestions for professionals working with women in vulnerable situations.
 
"If the father is psychologically and/or physically unavailable, counselors can assist women in identifying other sources of support within and outside the family ..." they wrote.

"Inquiries about a history of prior or current substance abuse and education efforts regarding documented substance abuse risks associated with [abortion] ought to be conveyed."
(Reprinted with permission from the Elliot Institute - http://www.afterabortion.org/)
[20 January 2009, www.LifeSiteNews.com]



True Heroism: NY Times Tells Story of Woman Who Chose Homeless Shelter over Abortion.  When Jabrilla English was 24 years old, nine months pregnant, and living with the mother of her half-brother, she was given an ultimatum: have her unborn child killed by an abortion, or leave. She said, however, that abortion was not an option and chose instead to live in a homeless shelter in the Bronx.

The NY Times article recounting Jabrilla's story (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/nyregion/20neediest.html?_r=2) goes on to describe her difficult but hopeful childhood growing up with her grandmother, her effort to get out of the poverty surrounding her by attending a year at Marymount Manhattan College and majoring in psychology, and how she ended up giving birth to her son Elijah two weeks after moving in to the shelter.

“It was a nightmare,” said English of her experience in the shelter.

Jabrilla is now 29 and has persevered through illness and a cycle of low-paying jobs and being on welfare to a point where she now has hope for herself and her son.

“I’m not going to play victim and say that this or that is the reason why I am in the position I am in. You have to take responsibility,” Ms. English told the NY Times. “There were some things that I could not control. But I’m a mother, I have a son, and I’m no good to him if I’m not together mentally."

“I didn’t think I would go through anything like that,” Ms. English said. “But I’m kind of glad I did, though. It really made me appreciate everything.”

Jabrilla's courage in the face of the adversity she faced is emphasized by the findings of a recent study that shows that the level of support a woman has from family, support groups, and especially from the father of her child, plays a key role in whether or not the woman aborts. Women like Jabrilla who receive little support during their pregnancy are much likelier to abort than others, according to the study, which was headed by Prof. Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University and published in the International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction.
 
Another study, published in the Medical Science Monitor, reported that a survey of women in post-abortion support groups found that more than 83 percent said they would have continued the pregnancy if they had been given more support from others. This survey also found that 64 percent of respondents reported feeling pressured to abort by others, and more than 80 percent said they weren't given enough information to make an informed decision about abortion.

Jabrilla's story does not yet have a happy ending, however. The NY Times reported that though she has achieved her goal of getting off welfare, her financial position is precarious and she has received help from the Times Neediest Cases Fund to buy a bed for her son, Elijah, so they no longer have to share her futon, and a dining table and chairs so they can eat together.

Funds to help her may be directed through the link to the NY Times story given above.

Link to the study referred to in this article:

New Study Finds Father's Support Plays Key Role in Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012001.html
[T. M. Baklinski, New York, 20 January 2009, www.LifeSiteNews.com]





Possible Pre-Natal Screening Test for Autism Sparks Eugenics Debate in UK.  The announcement of a possible pre-natal test for autism has sparked a controversy in the UK over whether such tests are a revival of the eugenics policies of the early 20th century.

Research was published last week that showed a connection between high levels of testosterone in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women and incidents of the births of children with autistic traits. The study by Cambridge University's autism research centre followed 235 children from birth to age eight. The research presents the possibility of using amniocentesis testing to “screen” unborn children for autism.

The research has opened the debate in the UK on the ethics of using such a test as a means to “search and destroy” autistic children in a way that is similar to that used for children suspected of having Down syndrome.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the research team, told the Guardian, “We should start debating this. There is a test for Down's syndrome and that is legal and parents exercise their right to choose termination, but autism is often linked with talent. It is a different kind of condition.”

In a column on the BBC website, Professor Baron-Cohen wrote, “Assuming such a test is developed, we would be wise to think ahead as to how such a test would be used. If it was used to 'prevent' autism, with doctors advising mothers to consider termination of the pregnancy if their baby tested 'positive', what else would be lost in reducing the number of children born with autism? Would we also reduce the number of future great mathematicians, for example?

“Caution is needed before scientists embrace prenatal testing so that we do not inadvertently repeat the history of eugenics or inadvertently 'cure' not just autism but the associated talents that are not in need of treatment.”

But pro-life advocates and parents of autistic children say that the whole idea of pre-natal “screening” is a matter of eugenics and that no child should be killed on the basis of a disability, whether or not they may become a great mathematician.

John Smeaton, director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said that the BBC’s headline, “Autism test could hit maths skills,” is a “chilling reminder of modern Britain – in which countless human beings are killed as though they’re rubbish, simply because they’re disabled, and people in the media worry about the possible loss of maths skills.”

“Bernadette,” a British pro-life advocate and mother of a school-age child with autism, who asked to be identified only by her first name, told LifeSiteNews.com, “I didn't think this day would come so soon. I deliberately avoided all pre-natal testing as I could see this day coming. I wanted my children to know that they were wanted, no matter what. But I didn’t think I'd be explaining this to them so young.”

Bernadette added, “My son is a great pro-life campaigner in his high school. Little by little, he's winning a few recruits here and there. He's autistic. What an advert for pro-life. What a witness to Love.”

Related:

Earlier Screening for Down’s Syndrome May Fuel Eugenic Program Against Disabled
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111002.html
[20 January 2009, Hilary White, London, www.LifeSiteNews.com]    

Unlicensed Abortion Practitioner Bertha Bugarin Gets Three Year Prison Term
The owner of a chain of abortion centers in California has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison on charges of pretending to be a physician and doing abortions without a medical license. Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 48, had pleaded no contest to seven felony counts in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Bugarin was accused of putting more than a dozen patients at risk by doing abortions on them or giving them the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug without having medical training.

The abortion business owner appeared in court sobbing uncontrollably and begging for leniency and mercy and received a slightly lesser sentence than the five years prosecutors sought.

Had she been found guilty and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law on all charges, Bugarin could have faced 15 years in prison.

Now, Bugarin faces sentencing on Friday in San Diego County on similar charges. had a hearing in that case last month and could be headed to jail for nine years in association with those charges.

Operation Rescue has been closely following the case and helped expose some of the problems. OR spokeswoman Cheryl Sullenger told LifeNews.com she was disappointed that the Bugarin escaped a longer prison sentence.

"In sentencing Bugarin, Judge Sam Ohta has forgotten that Bugarin's victims were given no such mercy. Many of the women were cruelly given abortions without anesthesia or pain medication," she said.

"Bugarin preyed on vulnerable Hispanic neighborhoods. She hoped to earn the maximum amount of profit by providing the shoddiest care, hoping the illegal status of many in those neighborhoods would prevent them from reporting [the illegal activities]," Sullenger added.

"Her victims will have to live with the trauma and injury Bugarin inflicted on them for the rest of their lives. Bugarin is a cold-hearted predator whose only remorse is that she got caught," she told LifeNews.com.

Prosecutors have found at least nine women who have said Bugarin did abortions on them and one of the women had to be hospitalized three times because of complications from the failed abortion. She eventually gave birth prematurely and the baby died three hours later.

Another woman had to return to the abortion center a second time because Bugarin allegedly botched the first attempt at doing the abortion.

Bugarin operates several abortion businesses in the southern California area operating under the name Clinica Medica Para La Mujer De Hoy. At its height of prosperity, the chain ran eleven abortion centers, but problems with the incompetent abortion practitioners hired by Bugarin troubled the chain.

According to Operation Rescue, abortion practitioner Nolan Jones, who has his own problems with state medical authorities with numerous cases of Medical Board disciplinary action for botched abortions, is running them.

Sullenger told LifeNews.com that Jones filed for bankruptcy for substantial amounts of debt in 2003 and has bounced around several southern California abortion centers moving to new ones when others close for medical problems or other reasons.

Nicholas Braemer, the medical director of the abortion centers, surrendered his medical license under pressure in 2000 after Operation Rescue exposed his numerous botched abortions and other problems.

He was replaced as medical director by Laurence Reich, a convicted sex offender, who lost his medical license in 2006 for continued episodes of sexual abuse against his abortion patients.

"We are very thankful that Bugarin's clinics are now closed and that she is on her way to jail where she belongs. We worked very long to protect the women of Southern California further abuse at the hands of this ruthless predator," said Sullenger. [2Feb09, Ertelt, www.LifeNews.com, Los Angeles, CA, http://www.lifenews.com/state3802.html]

Medical Board Revokes License of Abortion Practitioner in Florida Born Alive Case
The Florida Board of Medicine has revoked the license of an abortion practitioner who allegedly acted negligently in a shocking botched abortion case. The July 2006 incident involves baby Shanice Denise Osbourne and abortion facility staff hid her body from officials after a botched abortion.

The medical board held a hearing Friday in the case and found abortion practitioner Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique guilty of medical malpractice.

The panel also found him guilty of wrongly delegating a medical responsibility meant for physicians to unlicensed personnel.

Renelique's attorney, Joseph Harrison, told AP before the hearing that he thinks the allegations are "misguided and incomplete" but did not provide more information to back his claims. He did not provide any comments following the board's decision.

According to witnesses, a young woman went to the GYN Diagnostic Center abortion facility in Hialeah, outside Miami, for an abortion. Sycloria Williams, 18, paid $1,200 for the abortion

Police say the 18-year-old had an abortion and returned the next day complaining of severe stomach pains.

Abortion facility staff told Renelique was unavailable and Williams eventually went into labor and delivered a baby girl, Shanice.

After the birth, abortion center owner Belkis Gonzalez cut the baby's umbilical cord, stuffed the baby's body in a biohazard bag and threw Shanice away.

Police eventually found the baby's body a week later after getting a tip after missing it during the first investigation of the abortion business.

Since the incident, pro-life advocates have called for prosecution of both Gonzalez and Renelique and that may finally be close.

Tom Pennekamp, a Miami attorney who is representing Williams in a lawsuit she filed against Renelique and Gonzalez, told AP that, "I don't care what your politics are, what your morals are, this should not be happening in our community."

AP obtained records concerning Renelique and determined that he attended medical school at University of Haiti and completed a residency in 1991 at Interfaith Medical Center in New York. The records also reveal he has paid out on five medical malpractice claims, but they did not reveal more information about those claims.

Williams was reportedly 23 weeks pregnant at the time of the abortion and received laminaria and was told to go to the A Gyn Diagnostic Center abortion business to complete the abortion process. That's when she delivered.

Meanwhile, charges have not been levied in the case, although Terry Chavez, a spokeswoman with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office, said prosecutors are nearing a decision.

Hialeah police Deputy Chief Mark Overton told the Miami Herald after the incident that "'They hid the body from us for eight days," and there is suspicion that abortion facility staff hid the body of the baby on the roof.

Overton said at the time that homicide or manslaughter charges could be filed.

''This has to be a homicide, an unlawful killing. It could be manslaughter, but we believe it falls in that realm,'' Overton said.

The city was preparing to take action on a license suspension for the GYN abortion center; but, before it could do so the owners of the abortion facility surrendered its license to operate to the state's Agency for Health Care Administration.

Gonzalez, of Miramar, Florida, owns another abortion center there and it has run afoul of state regulations on numerous occasions. It was closed last year after three employees were found to be unlicensed. Shanice was given a proper burial in October. [6Feb09, Ertelt, Tampa, FL www.LifeNews.com; http://www.lifenews.com/state3823.html]  

Repeat abortions among teenage girls have risen by 70% in the UK.
Alcohol plays a role in the US as well. Those who push contraception need to remember that intoxication impairs judgment.  Those in our federal administration and Congress who promote contraception as a "solution" fail to see the big picture: chemical contraception does not provide any barrier to sexually transmitted diseases/infections at all; it provides no protection from emotional damage either, and if not taken correctly, does not even stop pregnancy, and thus either causes the destruction of the very early human embryo, or if the embryo survives, leads to unplanned pregnancy and often to abortion.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1127083/Repeat-abortions-teenage-girls-risen-70.html  | Mail Online]

Alberto Hodari and Woman Care Abortion Corporation Given Six Month "Probation" Period in Patient Records Charges
In an early-morning hearing Wednesday, February 4, 2009 before Judge Richards of the 46th District Court in Southfield Michigan, the Womancare Corporation, representing 5 different abortion clinics in the state of Michigan, was given a 6 month probationary period.

Womancare's chief executive officer, Alberto Hodari, pled "no contest" to 12 counts of violating the Michigan State statutes that regulate the proper filing and disposal of
patient records.  These charges were filed by the Oakland County prosecutor's office after members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society (www.prolifesociety.com) conducted searches of the trash dumpsters of the Hodari abortion clinics.

They discovered bio-hazard waste, the remains of aborted babies and hundreds of patient records in the trash dumpsters, in particular the dumpster behind Hodari's Lathrup Village abortion facility on Southfield Road. 

The 6 month probationary period effectly delays a formal sentence of Hodari and the Womancare corporation. Hodari will need to appear back in court at the end of the 6 month period. If there are no further violations of law in the 6 month period there will be no further penalty in the case. However, if Hodari and the Womancare
corporation do violate the law in the 6 month period Hodari is subject to a a possible 90 day jail term plus a $100 dollar fine per each 12 counts of violating the Michigan State Statutes.

The 12 counts represent 12 female patients of the Womancare Lathrup Village abortion facility whose records were discovered in the trash dumpster (out of the many hundreds that were found by members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society). 
Monica Migliorino Miller states: "This court decision is disappointing. Hodari violated the rights of literally hundreds of his patients in total disregard for proper medical practice. This is just another slap on the hand in a sad and sorry case that has involved the improper disposal of bio-hazard waste and even the dumping of the remains of aborted babies in the trash. The law should have come down hard on Hodari--but instead he will likely just walk away from this whole debacle. It is a travesty of justice. The people of Michigan have not been served -- much less the women he violated and the aborted babies he threw away in the trash."
[4Feb09, PRESS RELEASE, Citizens for a Pro-life Society]   

State Training Midwives to Perform Abortions: Pilot Project Suspends Rules to Allow 'Suction Aspiration' Procedures.  A state senator in California is planning to start asking some hard questions after his staff uncovered a "pilot project" concealed within a gerontology program originally launched in 1973 that is being used to train nurse midwives and physicians assistants to perform "suction aspiration" surgical abortion procedures.

According to State Sen. Sam Annestad, a Republican from Grass Valley, the goal of the abortion program that carefully was concealed behind the description "expanding early pregnancy care" apparently is to train medical assistants to do abortions.

In a website commentary about his discoveries, Aanestad said it apparently was begun in 2006 without legislative oversight and involves the state and several foundations contributing financially to the "pilot program" at Planned Parenthood abortion businesses in three cities.

He said not only has the abortion-training program been concealed behind a "pregnancy care" label, state regulations have been suspended in order to allow "Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants" to do procedures for which they would not ordinarily be considered qualified.

Aanestad said the effort is a perfect example of "Newspeak," the fictional language of George Orwell's twisted utopia in "1984."

"In California, Newspeak is now spoken fluently by those who seek to advance a political agenda in healthcare by avoiding scrutiny," he said. "Under the guise of 'access to primary care,' the Regents of the University of California have been conducting an experiment on women in Concord, Los Angeles and San Diego.

"Exploiting a pilot project program enacted in 1973 to address a gerontology workforce shortage, Healthcare Workforce Pilot Project (HWPP) #171 allows women seeking medical care to become subjects of social research," he said.

He said the experiment states it is to "demonstrate the role of advanced practice clinicians in expanding early pregnancy care."

"That's Orwellian for 'training non-physicians to perform first trimester abortions,'" he said.

Mitzi Sales, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood's business in Concord, told WND she is familiar with the program, which designed is to "increase women's access to safe reproductive health care."

She said the goal is to "integrate abortion care into current practice settings."

The program will, she said, "create more providers in a lot of the underserved areas that need them the most."

Sales said California has areas in which there are no fulltime abortion businesses available, so "providers" have to fly in. It is those areas, she said, the expansion in the number of "providers" would help.

Aanestad complained about such directed expansion of abortions.

"It is interesting, in the language of distortion, to note the population that is the focus of this public service," he said. "Though reporting that abortion rates have risen among poor and low-income women, the program sponsor at the University of California admits that the goal of the pilot project is to expand abortion practice and access, 'particularly in underserved areas.'

"The project director, an attorney, apparently believes that the underserved populations of California – overwhelmingly Latino and African-American – would benefit from even higher rates of abortion," he said.

The senator said, "At least this doublespeak is consistent with the stated goals of Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger: 'Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.'

"The sponsor of the 'surgical abortion by non-physicians' project, University of California, San Francisco's Bixby Center for Reproductive Health, must have missed the Newspeak memo about renaming abortion 'early pregnancy care.' They fund research called 'The Early Abortion Project,'" he said.

Aanestad told WND he was incensed by the program because of its misleading policy makers referencing "early pregnancy care" when in fact the program is for abortions.

"I'm on the health committee. I'm supposed to have a knowledge about this," he said.

He accused program organizers of being "deliberately misleading."

The second issue is the possible civil and criminal liability involved.

"I know very well that nurse midwives and nurse practitioners and physicians assistants do not get very much – if any – surgical training, certainly not in internal surgery or what we would call major surgery," Aanestad said. "For example, a midwife can't even use a forceps in a natural delivery.'

But this program is training those same individuals to invade a body organ where there can be complications of bleeding, perforations and other "disasters."

Aanestad said the program apparently is coming up for renewal in the next few weeks, and he'll be asking a lot of questions.

"My concern as a legislator ... is how [do we get from a gerontology program to] doing abortions on minority women?"

Aanestad said the pilot project applications reported a proposed cost of $1.3 million from UC San Francisco, Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the John Merck Fund and the Educational Foundation of America.

"The taxpayers of California also foot the bill through the grant approval process and oversight provided by the state's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development," he said.

"The ultimate goal of the project couldn't be clearer: 'Disseminate our abortion training and utilization model to other faculties and states interested in expanding the pool of primary care abortion providers,'" Aanestad said.

Karen England, who runs the California-based pro-family Capitol Resource Institute, said she was shocked.

"Under California law, only licensed physicians may perform surgical abortions," she said.

However, under the program, "abortionists have slipped in a program that teaches nurses, midwives and physician assistants to perform surgical abortions on women, particularly those in poor regions."

"This is stunning," England said. "Abortion activists are so intent on performing abortions that they are willing to deceive the public and defy government restrictions on their dangerous procedures."
[5Feb09, Bob Unruh, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88097]

Comment: Please give larger attention to this illuminating article on what was discovered in California: "State Training midwives to perform abortions: -- look at how long the subterfuge was in place.  Bad as this is, it is only one example of how so many bad laws and bad applications of "funding" and bad consequences take place across the entire legislative carefully crafted gobbledegook activity nationwide, across all the issues piling up in legislatures and Congress.

As language and reading have been steadily  downplayed in American schools and adopted by the graduates of same, the ability of those fluent in Newspeak has increased across all agendas, not just this one. From all over the country, add-ons of all kinds are buried in legislation of all kinds.  Omnibus budgets have been a godsend to crafty insertions of agendas of all kinds where they won't be noticed in hooplas over the bigger aspects of omnibus legislation.  As in the hundreds of pages in the current "stimulus" bill.  Tradeoffs, paybacks, and short time to scrutinize -- all "legal" and mostly all huge cans of worms, mostly discovered too late to remove.  That's what we're stuck with because we trusted too much. -- J.B.  

Study Finds Abortion Not Needed When Pregnant Women Face Cancer Treatment. A new study finds that pregnancy does not increase the risk of breast cancer and that abortion is not a requirement for pregnant women who find themselves with breast cancer. Some doctors suggest that such women have an abortion so they can focus on treating the cancer.

But the study, involving patients at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, puts to rest some earlier studies suggesting maternity makes cancer situations worse.

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.

"If we can get them early, we can treat them aggressively and have good and promising outcomes for both woman and child," she said.

The new study, published today in the medical journal Cancer, included 652 women under the age of 35 who were treated for breast cancer at the center over 36 years.

The group included 104 women who were diagnosed with cancer either during their pregnancy or one year following. The research found the rates of cancer recurrence, spread, and survival were approximately the same for the pregnant women as with non-pregnant women.

Beadle, an oncologist, told AP that there was no evidence that tumors grew faster in pregnant women than other women who dealt with a cancer diagnosis.

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.

"It's quite complicated, but all of us have been able to treat pregnant women successfully," O'Regan said.

Dr. Joel Brind, the president of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute and a professor at Baruch College in New York, says studies like this one confirm what experts already know -- that abortion is unnecessary for pregnant women with cancer.

"You see, the amazing discovery that it is actually better for women diagnosed with cancer while pregnant (called gestational cancer) to carry the pregnancy to term is hardly news. It wasn't even news last year or twenty years ago. About 70 years ago, it was news," he wrote in a previous LifeNews.com editorial.

Brind points to numerous studies going as far back as 1931 and others done in 1976 and 1980 showing abortion is not medically indicated for women undergoing cancer treatment.

"This advice would be good to keep in mind, next time saving both mother and child is dressed up as news," he says.

"But it would also be good to keep this in mind whenever the 'life of the mother exception' comes up. Not only does this claim represent a very small fraction of abortion decisions, but it's generally a bogus claim anyway," Brind explained. "Abortion terminates lives; it doesn't save them."  [9Feb09, Ertelt, Houston, TX, www.LifeNews.com, http://www.lifenews.com/nat4823.html]