• PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN UPHELD BY OHIO FEDERAL COURT The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld the Ohio Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. Recently, the U. S. Congress passed and President Bush signed a ban on this ghastly procedure which is now being challenged in federal courts. Perhaps the Appeals Court ruling will lend support to the federal ban. But, the two laws have a significant difference. The Ohio law has a so-called "health exception," allowing the procedure to be performed when the woman's health is in danger. The federal ban does not because pro-life Members of Congress rightly felt that the exception would devour the rule in the hands of dishonest abortionists. Instead, the federal ban includes medical findings showing this procedure, is not only never needed to protect a woman's health, it can potentially be very dangerous. Obviously, the battle to defend the unborn is far from over. [Naral: Confused about Life and Partial-Birth Abortion http://www.frc.org/index.cfm?i=IF03C2&f=WU03L16 Partial-Birth Abortion: Dispelling the Myths http://www.frc.org/index.cfm?i=IF03C1&f=WU03L16]

• NY ABORTIONIST ADMITS RECURRING NIGHTMARES ABOUT HIS VICTIMS.  Comment: this abortionist admits that of his victims "only 18 women lost the ability to have children." Ironically, abortion supporters argue that abortion—esp. partial-birth abortion-- is needed to protect women's fertility! [N. Valko R.N.] NY City abortionist William Rashbaum revealed that he has recurring nightmares of an unborn child attempting to escape his butchery. Rashbaum, a Gyn, is described as "one of the pre-eminent and longest-practicing providers of second-trimester abortions in the United States ." The article reports Rashbaum's conversation with a patient: "He tells them that out of 21,000 late-term abortions he has performed, only 18 women lost the ability to have children. He has also never lost a patient and says he'll be furious with her if she's the first." The article admits "the procedure is gruesome, as anyone who has seen it, including Rashbaum, will attest…one of his former interns remembers watching Rashbaum do a D&E on well-developed twins one hot summer day. He intently leaned in closely and methodically pulled piece after piece of the fetuses out of the mother's uterus, ignoring the attending staff's whispers of horror - 'It's twins. It's twins' - to each other. The intern reacted violently, running home, throwing up, and asking herself, 'Is this right?'. The article reports that Rashbaum, "was troubled by a recurring dream of a fetus trying to hold onto the walls of a uterus by its tiny fingernails." About the nightmares, Rashbaum comments: "What kind of dreams do you think you are going to have?" [Boston Phoenix 5Dec03, LifeSiteNews.com, http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multipage/documents/p, N.Valko RN]

• PRO-LIFE GROUP OBTAINS PRO-ABORT INTERNAL DOCUMENTS          CFAM announced that it has obtained internal memos from the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) detailing the strategy to develop international pro-abortion laws that can be imposed and enforced throughout the world -- ultimately government financed abortion on demand worldwide. "The memos appear to confirm long-standing fears of some legal scholars that international negotiations on human rights laws are no longer conducted in good faith, and that national sovereignty is jeopardized by such negotiations" [Douglas Sylvia of CFAM]. Austin Ruse, President of CFAM said that while the strategy disclosed in the document is "nothing new" to his organization, it is a "smoking gun" belying the tactics pro-abortion groups have denied for years -- tactics that he called "primarily deception." "Most of their work is getting governments to accept language that will change meanings later," said Ruse . "For instance, they like the phrase ‘reproductive health’ instead of ‘abortion’ -- if they used ‘abortion’ they'd likely lose. When it comes to enforcement, that term can be used to refer to abortion." [7Dec03 www.lifenews.com/intl36.html]

• MIFEPRISTONE (RU 486) The proposed RU-486 Suspension and Review Act of 2003 would suspend use of the drug until a complete investigation of the approval process has been completed. The bill has been introduced in the House (HR 3453) and Senate (S 1930). The bill is the result of concerns expressed by the family of Holly Patterson after her untimely death following an RU-486 abortion. Go to Library of Congress at http://thomas.loc.gov and search by bill number. [communiqué 12Dec03; ple-news 16Dec03]

• U.S. PREGNANCY, BIRTH, ABORTION RATES DOWN – 1990 - 1999 [CDC].

Pregnancies fell 7%, from 6.78 million in 1990 to 6.28 million in 1999. The birth rate declined 9% in that time, from 70.9 to 64.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. And the abortion rate went down 22%, from 27.4 to 21.4 abortions per 1,000 women. The overall pregnancy rate dropped 12 percent, from 115.6 to 102.1 per 1,000 women. Women 20 to 24 years old had the highest pregnancy rate, followed by women 25 to 29. About one in six women in their 20s was pregnant in 1999. Teen pregnancy rates reached historic lows, dropping 25 percent during the 10-year period. The teen birth rate dropped 19 percent, and the teen abortion rate was down 39 percent. In 1999, black and Hispanic teenagers got pregnant at more than twice the rate of non-Hispanic white teens. The racial differences dwindled among women in their 20s and disappeared by age 35. Pregnancy rates for married women declined 12 percent from 1990 to 1997, but they have since increased slightly. [AP, 31Oct03; Pro-Life E-News

Abortion provider Hern says he performs abortions up to 26 or even 34 weeks of pregnancy. In a recent column on Slate.com, Hern questions whether the congressional ban on partial-birth abortion might impact his practice. That ban specifically talks about abortions in which the fetus lives outside the womb. Hern gives the fetus an injection to stop its heart as the first step in his process. Meanwhile, NE abortionist LeRoy Carhart said about 500 abortions that he performs yearly would be outlawed by the late-term measure. [Lincoln Journal Star; 3Nov03; Sandra Fish, 2Nov03 http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_23963; PLE-news, #284, 4Nov03

FIRST U.S. ABORTION-BREAST CANCER (ABC) LAWSUIT SETTLED -- for an undisclosed amount (17Oct03, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas). The plaintiff was a 17-year-old PA resident when a second-trimester abortion was performed in NJ without parental knowledge/consent. Although she hasn't developed breast cancer, she sued her abortion provider, Charles Benjamin, for neglecting to warn her about the physical and emotional risks of abortion. Karen Malec [Coalition On Abortion/Breast Cancer president] said that the settlement would alert "the medical establishment that it can no longer profit by keeping women in the dark about the breast cancer risk. This case also establishes that abortion providers can be sued for battery if the abortion provider performs no parental consent abortions on minors from neighboring states (with parental consent statutes), even if the state where the abortion is performed does not have a parental consent statute." On the eve of trial, Dr. Benjamin and the Cherry Hill Women's Center in Cherry Hill, NJ, agreed to settle claims it violated parental-consent law and failed to inform its then-17-year-old patient about the emotional and physical risks of abortion – including increased risk of breast cancer. When the plaintiff, who goes by the fictitious name of "Sarah," got pregnant at the age of 16, her high school guidance counselor facilitated her second-trimester abortion at the NJ clinic across the Delaware River without her parents' knowledge. NJ was chosen because it has no parental-consent laws regarding abortions for minors. Sarah is said to have suffered tremendously since having her abortion. Attorney Susan Gertz, executive director of the Women's Injury Network, the national charity which covered Sarah's case expenses, reports she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome following the abortion. Gertz applauded the undisclosed settlement, which was based on Sarah's need for medical monitoring for early detection of breast cancer. Doctors estimated that cost to be $2,500 annually. The settlement also includes funding to cover future psychological counseling. "Abortion malpractice lawsuits help expose the deceptive practices of the abortion industry and hold doctors legally and financially accountable to the women they've harmed," Gertz said in a statement. Sarah's parents successfully sued the high school in a separate lawsuit for violating their 14th Amendment rights to raise their child without interference by the public school. This lawsuit makes it possible for the abortion providers to be sued for battery. "…Abortion centers can't escape civil penalties by aborting for kids from other states when they know the state where they come from has parental-consent statute," said Sarah’s attorney Stanton [215/886-6780]. According to Stanton's statistics, an average of 43 women from PA travel to NJ every month to have abortions. Ten of those are teens, some as young as 12. The ABC link has been called "the elephant in medicine's parlor." Medical experts privately say abortion causes breast cancer, but it is too volatile to publicly acknowledge. According to a National Cancer Institute (NCI) commissioned study, teens who procure abortions before age 18, more than double their risk. [1] Girls and women have a predominance of immature, cancer-vulnerable Types 1 & 2 breast lobules, which aren't matured into cancer-resistant Types 3 & 4 lobules until a term pregnancy takes place. Abortion can increase the statistical odds of developing breast cancer in two ways: 1) It delays a first term pregnancy; and 2) It increases the number of cancer-vulnerable breast cells because estrogen overexposure during a normal pregnancy stimulates cell multiplication. Women don't receive protection from estrogen overexposure until third trimester hormones mature their breast tissue into milk-producing Types 3 & 4 lobules. Differentiated (mature) cells are not vulnerable to carcinogens. Scientists are incapable of refuting the biological explanation for the ABC link: 17 of 29 worldwide studies are statistically significant, which means there's a 95 percent certainty that the association is not by chance. Seven of these 17 report more than a two-fold risk increase. 13 of 16 U.S. studies report risk elevations. The NCI provided at least partial funding for 10 studies. "It's common sense," adds Malec. "Doctors should be erring on the side of caution and should be telling patients 'Yes, there is research going back 46 years that supports an abortion-breast cancer link’. That's the minimum owed to women." [1. Daling et al. (1994) J Natl Cancer Inst 86:1584-92. 2. National Physicians Center for Family Resources, American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Polycarp Research Institute, Breast Cancer Prevention Institute. COALITION ON ABORTION/BREAST CANCER, 1-877-803-0102, www.AbortionBreastCancer.com, Karen Malec, 21Oct03 & 23Oct03, Pro-Life E-News

• FOR AN OUTSTANDING ARTICLE by Dr. G. Sweeney on the psychological effects of skewed human sexuality which affect women’s health, go to www.physiciansforlife.org/editorials.interviews.htm

• PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN SIGNED INTO LAW. On 5Nov03, President Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (S. 3) into law (Public Law 108-105). At the signing ceremony, the president noted that "Our nation owes its children a different and better welcome" than partial-birth abortion. "The facts about partial-birth abortion are troubling and tragic, and no lawyer's brief can make them seem otherwise." The president affirmed the right to life as unalienable. "America stands for liberty, for the pursuit of happiness and for the unalienable right of life. And the most basic duty of government is to defend the life of the innocent. Every person, however frail or vulnerable, has a place and a purpose in this world. Every person has a special dignity. This right to life cannot be granted or denied by government, because it does not come from government, it comes from the Creator of life…The late PA Governor Robert Casey once said that: when we look to the unborn child, the real issue is not when life begins, but when love begins. This is the generous and merciful spirit of our country at its best. This spirit is reflected in the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, which I am now honored to sign into law." Aware of the pending court challenges, the president pledged "the executive branch will vigorously defend this law against any who would try to overturn it in the courts." For the president's remarks, see: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031105-1.html. [NCHLA, 7Nov03; FRC, Washington Update, 31Oct03]
• THE ACT ITSELF -- An Act to prohibit the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion. (a) CHAPTER 74--PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS-1531. Partial-birth abortions prohibited. (a) Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. This subsection does not apply to a partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. This subsection takes effect 1 day after the enactment. (b) As used in this section-- (1) the term `partial-birth abortion' means an abortion in which the person performing the abortion-- (A) deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother, for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus; and (B) performs the overt act, other than completion of delivery, that kills the partially delivered living fetus; and (2) the term `physician' means a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized to practice medicine and surgery by the State in which the doctor performs such activity, or any other individual legally authorized by the State to perform abortions: Provided, however, That any individual who is not a physician or not otherwise legally authorized by the State to perform abortions, but who nevertheless directly performs a partial-birth abortion, shall be subject to the provisions of this section. (c) (1) The father, if married to the mother at the time she receives a partial-birth abortion procedure, and if the mother has not attained the age of 18 years at the time of the abortion, the maternal grandparents of the fetus, may in a civil action obtain appropriate relief, unless the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion. (2) Such relief shall include-- (A) money damages for all injuries, psychological and physical, occasioned by the violation of this section; and (B) statutory damages equal to three times the cost of the partial-birth abortion. (d) (1) A defendant accused of an offense under this section may seek a hearing before the State Medical Board on whether the physician's conduct was necessary to save the life of the mother whose life was endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. (2) The findings on that issue are admissible on that issue at the trial of the defendant. Upon a motion of the defendant, the court shall delay the beginning of the trial for not more than 30 days to permit such a hearing to take place. (e) A woman upon whom a partial-birth abortion is performed may not be prosecuted under this section, for a conspiracy to violate this section, or for an offense under section 2, 3, or 4 of this title based on a violation of this section.'.

• ACLU PROMOTES INFANTICIDE MASKED AS ABORTION -- Three separate lawsuits were filed in federal courts in NE (on behalf of Carhart and 3 other abortion providers), New York City (on behalf of the National Abortion Federation), San Francisco (for Planned Parenthood Fed of Amer) on 31Oct03 (Halloween). All three courts have entered temporary restraining orders against enforcing the new law. The abortion lobby's actions come as no surprise, because this is what they always do. Since an overwhelming majority of Americans want partial-birth abortion banned, abortion supporters could not get their way in Congress. As a result they are now turning to the courts…to…sanction infanticide. The lawsuits promote infanticide masked as abortion. "The signing of this law will draw a bright line between abortion and infanticide," said N. Nikas, general counsel for Americans United for Life (AUL). "The abortion industry is simply not content with the destruction of unborn life in the womb, the place where abortion occurs. Rather, it seeks to extend the abortion right into a right to infanticide by expanding the boundaries to include killing infants who are mere inches from full birth." Roe v. Wade and subsequent abortion cases have consistently defined abortion as "a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." Nikas referred to medical evidence which shows that this procedure is not abortion (which destroys the child in the womb), but is rather infanticide because it destroys the child’s life after pregnancy has been terminated by the child’s entry into the birth canal, where birth is inevitable. Commenting on the fate of the partial-birth law, Nikas stated, "The only question for the courts, and ultimately the Supreme Court, is whether unelected judges will again protect infanticide as a constitutional right, and continue to reject the democratic will of the people as expressed by the legislatures of 31 states, 70% of the American people, almost two-thirds of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives (64-34 Senate; 281-142 House), and the President of the United States." AUL attorney Dorinda Bordlee stated that Roe and other abortion decisions are simply not applicable to this case involving infanticide. Because the Supreme Court’s definition of "health" equates to abortion on demand, Justice O’Connor’s call for a health exception in the 2000 Carhart decision would make any partial-birth ban meaningless.[1] Although this procedure goes beyond abortion into infanticide, Bordlee expressed her profound concern for women’s physical and psychological well-being, taking issue with the abortion industry’s claims that abortion helps women. "Legalized abortion significantly harms women’s health," said Bordlee. She pointed to a January 2003 medical survey of 30 years of articles on the long-term health impact of abortion on women. Researchers concluded that women who have undergone abortion are 3 to 6 times more likely to commit or attempt suicide, and that in their future pregnancies there is a 50% increased risk of placenta previa, and a 30% increased risk of preterm birth. The article also concluded that women seeking abortion should be warned of an increased risk of breast cancer.[2] [1] Doe is frequently cited for its definition of maternal "health." Because Roe allowed abortion in the second and third trimesters for the "life or health" of the mother, the following definition of "health" has been used to make abortion on demand available through all nine months of pregnancy: "[T]he medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age -- relevant to the well being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health." Doe v. Bolton, 410 [2]Thorp, Harris and Shadigian, Long-term Physical and Psychological Health Consequences of Induced Abortion: A Review of the Evidence, Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey, January 2003; 58(1):67-79.
• [NCHLA, 7Nov03; FRC, Washington Update, 31Oct03; Thorp and Hartmann are Co-Directors of the Women's Health Research Project at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill .Shadigian is a professor of Ob-Gyn at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. The abstract and study are may be found at http://www.obgynsurvey.com. Contact us at Americans United for Life]

• HOW THE PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION BAN REALLY SAVES LIVES. "Meanwhile, the pro-abortion movement is [upset] over the new federal law banning partial birth abortion (PBA), the first federal restriction on abortion since Roe v. Wade. But the way they're reacting publicly is all wrong…the best pro-life news isn't so much the signing of the PBA ban, but the…restraining order issued by a federal judge in Nebraska. Why? Because it shows how far out of touch the pro-abortion camp is. If they were guided by a single iota of wisdom or common sense -- rather than a monomaniacal defense of abortion up to the last second of pregnancy -- they would leave this issue alone. They've got plenty of other ways to kill these babies anyway -- equally horrific, but not covered by the PBA ban. Instead, they are exposing themselves to the general public for who they really are. All their rhetoric about ‘choice’ and the ‘difficult abortion decision’ and ‘compassion for women’ is being revealed as propaganda. They're looking more and more radical all the time, more and more utterly devoid of common decency. And they're doing it to themselves. That's how the PBA ban really saves lives: by shifting public opinion farther and farther away from the kind of radical position the pro-abort forces are clinging to. Every injunction, every loss in the federal courts is really a victory for life in the court of public opinion that brings the final end of legal abortion that much closer." [Eric Scheidler, Life-Update 6Nov03]

• LAWYER WHO INVENTED ROE V. WADE STRATEGY DIES. Roy Lucas, a pro-abortion attorney who created the legal strategy that led to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision died in 11/03. From 1966-1973 Lucas laid the groundwork for the decision that legalized abortion. He was the first person to explain fully how the Supreme Court's 1965 Griswold decision, which created a right to use birth control, could be legally expanded into a right to abortion. Lucas was a third-year law student at New York Univ when he made that pivotal argument in a research paper for a class on litigation [New York Times]. The paper was bandied about prominently in the legal community. When the Roe case reached the Supreme Court, Lucas hoped to argue it in front of the justices, but Texas attorney Sarah Weddington, who lied about Norma McCorvey and fabricated her desire for an abortion, got the task. [LifeNews.com, 12Nov03]

• SC ABORTIONS DOWN 53% -- The number of abortions continued their 15-year decline in South Carolina through 2002. Since 1988, abortions have dropped 53%. Mary Glover [statistician for the SC Dept of Health and Environmental Control] said the number of reported abortions in 2002 was 6,574. That is 440 fewer abortions than occurred in 2001 -- a 6% decrease. The abortion number peaked at 14,333 in SC in 1988. Since then, the state legislature has passed a number of pro-life laws that, combined with the educational efforts that took place to pass them, are credited with cutting the number in half. [http://www.lifenews.com/state161.html, 29Sept03]

• TX BUILDERS SCORE VICTORY IN ABORTION-CENTER BATTLE General contractor pulls out of construction project amid boycott -- The general contractor overseeing the construction of a Planned Parenthood abortion center has pulled out amid a burgeoning boycott by subcontractors. Browning Construction has abandoned PP’s $6.2 million "Choice Project." Workers broke ground on the one-story, 9,931-square-foot bldg., slated to be the largest such facility in 10 counties, in 9/03. Danze, chairman of the Austin Area Pro-Life Concrete Contractors & Suppliers Assoc, sent a letter to more than 750 chief executives of construction-related companies, asking them not to supply materials or work on the center. The letter was signed by 88 local business owners. The boycott has gained momentum with the lumber supplier, roofing supplier and air conditioning contractor also boycotting. Danze says ~70 contractors officially registered their participation and several others do not want to be named. PP now says they will be their own general contractor. [News 8 Austin; WorldNetDaily.com, 5Nov03; PLE-news, #287, 7Nov03, 15Nov03]

• OH COUPLE GETS $210,000 IN ABORTION ERROR SUIT; Doctor had admitted negligence at start of trial. Before his civil trial even started, Akron doctor Barry Fish admitted he mistakenly aborted a viable fetus. The jury awarded $210,000 in damages to the couple who sued the gynecologist, claiming his negligence robbed them of a child they wanted and left the woman with the horror of delivering a partial fetus weeks later. [Beacon Journal, 14Nov03, Pro-Life E-News

• ULTRASOUND. A CareNet poll shows that 4 of 5 women support the idea of providing greater access to ultrasound for pregnant women. The level of support was constant whether women described themselves as pro-life/pro-choice or Republican/ Democrat. ["New poll: Women want ultrasound access," Care Net news release, 9/2/03; Communique, 5Sept03; Pro-Life E-news, 9Sept03]

• MULTIPLE ABORTIONS. almost half of the abortions each day in America are repeat abortions. Of 1999 abortions reported (CDC), 26.2% of women who aborted had 1 previous abortion; 11.2% had 2 previous abortions, and 7.5% had 3 or more previous abortions. State reports to CDC are voluntary, and 4 states, incl. CA (the #1 abortion state) do not report. Forty-six states do report, and this led to a total count of 861,789 legal induced abortions in 1999. That means that in 1 year, by the most conservative data available, 64,634 abortions were performed on women who had had 3 or more previous abortions. Why do women have multiple abortions? Dr. Philip Ney points out that pregnancy, like sleep, is a biorhythm. If you are awakened in the middle of the night, your body says, "Go back to sleep." Many who abort, therefore, feel the urge to get pregnant again. A biorhythm has been interrupted. Many want a "replacement" or "atonement" baby. Yet once pregnant again, they [find] that the same circumstances that led to the first abortion are still in place. Hence, another abortion follows. Repeat abortions are a sign of ambivalence, and at times of self-punishment. Dr. Theresa Burke also explains, "Repeat abortions and replacement pregnancies are two common ways in which women reenact elements of their abortion trauma" (Forbidden Grief, p.110). Dr. Ney: "Tragedy is repeated not because we do not understand, but because we are trying to understand" (Deeply Damaged, p.118). In other words, an underlying conflict…is unresolved. We find we cannot resolve it by simply replaying it in our minds. So we re-live it…We repeat what we don't understand, in the hopes of mastering it. "How can she do that??!!" "We should change the question & ask instead, "How can I help you to heal?" [PFL, 888-PFL-3448]

• 1980 STUDY ON RATS SHOWS CANCER-ABORTION LINK. The ABC link is based on statistical evidence as well as on cause-effect relationship. "An animal study in 1980 demon-strated that 77.7 per cent of aborted rats develop breast cancer when exposed to a carcinogen, but 66.7 per cent of virgin rats and zero per cent of rats with full-term pregnancies develop tumors…" www.AbortionBreastCancer.com [Malec, Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, IL; "Women and their doctors have to evaluate risks", Letters, 4Sept; 10Sep03 Pro-Life E-News www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/8]

• COERCED ABORTIONS: TURNING TO OUR FAVOR Once the issue of coerced abortions is raised, everyone - even pro-abortionists - admits that coercion is occurring. Lovers and parents…often pressure, badger, and blackmail a woman into accepting an unwanted "safe and legal" abortion …Even the prominent abortion defender Daniel Callahan writes: "That men have long coerced women into unwanted abortion when it suits their purposes is well-known but rarely mentioned. Data reported by the Alan Guttmacher Institute indicate that some 30 percent of women have an abortion because someone else, not the woman, wants it." This is a powerful political issue… Abortionists should be held legally responsible…If abortion [sites] fail to properly screen their patients, they should be held accountable as "accessories" to the crime of pressuring a woman into an unwanted abortion …she should be entitled to sue the [site] for the wrongful [death] of her wanted child - which can entail millions of dollars in compensation. Emphasizing the issue of coerced abortions allows…refram[ing of] the abortion debate in a way which puts women and children together on the same side…When faced with clearly pro-woman initiatives, pro-abortion politicians will be forced to either accede to our reforms (which will doom the abortion industry), or to side with the abortion industry against women's rights (which will doom pro-abortion politicians). Either way, we win. [Excerpts:"Making Abortion Rare: A Healing Strategy for a Divided Nation," by David C. Reardon (p. 35), The Elliot Institute News, Vol.2, No. 9 -- 6Sept, 2003 http://www.AfterAbortion.Info; Pro-Life Info]
• COERCED ABORTION EXAMPLES

**FL Man Standing Trial for Death of Pregnant Girlfriend Joseph Peck reported his girlfriend missing in October 1995. Police say Peck killed her because she was pregnant and refused to have an abortion.

**OK Man Arrested for Beating Pregnant Ex-Girlfriend in an attempt to cause her to abort.

**NY State Woman Files Pregnancy Discrimination Suit Against Restaurant -- she says she was pressured to have an abortion and then fired when she refused to do so. She is raising her 20-month-old daughter. Company officials deny the charges. [Elliot Institute News, v.2, #9 -- 6Sept03]

• TWO REVIEW ARTICLES: "The Abortion-Breast Cancer Link: How Politics Trumped Science and Informed Consent" [Karen Malec]; "Induced Abortion and Risk of Later Premature Births" [Brent Rooney & Byron C. Calhoun, M.D.; Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Summer 2003; The Elliot Institute News] http://www.jpands.org/jpands0802.htm

• DOCTORS' GROUP TAKES PRO-LIFE POSITION ON ABORTION * * - Amer Assoc of Physicians/ Surgeons [60th annual mtg] approved a pro-life resolution, that the Hippocratic Oath does not allow doctors to perform abortions. The new platform "clearly opposes" abortion & recognizes that "teachings of the major religions of the world have [also] opposed abortion of a developing human child until very recent times." "The purpose of abortion of a human child is to destroy the life of the child, in contradistinction to other terminations of pregnancy to save the life of the mother, in which an attempt would also be made to save the life of the child," says the AAPS resolution. [Tucson, AZ LifeNews.com, 6Oct03]

• RU-486 IN MOBILE. On "Sept 16, 2003 [Center for Choice, Sage Ave, Mobile], [we] counted some 12 women, we believe, who left that… facility after receiving the RU-486 Abortion Pill. There was no physician -abortionist at the facility that day, only an RN. We believe that…RU486 has become the primary weapon of choice for the destruction of human life at the Sage facility, due to the shortage of abortionists willing to come to Alabama, and the fact that the RU-486 procedure by-passes the educational requirements of the ‘Woman's Right to Know’ law passed in AL last year. (A huge loophole that must be closed!)…this Chinese-made RU-486…was being utilized (at Sage Ave) to kill American babies of mostly white mothers and some college students (AL/FL tags). Planned Parenthood…[in downtown Mobile was] busy killing mostly black babies…at the hands of a white abortionist...A white doctor… killing black babies in Alabama, and American women maimed and babies killed by a Chinese-made chemical weapon! How could it have all come to this?" [email from JDS, Mobile Mission of Life sidewalk counselor, 20Sept03]

• PREGNANT TEEN'S DEATH INVESTIGATED; SHE TOOK RU-486. an 18-year-old CA woman died days after reportedly taking the abortion pill RU-486. She rec’d the RU-486 prescription at PP to end her 7-week pregnancy. Between 14Sep-17Sep, she was bleeding severely, in acute pain and unable to walk. She died from "massive systemic infection and septic shock." Last year, the deaths of 2 women who took RU-486 prompted the FDA to issue warning letters to physicians. Three women who took RU-486 later suffered bleeding from ruptured ectopic pregnancy; 1 woman died from hemorrhage. Two other women suffered severe systemic bacterial infections after taking the drugs, & 1 died. [Washington Times; 19Sept03 San Francisco Chronicle; http://drudgereport.com/]
• AAPLOG, CMDA, and CWA (Concerned Women of America) submitted a Citizen's Petition to FDA, citing gross irregularities in the RU486 approval process (Mifeprex), & asking the FDA to rescind approval of this drug pending safety studies that meet the FDA's normal criteria for new drug approval. ACOG and other Mifeprex advocates have overtly pushed off label use as safe/effective. [AAPLOG email 20Sept03]

• A WIRTHLIN SURVEY [1/03] found that Americans favor protection for preborn 68% to 25%. And a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll found: 88% favor laws requiring MDs to inform patients about alternatives to abortion; 78% favor laws to require women to wait 24 hours before the abortion; 73% favor laws requiring women under 18 to get parental consent; 84% think abortion should generally be illegal the last 3 mo. of pregnancy. [Forsythe Esq., AUL ltr 2/03; americansunitedforlife.org]

• MS SUPREME COURT EXPANDS WRONGFUL DEATH LAW TO COVER UNBORN FETUSES stating that a fetus is a "person" under state law and wrongful death claims can be filed on his/her behalf. The justices upheld Tracy Tucker's right to pursue a wrongful death claim after alleged emotional distress and a mistake by her doctors caused her to have a miscarriage in 1997. The fetus was 19 weeks old. The 6-2 ruling expands the definition of a "person" in wrongful death statutes to include an "unborn child." "Tucker's interest is to protect and preserve the life of her unborn child, not in the exercise of her right to terminate that life which has been declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court," wrote Justice Smith. The attorney for the ACLU said she was troubled by the court's definition of a fetus as a "person". "Anytime the fetus is recognizable as a person it chips away at the foundation of Roe," she said. Nik Nikas [Americans United for Life]: "This is simply a recognition that Roe V. Wade does not apply, and was never intended to apply, to any situation outside an abortion. Thus, even under current Supreme Court jurisprudence, except for an abortion, there is no federal constitutional obstacle to any state recognizing that a wrongful death suit may be brought for the tortious or criminal assault on a child in the womb." [http://www.LifeNews.com/state95.html, 22Aug03]

• PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLOSES IN HOUGHTON, MI – this center just opened 2 years ago. STOPP gave a series of talks/interviews at that time, designed to motivate the region to oppose PP & to provide a wide range of legal tactics proven to be successful in closing PP facilities. STOPP Int’l has these legal tactics available on its website http://www.stoppinternational.org/[ ; 28Aug03, ALL, 540-226-9004, 540-659-4171; pl-news #236] [ ; 28Aug03, ALL, 540-226-9004, 540-659-4171; pl-news #236]

• NEW RUSSIAN LAW RESTRICTS ABORTIONS after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Russia has long had one of the highest abortion rates and Russian women have suffered as a result. Previously there were essentially no limits on abortions after 12 weeks. Now, women considering abortions can only cite four reasons that can allow them to have one: rape, imprisonment, the death or severe disability of the husband or a court ruling stripping a woman of her parental rights. As before, abortions can still be legal if the baby has severe deformities or the pregnancy endangers the mother's life. Russia has had one of the highest abortion rates in the world. However, abortion, used as the country's primary means of birth control, is finally on the decline, from a high of 4.6 million in 1988 to 1.7 million last year. [LifeNews.com, 27Aug03]

• YOUNG, STRONG AND DETERMINED. 4500-5000 young people made a firm commitment (15Aug03) to stand and fight against any law that legalizes abortion in the disguise of "reproductive rights" and total population control disguised as "sustainable development". Right now, HB4110 & HB6123 are stirring heated debates in the Philippines Congress. Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer delivered a 30-minute pro-life message to the audience [email from Dr. Rene Bullecer, APFLI int’l member, 23Aug03]

• IL ABORTIONIST UNDER FIRE FOR ABORTION ON WOMAN NOT PREGNANT the IL Dept of Professional Regulation has filed a formal complaint accusing Shah, a Granite City abortionist of "gross negligence," performing an abortion in 3/98 on Melanie Mills, 29, who was not pregnant. In the affidavit, Shah said he confirmed the pregnancy on the day of the abortion by performing an ultrasound that showed Mills was about 6 weeks pregnant. Shah is scheduled to appear June 30 before the Professional Regulation Dept's medical disciplinary board in Chicago. Hope Clinic, located on the IL side of the IL-MO border, has been criticized often for luring teens for abortions without their parents’ notification. IL has no law requiring parents to be notified about an abortion on a teenage girl while MO's law mandates parental involvement. [prolifeinfo.org; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 1May03]

• FAMILY OF WOMAN WHO DIED IN BOTCHED ABORTION SUES CA PLANNED PARENTHOOD --The lawsuit in Superior Court alleges Planned Parenthood of LA & abortionist Mark Maltzer are responsible for the death of Diana Lopez, 25. Lopez died 28Feb02, from "a hemorrhage due to traumatic anterior cervical perforation due to dilation and evacuation for elective termination of pregnancy at 18 weeks" [medical examiner, LA County Coroner's Office]. In other words, she bled to death after her cervix was punctured during her abortion. Normally the type of abortion Lopez had takes 30 minutes; the medical record indicated the D&E abortion she had lasted only 6 minutes. Recently the CA Dept of Health Services released a report revealing that Planned Parenthood did not follow established medical procedures & that an abortion should not have been performed on Lopez. [Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor, 26Jun03]

• MORE CHARGES FILED AGAINST GA ABORTION PROVIDER. Police have filed charges against two staff members of a doctor accused of attempting an illegal abortion. The mother gave birth alone in the doctor's locked, untended office. Jenny Yates, 38, and Charlene Mills, 20 - who worked for abortionist Charles Rossmann - were charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct, and Mills faces a felony charge of false imprisonment. Police also charged Rossmann with 2 additional counts of criminal abortion after 2 more women came forward with reports mirroring the original allegations. He was also charged with 4 counts of having prescription medications in other containers. Rossmann has been missing since May 20, when police attempted to serve the first warrant. He abandoned his practice after a May 9 incident in which a 30 weeks pregnant woman went to him, fearing the baby would be born with Down syndrome. Rossmann gave the woman some pills and left her alone in his office with contact information. When she went into labor and was unable to reach Rossmann, she called 911. Valdosta police had to force their way into the locked office to reach the woman and baby. The baby was rushed to the hospital where he later died. The mother was treated and released. Third trimester abortions are heavily regulated in GA and are illegal unless the mother's life is in danger. Rossmann could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of criminal abortion. Additional charges against Rossmann are likely. Rossmann's office was not licensed by the state for child births. The GA Medical Board suspended his license to practice medicine in the state on May 15. [Valdosta Daily Times, AP; 6Jun03; Pro-Life Infonet]

• ROE v. WADE. Within days after Norma McCorvey filed a lawsuit asking for the case to be reopened, it was quashed by a judge in Dallas. McCorvey is "Roe". District Court Judge Godbey said that McCorvey's lawsuit was filed too late for her to have the case reopened. Attorney Allan Parker (Justice Fdn) says he has not decided yet whether to appeal this decision to the 5th Circuit Court or file a motion to rehear the case. According to Parker, the case is about changes in the factual situation, not a submission of new evidence. McCorvey: …30-60% of abortions are undergone because the pregnant woman is submitting to the pressure of her male partner, parents, physicians, or other third persons. Secondly, the unanswered question in Roe's former case, "when does human life begin?" was treated by the Court as a philosophical question when the case was first heard in 1973. Since then, an explosion of scientific evidence on human life conclusively answers the question that life begins at conception. Finally, the state of Texas in 1999 enacted a law in which it agreed to provide for any woman's unwanted child with no questions asked. Legally, because the state has agreed to take responsibility for all unwanted children, women should no longer be forced to dispose of "unwanted" children by ending a human life. Forty states have similar Baby Moses laws. [27Jun03, TVC]

• WHY ABORTION? – In a recent survey from Alan Guttmacher Inst., 75% of women said a baby would interfere with their lives; 66% said they couldn’t afford a child; 50% didn’t want to be a single parent or had problems in their current relationship; 4% had a doctor who said their health would worsen; 1% had a fetal abnormality; 1% were victims of rape or incest. [Clark Co Rt to Life Lifelines, 2-3/03; Family Res Ctr News, 6-7/03]

• NUMBER OF TEEN ABORTIONS IN 1999 LOWEST SINCE ROE, 1973. According to the AGI data, there were 835,930 pregnancies among girls ages 15-19 in 1999 -- 475,745 of which ended in birth, 240,940 of which ended in abortion, and slightly more than 119,000 ended in miscarriage. Because of the difficulty in gathering the abortion data needed to calculate pregnancy data, the AGI data lag about 2 years behind birth data reports. In 1973, there were 231,900 abortions in this age group. The fewest teen abortions were 191,000 in 1972. "What I find most encouraging is that the abortion rate for teens is lower than it has ever been since abortion became legal," said O'Bannon of NRLC. "That means that fewer teens are seeing abortion as any kind of solution… And that bodes well for the future." According to the data, there were 85.6 pregnancies for every 1,000 girls ages 15-19 in 1999, 27% lower than the record high of 116.9 pregnancies per 1,000 teens in 1990. Also, there were 24.7 abortions for every 1,000 teen pregnancies, the lowest rate since 1973, when the rate was 22.8 abortions for every 1,000 teen pregnancies. AGI researchers attributed about one-fourth of the decline in the teen pregnancy rate to increased abstinence among teens and the remainder to changes in behavior, including increased use of long-lasting contraceptives, such as Depo-Provera. A study published in the spring issue of Adolescent and Family Health Journal said that among unmarried girls, abstinence accounted for the entire decline in births and 67% of the drop in teen pregnancies could be attributed to teen abstinence (between 1991-1995, the preg rate per 1000 girls fell from 116 to 93), while contraceptive use was responsible for the remainder, said Joanna Mohn, M.D. (NJ), lead author of the study. Pro-life groups say that more parental notification laws have also led to the decline in teen abortions. The law in TX is credited with reducing the number of teen abortions by 30 percent. Mohn and her colleagues found that the number of teens who said they had abstained from sex in the past year rose from 53% in 1991 to 56% in 1995. "Our research was much more sophisticated than all previous research on the subject. We took into account important statistics on girls who are married as well as those who had not been sexually involved for more than a year." The AGI report data consists of statistics from AGI, HHS' National Center for Health Statistics, the CDC and the Census Bureau. The Alan Guttmacher Institute is named for a former Planned Parenthood president and is affiliated with that abortion advocacy group. ["An Analysis of the Causes of the Decline in Non-Marital Birth and Pregnancy Rates for Teens from 1991 to 1994", Adolescent and Family Health, Sprg/03; national data compiled by pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute, AGI; prolifeinfo.org; Pro-Life Infonet, Washington Times; 13May03; Life Dynamics News, 5/03]

• BLACK GENOCIDE. since 1973, over 14 million Black babies have been aborted, equal to the populations of 8 midwestern states. This amounts to 64% of the total number of deaths in the Black Community, 1973-2003. [NRL News, 5/03]

• IN ABORTION CLINIC GETTING NEXT-DOOR COMPETITION. The Women's Care Center encourages pregnant women to seek alternatives to abortion; it will open next door to the Women's Health Organization. The center will offer free pregnancy testing, help in obtaining prenatal care and free maternity clothes for women who need them. "Long before we heard that, we were actively looking for a bigger building," said Susan Hill, of the Nat’l Women's Health Organization. "We won't be in that building very long." [AP, 5May03; Miami Herald; 06May03 Pro-Life E-News]

• HER CHOICE TO OPEN NEAR B’HAM ABORTION CENTERS. A new CPC will open in July near Summit and New Woman abortion centers in Birmingham, AL. Summit was closed in June 2006 and filed bankruptcy 5 October 2006. 

• WOMAN SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS FOR ABORTION. A widow with 3 children in Africa was sentenced 30April to 5 years in prison for aborting. On 7April, the woman, "when she was about to deliver a child, did prevent the child from being born alive by taking local herbs". It is further stated that she killed the unborn child through the abortion and dumped the body in a pit latrine. Passing the sentence, Kabale Chief Magistrate Irene Akankwasa ruled that the act denied the child a right to live and decent burial. [The Monitor (Kampala) NEWS, 5May03; 6May03, Pro-Life E-News http://allafrica.com/stories/200305050782.html]

• ABORTION IN CANADA. Abortion was legalized in the 1988 Supreme Court Morgentaler decision striking down the abortion law. The Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) has released a report, "Protecting Abortion Rights in Canada": 17.8 per cent of hospitals in Canada provide abortion services. Access is highly uneven across the country although the Canada Health Act promises universality. In the Prairie Provinces less than 5 per cent of hospitals provide abortion services. In PEI and Nunavut there is no access. Nearly half the provinces refuse to pay for abortions done in private clinics under health insurance. Two-thirds of all abortions are provided in hospitals; but hospital abortions have been steadily declining over the last decade as well. A study, produced in 7/00 by the B.C. Women's Equality Ministry, showing a 20 percent decline in doctors providing abortion since 1994. [5May03 Rabble; 6May03 Pro-Life E-News]

• CANADIAN PARLIAMENT ASKED TO INVESTIGATE ABORTION. it will vote on a motion calling on the gov’t to study the effects of abortion on women and determine whether or not the procedure is medically necessary for women. The motion calls on the Committee on Health to "fully examine, study and report to parliament" on the health risks abortion poses to women and "whether or not abortions are medically necessary for…maintaining health, preventing disease, or diagnosing or treating an injury, illness, or disability." Breitkreuz has said that if his motion is passed, then taxpayers shouldn't be paying for them."[canada.com, 30Apr03; 6May03 Pro-Life E-News http://canada.com/national/story.asp6]

• SOBERING DISPLAY. Outside a church in Peoria IL, 25 children’s chairs line the road; each chair represents the est. number of abortions performed each week at the abortion site near the church. On each chair was placed a symbol of what the aborted child might have been if allowed to live (doctor, lawyer, mechanic, secretary, etc.) [Fam Res Ctr News, 6-7/03]

• CYSTIC FIBROSIS SCREENING LED TO "UNNECESSARY" ABORTIONS, RESEARCHERS SAY. "New Scientist" magazine has reported that a national U.S. screening program to test pregnant women and their partners for cystic fibrosis may have led to unnecessary prenatal tests and abortions. Representatives of the American College of Medical Genetics reported at a conference that in 20 cases, parents had amniocentesis tests - which can cause miscarriages - and some had abortions after being screened/tested for only one of two gene mutations that must be present for cystic fibrosis to occur. The president of the ACMG also told "New Scientist" that he knew of at least 150 cases in which unnecessary prenatal tests were carried out because of mistakes in interpreting the parents' tests. [Elliot Institute News Vol.2, No. 5 -- 19May03 http://www.AfterAbortion.Info]

• TAIWANESE OFFICIAL PROPOSES ABORTIONS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. A Taiwanese official has proposed that free "goodwill abortions" be offered to pregnant illegal immigrants from China who are being detained in Taiwan. [Elliot Institute News Vol.2, No. 5 -- 19May03 http://www.AfterAbortion.Info]

• A NEW GALLUP POLL. "on the moral compass of America" – 53% said abortion was morally wrong; 37% said it’s acceptable. Re doctor-assisted suicide, 49% said it’s morally wrong; 45% acceptable. For human cloning, 90% said it’s morally wrong; however, for human embryonic stem cell research, 54% feel it is morally acceptable, probably because the media has caused great confusion in this arena. [NRL News, 6/03]

• ABORTION ON MILITARY BASES. U.S. Senate defeated this in May, 51-48. The House defeated it 227-201. All AL Senators/Reps voted against this abortion amendment except Cramer (5th) & Davis (7th). [NRL News, 6/03]

• UVVA GAINS MOMENTUM – the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S1019, HR 1997) would recognize as legal crime victims unborn babes injured/killed during violent federal crimes. UVVA excludes from prosecution abortion, medical procedures, self-inflicted injuries. It has twice passed the House with strong bipartisan support (1999, 2001). A Newsweek poll in late May found 84% believe homicide charges should be brought on behalf of a fetus. A national Fox news/Opinion Dynamics poll in late April also found that 84% of registered voters said a double homicide charge is right in the Peterson case. Santorum: "Federal law should accurately reflect our need to protect the most vulnerable members of society from hostile attack." NRLC asks people to "contact your Senators". [NRL News, 6/03; www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html]

• HOUSE PASSES PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN ACT - 4Jun03, the U.S. House of Reps passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760) by the vote, 282-yes, 139-no. The House bill is identical to the Senate version (S.3), except the Senate bill affirms Roe v. Wade. House Reps James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Henry Hyde (R-IL), and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) are House conferees. After the conference report is agreed to, the measure goes to the president, who has promised to sign the bill. [Michael Taylor, Executive Director, NCHLA, 5June03]

• ADOPTION – A bill to require abortion/family planning facilities to provide info about adoption to women considering abortion is sponsored by Rep. JoAnn Davis. Nearly 5000 clinics nationwide that receive "family planning" federal money do not provide adoption info. [HLA Action News, Spring 03]

• SLOVAKIA POLITICIANS DEBATE LEGALIZING LATE-TERM ABORTIONS the liberal New Citizen's Alliance (ANO) party said it was determined to go ahead with its draft amendment to the abortions law, because if it did not, it would "lose face" with its voters. The amendment includes the possibility of aborting babies up to the 24th week of pregnancy when serious genetic disorders are suspected. Christian Democrats (KDH) strictly oppose the draft amendment, and have called on ANO to withdraw it from parliament. The legislators were expected to vote on the draft on June 17. [prolifeinfo.org; Slovakia Spectator; June 9, 2003]

• ABORTION/PRO-LIFE PHOTOS - the majority of Americans…firmly believe that abortion is the killing of a human being; they also believe it is sometimes necessary and almost always beneficial to the woman. Because the middle majority is uncomfortable with the truth about abortion, they have a psychological need to push out of their minds any arguments or evidence on behalf of the unborn… The truth must enter in a roundabout way. This way is through the testimony of women who grieve over their lost children…Clearly, the most powerful witnesses to the humanity of the unborn are not scientists, but mothers who mourn. All can see that these mothers weep not over the destruction of "products of conception," but over the deaths of their children…Wherever facts of fetal biology will not change hearts, facts of familial relationship will: "It was my innocent little daughter who died that day!"…

In the final analysis, the humanity of the unborn child is revealed to be the only explanation for why abortion causes women so much grief and suffering. Thus, for those of us who have not had an abortion, the best way that we can draw attention to the humanity of the unborn is by drawing attention to the testimony of those who can speak of this loss from personal experience. By our advocacy for women's rights, we draw attention to wounded mothers…

Looking at this same issue from another perspective, we must remember that the interests of a mother and child are permanently intertwined. This means that the morality of abortion is built right into the psychological effects of abortion. Everyone knows there is no psychological trauma associated with the discarding of menses. But the discarding of an unborn child's life? That is inherently traumatic.

Therefore…by focusing public attention on the symptoms of post-abortion trauma, we will inevitably draw the middle majority back to understanding the cause of the problem: the injustice of killing unborn children and the guilt of weakness and betrayal which haunts the mother's heart.

In helping [the middle majority] to recognize the psychological suffering abortion causes women, we will lead them to rediscover the horror of abortion for themselves. [Excerpts from "Making Abortion Rare: A Healing Strategy for a Divided Nation," by David C. Reardon, Ph.D. Copyright 1996, $14.95; Acorn Books, 1-888-412-2676. Elliot Institute News Vol.2, No. 5 -- 19May03 www.AfterAbortion.Info; www.afterabortion.org]

Resources

• Astounding new teen pro-life website – www.GravityTeen.com (since 1/03, it has had over 29 million hits!! please publicize!)
• Pro-Life Personal Checks – www.lifechecks.com, 1-888-478-9537
• Pro-Life/Abstinence Bumper Stickers, Pins, Mailing Labels, etc. – www.VictoryWon.com, 1-800-767-7258
• www.hh76.com 800-858-3040
• "Silent No More Campaign – Women Speak Out About Their Abortion Experience" www.helpafterabortion.com. www.silentnomoreawareness.org
• White Paper - "The United Nations Population Fund: Assault on the World’s Peoples" – by Douglas Sylva, Ph.D., head of Int’l Organizations Research Group; publ by C-Fam, 212-754-5948,

Legal

• WV WRTK ACT BECOMES LAW -- After 15 years, the WV Senate passed the bill by a 30-2 vote, and the governor let it become law w/o his signature. [Nat Rt to Life news, 3/03]
• Recently, VA State senators opened their mail to find a pink plastic model of a first-trimester unborn child & a note: "Would you kill this child?" [Life Dynamics News, 3/03] A WY abortionist, 73, died 2/03. He said he delivered 8500 babies in his 40+ years as an OBG. He did not boast of the number he had aborted. [Life Dynamics News, 3/03]

• COMPARED to delivering women, women who abort have an elevated risk of death from all causes that persists for at least 8 years. Projected on the national population, this effect may contribute to 2000-5000 additional deaths among women each year. [Southern Medical Journal study reported in 3/03 Lifelines; Elliot Inst 02 Year End Report]
• LEGAL ABORTION LEADS TO MORE STDs- a 35% increase in gonorrhea & a 38% increase in syphilis – the only diseases for which reliable data exist. "Legalizing abortion provides extra incentives to engage in risky sexual activity." mason.gmu.edu/~jklick/std.pdf. ["The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Sexual Behavior," The Journal of Legal Studies, Lifesite News.com/CWN, 4/1/03; Abstinence Clearinghouse, 9Apr03; George Mason Univ, Prof T. Stratmann, Prof J. Click, Schools of Economics/Law; The Interim 10/02; Rt to Life Cincinnati bulletin, 3/03]
• NEW WEB SITE EXPOSES "POOR CHOICE" RHETORIC ON ABORTION --"Pro-choice" rhetoric implies that abortion and childbirth are equal options. http://www.PoorChoice.org challenges this. It offers post-abortion educational/healing resources, research, personal testimonies, free posters and poor-choice fact sheets that can be displayed on church bulletin boards, college campuses, laundromats etc., or distributed via email, or through published newsletters. Site AfterAbortion.org, & PoorChoice.org are good resources on the dangers of abortion. [Pro-Life Infonet; 7Apr03]

• TEXAS LAWSUIT OVER ABORTION DAMAGE GOES TO MEDIATION. A TX judge has ordered mediation to resolve a class action lawsuit filed by 145 women who were injured from abortions because the state failed to enforce its own abortion regulations. District Court Judge Coselli, Jr., heard testimony from 4 women pointing to a variety of physical & emotional injuries, including ruptured uterus, ruptured colon, and sterility, as well as guilt and depression, from abortions done at sites regulated by the state. The suit also alleges that the state failed to adequately investigate unlicensed abortion facilities; adequately inspect & examine licensed facilities; cooperate with other state agencies attempting to prosecute illegal activity in abortion facilities; prevent the unauthorized practice of medicine by unlicensed individuals in abortion facilities; and require abortion businesses to report child abuse that resulted in pregnancy. "We're also asking that the state inform women of emotional & physical consequences of abortion. It is the taking of the life of a human under Texas law, and it has long-term emotional consequences." Parker added that the suit seeks enforcement of the Texas parental notification statute.[prolifeinfo.org; Cybercast News Service; 14Apr03]

• FL ABORTION REGULATION BILL would regulate abortion facilities and require them to raise the level of safety comparable to medical standards required in ambulatory surgical centers and doctor's offices. Currently, FL only requires the rules to conform to health standards for first-trimester abortions; but abortion sites advertise in the yellow pages/elsewhere in FL for abortion services up to the third-trimester 28 wks. of pregnancy. [ ; FL Right to Life; 14Apr03] More than 25,000 people each week find pregnancy help/info: http://www.pregnancycenters.org

• U.S. SUPREME COURT AGAIN REFUSES TO REVIEW DECISION UPHOLDING CONSTITUTIONALITY OF SC ABORTION CLINIC REGULATIONS The denial of certiorari ends 7 years of challenges by SC abortion providers and allows a lower court’s ruling that the regulations are constitutional to stand. "This decision will have far-reaching, positive implications for women’s health and the right of individual states to ensure that women are not receiving substandard medical care at abortion clinics," said Denise M. Burke, staff counsel with Americans United for Life (AUL).

  "It is unconscionable that this case has dragged on this long and women have continued to be subject to unregulated and, all too often, substandard care," continued Burke. "South Carolina’s abortion clinic regulations are based, in substantial part, on national abortion care standards championed and promulgated by the abortion industry itself. So why has there been a seven-year battle to invalidate this law and, in the process, to undermine the abortion care standards developed by groups such as Planned Parenthood? Clearly, many abortion providers and abortion advocates are desperate to avoid meaningful oversight and are not the champions of women’s health they claim to be." Said Burke, "Veterinarians are more regulated than most abortion providers, and women have suffered the consequences. Each year, untold numbers of American women are injured at abortion clinics. Some require emergency hysterectomies or transfusions—and some die. States have the right to ensure that women receive safe, competent medical care, and that is exactly what abortion clinic regulations are designed to do."

  In their petition for certiorari, abortion providers principally alleged that allowing state officials to inspect patient medical records to ensure compliance with regulatory and record-keeping requirements was a violation of patient informational privacy rights. Abortion providers alleged, without a shred of supporting evidence, that state officials might "leak" patient information to third parties and therefore subject women to harassment and violence.

  "As the lower court recognized, constitutional challenges must be based on actual evidence," said Burke. "In fact, the evidence clearly demonstrated that the regulations themselves and other provisions of South Carolina law provide extensive protection for patient privacy. Clearly, the abortion providers’ allegations were not based in reality, but were the product of fevered imaginations and an extreme political position on abortion." Burke, along with AUL general counsel, Nikolas T. Nikas, is defending Arizona’s abortion center regulations vs. constitutional challenges similar to those made in the SC litigation. In October 2002, the U.S. District Court in Tucson substantially upheld AZ’s regulations, rejecting multiple constitutional challenges by abortion providers. The case is being appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Arizona’s regulations were passed in direct response to a tragic 1998 death in a Phoenix abortion clinic. On April 17, 1998, Lou Anne Herron bled to death after Dr. John Biskind punctured her uterus during a late-term abortion. Later, Biskind left the clinic while Ms. Herron, in need of immediate emergency care, was bleeding heavily in the recovery. In February 2001, Biskind was convicted of manslaughter and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence. "If Arizona’s clinic regulations had been in place in 1998, Lou Anne Herron would not have died," said Burke. "Regulations such as those passed in South Carolina and Arizona are necessary to ensure that minimal health and safety standards are followed."

In 1995, the South Carolina Legislature began requiring the licensing of facilities performing abortions. The legislature further directed the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to promulgate specific regulations for these facilities. The resultant regulations cover such matters as staff qualifications, procedures to provide emergency care, sanitation, infection control, quality assurance, and maintenance of patient records. DHEC officials were also authorized to inspect facilities and records for compliance, and violations of the regulatory requirements could result in criminal and civil liability. The case is Greenville Women’s Clinic v. Commissioner, South Carolina Dept of Health & Environmental Control, U.S. Supreme Court No. 02-1235. [Denise Burke, Esq., (210) 495-8515; Nikolas T. Nikas, Esq., (480) 483-3597; Americans United for Life release 29Apr03; .]

MINNESOTA GOVERNOR SIGNS WOMEN'S RIGHT TO KNOW ACT which had passed the MN Senate hours earlier by a 41-24 margin; it took 9 years to pass. Women considering an abortion in MN will now be empowered with the latest facts about abortion, fetal pain and the developing unborn child. The MN Dept of Health will provide both printed and Web site facts about abortion by Oct. 1, 2003. The WRTK law also ensures that prior to the abortion, a pregnant woman will have access to information about the probable gestational age of her baby, medical/financial assistance that may be available to her and the facts about abortion's risks - such as permanent infertility. [prolifeinfo.org; Pro-Life Infonet; 14Apr03]

NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE STILL WRONG ON ABORTION-BREAST CANCER - While the February workshop sponsored by National Cancer Inst (NCI) was to "comprehensively evaluate the abortion-breast cancer (A/BC) research and debate its merits", the reality is that an evaluation and debate never took place. The workshop simply was not organized in such a way as to allow for it. Only one viewpoint was invited-- that abortion is unrelated to increased risk of breast cancer--and this was the conclusion presented to the world at the end of the 3-day workshop. In keeping with its half century long practice of concealing the A/BC research from the American people, the NCI posted minimal information on an updated web page, dated March 25, 2003, which shows that an unnamed scientist dissented against the workshop statement. The web page is entitled, "Summary Report: Early Reproductive Events and Cancer Workshop." The dissenter, however, is Joel Brind, Ph.D. His Minority Report is not included on the NCI's web page. By concealing Brind's identity and failing to post his report, the NCI creates a stumbling block for women wanting to learn the rationale behind his dissent. Furthermore, the NCI's web page states that the agency's Board of Scientific Advisors and Board of Scientific Counselors, "unanimously approved the workshop findings." In addition, Dr. Brind's Minority Report wasn't given to either board for their consideration. "It appears the NCI is shilling for the abortion industry and offering political cover for abortion supporters in Congress." http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/ere-workshop-report. The legal profession takes a dim view of the methods used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to determine a causal relationship between exposure and outcome. Nancy Dreyer authored an article for the International Association of Defense Counsel in 1994 entitled, "An epidemiologic view of causation: how it differs from the legal." NCI uses consensus panels to decide whether an exposure is causally related to a disease. She specifically labeled this practice as a "spurious method…The truth isn't reached by consensus." [Dreyer N, "An epidemiologic view of causation: how it differs from the legal." Visited 10Apr03; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/implants/legal/defensejournal2.html]

• John Kindley Esq. found a relevant quote from Albert Einstein which calls into question the NCI's use of a consensus panel to determine whether abortion causes breast cancer. In the 1930s, 100 scientists wrote a collection of essays which disparaged Einstein's theory of relativity. When a reporter asked the esteemed scientist for his comment, Einstein cleverly replied, "Why 100? If I were wrong, one would have been enough." Similarly, the NCI "needed 100 grant dependent scientists to disparage the A/BC link, but not one of them has ever refuted the biological explanation for it. Why not? Scientists know that estrogen overexposure is linked with most of the known risk factors for breast cancer and that it promotes the growth of tumors. They also know that pregnant women--if they are carrying normal pregnancies not destined to miscarry--are exposed to more estrogen starting early in their pregnancies than at any other time during their lives. Scientists hypothesize that only a third trimester process corrects that estrogen overexposure and transforms cancer vulnerable breast cells into cancer resistant cells. This is why women who bear more children, starting early in their childbearing years, have a lower lifetime risk for the disease. Dishonest scientists will continue to design phony epidemiological studies…in an effort to falsely persuade women of the safety of abortion. However, they cannot change the biological evidence of a link or disprove the rationale behind it. Einstein's quote demonstrates that the NCI's efforts to debunk the research cannot withstand the test of time. Ultimately, the truth will be told to women. [by Karen Malec, prolifeinfo.org; Pro-Life Infonet; 29Apr03; Pro-Life Infonet Note: Karen Malec is the President of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer.]

• TEXAS STATE HOUSE OKS WAITING PERIOD BILL – TX women seeking abortions will be offered materials detailing the dev’t stage of their unborn children prior to a mandated 24-hour "reflection period" under legislation adopted by the TX House, 96-41 vote. The bill now goes to the TX Senate. The bill requires signed proof that she has been offered the state-produced literature and color photos of fetal dev’t, been informed of the liability of the father to pay child support, rec’d medical assistance available for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care and that women receive information on the link between abortion and breast cancer, all before the waiting period. The bill also requires that abortions performed after the 15th week of pregnancy can only be performed at an ambulatory surgical center or hospital licensed to perform the procedure -- not a freestanding abortion business. Similar bills in other states have proven effective in reducing the number of abortions. [prolifeinfo.org;AP; 29Apr03]
• MICHIGAN WOMEN NO LONGER MUST PREPAY FOR ABORTIONS -- The settlement, reached by the New York-based Ctr for Reproductive Rights and the MI Attorney General's Office, is "a victory for women", providing consumer protection for them. Right to Life of MI Pres Barbara Listing said, "Women will no longer be forced to invest financially in an abortion while they are considering their options. Women will now be protected from the added pressure of financial obligation when making a decision about an unplanned pregnancy… Abortion is a for-profit business, a business which ends the lives of unborn children and leaves many women with physical, emotional and mental complications." Payments cannot be collected by abortionists during the 24-hour waiting period for abortions. [prolifeinfo.org; Pro-Life Infonet; 29Apr03]

• TWO MAJOR MEDICAL JOURNALS have recently published research that abortion increases the risk of premature delivery, "mood disorders substantial enough to provoke attempts of self-harm" & placenta previa. "Whatever the effect of induced abortion on breast cancer risk, a young woman with an unintended pregnancy clearly sacrifices the protective effect of a term delivery should she decide to abort and delay childbearing." [Obstetrics & Gynecological Survey, "Long-Term Physical & Psychological Health Consequences of Induced Abortion" Jan03]. "Compared with women who delivered, those who aborted had a significantly higher age-adjusted risk of death from all causes (1.62 – 62%), from suicide (2.54 – 154%), and from accidents (1.82 – 82%), as well as a higher relative risk of death from natural causes (1.44 – 44%), including the AIDS (2.18), circulatory diseases (2.87), and cerebrovascular disease (5.46). Results are stratified by age and time." This study came from CA Medicaid records for 173,270+ women who had an induced abortion or a delivery in 1989, linked to death certificates for 1989 to 1997. Their rates of death are similar to the pattern observed in the major Finland study. Previous psychiatric history does not appear to explain the higher relative death rates. [Southern Medical Journal, vol.95, no.8, "Deaths Associated with Pregnancy Outcome", 8/02]

• COURTS WAIVE PARENTAL CONSENT - Teenage girls who want an abortion without a parent's permission must go to juvenile court first, to get permission from a judge. Such petitions waive a state law requiring that at least one parent consent to an abortion for a girl under 18. Judge Anderson started appointing a lawyer in 1998 known as a guardian ad litum, to represent the fetus in each hearing. A doctor testified about what he said were the potential complications, including psychological trauma, sterility, breast cancer and death. The lawyer also questioned the girl. After the 4-hour hearing, Judge Anderson granted the girl's request. Court observers said the lawyers always asked the girls whether they realized that by having abortions they were ending a life. The Alabama appellate courts have allowed the use of the guardian ad litum. In 1999, 18 girls sought waivers in the county's courts. Last year 6 did. Thirty-two states are enforcing laws requiring a minor to get the consent of a parent - or at least notify one - before an abortion. [20Jan03 New York Times, By S. A. Holmes; Pro-Life E-News , 21 Jan03 www.nytimes.com/2003/01/20/national/20ALAB.html?ex=1043730000&en=3635]

• THE POLITICS OF ABORTION - As encouraging as it was that the bill to ban partial-birth abortion passed the Senate, it is as equally shocking that 33 senators voted for this procedure that is indistinguishable from infanticide, and 3 Republicans - Olympia Snow & Sue Collins [ME] and Lincoln Chafee [RI] - joined 29 Democrats to defend partial-birth abortion in the USA. [FRC, 14Mar03]

• WHAT DO YOU SAY TO SOMEONE WHO TELLS YOU SHE HAS HAD AN ABORTION? Gentleness and care with which you respond can make all the difference. Then, be prepared by reading about Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome (PASS) and how to help women get started on the road to healing. Locate a PASS group in your area, or help start one. Read current research on abortion and its medical effects. At the pivotal moment when the woman acknowledges her abortion, "a voice of empathy & compassion with a simple ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Can I be of any help?’ may help open a long-locked door just a bit". Listen, don’t try to "solve" all her problems. Make a "safe place for her to begin her journey of healing…you may be the very first person she has ever spoken to about [her abortion]. You can assure her that it is normal to find it very hard to talk about this…Introducing that idea may act as a kind of permission slip for some women to open up a little bit more. She may find it hard to believe that a pro-life person could love the broken person in front of him or her and still hate the tragedy that made her that way…Most of her defensiveness is only a mask that hides deep pain." If you find yourself confronted in a public setting by an uninvited, "angry young woman", gather yourself and your wits and say ‘thank you’ for her honesty. Yes, thank you! Tell her that you are sorry that she has been down that road but that you are grateful that she was willing to tell you what she truly feels about her experiences…A word of caution: never allow yourself to be drawn into an argument. You will not win this one! Calmly tell your angry ‘opponent’ that you are deeply sorry that she felt that her only option was to have an abortion. Focus only on the woman at such a moment…Is it OK to gently ask questions? Yes. Ask her how long ago it all happened. And be sure you listen carefully to the answers. Let your discussion become a person-to-person moment. Help her to understand that you see her as a human being, not an abstraction… Then remind her that there are many women with similar experiences…"[Nat. Rt to Life News, Dec02, "Finding Just the Right Words" by Olivia Gans, American Victims of Abortion]

• NEW BLACK GENOCIDE WEBSITE SET UP BY CBR (Center for Bio-Ethical Reform) is very committed to working with African American leaders on the abortion issue. The parallels between the civil rights movement and the pro-life movement are powerful. The new website for LEARN (an AfricanAmerican pro-life group): www.blackgenocide.org [6 Mar03, Pro-Life E-News, Center for Bio-Ethical Reform www.abortionNO.org]
• PRO-LIFE RALLIES: In 3/03, 2 Philippines Rallies for Life vs. the proposed Reproductive Health Bill: "in Cebu, we gathered 4,000 people mostly young people. But in the second day, we gathered 50,000 people…in Malaybalay." [APFLI member Dr. Rene Bullecer from Philippines, email 3/03]

• IPPF Urges Nordic Countries to Attack US Citing a grave "moment of peril" posed by the USA, the Int’l Planned Parenthood Fed (IPPF) Director-General Steven Sinding told northern European gov’t leaders that they must redouble their efforts to promote population control, the provision of reproductive services, esp. for children (even if it means going against the wishes of governments in the developing world, stating that "Africa simply cannot wait for good governance.") and his "final priority" is worldwide legalization of abortion, "making abortion safe." According to Sinding, "There are still far too many unwanted pregnancies." Sinding said that the demographic fear that drove funding "from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s is to all extents and purposes gone." Without this demographic fear, Sinding worries that talk about reproductive rights is not "compelling" enough. Sinding also claimed that that governments possess too much authority in establishing their own nations' health needs. Sinding urged Nordic officials to "Engage the US and other critics head on…to show the absurdity of their 'abstinence only' and anti-condom crusades. We must discredit their pseudo-science and unmask their ideological motives." However, it now appears open to debate what parties are truly motivated by ideology. According to the UN Population Division, massive efforts by IPPF & UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to promote condom use in Africa have failed, and according to a study published by the US Agency for Int’l Dev’t (USAID), the only successful AIDS-prevention program in Africa is in Uganda, where abstinence and fidelity have been heavily promoted for over a decade. [Nordic Meeting on Sexual/Reproductive Health/Rights; FRIDAY FAX, C-FAM, 14Mar03]

• NEW UNC STUDY REVEALS NEGATIVE IMPACT OF 30 YEARS OF ABORTION ON WOMEN’S HEALTH -- Abortion increases risks of premature delivery, maternal depression and suicide, and other serious health consequences, reports a new medical study by prominent medical researchers. The authors further conclude that more research is required, and that women need to be informed of these and other major long-term health risks of abortion.

  The study, published in the January 2003 issue of the Obstetric & Gynecological Survey (OGS), assesses the long-term physical and psychological health consequences of abortion. The researchers, professors of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan, reviewed and analyzed 30 years of medical studies on the long-term medical risks of abortion. Their research reveals a critical need for "a detailed study of the health effects of this common procedure." Acknowledging that current data is sparse, and that current studies are flawed, the researchers recommend further studies to meet "the clear need for women to have accurate information" about the risks and potential complications of abortion.

  Denise Burke, staff counsel for Americans United for Life (AUL), notes, "The current lack of comprehensive and trustworthy studies revealing the long-term effects of abortion is reminiscent of the lack of information we had about the dangers of smoking 30 years ago. Women deserve to know how abortion will affect their lives and health." The study notes that 26 of every 100 known pregnancies end in abortion. Dorinda Bordlee, AUL staff counsel, says, "Twenty-eight states currently require some level of informed consent for abortion. Given the prevalence of this procedure, we are hopeful that this new study will encourage the remaining states to enact laws that give women considering abortion complete and accurate medical information." Bordlee continues, "Women have been at the center of a 30-year social and medical experiment, and we should unapologetically insist on mandatory reporting of abortion complications for the sake of women’s health, and in the interest of preventing a public health crisis."

  The abstract and study are published in Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey 2003; 58(1):67-79 and may be found at http://www.obgynsurvey.com.

  The study’s authors: John Thorp, Jr., M.D., Mcallister Distinguished Professor, OBG, Dept of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, and Dept OBG, School of Medicine, Univ of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (for reprints) Katherine Hartmann, M.D., Ph.D., Assist Prof, Dept of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, and Dept of OBG, School of Medicine, UNC, Chapel Hill. Elizabeth Shadigian, M.D., Assoc Professor, Dept OBG, School of Medicine, Univ of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Thorp and Hartmann Co-Direct the Women’s Health Research Project at UNC. [AUL, 15Jan03, ]

• The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer applauds this study which called for physicians to inform women about increased breast cancer risk associated with induced abortion and about the existence of research examining abortion as an independent risk factor for breast cancer. "A young woman with an unintended pregnancy clearly sacrifices the protective effect of a term delivery should she decide to abort and delay childbearing," wrote the authors. "Thus, we conclude that informed consent before induced abortion should include information about the subsequent risk of preterm delivery and depression." [1/03 issue of Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey, CME review] There is "overwhelming evidence supporting an abortion-breast cancer link (ABC link) in the 29 of 38 published studies worldwide since 1957...17 of the 29 are statistically significant, which means there's a 95% certainty that the association is not by chance." In 1996 Dr. Joel Brind [prof of biology/endocrinology Baruch College of the City University of New York] conducted a meta-analysis of all the studies done in the previous decade and found a 30% increased risk of breast cancer for women choosing an abortion after a first full-term pregnancy and a 50% risk increase for women choosing an abortion before a first full-term pregnancy. "Clearly, it is beneficial to women when their doctors are pro-information," said Malec. "If physicians inform their patients about the delayed first term pregnancy effect associated with abortion, then perhaps they can help turn around the soaring rates of breast cancer." According to a 2001 NCI report on cancer in the U.S., the rate of breast cancer jumped more than 40% between 1973 and 1998, while the rates for most other cancers declined. [23 Jan 2003, Pro-Life E-News http://www.WorldNetDaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30626; Diana Lynne is a news editor for WorldNetDaily.com] REWARD - The Canadian based RPRC has been tracking literature on abortion's impact on subsequent pregnancies for several years. Now, 2 major studies show that abortion is associated with higher MORTALITY rates for women than childbirth. RPRC is offering a $1000 challenge to the first abortion proponent who can provide a citation to a peer reviewed journal showing that the total one year death risk for women who abort is significantly lower than the one year death risk for women who deliver. Contest rules/details http://www.vcn.bc.ca/~whatsup/ [The Elliot Institute News, V.2, Jan. 03 http://www.AfterAbortion.Info]
• HASKELL APPEAL FAILS – in a OH Court of Appeals, 10th Appellate District (15Aug02) 2-1 decision, abortionist Martin Haskell’s abortion centers [Cincinnati, Dayton & Akron] must have ambulatory surgical facility (ASF) licenses. The court ruled that ODH could order these centers to have licenses under 1996 state law R.C.3702.30. Haskell objected saying his sites were exempt as "offices of private physicians". The ODH said the abortions are "outpatient surgery". [Cincinnati Rt to Life Ed Fdn, 11/02; www.AffirmingLife.org]
• VIRGINIA BILL PLACES TOUGHER RULES ON ABORTION BUSINESSES - the House of Delegates committee approved a bill that would toughen restrictions on abortion facilities, a proposal that has been adopted in other states (LA, SC, AZ, TX) and has been responsible for closing abortion facilities with costly regulations (e.g. having resuscitating equipment and registered nurses on hand). The regulations also would require that a governing body be responsible for management of them and that they must disclose their ownership. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia said the bill "is the shutting down of abortion services in virtually all of the state." [prolifeinfo.org; Washington Post; 23Jan03]
• LA ABORTION MALPRACTICE LAW GOES INTO EFFECT – women now have up to 10 years to file suit against abortionists who injured them or their unborn children. The LA Supreme Court refused to hear a case filed vs. the 1997 law by pro-abortionists. [National Right to Life News, Dec 02]
• COURTS PUT GIRLS ON THE STAND IN ALABAMA - Teenage girls who want an abortion without a parent's permission must go to juvenile court first, to get permission from a judge. Such petitions waive a state law requiring that at least one parent consent to an abortion for a girl under 18. Judge Anderson, 65, started appointing a lawyer in 1998 known by the legal term as a guardian ad litum, to represent the fetus in each hearing. A doctor testified about what he said were the potential complications, including psychological trauma, sterility, breast cancer and death. The lawyer also questioned the girl. After the 4-hour hearing, Judge Anderson granted the girl's request. Court observers said the lawyers always asked the girls whether they realized that by having abortions they were ending a life. The Alabama appellate courts have allowed the use of the guardian ad litum. In 1999, 18 girls sought waivers in the county's courts. Last year 6 did. Thirty-two states are enforcing laws requiring a minor to get the consent of a parent - or at least notify one - before an abortion. [20Jan03 New York Times, By S. A. Holmes; Pro-Life E-News , 21 Jan03 www.nytimes.com/2003/01/20/national/20ALAB.html?ex=1043730000&en=3635]
• 6 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS BACK ABORTION RIGHTS -- Rep R. Gephardt (MO -D) a presidential candidate, told 1300 abortion rights supporters that he abandoned his once-fervent opposition to abortion because of "wisdom gained over time." Gephardt gave an account of what he termed "my own journey on this question of choice" at a packed dinner celebrating the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions nationwide. In his first 10 years in Congress, Mr. Gephardt was a leading opponent of abortion. In 1977, he sponsored a resolution to overturn Roe, and bought a "best wishes" advertisement in the official program for the 1985 Right to Life convention. The dinner was also the first time that the 6 Democratic presidential contenders for 2004 shared a stage, and underlined the extent to which Democrats think abortion rights could prove central in that race. The six Democrats all told NARAL Pro-Choice America (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League has just changed its name), an abortion rights organization, that a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy was in the greatest peril since the Roe v. Wade opinion because of the recent elections that left Republicans in control of Congress and the White House. The candidates repeatedly promised the group that they would oppose restrictions on abortions and would appoint judges who would uphold Roe: Senator J. Lieberman (CT); Senator John Edwards (NC); Senator John Kerry (MA); Dr. Howard Dean (former VT gov) Rev. Al Sharpton [NYT: 22Jan03; NV; prolifeinfo.org; AP; 21Jan03]
• PRO-LIFE GROUP RAPS "DEADLY DOZEN" CATHOLIC POLITICIANS – ALL (American Life League) has a media campaign against prominent Catholics who reject Church teachings on the sanctity of human life. The list includes 12 Democratic Senators: John F. Kerry (MA); Senator Ted Kennedy; Tom Harkin (IA); Tom Daschle (SD), Patty Murray (WA); Barbara Mikulski & Joseph Biden (MD); Jack Reed (RI); Christopher Dodd (CT); Susan Collins (ME); Mary Landrieu (LA); and Patrick Leahy (VT). The campaign, Brown said, would push the Catholic politicians to "either recant their openly pro-abortion stance or cease claiming to be Catholic." [22Jan03; CWNews.com]
• PRO-LIFE DEMOCRATS AT D.C. MARCH FOR LIFE -- Democrats for Life of America (DFLA), has established a Washington office, hired Kristen Day as its executive director, and has begun a membership drive to unite pro-life Democrats in opposition to abortion, support of alternatives to abortion, and the encouragement of pro-life Democratic candidates for political office. [Pro-Life Infonet; January 21, 2003]
• ROE V. WADE AT 30: ABORTION PROVIDERS' NUMBERS DWINDLE -- In 1977, there were 104 abortion centers, hospitals and doctors' offices in Washington state. By 2001, the number dropped to about 60. Nearly 70% of WA counties have no abortion providers. Nationally, the figure is 87% of counties. Abortion remains one of the most common surgical procedures, with an estimated 33-44% of American women undergoing one during their lifetime. [Alan Guttmacher Institute - AGI]. In 2000, AGI researchers said there were 1,819 abortionists, down from 2,000 four years earlier. Over the same four-year period, the number of abortions dipped slightly, from 1.36 million to 1.31 million in 2000. Ninety percent of the abortions in the United States were done in the first trimester. About 6% of the Guttmacher Institute's budget comes from Planned Parenthood, which supports abortion rights, and 20% comes from the federal government. Kathi Aultman, a FL doctor who performed abortions until the birth of her child, said it is a mistake to suggest that a drop in abortion training jeopardizes women's health. Residents can learn the basic abortion procedure while treating miscarriages, she said, rather than "learning on a live fetus." In the two decades immediately after the landmark Roe decision, the number of doctors performing abortions climbed from 2,005, in 1974, to a high of 2,908 in 1982. Medical Students for Choice is lobbying for mandatory abortion education in medical schools/residency programs, aiming to return abortion to the realm of mainstream medicine. In NYC, students may opt out on religious or moral grounds; 22 of the current 164 residents did so, according to the city's Health and Hospitals Corp. Over time, the Bloomberg initiative could have broad implications: New York trains one in every 7 U.S. physicians. [22 Jan03, Pro-Life E-News, Seattle Times , http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134619747_abortion22m.html; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/articles/A24667-2003Jan21.html Washington Post]
• CITIZEN PETITION TO BAN RU486
– Concerned Women for America, in cooperation with CWA and AAPLOG (Amer Assoc Pro-Life OB-GYNs) spent 2 years preparing a thoroughly researched, totally documented 92-page Citizen Petition, asking the FDA to revoke approval of RU-486. [Cincinnati Rt to Life Ed Fdn, 11/02; www.AffirmingLife.org]
• BLACK AMERICANS FOR LIFE – C.H. Childress: "Black women have the highest rate of abortion. As African Americans we better start asking ourselves why." Black Americans for Life, 512 Tenth St, NW, Washington, D.C. 20004; 202.626.8800, ext. 155
• CHOICES MEDICAL CLINIC opened next door to abortionist Tiller’s late-term abortion site in 12/99. Choices is staffed by on-site physicians, nurses & social workers and offers complete medical care, support, & education free-of-charge. Choices offers its medical knowledge/expertise through www.choicesmc.org. They offer a physician residency program in crisis pregnancy management & ALSUP (Advanced Life Support for Unplanned Pregnancy), designed for all physicians & healthcare providers who encounter patients in unplanned pregnancy situations. It is particularly directed toward Primary Care, OB/GYN, and Emergency Medicine.
• Objectives: (1) develop a network for discussion of innovative ideas in addressing unplanned pregnancy and abortion; (2) be equipped with the necessary information, tools and approach to adequately care for a patient in an unplanned pregnancy. (3) deal better with problems such as rape, incest, lethal and/or congenital anomalies and maternal health; (4) be familiar with the legal history of abortion, and the pro-life and pro-choice constituencies; (5) recognize post-abortion syndrome, its symptoms and treatment; (6) identify legal issues and liabilities surrounding pro-life work. [Life Issues Inst, Inc., 4/00; www.choicesmc.org , 800.879.7451]
• WHAT DO YOU SAY TO SOMEONE WHO TELLS YOU SHE HAS HAD AN ABORTION? Gentleness and care with which you respond can make all the difference. Then, be prepared by reading about Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome (PASS) and how to help women get started on the road to healing. Locate a PASS group in your area, or help start one. Read current research on abortion and its medical effects. At the pivotal moment when the woman acknowledges her abortion, "a voice of empathy & compassion [& perhaps a caring hug] with a simple ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Can I be of any help?’ may help open a long-locked door just a bit". Listen, don’t try to "solve" all her problems. Make a "safe place for her to begin her journey of healing…you may be the very first person she has ever spoken to about [her abortion]. The more available you can make yourself emotionally, the more that woman will see the real compassion of the pro-life movement for both mother and child…You can assure her that it is normal to find it very hard to talk about this…Introducing that idea may act as a kind of permission slip for some women to open up a little bit more. It can feel so good not to be alone…She may find it hard to believe that a pro-life person could love the broken person in front of him or her and still hate the tragedy that made her that way…Most of her defensiveness is only a mask that hides deep pain." If you find yourself confronted in a public setting by an uninvited, "angry young woman who is announcing that she’s had an abortion", consider that she may have been set off by a pro-life sign, brochure, or comment. "[T]here is no ‘enemy’ in front of you, only another victim…Gather yourself and your wits and say ‘thank you’ for her honesty. Yes, thank you! Tell her that you are sorry that she has been down that road but that you are grateful that she was willing to tell you what she truly feels about her experiences…you need to make it very clear you care about this woman before you…Be aware that one of the most significant features of PAS[S] is the need to deny and rationalize what’s been done to our children and to ourselves. The sight of your posters or models may shatter long-held but shaky defenses in her heart. A word of caution: never allow yourself to be drawn into an argument. You will not win this one! PAS[S] is so strong a drive that many women simply cannot hear the wisdom you would share. It may just be too soon for real change, but you can plant seeds. Calmly tell your angry ‘opponent’ that you are deeply sorry that she felt that her only option was to have an abortion. Focus only on the woman at such a moment…Is it OK to gently ask questions? Yes. Ask her how long ago it all happened. Ask her if she had been on her own at the time, or did she feel overwhelmed or pressured by anybody? How has she been doing since then? Don’t pry but find out who she is. And be sure you listen carefully to the answers. Let your discussion become a person-to-person moment. Help her to understand that you see her as a human being, not an abstraction…Remember each abortion destroys not one, but tow lives. Then remind her that there are many women with similar experiences. Tell her that you know that many women are filled with remorse and stress following their abortions and that their needs must be recognized too. Offer her PAS[S] information or a phone number she can use if she ever wants to…Perhaps the most important thing to always say is, ‘I’m sorry. How can I help?’" [Nat. Rt to Life News, Dec02, "Finding Just the Right Words" by Olivia Gans, American Victims of Abortion]
• SILENT NO MORE: RALLIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY January 22, 2003, marked the 30th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision. Women who have been hurt by abortion are giving their testimony on the steps of the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, and at state capitals all over the country. Georgette Forney, executive director of the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life and Susan Mosley of the Texas Justice Foundation spearhead the "Silent No More" campaign. One of the women who told her story is actress Jennifer O'Neill. "We are the voice that hasn't been heard," says Forney, who had an abortion at the age of 16. "There is a lot of talk about whether or not abortion should be legal, but very little attention is given to the women who have actually had abortions. I regret having an abortion and I know there are millions of women who feel the same way. The truth is abortion affects us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It's time to listen to the women who have experienced it." Roughly five hundred other women participated in rallies in their own states. Those who could once tell no one are now telling the world. [Rachel’s Vineyard e-news 1/03, www.helpafterabortion.com]
• ROMANIA HAS 70% ABORTION RATE - A devastating abortion rate of 70% has, during the past 12 years, claimed the lives of the equivalent of one-third of Romania's stagnant population of 24 million people. In 2002, there were 700,000 abortions accounting for well over two-thirds of the one million pregnancies recorded, both within marriage and outside. [BUCHAREST, 11Feb03, LSN.ca/CWNews.com]
• THE AVERAGE RUSSIAN WOMAN has 6-7 abortions in her lifetime. The fertility rate of Austria is below 1.4. Dr. Monica Campeanu, former abortionist, recently explained that gynecologists go through "torture" in the abortion web of lies, deceit and murder. "Imagine that you leave home each day, kiss your child, then go to work, deliver a baby and 15 minutes later kill another baby down the hall." She finds herself increasingly marginalized in her profession for her pro-life beliefs. [HLI Special Report, Dec02]
• DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS DO ABORTIONS –Medecins Sans Frontieres provides medical relief in 80 nations & received the Nobel Peace Prize (1999). MSF provides equipment used for performing abortions, "emergency-post-coital contraception …free condoms" and "comprehensive reproductive health services." They provide "standard gynecological supplies" in North Korean hospitals where ~50% of those hospitalized for gynecological reasons are for abortions. A spokesman confirmed that MSF does provide abortions, adding: "in some countries abortion is an important part of family planning policy." ["Doctors Without Borders Admits to Abortion Involvement," "LSN.ca, 6Nov01; "Health Care in the Emergency Phase," MSF 1997; Pop Research Inst Review, Nov-Dec01]
• MARTHA STEWART FUNDS PRO-ABORT POLITICIANS with hundreds of thousands of dollars, including the Clintons & Al Gore. She/her company have donated exclusively to the Democratic Party/candidates in the 2000 & 2002 election cycles. [Cincinnati Rt to Life Ed Fdn, Sept02]
• WI ABORTIONS DOWN BY HALF – in 1980, there were 21,754 abortions; in 2001, there were 10,925, and 78% of women aged 18-34 polled believe that abortion should not be legal (a 33% pro-life attitude increase in the last 8 years). WI has had a public awareness campaign, and a pro-life state administration, including pro-life departments of health and education. [Rt to Life newsletter, 12/02]
• COURT TO REVIEW ABORTION PROTESTS - one of the most sweeping legal judgments regarding abortion protests & free speech, Joseph Scheidler v. the National Organization for Women involves the rights of women to seek out abortions and the rights of protesters who wish to dissuade them. Some feel the case threatens the future of nonviolent protest by classifying it as racketeering & extortion (under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). Numerous "friend of the court" briefs say that if abortion protests can be labeled as extortion, then all protest (including the anti-globalization foes of the World Trade Organization and Greenpeace's protests against the use of seal fur) is imperiled. "What's at stake is the First Amendment right of free speech," says Seattle lawyer Theresa Schrempp. "Even parking in front of an abortion clinic — in a public parking space — is being called 'an extortionate act.'" If access is denied to protest abortions, then access will be denied to protest other matters, according to one brief from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The 16-year-old court case began when the Pro-Life Action League offered seminars on abortion protest strategies such as picketing on sidewalks outside of abortion clinics. Action League Director Joseph Scheidler learned nonviolent protest tactics from Martin Luther King Jr. during the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965. Scheidler later wrote Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion. In 1991, a U.S. district court in Chicago dismissed the case, saying RICO was not applicable. A federal appeals court concurred. But in 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court said RICO could be used if it could be shown that abortion protests fit a pattern of extortion. In 1998, a reconstituted NOW v. Scheidler case began making its way through the court system. That April, a jury held the Pro-Life Action League guilty of violating RICO and levied penalties of $257,000 in damages and at least $1 million in attorney's fees. [Washington Times, 1Dec02; NV, 1Dec02; www.washtimes.com/national/20021201-30499048.htm]
• TWELVE YEAR OLD UK GIRL DECIDES AGAINST ABORTION AFTER ULTRASOUND - A pregnant 12-year-old girl has decided against an abortion after seeing her baby's image during a scan. Amy, who is expecting a baby boy next spring, said: "I went to the hospital and we did a mini scan and a normal scan. I saw the baby on the screen and thought 'no, it's too far gone', so me and my mum decided to keep it." Amy became pregnant five-and-a-half months ago after meeting a boy at a youth club. The baby will be brought up alongside Amy's five-month-old brother, one of her eight siblings. Her mother admits she was angry at first "and I was just screaming and shouting at her". But, having accepted the pregnancy, she said: "All I can do is be there for Amy…Basically half of Amy's child-hood has just gone...she's now got to think of her baby." [ ; Ananova; 2Dec02]
• DR. STOJAN ADASEVIC, one of the most renowned abortionists in Serbia, is now pro-life. He spoke at a conference in Vienna in 10/02. His last abortion was done on a well-developed preborn child. He said he pulled the hand out and threw it on the table, but while he was still looking at the hand, the fingers suddenly moved. He pulled the heart out and threw it also on the table, but it was still pumping as he stared at it. Then it stopped. Suddenly, all the lies he had been told about the preborn’s lack of humanity and all the rationalizations he had told himself while performing at least 48,000 abortions, ended. And in that moment, the awful truth of the act became undeniably clear to him as he shouted out "It’s murder." Now he will never do another abortion or even counsel for contraceptives. He is starting pro-life work in Belgrade. [HGPI newsletter, 15Nov02]
• NEW TREND SHOWS INCREASE IN INFANTICDE RATE - For years, the killing of teenagers made the headlines. Yet, research shows babies under one year are being murdered at a rate nearly equal to teenagers. A new study shows that in 2000, for every 100,000 babies born in the USA, roughly nine of them were murdered -- up from 8.4 per 100,000 in 1990 and 4.3 in 1970. Rosemary Chalk, a child abuse researcher for Child Trends -- the nonprofit group that produced the study: "The infant homicide rate was, in our view ... something that people had not been paying attention to," Chalk said. "The fact that the high rates have persisted is troubling." Young unwed moms often are giving birth in isolation, feeling desperate, with no support group around them. Debbie Velie, who heads up the ministry New Beginnings -- a place where unwed moms can turn to so their baby will be adopted into a loving family -- lamented the infant death statistics. "There are just wonderful couples that are not able to have children, and I know that they'd be glad to love and raise these children that are not being given a chance in life," Velie said. The report also indicates that half of all infant murders happen by the 4th month of life, and the risk is highest on the day the child is born. What may be most troubling is many experts believe the number of infant homicides is underestimated. They claim several deaths that are known to be homicides are not recorded that way in the coroner's records.[Focus on the Family; 5Dec02, ]
• PHILLY ABORTION FACILITY FINED 40K FOR OPERATING ILLEGALLY - An abortion facility lawyer who represents Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology, appeared before County Senior Judge Brown in an attempt to have him throw out a $40,000 fine imposed on the abortion business by District Justice Maruszczak and to bar the township from seeking other fines while the zoning dispute between the abortion facility and the township remains pending in the County Court. [ , Norristown Times Herald; 19Dec02] http://www.prochoiceviolence.com/
• URUGUAY MAY LEGALIZE ABORTION - Uruguayan lower chamber passed a bill to permit abortion under 12 weeks gestation. This would give women the "right to decide over their bodies" and compels the State to develop prevention programs. Providing contraceptives in public hospitals would be a mandatory duty of the Minister of Health. If Senate approves it, this law would be the first of its kind in South America and could be of example for many other countries in the region. However, it is expected to be resisted by the Government & the more conservative Senate.[http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/12/12/40700.html; 12Dec02, Pro-Life E-News, Hernan Etchaleco PRAVDA.Ru Argentina]
• US ATTACKED FOR PRO-LIFE STANCE AT UN CONFERENCE IN BANGKOK The US delegation at the UN population conference in Bangkok was confronted by a "horrendous disinformation campaign" about its positions and motives. Most of the critics have claimed that the US sought to undermine the worldwide consensus achieved at the 1994 Int’l Conference on Population and Dev’t (ICPD). In Bangkok, the US attempted to align itself with the many serious reservations placed in the original ICPD document by pro-life countries that feared that some language in the document could promote abortion. The US officially supports some aspects of ICPD, including its commitment to the idea that all family planning programs must be voluntary. Many critics also argued that the US administration possesses an unfounded fear that phrases such as "reproductive health services" are euphemisms for abortion. But, when the US attempted to include such a clarification in the Bangkok document, in order to resolve the issue, it was defeated. An observer present at the negotiations in Bangkok told the Friday Fax that the conference, officially called the Fifth Asian and Pacific Conference, appears to have been orchestrated by UNFPA, & its chief non-governmental partners, in order to embarrass the Bush admin and to call into question its commitment to the well-being of women. The US was not cowed by this criticism. It supported calls from some developing countries for natural family planning, and argued for abstinence training as one of the strategies to slow the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Dewey told the conference that "The United States supports the sanctity of life from conception to natural death," a statement that closely mirrors recent remarks made by President George W. Bush. [FRIDAY FAX; 27Dec02, www.c-fam.org]
• HEALTH WEBSITES FORCED TO COME CLEAN ABOUT CONDOMS, ABORTION - Under pressure from the Bush Administration to post more honest information about STDs on their website, the CDC have been obliged to change a fact sheet promoting condoms as "highly effective" in preventing HIV and other diseases. The CDC site was changed to say that "refraining from sex" is the "best way to prevent transmission" of disease. The old version added, "But for those who have sexual intercourse, latex condoms are highly effective when used consistently and correctly." The new version says instead that condoms "can reduce the risk of STD transmission. However, no protective method is 100 percent effective, and condom use cannot guarantee absolute protection against any STD." Democrats who apparently support promiscuous sex among teens criticized the change, and also criticized amendments to the National Cancer Inst website to add some mention of the link between abortion and breast cancer: www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-other/2002/dec/18/121809257.html Related coverage: U.S. NATIONAL CANCER INST PULLS INFO DENYING ABORTION-BREAST CANCER LINK http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/jul/02070306.html [NV, 24Dec02; 19Dec02, LifeSiteNews.com]
• LA SUPREME COURT ALLOWS WOMEN TO SUE AFTER BOTCHED ABORTIONS – The Court refused to consider a case attacking a 1997 law that gives women up to 10 years to sue over injuries they, or their unborn children, suffer as a result of abortions. The law puts no limit on the amount of money a woman can win in a lawsuit against an abortion practitioner for a botched abortion. In fact, the law specifically exempts abortions from the state medical malpractice system, which limits what a patient can recover for a botched medical procedure. Abortion advocates say abortionists will be unable to get malpractice coverage for a 10-year liability window. "An extended period of time to bring a lawsuit is reasonable because abortion providers often do not warn women of the medical studies that show very serious long-term effects of abortion, such as breast cancer and risks to future childbearing," said Dorina Bordlee, attorney with Americans United for Life. LA is the only state with such a law on its books, but others will follow suit if the one here holds up, said New Orleans attorney Rittenberg, who filed the lawsuit challenging the LA law on behalf of abortion providers. But attorney Mike Johnson of the LA Law/Justice Fdn, a public interest law firm, said, "The reason many [providers] are not properly insured, or not insured at all, is because they know there is very little enforcement of the laws against them," Johnson said. "We've had experiences where juries have found great amounts of negligence (by abortion providers), and the plaintiffs can't collect because there is no insurance." [ ; New Orleans Times-Picayune; 5Nov02]
• "SILENT NO MORE" -- A POST-ABORTION AWARENESS CAMPAIGN NOEL is co-founder of a new post-abortion awareness campaign called "Silent No More: Women speak out about their abortion experience" that will bring women who have had abortions together at state capitols and in Washington, D.C., in January 2003 to speak out about their abortion experience. Forney:"The truth is abortion affects us physically, emotional and spiritually. It's time to speak honestly about the pain we've lived with and we want to help women who are hurting find healing …it's time to listen to the women who have experienced it." State gatherings are being held in 35-50 states at various times during the week of January 18 -26, 2003. The gathering in Washington, D.C., will be 22Jan03 after the March for Life. Women who are interested in participating in "Silent No More": 1-800-707-6635, www.HelpAfterAbortion.com. [VINE AND BRANCHES, Rachel's Vineyard Ministries Nov02 http://www.rachelsvineyard.org ]
• NATIONAL SYMPOSIA TO EXAMINE IMPACT OF ABORTION ON WOMEN - Feminists for Life, Americans United for Life & Women Affirming Life are sponsoring national interdisciplinary symposia. Feminists for Life: "January 2003 will mark 30 years since abortion was legalized in all 50 states. Since then, 40 million abortions have been performed in America. Women now in their 60s and 70s had abortions in the first years after legalization. Many young women now undergoing abortion have grown up in a culture of 'choice' …Three decades is a significant period from which to assess the myriad ways in which abortion has touched women, their relationships, their health, their lives, their future." [unitedforlife.org; VINE AND BRANCHES, Rachel's Vineyard Ministries Nov02 http://www.rachelsvineyard.org ] IN 1/97, this appeared in HLI Reports: "London – Women who have had abortions are more likely to commit suicide, Finnish researchers have reported." [Mike Gissler et al at Finland’s National Research & Dev’t Ctr for Welfare and Health; The British Medical Journal Fall 1996]. Using national records to check the rate of suicides up to one year after the end of pregnancy (birth, miscarriage, abortion), they found that "The suicide rate after an abortion was three times the general suicide rate and six times that associated with birth". They noted that women are often depressed after having a baby, but this rarely translated into suicide. [Reuter, 6Dec96] [Ed.: This study was published about 6 years ago, in 1996. How many of the ~9 million U.S. women who have had abortions in these years would have avoided abortion if they had heard of this study, which is only now gaining public attention (thanks to the silence of major media sources)?]
• ABORTION DRUG RESEARCH MAY PROMPT BUSH TO CUT WHO FUNDING - Millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for a World Health Organization (WHO) reproductive health program may be cut because of its research into the abortion drug RU-486. Spokesman Richard Boucher said no decision had yet been made on the fate of the $3 million Washington had been expected to contribute to WHO's Human Reproduction Program but strongly implied the money would not be forthcoming. "We can't support any activity that supports abortion as a method of family planning or that motivates or coerces people into practicing abortion, so we would not use our money to support RU-486 research," he told reporters. Kemp-Kasten is a law that prohibits taxpayer money from being spent on int’l family programs that support or promote abortion which Pres. Bush's administration is interpreting strictly. Clinton ignored the restrictions and had funded the Human Reproduction Program in the past. Earlier this year, the Bush administration withheld $34 million in funding from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) after determining that the agency backed programs in China that coerce women into abortions or forcibly sterilize them. The administration said the finding violated Kemp-Kasten amendment. [Agence France-Presse; 7Nov02; [ ] On 5Sept02, CA Gov Gray Davis signed 3 bills into law & CA became the most pro-abortion state in America from a legislative point of view; 2 more human embryo experimentation bills have also been signed. [www.onlinearchives.org,6Sep02] Reproductive Privacy Act (St Sen Sheila Kuehl), will guarantee a woman's right to abortion regardless of what happens on the national level. Victims of sexual assault in CA can now also have the option of emergency contraception. Residents in OB/GYN are now required to have abortion training, and the confidentiality of home address information will be protected for reproductive health care workers. [http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=13041; Lohr, "All Things Considered," NPR, 8/21] The bill would allow medical schools or individual medical residents to "opt out" of abortion training if they have "moral or religious objections" to abortion, but it would require medical schools that decide not to teach abortion procedures to ensure that OB/GYN residents can receive such instruction at a different institution. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires medical schools to teach abortion procedures to OB/GYN residents, but more than half of OB/GYN residency programs nationwide do not provide training [Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 8/13] In 1996, when the accreditation guidelines were set, Congress passed a law that medical schools could not lose federal funding for failing to provide abortion training, "essentially wip[ing] out" what the guidelines had sought to establish, NPR reports. Laura Echevarria, NRLC spokes-person, said that mandating abortion training "forces" medical students to perform abortions during their residency, making them less likely to opt out of performing abortions later on during their career. She added that NRLC would prefer that medical students be given the choice to "op[t] into such training rather than having to opt out of it." ["All Things Considered," NPR, 8/21; Kaiser Report 22Aug02]
• GREER ATTACKS RU-486 - Outspoken feminist Germaine Greer compared abortion to amputation as she attacked an abortion pill she had been asked to promote at a medical conference. Dr Greer was a keynote speaker at the Best For Women OB/GYN conference in Sydney. At the beginning of her address, she revealed she had been approached and asked to assist in "bringing pressure to bear" for increased access to the the abortion pill RU486. "Of course we need access to amputation but we need even more to make sure that as few people are in a situation where they need amputations as possible," she said. "Likewise abortion." Dr. Greer described RU486 as a powerful and unpleasant succession of experiences. "These are violently active chemicals and they have violent reactions on the organism," she said. "What is the situation in which a woman would undergo that kind of assault?" [SYDNEY, 4Oct 02, The Age]
• ALABAMA PRO-LIFE LAW TAKES EFFECT - A federal judge refused to halt implementation of a new pro-life law requiring abortion practitioners to give abortion-minded women information on the risks of abortion & alternatives at least 24 hours prior to abortion. Similar laws in other states have been shown to reduce the number of abortions. However, the judge ordered the ADPH to delay distribution of the state-produced booklets and video tapes. U.S. District Judge Albritton’s 19-page ruling also noted that women would be exempt from the 24-hour waiting period in two specific circumstances where the unborn child would not survive outside the womb (ectopic pregnancy, and in cases where the woman is carrying a baby with anomalies that would prevent it from surviving outside the womb). "This is a victory that allows the state to move forward with an important law that calls for providing women with the information necessary to ensure they have given voluntary and informed consent before an abortion is performed," Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor said. The lawsuit was filed by attorneys for the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Law and Policy in New York, who were representing 6 Alabama abortion facilities. One of the attorneys, Linda Rosenthal, said the plaintiffs plan to continue to pursue the ultimate aim of the lawsuit, which is to have the law declared unconstitutional. The pro-abortion plaintiffs claimed the information to be distributed by the state would have included false or misleading information about abortions. Albritton told the state not to give the materials to abortion facilities until he has had a chance to review them. The judge, in his ruling, said the act is similar to "informed consent" laws that have passed in other states. The judge ruled that physicians must go ahead and give patients certain information 24 hours before the abortion as long as the information is "truthful and not misleading." The abortion facilities had also challenged a provision of the law that required abortion practitioners to tell a woman who had been pregnant for 19 weeks or longer if the baby could survive outside the womb. Albritton upheld that portion of the law, but said they should give a truthful answer concerning how long the fetus would live. Pryor said the important consequence of Albritton's ruling was that the act becomes law on Oct. 14. "Abortion is literally a life-or-death decision, and should only be made with full knowledge of its nature and consequences," Pryor said. John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, which backed the bill in the Legislature, called the lawsuit "frivolous and without merit…Abortion is invasive [surgery] and women have a legitimate right and responsibility to have all of the facts and health risks associated with [it]. The process outlined in this bill is consistent with ambulatory surgical procedures where a patient is briefed on the procedure along with associated risks and returns the next day for the surgery." [AP; 30Sept02] Kansas, LA, MS, & Montana have included the breast cancer/abortion risk in their informed consent process. For State WRTK legislation, go to our website, or http://www.unitedforlife.org/guides/wrtk/wrtk_statute_table.htm.
• ILLINOIS ABORTION SITES COVER UP SUSPECTED CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULTS - results of a nationwide investigation into widespread abortion center cover-ups of child abuse/statutory rape were released at a press conference by Concerned Women for America (CWA) of IL and as part of a Committee to Protect Illinois Children effort. Phone conversations to 21 IL abortion sites by a caller, identifying herself as a 13 year old girl with a 22 year old boyfriend, were recorded this past spring. The results showed a 100 percent willingness of these IL centers to cover-up reasonable suspicion and knowledge of statutory rape and/or child abuse by agreeing not to report the information to authorities as required by IL mandated reporting laws. CWA joins others in requesting the IL AG immediately open investigations and take action as a result of these documented demonstrations of abortion center complicity in state reporting law violations. CWA is the nation's largest women's public policy organization with over 500,000 members.[Press Release for October 3, 2002; Kathy Hayes 708.805.7725 or Jill Stanek 815.715.1825; CWAI, Life Dynamics, 940.380.8800; P-L enews, 2Oct02]

• NE ABORTIONIST ARRESTED FOR HITTING PROTESTER WITH CAR - An abortionist was arrested and charged with hitting a pro-lifer with his car this summer. C.J. LaBenz will face charges of reckless driving, theft by unlawful taking & disorderly conduct brought by sidewalk counselor Sharon McKee. On 7June, while she was on the public sidewalk in front of the Women's Service abortion site, LaBenz drove his red Jeep Cherokee over the curb and hit her. When abortionist LaBenz noticed his attack was being videotaped by another pro-lifer, he tried to take the camera by force. McKee said LaBenz took her sign, clipboard, and cell phone, and that her cell phone case had $350 inside. Police retrieved McKee's property from inside the mill, but the phone had been destroyed and the cash was missing. LaBenz told police he gave the items to his staff for "safekeeping". In addition to criminal charges, LaBenz is expected to face civil litigation and potential discipline by the medical review board. [CCNWashDC, 21Sept02; 12Oct 02, www.onlinearchive.org/article.php?sid=467]
• IS THE TIDE TURNING? Recently, 2 high-profile Hollywood women have spoken publicly about their pro-life convictions and against abortion: Patricia Heaton (Emmy Award winner, Everybody Loves Raymond) and Kathy Ireland. [C. Earll, Focus on the Family, 2Oct02]
• HOUSE APPROVES BILL TO PROTECT PRO-LIFE HOSPITAL POLICIES - The House of Reps voted 229-189 for the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (HR 4691) to protect hospitals’ rights to decide against performing abortions, even if receives public funds. Pro-life Congressman Bilirakis (R-FL) said it provides clarity to a pro-life law passed in 1996, to protect all health care facilities from being required to perform abortion. The bill states the conscience protections apply to all those involved in providing health care, including health plans, hospitals, and individual health professionals. Currently, 86% of US hospitals do not perform abortions. President Bush indicated he supports the aims of the pro-life legislation. "Hospitals and health care professionals should not be forced to perform or participate in abortions,'' the Bush administration said. "This legislation makes clear that they may not be subjected to discrimination by the federal government, or by any state or local government...because they oppose or choose not to participate in abortions or abortion training.'' At one point in the debate, Slaughter asked pro-life Congressman Chris Smith whether a woman who had a botched abortion would receive appropriate medical care at a hospital afterwards. Slaughter did not realize the implications of her statement, namely that women do suffer from botched abortions and must seek emergency medical treatment. Smith assured her all hospitals would provide medical care to women who had a botched abortion and would attempt to save the life of the unborn child, if possible. "Members of Congress, regardless of their personal views on abortion, ought to agree with public law that health care providers should not be forced to perform or fund abortions that they believe are morally wrong," Family Research Council President Ken Connor said. "To do so would force these vital members of our society to choose between keeping their jobs and following their conscience. It's time the purveyors of 'choice' practice what they preach and allow others the choice not to violate their conscience." The Senate, controlled by pro-abortion Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), would not consider it. [Pro-Life Infonet;25Sept02 http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgibin/vote.exe?year=2002&rollnumber=412]
• THE ABORTION NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT (H.R. 4691) would protect hospitals from being forced to perform abortions. The legislation states that the federal government should not discriminate against medical professionals or medical institutions that refuse to perform, participate in, support, or fund abortions. The Assoc of American Physicians/Surgeons (AAPS) supports this legislation www.usccb.org/prolife http://aapsonline.org/testimony/anda.htm Members of Congress on this committee: http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/members/members.htm [TVC, vol5, no.36, 5 Sept02]

• ABORTION MAY AFFECT MOTHERING AND DEVELOPMENT OF LATER CHILDREN – a new study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry found that children whose mothers have a history of abortion tend to have less emotional support at home and more behavioral problems than children whose mothers have not had abortions. Researchers examined behavior and quality of the home environment for 4,844 children. The study used data collected in 1992 by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a survey conducted by the Center for Human Resource Research at Ohio State University and funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. "The results of our study showed that among first-born children, maternal history of abortion was associated with lower emotional support in the home among children ages one to four, and more behavioral problems among five- to nine-year-olds," said Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor at Bowling Green State University and the lead author of the study. "This held true even after controlling for maternal age, education, family income, the number of children in the home and maternal depression." Coleman noted that although the results of the study were probably unprecedented, "they were not all that surprising when considered in light of previous research linking unresolved grief associated with other forms of perinatal loss, such as miscarriage and stillbirth, to compromised parenting." Many women opt for abortion as the result of adverse circumstances or pressure from others, she said, making the decision difficult to cope with if the woman was emotionally attached to the fetus or desired to carry the pregnancy to term. "An abortion could become psychologically similar to other forms of pregnancy loss in some women," Coleman said. In some polls, as many as 80 percent of aborting women said that they would have chosen to carry the pregnancy to term under better circumstances or with more support from others Elliot Institute director Dr. David Reardon, co-author of the study and a new book, "Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion," said that the new study confirms the insights revealed in the book by women in post-abortion counseling. "Unresolved feelings about a past abortion can often impede bonding with subsequent planned children," Reardon said. Recent studies have shown that women who have abortions are at significantly higher risk of clinical depression in the long term, are more likely to require subsequent mental health care, are more likely to report abuse of drugs and alcohol, and are more likely to die of suicide and other causes. Reardon says these studies underscore the importance of educating the public about post-abortion reactions and post-abortion counseling programs. [Coleman PK, Reardon DC, Cougle JR. "The quality of caregiving environment and child development outcomes associated with maternal history of abortion using the NLSY data. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2002; 43(6):743-757; News Release 18Sept02, www.afterabortion.org/news]
• STUDY OUTLINES ABORTION’S CLEAR & PRESENT DANGERS -- Dr. David Reardon & British researchers published a report in the 9/02 British Medical Journal which asserts that women who have abortions are more likely to die in the years following the procedure than mothers who give birth. Of 173,000 Californians, those women who aborted their unborn child were twice as likely to die in the next two years. According to Dr. Reardon, the reasons range from suicide, which places women at a 154 percent higher risk than non-abortive moms, to death by accidents, which accounts for an 82 percent increased risk of death. Nonpartisan scientists are continuing to unearth the dramatic health consequences of abortion. In Aug02, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry found that, as one might expect, there is a tendency toward "depression, self-destructive behavior, and other emotional problems" for women who have been duped into believing that abortion is the safe and easy solution. [Elliot Inst, 9/02]

• EMBRYO CASE COULD CHALLENGE ABORTION RIGHTS Divorced couple's battle raises issue of fertilized egg's 'right to life' - A divorced Seattle-area couple's battle over the fate of frozen embryos could establish a precedent that challenges abortion rights. In its decision earlier this year, the Washington State Supreme Court avoided a "philosophical discussion" over whether or not embryos are "children," but this is precisely what lawyers for Becky Litowitz want to establish in a case they believe could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the United States, more than 190,000 embryos lie in legal limbo, awaiting determination of their fate, notes Richard Ackerman, lead attorney. When Becky and David Litowitz were still married, they formed a contract with a lab at Loma Linda University in CA to fertilize the eggs of a donor with the sperm of Mr. Litowitz. Now David Litowitz, against the wishes of his ex-wife, wants the two remaining embryos to be destroyed. Ackerman is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction before the San Bernardino County Superior Court to ensure that the embryos are maintained as the case proceeds. The Washington State Supreme Court, in June, ruled that the embryos should be destroyed, overturning a lower-court ruling that awarded David Litowitz custody of the fertilized eggs. The high court, avoiding issues concerning the essential nature of the embryos, based its decision on a 1996 contract the couple signed with Loma Linda's Center for Fertility and In Vitro Fertilization. The agreement required the embryos to be thawed out after five years unless they asked for them to be frozen longer. Defenders argued that the contract did not apply in this case because it pertained only to decisions the couple made together. In the couple's 1998 divorce case, a County Superior Court judge awarded custody of the embryos to David Litowitz, citing "best interest of the child." Mr. Litowitz promised to put the embryos up for adoption, not destroy them, his former wife's defenders argued. The Loma Linda clinic, part of a Seventh-Day Adventist Church institution, says it will not destroy the embryos without consent of both. [16Oct02; PL e-news www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29291]
• RULING OPENS NEW ARENA IN ABORTION DEBATE - A pregnant woman may use deadly force to protect her fetus even when she does not fear for her own life, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled. Legal experts say the decision has opened another front in the legal wars surrounding abortion. The court emphasized that its decision was a narrow one, concerning only assaults against pregnant women, but it acknowledged that it was entering charged legal terrain. "We are obviously aware of the raging debate occurring in this country regarding the point at which a fetus becomes a person entitled to all the protections of the state and federal constitutions," Judge Patrick M. Meter wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. The case arose from a lovers' quarrel involving Jaclyn Kurr and her boyfriend, Antonia Pena, the man who had impregnated her. She later testified that after Mr. Pena punched her in the stomach, she responded by stabbing him in the chest with a kitchen knife, killing him. At the time she was 16 to 17 weeks pregnant. She was charged with manslaughter, and the jury rejected her assertion that she had been acting in self-defense. She was sentenced to 5 to 20 years in prison. This month, the appeals court reversed her conviction and ordered a new trial. It said the trial judge should have let her argue that she was defending not only herself but also "her unborn children." The court noted that the age of Ms. Kurr's fetuses - she was apparently carrying quadruplets - meant that they could not have survived outside the womb and that she could abort them under the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. She miscarried a few weeks later. "One is left with a most peculiar legal situation," said John C. Mayoue, an Atlanta lawyer who is an expert in the various ways the law treats embryos and fetuses. "Although she may use deadly force to protect the viable or nonviable fetus, thereby ending someone's life, she also has the constitutional right to terminate the pregnancy herself without consequence."[www.nytimes.com/2002/10/16/national/16FETU.html?ex=1035432000&en=cd10fcc044342939&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER; 16Oct02]
• ABORTION HURTS BLACK AMERICANS HARDEST, BIRMINGHAM MARCHERS SAY - A group of black activists who oppose abortion rallied at Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, AL, concluding the "Say So" weekend march they organized to draw attention to the issue. About 60 people marched from Kelly Ingram Park to Birmingham City Hall and back, singing "We Shall Overcome" and carrying signs saying, "Stop Black Genocide." The Rev. Johnny Hunter, national director of the Fayetteville, N.C.-based Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN) that organized the effort, said it's hard to draw support from the black community to oppose abortion. "The issue is not popular," Hunter said. Organizers had hoped for 1,452 marchers to descend on Birmingham, which was chosen as the site for its civil rights history, Hunter said. They paraded on the same Birmingham street where blacks marching for equal rights were doused by fire hoses in the early '60s. "We're bringing awareness and exposing the 1,452 African-American babies that are killed in America every day," Fomby said. Hunter said he hopes the march will mark the beginning of increased concern about high rates of abortion among blacks. Centers for Disease Control statistics show that while blacks make up about 12 percent of the population, they account for 34 percent of U.S. abortions. Hunter said the abortion industry has "targeted" blacks by locating a disproportionate number of abortion businesses in majority black areas. "It's been viewed as a white Republican issue, but there is a disproportionate number of African-Americans getting abortions," said the Rev. Arthur Johnson, pastor of Doers of the Word Church. Star Parker, president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), said she had four abortions before joining the cause. "I realized there has to be something wrong with killing your own offspring," she told the crowd. "When black people stand up for the end of abortion, abortion will end," said Damon Owens, a spokesman for LEARN. [ ; Birmingham News; 15Oct02]
• ABORTION SITE SUED IN RU-486 RELATED DEATH - A TN abortion facility is facing a $15 million lawsuit after a 38-year-old woman died from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy following a RU-486 abortion. Brenda Vise died on 12Sept01 from a massive infection of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy after receiving RU-486 at Volunteer Women's Medical in Knoxville on 7Sept01. The lawsuit accuses the site of failing to properly diagnose Vise's ectopic pregnancy on several occasions and of improperly telling her that her symptoms were "normal" when Vise called them to complain about severe pain and bleeding. A coalition of pro-life groups recently filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration asking them to pull RU-486 while a full review of the drug's safety proceeds. [Elliot Inst News, vol.1, no.9, Aug02]
• LAWRENCE, KS ABORTION SITE CLOSED - Financial reasons were quoted in the Lawrence World Journal as the reason for the site’s closing. In 1991 there were 2000 U.S. abortion facilities. Now there are 799. [Heartland Heartbeat #114, 17Sept02]
• TX ABORTION SITE SUED FOR ILLEGAL TEEN ABORTION - A Houston abortion site faces a lawsuit after a teen used a fake ID card to obtain an abortion in Aug 2000, violating the state's parental notification law. Cherise Mosley filed a lawsuit against Aaron Family Planning, saying she used a false ID card she purchased at a grocery store to obtain an abortion when she was only 17. The lawsuit says that the site should not have accepted the ID because it was stamped, "This is not a government document," and the law says that only valid government documents can be used to prove a patient is not a minor. [Elliot Inst News, vol.1, no.9, Aug02]
• TITLE X AMENDMENT WOULD REDUCE TAXPAYER FUNDING OF ABORTION - Ed Szymkowiak, national director of STOPP International: "… the Vitter amendment will…stop surgical abortion providers from getting money from the program. That's a big step in the right direction." Rep. David Vitter (R-La.) has indicated he intends to offer an amendment to the 2003 Labor/HHS/ Education appropriations bill. The amendment would stipulate that none of the funds appropriated under Title X of the Public Health Service Act could go to any private grantee, delegate, or clinic that provides a chemical or surgical abortion. Current (2002) appropriations for Title X are $265 million. "Although Title X population control funds do not currently directly pay for surgical or RU-486 abortions, Title X does fund organizations that, with other funds, do provide such abortions," said Szymkowiak. For additional information on Title X, see the May 2002 edition of STOPP's Ryan Report, which can be viewed online at www.all.org/stopp/rr0205.pdf. To schedule an interview with Ed Szymkowiak, call 540-659-4171. [STOPP International News release, 18Sept02; 540-659-4171; www.stoppinternational.org]
• ROTARY INT’L RISKS REPUTATION WITH UNFPA ALLIANCE Along with a massive campaign to eradicate polio, Rotary Int’l now teams with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to promote population control programs in the developing world. In a 6/01 release, Rotary announced that the groups had signed "a Memorandum of Cooperation to work together on population and reproductive health issues and promote awareness worldwide of the social, economic and environmental implications of population growth… The organization encourages its members to further the goals of the UNFPA." Projects on Rotary President Devyln's web site explicitly describe Rotary funding for sterilization programs to further population control goals. In addition, members of Rotary Int’l's Population/ Dev’t Vocational Fellowship work as consultants at UNFPA. [FRIDAY FAX 23Aug02 V 5 #35, C-Fam]
• FLORIDA ADOPTION LAW DRIVES WOMEN TO HAVE ABORTIONS rather than submit to a law forcing them to publish details of their sex lives before they can offer a child for adoption, according to lawyers fighting the law. The 106-page adoption legislation was passed with little fanfare Oct01. It requires that women publish details of every sexual encounter that could have caused the pregnancy, along with names -- if possible – & descriptions of the men, in the local newspaper where the incident took place, so any men who may be the father and want to contest the adoption can come forward. Charlotte Danciu, a lawyer representing 6 women challenging the law, has refused to place any ads in local papers and says as many as 15 of her clients have decided to have abortions rather than face public humiliation. Another lawyer says some of her clients are choosing abortion, which requires no consent, over the new and intrusive adoption process. Several adoption agencies in Florida have noticed a dramatic drop-off in the number of babies being put up for adoption. Before the law, there were 5,000- 7,000 adoptions a year in FL. The law's backers say it was intended to ensure that fathers are not excluded from the adoption process, noting several high-profile cases where a father showed up years later and wanted to have an adoption reversed. The law arose from the case of baby Emily, who was the subject of a 3-year legal battle after her father, a convicted rapist, tried to contest her adoption. The court eventually ruled against him. Even the legislators who sponsored the law are rapidly backing away from it. FL Sen "Skip" Campbell, a Democrat, conceded the law "contains some significant unintended consequences." The issue has had an unprecedented effect of uniting pro- and anti-abortion groups. In Canada, fathers have to be consulted before a child can be placed for adoption, but the onus is on the father to prove paternity in a reasonable amount of time, said Judy Grove, executive director of the Adoption Council of Canada. [ , National Post; 26Aug02]
• COLORADO ABORTION RATE DOWN 63 PERCENT -- In 1995, there were 9,384 abortions in Colorado, and five years later that number dropped to 4,215. The number of live births to Colorado teenagers isn't declining, but because the numbers of abortions are, that means fewer Colorado teens are getting pregnant. And that presumably means that fewer are sexually active. That's great news to people who want to lower teen births by focusing on abstinence. [ ; Rocky Mountain News; 4Octo02]
• CHINESE HUSBANDS GET INPUT ON ABORTION - The new Law on Family Planning and Population takes effect on 1Sept02, the nation's first law on family planning. A husband will, for the first time, be able to seek legal assistance if his wife has an abortion without notifying him. The law states that both husband and wife should share responsibility in family planning. This is the first time that a man's right in relation to a birth has been defined as legislation. The law also forbids government staff members from invading citizen's "personal freedom, possessions and other rights," in carrying out family planning missions. China's population reached 1.26 billion by the end of 2001 (State Family Planning Commission). The family planning policy in China since the 1970s "has avoided…the birth of 300 million people" so far. China's birth rate per thousand has decreased from 33.4 in 1970 to 15 in 2001.[http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/hk/2002-08-07/81156.html; Pro-Life e-news 7Aug02]
• PRO-LIFERS OFFER PLAN FOR BUILDING A 'CULTURE OF LIFE' -- Pro-lifers responded to President Bush's call to "build a culture of life," by releasing a statement that outlines both political and cultural goals to create a society that respects life from the cradle to the grave. "Building a Culture of Life, A Call to Respect Human Dignity in American Life," published by the Family Research Council, warns that the United States currently finds itself in a dangerous climate, one where society respects life less and less. The statement outlines three goals: reducing the incidence of abortion by 50% by 2005; extending care and legal protection to the weak and the vulnerable; and preventing the degradation of human dignity through life-threatening or life-destroying experimentation. In each of the statement's 3 sections, topics such as embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, abortion, and care of the elderly are accompanied by specific goals. Dr. Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor and a member of President Bush's bioethics advisory council, addressed the issue of embryonic stem cell research and human cloning. "Our pro-life stance enables us to support ethical stem-cell research," he said. "Building a Culture of Life" also calls for increased restrictions on abortion, and more support for crisis pregnancy centers and adoption agencies. The statement also calls for initiatives to ensure that the elderly are treated with dignity. Those initiatives include tax breaks for families who take elderly relatives into their homes, and more volunteerism at hospices and nursing homes. Kenneth Connor, president of the Family Research Council, called the current state of elderly care "America's dirty secret…There is no class of people more vulnerable, except for the unborn, than the elderly," he said. Connie Marshner, president of the ACC, said the disregard for life stems from the selfish nature of society. She added that for America to achieve a "culture of life" status, "we need to move from being a culture of self gratification to one of self giving." [J. Pierce, CNSNews.com 18Apr02] Of the roughly 2,000 doctors who now perform abortions, more than half are over age 50, and many are nearing retirement.
• PLANNED PARENTHOOD (PP) is the leading promoter and the largest single provider of abortions in the USA. In 2000, PP took in a record $69 million by performing abortions – 1/3 of their total income. In 2000, for every adoption referral, they aborted 79 babies. Since 1995, the number of PP abortions has increased by 41%. Since 1977, PP has aborted over 3 MILLION preborn children. From 1985-2000, PP has received nearly $2.2 BILLION in tax dollars. PP president, Gloria Feldt, receives a salary of $324,217/year. [Life Issues Connector, 4/2002]
• AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE would like physicians to sign on to the following statement: "I agree that there is never a situation in the law or in the ethical practice of medicine where a preborn [unborn] child’s life need be intentionally destroyed by procured abortion for the purpose of saving the life of the mother. A physician must do everything possible to save the lives of both of his patients, mother and child. H/she must never intend the death of either." If you agree with this and wish to sign on, please date it and send your name and mailing address to: (www.all.org), mail to ALL, PO Box 1350, Stafford VA 22555, or FAX it with your signature to 540-659-2586.
• MD SENATE REJECTS LIMITING ABORTION FUNDING – In MD, 76% of all abortions are paid by Medicaid. An amendment to permit payment for only 1 abortion died by a 23-20 vote. An amendment to cut payments after 2 abortions died on a 22-22 tie vote. Some MD women are having up to 9 Medi-paid abortions. [AP, 16Mar02; Pro-life Infonet, 18Mar02]

• USA Abortion Facts:
  1. About 25% of pregnancies end in abortion
  2. ~ 47% are repeat abortions
  3. 50-55% of women having abortions in the USA are under 25 years old
  4. about 20% are obtained by teenagers
  5. Black women are nearly 3 times more likely than white women to obtain an abortion; Hispanic women are 2 times more likely
  6. Women who report no religious affiliation are about 4 times more likely to have an abortion than women who report some religious affiliation
  7. On average, women five at least 3 reasons for choosing aboriton: ¾ say a baby would interfere with work, school, etc.; about 2/3 say they cannot afford a child; and ½ say they do not want to be a single parent.
  8. Worldwide, each year, an estimated 50 million abortions occur (about 1 million abortions per week) ["Facts in Brief", publ by The Alan Guttmacher Inst, research arm of Plnnd Prnthd 1/1997; PPL News, Winter 99]

• If we calculate that there are 4 human generations every 100 years, then over the past 500 years, we have each had 20 generations of ancestors, which exponentially amounts to 1,048,576 people who suffered trial and hardships so that each of us could be born! [RTL bulletin, 4/96]
• BRITISH WOMAN FILES FIRST ABORTION EMOTIONAL DISTRESS SUIT vs. NHS (Britain's state-run National Health Service) for failing to warn her of the increased risk for emotional problems & breast cancer after abortion. The woman, who had the abortion four years ago at age 24, said she began drinking heavily after her abortion and eventually sought counseling after later giving birth to a son. NHS defended their guidelines and suggested that the woman may have had emotional problems before the abortion. A similar case in Australia was settled out of court in 1998. [Elliot Institute E-mail, 7/02]
• NORTH KOREAN PRISONS ACCUSED OF FORCED ABORTIONS, INFANTICIDE -- increasing numbers of defectors from North Korea are accusing the NK prison system of forcing pregnant women to abort or kill their children, that pregnant women esp. if suspected of being pregnant by Chinese men are given injections to cause abortion, or forced to smother their children at birth. Defectors report that these actions have risen sharply since China began deporting thousands of refugees back to North Korea. About 200,000 deportees are currently in prison in North Korea, including many pregnant women. [Elliot Institute E-mail, 7/02; NYT]
• NATIONAL CANCER INST PULLS INACCURATE WEB PAGE re ABORTION - BREAST CANCER LINK – 28 members of Congress recently sent a letter to HHS Sec Thompson "requesting a review of the NCI’s fact sheet" and calling its info "‘scientifically inaccurate and misleading to the public.’" NCI has ignored the fact that 28 of 37 worldwide studies and 13 of 15 U.S. studies "report an elevated risk for breast cancer among women who have had an induced abortion". Thompson was asked "to check the web page ‘for accuracy and bias’ and to take it down until after conclusion of the review." [RNC for Life; EFA, JulAug02]
• PRESIDENT BUSH SIGNS BORN-ALIVE INFANTS PROTECTION ACT - H.R. 2175 – calling it a step toward further restrictions on abortion. "Today, through sonograms and other technology, we can see clearly that unborn children are members of the human family…" The bill (Sen. Santorum, R-PA) requires that if a fetus survives an abortion, it must be considered a person under federal law. Democrats initially resisted the measure, but the Democratic-controlled Senate finally passed it on a voice vote. [washingtonpost.com; 5Aug02 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020805-6.html]
• US ABORTION STATISTICS 1999 - The number of reported abortions fell to fewer than 862,000 in 1999, continuing a steady decline that started in 1991, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) said in a recent surveillance report. The abortion ratio - the number of abortions per 1,000 live births - fell to the lowest recorded level since 1975. The 1999 ratio was 256 abortions per 1,000 live births, a 3.2% decline from 1998. However, the small decline in the number of abortions in 1999 - down 2.5% (884,273 abortions in 1998) - was not enough to budge the national abortion rate, which remained at 17 abortions/1,000 women as in 1997 and 1998. Abortions are declining because the public knows more about the details of abortion, said Laura Echevarria of the National Right to Life Committee.
• A Zogby International poll of 1,800 persons conducted recently for the Buffalo (N.Y.) News found that 32% of people had changed their opinions on abortion, with 21% becoming "more negative" on abortion.
• The CDC report compiles abortion data only from those states that collect it, unlike previous years when it estimated data from non-reporting states (Alaska, CA, NH, OK). The report found that New York had the highest occurrence of legal abortions (137,234) and Wyoming was lowest (110).
  • A total of 137,396 abortions were performed on teens. More than 60% were performed on 18- and 19-year-olds. Fifty-seven percent of abortions were performed at eight weeks or less gestation and another 20% were performed between nine and 10 weeks gestation.
  • Some 9,643 abortions, or 1.5%, were performed later than 21 weeks gestation.
  • More than 97% of abortions (681,519) were by dilation/curettage methods; less than 1 percent (6,278) were done "medically" with drugs such as mifepristone.
  • In 1998, the most recent year for data, nine women [reported] died as a result of complications from legally induced abortions. [Wetzstein http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021204-95469796.htm; The Washington Times, 4Dec02]
• THE CDC 1998 ABORTION SURVEILLANCE REPORT. It appears the number of preborn aborted has dropped to 884,273 in 1998, down 2% from 900,171 in 1997 from the same 46 states + D.C. + NYC (AK, CA, NH, & OK have not reported since 1995). The abortion numbers for these 4 states "were estimated before 1998"; thus, 1,186,039 reported in 1997 was apparently estimated from past figures. "In previous years, a large number of legal induced abortions also were performed in California. The lack of data for California explains most of the national decrease of 25% in the number of abortions reported between 1997 and 1998." "…the total number of abortions reported to CDC for 1997 was approximately 12% lower than that reported for 1997 by The Alan Guttmacher Institute…" (If we accept the AGI data for 1996, the 4 above-mentioned states had a total of 251,825 abortions, which would bring the 50-state total to somewhere around 1,136,098.)

• In a study of abortion patients in 1994-95, 58% of patients reported that they ‘currently used’ contraception during the month of their last menstrual period…In 1995… approximately 29% of sexually active U.S. women who used only [OCs] for birth control reported that they missed a birth-control pill one or more times during the 3 months before…approximately 33% of U.S. women who were using only coitus-dependent contraceptive methods during the 3 months before the interview used these methods inconsistently." [CDC, MMWR, 7June02, "Abortion Surveillance – United States, 1998"]
• 1998 USA Abortion Rate - 17 (same 46+ areas). 18.9% married; 81.1% unwed; Race: 16.7% Hispanic & 83.3% non-Hispanic; 58.8% White & 35.4% Black; 4% of abortions were performed at 16-20 weeks and 1.4% of all abortions were performed at or after 21 weeks. Those having abortions, 1998: 19 & Under – 19.8% (146,377); 20-24 – 31.8%; 25 & Over – 48.4%. The CDC also reported that from 1993-1997, 36 women died from legal abortion complications. ALABAMA 1998 -- 13,386 total (17% of total abortions obtained by out-of-state residents); 49.9% White (6679); 47.8% Black (6396); 1.6% Other (220) & 91 Unknown; Age 19 & Under, AL – 2,736 abortions [CDC, MMWR, 7June02, for 1998]
• ALAN GUTTMACHER INST PUBLISHES ABORTION STATS Alan Guttmacher Institute, an arm of Planned Parenthood has just posted a nationwide survey of abortion rates in the United States. It also lists how many pro-abortion centers are in each congressional district and how many are owned by Planned Parenthood. The statistics show, for example, that 19% percent of all babies in PA are aborted; 50% in D.C., while Utah & South Dakota have the lowest abortion percentages with 7% and 9% respectively. http://www.agiusa.org/pubs/state_data/index.html.

• MAJOR STUDY ON ABORTION FINDS RISKS MUCH HIGHER THAN EXPECTED - Abortion complications are seriously under reported, leaving women who undergo abortion largely unaware of the range of physical and psychological risks they face. The deVeber Institute, a nonprofit Canadian bioethics institute and social research group based in Toronto, has released its comprehensive review of the world medical literature on abortion in a new book entitled "Women's Health after Abortion: The Medical and Psychological Evidence." The investigation is based on 500+ studies that have appeared in medical and other journals, chiefly during the past 20 years. Breast cancer, pelvic infection, infertility, life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, and subsequent premature births - with higher rates of children born with cerebral palsy - were found to be associated with abortion. Abortion complications were not limited to physical health. While abortion is often regarded as a cure for the depression and stress of a crisis pregnancy, the study found that women are more likely to commit suicide after abortion than after giving birth to a child. "In the absence of this knowledge, how can a woman give her informed consent to an abortion?" asks Ian Gentles, history professor at York University in Toronto, and one of the authors of the study. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Emory University professor of humanities and women's studies, calls the findings "compelling", and says the study "makes overwhelmingly clear [that] women who seek abortions in the United States and Canada are not even told of the risks they are running." The current high level of 114,000 reported abortions in Canada and 1.4 million/year in the U.S. underscore the magnitude of this suppressed public health issue. The study calls for a more accountable system of risk assess-ment where research data reflect the true risks of abortion to their future health and fertility. To order the study from deVeber Institute ($24.95 (Cdn), $19.95 (US): http://deveber.org/publications2.html#launch [NV; 24April02, LSN.ca]

• ABORTION SURVIVORS -- Drs. Philip Ney & Marie P. Ney have identified 10 different types of abortion survivors: 1. Statistical survivors- people who survived in countries/cities where there is a high probability they would have been aborted. In some parts of Eastern Europe, the chances of being aborted are as high as 80%. 2. Wanted survivors- their parents carefully deliberated about whether or not to abort them. 3. Sibling survivors- people born into families where one or more of their siblings were aborted. 4. Threatened survivors- their parents have used abortion as a threat: "...I should have aborted you!" 5. Disabled survivors- because of developmental defects, etc., would usually be aborted. 6. Chance survivors- children who would have been aborted if the mother had been able to obtain the abortion. 7. Ambivalent survivors- children of parents who could not make up their minds about the abortion and delayed until it was too late. 8. Twin survivors- their twin was aborted. The loss of the twin by abortion is deeply felt and often causes the survivor to be suicidal. 9. Attempted Murder survivors- people who survived an actual abortion attempt. Besides the physical harm that is often done, they suffer intense psychological struggles, a fear of doctors, & confused identities. 10. Murdered survivors- children who survived an abortion for just a short period of time, and were subsequently killed by the abortion staff or left to die. Abortion survivors, to put it simply, live on shaky ground. "If my mother could have aborted me, what is my life worth?" These individuals live with a sense of worthlessness and a feeling of impending doom. They suffer existential anxiety and survivor guilt. They are "wanted" rather than "welcomed." When one is "wanted," he or she meets the needs or demands of another. When one is welcomed, on the other hand, his or her value is acknowledged despite others' reactions or attitudes. One abortion survivor wrote, "My parents always said they had wanted me. I often wonder what would have happened if they had not wanted me? I feel I must stay wanted. Being wanted means existing." Another wrote, "I had no right to exist. I am still a child trying to find a place in this world, wandering around, carrying the weight of something on my shoulders. I had so many unanswered questions which I could not ask because nobody would answer and besides which I could not even formulate them. All my life I have been running, running away from death, no from something worse than death." Because their very existence is in question, abortion survivors do not allow themselves to grow, to mature, to develop. Deprived psychologically of their own intrinsic worth, they find it difficult to acknowledge that of others. When it comes to personal relationships, they both fear and crave them. They are skeptical of the very existence of love. Those engaged in [helping abortion survivors] need to understand the dynamics of abortion survivors and the trans-generational harm caused by abortion. They must appreciate the need to rehumanize individuals hurt by abortion, and to help such people recapture their individuality and their worth. [Dave's Digest , nv, 11Apr02 ]
• ABORTIONISTS DRYING UP. NYC Finalizes Abortion Training Requirement -- According to NARAL, 85 abortionists retire each year and are not replaced. "[A]nd the second most common reasons doctors give for not providing abortion is that they have never been trained to do it," NARAL writes. Cristina Page of NARAL [Newsday] summarized the situation with this quote: "Today, 50 percent of our nation's abortion providers are 50 years of age or older…We need to make sure the next generation of providers is properly trained in the most up-to-date procedures." So, new NYC Mayor Bloomberg plans to require all OBG residents in 8 of the city's 11 public hospitals to be "routinely" trained in abortion techniques, starting in July. A staggering 1 of 7 American physicians does his/her residency in New York City. The 100-150 OB-GYNS who rotate through New York's public hospitals annually perform about 6,500 abortions, according to Dr. Van Dunn, senior VP for medical/ professional affairs at the city hospital agency. Health & Hospitals Corp. is one of the largest public-hospital abortion providers in the USA. About 100,000 total abortions are performed annually in New York City. The AP reports that "the initiative is NARAL's brainchild. NARAL met last year with Bloomberg and other mayoral candidates." Under the proposal, starting in July, what was once an elective in the 4-year OB-GYN residency program will now be mandatory, except for those who ask to be excused for moral or religious reasons. Dunn conceded that most residency programs make such training an elective. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Hall, New York, NY 10007; (212) 788-9600 FAX (212) 788-2460.[NRLC, Dave Andrusko ; AP, Newsday; 4Apr02, ProLife Infonet]

• UN GENDER COMMITTEE ADMITS LEGAL ABORTION UNSAFE FOR WOMEN -- After years of advising countries to legalize abortion, members of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) expert committee have voiced concern over extremely high levels of abortion in the Baltic nation of Estonia. During hearings on compliance with the CEDAW Convention, in 1/02, the committee was surprised by the frequency of abortions in the country -- 98 abortions for every 100 births. One expert admitted that compliance with CEDAW did not require legalizing abortion, noting that, "As far as the Convention was concerned abortion was not a part of women's reproductive rights," and also stated that abortion in general was dangerous to women. According to the UN press release, "An expert said that abortions in many cases were hazardous to women's health. Aside from physical complications, termin-ation of pregnancy could entail psychological problems. It could also lead to infertility." The committee member noted that the Estonian report did not describe "the frequency of repeated abortions in an average woman's life," & she advised that "abortion should not be used as a form of contraception, and she urged the Government of Estonia to take a serious look at the problem." Another committee member cited the high level of divorce in Estonia as a cause for concern. She asked whether "efforts [were] being made to reconcile spouses. Because marriage helped to stabilize society, this trend was worrisome." Previously, CEDAW meetings have often described marriage as a source of discrimination against women. The Estonian fertility rate is now under 1.5 children per woman, well below the 2.1 rate necessary to maintain population size. The UN Population Division (PD) predicts that, in the next fifty years, the population of Estonia will fall by 46%, from 1,393,000 people to 752,000 people. [from C-Fam & Human Rights Assn Friday Fax, Vol. 5, No. 7, 8Feb02. ]
• MALPRACTICE/ CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS LAWSUIT vs. PP – the major class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in St. Louis also alleges wrongful death, and systematic "mass fraud"/"genocide" by targeting minority women for abortions. PP’s own stats show at least 53% of their abortions are performed on minorities, mainly African Americans. [Agape Press, 22Jan02; HLA Action News, Winter 02]

• SEASONAL MOOD DISORDER MAY EFFECT ABORTION AND SUICIDE RATES -- A recent study in the journal Human Reproduction ["Is Voluntary Abortion a Seasonal Disorder of Mood?"] found that seasonal patterns for women having abortions match those for suicide attempts among women.Researchers Angelo Cagnacci & Annibale Volpe of the Univ of Modena in Italy, analyzed women's medical records and found that abortions tended to occur in a seasonal rhythmic method, with more women having abortions in spring and summer than in fall and winter. This matches the seasonal pattern for suicide attempts among women (the abortion rate peaked in May, and the suicide rate peaked in June). Since women who have abortions also tend to have more depression and suicide attempts, the authors concluded, measures to prevent depression and suicide may prevent abortion as well: "Women with previous suicide attempts are less likely to attempt suicide again if they are in a supportive social and friendship environment. Similar considerations may be applicable to voluntary abortions."
• GROUNDBREAKING BOOK ON ABORTION'S IMPACT REISSUED "Aborted Women, Silent No More" by Acorn Books. By post-abortion researcher Dr. David Reardon, it chronicles the physical/emotional impact of abortion on women. It has personal testimonies from 20+ women; 250+ women participated in a survey of abortion experiences, and reported a host of problems: substance abuse, increased depression, suicide attempts, & dysfunctional relationships after abortion. ($24.95 + shipping) (888) 412-2676. [THE ELLIOT INSTITUTE NEWS, Vol.1, No. 3, Mar02 http://www.AfterAbortion.Info/]
• DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF ABORTION: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY/ COMMENTARY ($34.95) -- complete listing of studies regarding abortion effects. http://www.afterabortion.org\Resources\detrimentaleffects.htm
• QUARTERLY JOURNAL: The Post-Abortion Review http://afterabortion.org/postabo.html -- focuses on the impact of abortion on women, men, siblings & society, through summaries of the latest research findings, testimonies, and critiques of pro-abortion slogans.
• FORMER SITE DIRECTOR SUES PLANNED PARENTHOOD of No TX Over Stress Caused by Bomb Threat Drill for at least $1.5 million, alleging that the stress brought on by a PP "bomb awareness" drill has left her "severely depressed and suffering from high blood pressure, fainting spells, headaches, sleep disorders and extreme nervousness." PPNT decided to begin staging bomb awareness drills and other tests to evaluate security & staff awareness at local clinics. [Baker, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 2/4; Kaiser Report, 5Feb02]
• Planned Parenthood’s Idea of Patriotism – In 1999, PPFA provided for the deaths of 182,854 preborn children by surgical abortion. After "generously" providing free sterilizations/abortions following the horrific 9/11 tragedy, PP of Blue Ridge (VA) began "offering red, white and blue condoms to raise money for those affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks," which are available at a drive-up window, no less. "Incredibly, the president/CEO of [this] office described this crass, cynical and disgusting promotion by saying, ‘Offering patriotic condoms will hopefully stem the increase of unintended pregnancies while letting Americans display their colors proudly." [Ryan Report, 11/01; Washington Watch, FRC, 11/01]
• PP Closes 3 more TX Centers in Amarillo and the Panhandle – in 1997, there were 18 PP centers; these closings bring the total down to just 5. [Ryan Report, 11/01]
• In 1998, PP received $142,976,618.00 in federal money [7/00 audit by GAO]. STOPP estimates that PP will get about $66 million of the $253.9 million that President Bush proposed for Title X for 2002. Our USA Congressmen, Senators, & President Bush (202-456-1414) could use this money better for abstinence education -- the only 100% certain way to help our youth avoid STDs and non-marital pregnancy. [Ryan Report, 11/01; www.stoppinternational.org]
• Planned Parenthood, which bills itself as a full-service provider, aborted 61 babies for every 1 adoption referral in 1999; the number of its adoption referrals from l998 to l999 declined by 39%. [NRL website, 26Oct01]
• Planned Parenthood, largest abortion provider in the USA, grossed $660.7 million in FY 98-99; state/federal government grants and contracts (tax money) provide $176.5 million of this total. This is income from all the services of PP’s US 130+ affiliates. About $58 million of that income came from fees charged for abortions, and $18-$20 million of that was 'excess revenue' –i.e. pure profit. Overall, PP, a not-for-profit organization, made a little more than $125 million in profit. [Washington Times Culture, 10/24/00, 'Pure profit'; 11/00 George]. According to the 1998-99 Planned Parenthood Annual Report, PP facilities now are responsible for 1 of every 8 abortions in the USA, whereas in 1989, they performed 1 of every 14 abortions. Although they advertise "adoption counseling", in 1998 PP’s abortions outnumbered their adoptions by 34 – 1. [HLA Action News, Summer 00; from NRTL News, 6/00]
• DEFEND AMERICA. DE-FUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD In 2000, the Packard Fdn gave $122.7 million of its $614 million total grants to the field of "population", including $10 million to National Abortion Rights Action League. Also, $1.6 million to ACLU for "protection of reproductive rights". [NRL News, 11/01]
• Recently, Chile’s Supreme Court declared that pregnancy begins at fertilization; therefore, the "morning-after pill" is illegal. Margaret Sanger’s (founder of PP) grandson, Alex Sanger, of Int’l PP Federation Western Hemisphere Region, thus called Chile a "sometimes medieval nation". [Ryan Report, 11/01]
• German Measles -- in 10/01, ACIP reviewed data indicating that no cases of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) had been identified among infants born to women who were vaccinated inadvertently against rubella within 3 months or early in pregnancy. On the basis of these data, ACIP shortened its recommended period to avoid pregnancy after receipt of rubella-containing vaccine from 3 months to 28 days. Data on 680 live births to susceptible women who were inadvertently vaccinated 3 months before or during pregnancy with one of three rubella vaccines (HPV-77, Cendehill, or RA 27/3) showed that none of the infants was born with CRS. However, a small theoretical risk of 0.5% cannot be ruled out. Limiting the analysis to the 293 infants born to susceptible mothers vaccinated 1--2 weeks before to 4--6 weeks after conception, the maximum theoretical risk is 1.3%. This risk is substantially less than the >20% risk for CRS associated with maternal infection during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Most rubella cases in the United States occur among young Hispanic adults born outside the United States (2), and most infants with CRS are born to foreign-born mothers. CDC. Measles, mumps, and rubella---vaccine use and strategies for elimination of measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome and control of mumps: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR 1998;47(no. RR-8). 2. Reef SE, Frey TK, Abernathy E, et al. The changing epidemiology of rubella in the 1990s: on the verge of elimination and new challenges for control and prevention. JAMA(in press).[CDC, MMWR, December 14, 2001 / 50(49);1117]
• More than 30 pro-life groups, including former pro-abortion advocates, have launched a TV ad campaign urging President Bush to nominate pro-life justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, if he gets the chance. The "Shake The Nation Back To Life" campaign includes supporters such as Norma McCorvey, who gained fame in 1973 as "Roe" in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Sandra Cano was represented as "Doe" in the Doe v. Bolton decision which legalized late-term abortions. She too is now pro-life, as is Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL). "Most Americans have no idea that three of the abortion industry's superstars are now solidly pro-life," Janet Folger of the Center for Reclaiming America, said. [CNSNews.com 15Jan02]
• SEASONED U.S. ABORTIONIST CAUSES MOTHER'S DEATH DURING LEGAL ABORTION; $2.2+ MILLION AWARDED - As more and more cases of abortionists causing the deaths of their clients come to light, it becomes increasingly evident that women must be warned about this and other potential outcomes of the so-called "safe and legal" procedure. Dr. Mohammad Imran, a veteran abortionist in Delaware, boasted in court of having performed "tens of thousands of abortions." While aborting the child of Gracealynn T. Harris in 1997, Imran allegedly punctured Harris' uterus and failed to call an ambulance. According to a medical examiner Harris died of massive internal bleeding. An AP story reports that Harris was 18 weeks pregnant and was already the mother of a child born nine months before. A Superior Court jury found Delaware Women’s Health Organization & Dr. Mohannad Imran medically negligent for allowing Ms. Harris, 19, to bleed to death (perforated uterus). The jury found Imran 40 percent responsible and the clinic 60 percent responsible. Imran will now face an investigation by the Delaware Board of Medical Practice. [[WILMINGTON, Del., 10Jan02 (LSN.ca); NV, 01/16/2002] ; http://www.nj.com/newsflash/jersey/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgifree/getstory_ssf.cgi?j0106_BC_DE-AbortionDeath&&news&newsflash-newjersey
• See "legal" abortion malpractice cases: http://usconservatives.about.com/cs/abmal/
• ABORTIONIST WILL BE MONITORED WITH ANKLE BRACELET -- Phoenix abortion doctor Brian Finkel, jailed on charges of sexual misconduct with nearly 100 patients, is free on bond. [The Arizona Republic, 17Jan02; PL E News,1/22]
• AUSSIE WOMAN CAPTURES SETTLEMENT FROM ABORTIONIST FOR ABC LINK --Pregnant Catherine M., 23, would have helped herself in 1998 if she had had a full-term birth, which lowers breast cancer risk, especially the first full-term birth (if the woman is under age 30). But she had an elective abortion by Australian Dr. Dhillon. In 2000, Catherine sued Dr. Dhillon, with 3 of her 17 claims related to the unconsented breast cancer risks. In Aug 2001 Dhillon settled, the first ever settlement anywhere where the plaintiff alleged an 'ABC'(Abortion-Breast-Cancer) risk. There were 3 statements of claim regarding the 2 'ABC' risks: (1) Failing to warn the Plaintiff that the termination of her pregnancy might increase the risk of her subsequently developing breast cancer; (2) Failing to inform the Plaintiff that there was a body of medical opinion and/or surveys that suggested there was a link between surgical termination of pregnancy and subsequent risk of developing breast cancer; and (3) Failing to inform the Plaintiff that proceeding with her pregnancy would reduce the subsequent risk of breast cancer. According to cancer expert Dr. Samuel S. Epstein: "For example, if you were to have an abortion at the age of 25, your risk of developing breast cancer at the age of 60 would increase from 1 in 24 to about 1 in 18, especially if you have more than one abortion before your first full-term pregnancy." [The Breast Cancer Prevention Program, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein et al, 1997, pp. 36-37. (Dr. Epstein is 'pro-choice'). Other 'pro-choice' medical professionals such as Dr. Janet Daling, Lynn Rosenberg (ScD) (under oath in 1999), and Dr. Susan Love (via medically postponed first full-term birth) have conceded higher breast cancer risk via elective abortions.
  www.AbortionBreastCancer.com
  www.abortioncancer.com
  [Brent Rooney (Independent Medical Researcher) Vancouver, Canada, 14Jan02; ;www.vcn.bc.ca/~whatsup. His work is published in British Medical Journal, Epidemiology, Western Journal of Medicine, European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology]

• Female breast cancer death rates were highest for blacks, followed by whites, Hispanics, AI/ANs, and APIs. During 1990--1998, breast cancer-related death rates decreased for white (2.5% per year) and Hispanic (1.2% per year) women and were unchanged for black, AI/AN, and API women . In 1990, 43,389 women died and in 1998, 41,736 died from breast cancer. Breast cancer accounts for the second largest proportion of cancer-related deaths among women. [CDC, 25Jan02, MMWR]

• British Medical Journal FINDS CLINICAL DEPRESSION LINKED TO ABORTION -- the study reports that women who abort a first pregnancy are at greater risk of subsequent long term clinical depression compared to women who carry an unintended first pregnancy to term. Data from a national study of American youths, begun in 1979, was used to conduct the research. In 1992, a subset of 4,463 women were surveyed about depression,intended-ness of pregnancy, and pregnancy outcome. A total of 421 women had had their first abortion or first unintended delivery between 1980 and 1992. An average of 8 years after their abortions, married women were 138 percent more likely to be at high risk of clinical depression compared to similar women who carried their unintended first pregnancies to term. Reardon, the director of the Elliot Institute in Springfield, Illinois, says the study's findings are consistent with other recent research that has shown a four to six fold increased risk of suicide and substance abuse associated with prior abortion. He says the findings are also important because this is the first national representative study to examine rates of depression many years after an abortion, on average about 8 years later in this sample. The data set used was the same as that used by feminist psychologist Nancy Russo of Arizona State University, whose examination of a self-esteem scale revealed no significant difference between aborting women and women who carried to term. Russo concluded that the absence of difference in self-esteem scores in this large national data set proved that abortion has no "substantial and important impact on women's well-being." The Elliot Institute's new analysis of the same data set reveals that significant differences do exist. "The most serious flaw of the Russo study is that the authors did not even comment on the extraordinarily high rate of concealment of past abortions in the sample," Reardon said. "Women who do not want to mention a past abortion are most likely the ones who will have unresolved feelings of shame, guilt, or grief…Russo's previous analysis of this data set was methodologically weak and was frankly a poor basis on which to build the claim that abortion has no measurable effect on women's well- being," he said. "The results of our reexamination of this data set, especially in combination with other studies showing higher rates of suicide, substance abuse, and other mental health disorders associated with prior abortion-shows that the 'no effect' hypothesis should be rejected. Something is going on here..."

  Another important aspect of this study is that it is one of only a few studies to use any pre-pregnancy psychological score as a control variable. The most commonly used control variable used in regarding emotional reactions is "pre-abortion" evaluation on the day of the abortion when the woman is in the crux of emotional distress. Asked what the practical implications of this study are for physicians, Reardon said: "We recommend that physicians should routinely inquire about the outcome of all the patient's pregnancies. The simple question, 'Have you experienced any pregnancy losses such as miscarriage, abortion, adoption, or stillbirth?' may be sufficient to give women permission to discuss unresolved issues related to prior pregnancy losses. Physician's should remember that there are few social contexts in which women feel it is appropriate to discuss unresolved feelings about prior pregnancy loss. Many patients will appreciate the opportunity to discuss their pregnancy losses with an empathetic person and may welcome referrals for additional counseling." [www.afterabortion.org; British Medical Journal, 324: 151-152; Infonet, 18Jan02] REFERENCED STUDIES: Reardon DC, Cougle JR. Depression and unintended pregnancy in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth: a cohort study British Medical Journal, 324: 151-152. http://www.bmj.com. Russo NF, Zierk K. Abortion, childbearing, and women's well-being. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 1992; 23: 269-280. Informed Medical Consent: every woman's right

• MI ABORTIONIST TO LOSE MEDICAL LICENSE --Jose Higuera will plead guilty to a charge that he altered the baby's gestational age on the medical records, but state officials have agreed to drop the illegal abortion charge in exchange for the loss of Higuera's medical license. Higuera is believed to be the first abortionist charged with performing an illegal abortion since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. [AP, May 7, 2001; Elliot Institute, 7/01]

• BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH IGNORED ABORTION LINKAGE Thirteen of 15 studies have shown more breast cancer among women who have had abortions than those who have not. In addition, 28 out of 37 international studies since 1957 have shown a breast cancer link to abortion. Since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion-on-demand, there has been a 40% increase in the incidence of breast cancer among women. An estimated 43,000 women died last year from breast cancer without being informed of this risk. [www.abortionbreastcancer.com/; TVC v. 4,#44, 2Nov01]
• ABORTIONIST WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR WOMAN'S DEATH The family of a WI woman who was poisoned during a botched chemical abortion (legal) will not receive any compensation, even though a jury found Daniel Gilman, the abortionist, to be responsible. He was dismissed - the lawsuit was filed too late. [Milwaukee Jnl Sentinel; 4May 01]
• PHILLY ABORTIONIST FACING LAWSUIT - A couple has filed a lawsuit against a PA abortionist, accusing him of botching the wife's abortion and endangering her life by failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy in her fallopian tube. The Jehs asked $50,000 in damages from Harvey Brookman and the Healthy Women's Center after the abortion July/00. [Bucks County (PA) Courier Times, 23Feb01]
• One day after the arrest of Dr. Brian Finkel, the Phoenix abortionist accused of sexually abusing his patients, at least 90 more women reported that Finkel inappropriately touched them before or during exams/ abortions. Finkel is being held on a $203,550 bond. [Kaiser Daily Repro Health Reports, (not pro-life) 10/29/01]
• CA Abortionist Faces Disciplinary Action in Malpractice Case – Joseph Durante, 72, perforated woman’s uterus & bowel in a legal abortion [The Desert Sun, 27Sept01]
• ABORTIONIST OFFERS BAPTISMAL CEREMONIES FOR ABORTED BABIES -- A mother who aborted her 7 1/2 month old unborn child has testified that following the procedure she and her husband took part in a baptismal ceremony offered by Women's Health Care Services, run by abortionist George Tiller. He promotes a "remembrance ceremony" as an additional service to late-term abortion customers. With the dead, aborted baby the site offers "baptism of your baby, with or without a certificate," "certificate of premature miscarriage," and "footprints and handprints of your baby." [CWNews.com/LSN.ca, 3 Sep01]

• Carhart Does Abortions to "Satisfy My Ego" -- Carhart estimates he sees 1,400 women per year -- many of whom want late-term abortions. Carhart is the 59-year-old former Air Force surgeon who challenged NE's attempt to ban partial birth abortion; the U.S. Supreme Court (5-4) blocked the NE legislature's effort. "What I did was to provide tissue from the abortions that we do here to the university for use in their on-going research," he said. He is also fighting his landlord's effort to evict the abortion site from the building it has occupied since 1994. He is the only abortion practitioner in a 6-state area (NE, IA, ND, SD, WY and northwest MO) who performs late abortions. "I've done enough abortions that I don't feel I have to do any more to satisfy my ego," Carhart says. He has trained 4 others who now perform abortions in other states. He is a spokesman to raise funds and build support for the pro-abortion forces. "The biggest change of my life is travelling all over the country," he says. "I really love it. It's more fun than doing abortions." [CNN; May 18, 2001; Infonet]
• According to Ramah International, which has studied female prison inmates, 60-80 percent of these women are post-abortive.

• Abortion Practitioner Stalks Woman After Abortion --One week after Holschauer performed an abortion, he showed up at her job in July 1995. "He wanted sex. And he got it, later that same day. Sex with a woman he'd performed an abortion on days earlier. Then he began to stalk her, calling up, showing up. He wanted more." After an exhaustive, four-year investigation, the state agency suspended his medical license for a year, as of April 16; but he may be back doing abortions with a 5 year probation.[Infonet; http://www.health.state.ny. us/nysdoh/opmc/main.htm; Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record]

• AR MAN GETS LIFE IN PRISON FOR DEATH OF UNBORN CHILD – he arranged an attack that killed his girlfriend's unborn child after she refused to have an abortion. [AP, 9Feb01]
• POST-ABORTIVE WOMEN CHALLENGE Roe v. Wade – blank copies of affidavits/instructions: www.operationoutcry.org, or toll-free 1-877-247-7582. In CA, 3 women are suing Planned Parenthood of San Diego and national PPFA to force it to reveal scientific evidence of a substantial link between abortion and breast cancer. No monetary damages are sought; they want PP to be required to inform women of the health risk of abortion. [Family Resources Ctr News, Oct/Nov 01; HLI; EWTN; www.abortionbreastcancer.com]
• HER CHOICE is an innovative telephone information system in Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Birmingham, which allows the caller to select any of many pre-recorded messages by pressing a number on the telephone keypad. Messages are the recorded stories of post-abortive women/ men & of women who kept their babies which can be listened to anonymously, without pressure. People can also send in their short personal stories. Info: www.herchoice.org; 952-447-5683.
• RETURNED FETAL REMAINS SHOCK UNINFORMED WOMEN New Zealand abortion sites are returning fetal remains to women after their abortions, claiming that this is simply a part of fully informing women about their treatment. However, some women - like a 16 year old who "held [the fetus' severed] little hand in her fingers" fail to cope with the shock of finding identifiable body parts. [Nov 01, Pro-Life E-News www.abortionconcern.org/articles/returned_foetal_remains_shock_uninformed_women.htm]
• NO FETAL CELLS IN NEW SMALLPOX VACCINES - The company charged with making nearly 155 million new smallpox vaccines for the USA has said it will not use a stem-cell line from an aborted fetus in the process, changing earlier plans indicating it would use the MRC-5 cell line from aborted fetal cells from 1966. The U.S. HHS awarded a contract to Acambis PLC of Great Britain to manufacture additional vaccine. They will use "the Baxter serum three Vero culture cell," Acambis CEO John Brown stated. "Acambis' new smallpox vaccine is based on the same vaccinia (cowpox) virus strain that was licensed in the U.S. and used for routine immunization against smallpox prior to the global eradication of smallpox in the 1970s," stated a press statement on the Acambis website. Acambis had already been contracted by the U.S. government to make 54 million doses of smallpox vaccine. Those doses will be manufactured using the fetal-tissue cell line. "The MRC-5 line was developed from lung tissue taken from a 14-week fetus aborted from a 27-year-old physically healthy woman," said a description of the cell tissue by the Coriell Inst for Medical Research at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where the line is maintained. Thompson said the government has no plans for mass inoculations in the U.S., but the new doses mean Washington will be able to stockpile around 286 million doses in total. The 2000 Census put the U.S. population at about 285.6 million. The program is worth $428 million. [www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25538, 4 Dec 01, World Net Daily]
• British Surrogate Mom Sues in Abortion Dispute – vs. a California couple she met on the Internet, saying they backed out of the pregnancy deal after she refused to abort one of her twin unborn children. Helen Beasley, who is 25 weeks pregnant, said an abortion would be too risky. But that has left the 26-year-old secretary bearing children she has no legal right to and that she says she cannot afford to care for. Beasley sued the couple, Charles Wheeler and Martha Berman, in San Diego on 1Aug, claiming breach of contract and fraud. The couple agreed to pay her $19,000 to bear their child, according to court documents. Beasley's agreement with Wheeler & Berman called for a ``selective reduction'' abortion if she became pregnant with more than one baby, according to court documents. But Beasley claims they made a verbal agreement that such a decision would be made before the 12th week of pregnancy. Beasley said she told the couple she was carrying twins when she found out, about eight weeks into her pregnancy. At the end of Beasley's 13th week, she said, the couple told her they had scheduled an appointment in San Francisco to abort one of the twins. Beasley refused. Beasley said she wants to put the twins up for adoption. But under CA law, parental rights in a surrogate-birth agreement go to the intended parents, not the surrogate mother, according to the San Diego-based lawyer who is representing Beasley. [AP; 11Aug01; Infonet]

• Scientists Explore Why Female Body does Not Reject Preborn Child – Eastern VA Medical School researcher Gary Clark et al have identified a protein with chains of sugars attached to it, found in the uterus which multiplies during pregnancy. It appears to prevent certain types of immune system responses. [Cells, Tissues, Organs journal earlier this year; Norfolk Virginian 26Sept01]

• HOMICIDE THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH OF PREGNANT WOMEN in Maryland -- A new study in JAMA points to the reality that pregnant women may often be the targets of violence specifically because they are pregnant. The results boost the need for legislation like the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and state fetal protection laws which prosecute criminals for killing or injuring unborn children in the course of assaults against pregnant mothers. "[This] was definitely an unexpected and extremely surprising finding," study author Dr. Isabelle Horon from the MD Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene in Baltimore said. About 20% of the 247 pregnancy-related deaths that occurred in Maryland from 1993-1998 were due to homicide, according to Horon and co-author Dr. Diana Cheng. The second-leading cause of death was cardio-vascular disorder, which accounted for 19% of deaths. In contrast, homicide was the cause of less than 12% of deaths among non-pregnant women in MD, even after the investigators took into consideration age and race. In general, younger females and African-American women suffer higher rates of homicide. Many of the cases nationally involve assaults on pregnant women by husbands or boyfriends who have encouraged them to have abortions. In many cases, the violence comes on the heels of a refusal to have an abortion. [The Journal of the American Medical Association 2001;285:1455-1459, 1510-1511; Reuters Health; 21Mar01; Infonet]

• NEW PAPER SHOWS ABORTION INCREASES MURDER RATES -- New Haven, CT -- A new study by two professors from Yale University Law School and Australia's University of Adelaide rebuts previous research claiming an decrease in U.S. crime rates as a result of legal abortion. The paper shows an overall increase in murder rates as a result of abortion. The professors offer the following abstract of their paper: "Abortion may prevent the birth of ‘unwanted’ children, who would have relatively small investments in human capital and a higher probability of crime. On the other hand, some research suggests that legalizing abortion increases out-of-wedlock births and single parent families, which implies the opposite impact on investments in human capital and thus crime. The question is: what is the net impact?" "We find evidence that legalizing abortion increased murder rates by around about 0.5 to 7 percent. Previous estimates are shown to suffer from not directly linking the cohorts who are committing crime with whether they had been born before or after abortion was legal." [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=270126 ;Pro-Life Infonet; 25June 01]

• NORMA MCCORVEY (JANE ROE IN ROE VS WADE) The woman who worked to legalize abortion on demand in the USA is now working to overturn the historic case that bears her name. Norma McCorvey is asking that every pro-lifer sign her "Friend of the Court" form. If you'd like to sign this form or learn more about this effort, go to: www.ReverseRoe.com
• ROE AND DOE FILE AMICUS BRIEFS IN CASE TO OVERTURN ROE V. WADE -- The plaintiffs in the two landmark Supreme Court cases of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the January 22, 1973 cases that compelled legalized abortion throughout the nation, appeared in Philadelphia on May 31, 2001, to file Friend of the Court briefs with the US Court of Appeals. In their briefs they tell the Courts why the decisions in their own cases have proven to be harmful to the rights of women and why the original decisions should be overturned. Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe in Roe v. Wade) and Sandra Cano (Mary Doe of Doe v. Bolton) filed briefs in the case of Donna Santa Marie, et al v. Christine Todd Whitman, et al. The Santa Marie case is a federal class action suit brought by five women (three of whom had abortions that were performed without voluntary or informed consent) who argue that New Jersey's abortion laws violate the most important constitutional rights of women. The case is the first instance in which women have brought law suits which attack Roe v. Wade & Doe v. Bolton and seek to have the Supreme Court decisions in those cases set aside. A short synopsis of the case and the plaintiffs' stories are available upon request; contact Gene Tarne or Michelle Powers of Tarne, Powers & Assoc. at 703-684-8352. [National Fdn for Life; 30May01; Infonet]
• Norma McCorvey, the former "Jane Roe" in the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortion on demand, McCorvey, 52, is now a staunch pro-life advocate. McCorvey said she never went through with the abortion at the time of the Roe vs. Wade case, and gave the baby up for adoption. That child she has never seen would now be 29, she said, adding she also has two grown daughters in their early 30s. She has created a Dallas-based ministry called Roe No More to fight abortion and to provide counseling to pregnant women. [Florida Today; August 29, 2000]

• New Italian Leader Pushes Pro-Life Review of Abortion Laws- European Affairs Minister proposed amending the law to include subsidies to try to persuade women to stop having abortions. Italy allows abortion in the first three months of pregnancy.According to data, there were 139,386 abortions in Italy in 1999; 234,801 in 1982. [AP, Reuters; 13Jun01; Infonet]
• Russia's Demographic Decline Continues- sickness, widespread poverty, disintegrating health care, environmental hazards and poor nutrition, combined with Russia's still staggering abortion rate, are helping drive Russia's demographic decline. Russia's population, now around 145 million, is shriveling. At this rate, demographers predict the world's largest country will have a population smaller than Japan's - 125 million – within 20 years. The country's birth rate has halved since 1988 to 1.3 children per woman. Russia has the world's highest abortion rate (2 of 3 pregnancies end in abortion). Russia's Health Ministry estimates that 10- 25% of Russian couples are infertile and some obstetricians say one-tenth of Russian newborns die of infections. [AP, Angela Charlton 29July00]

• Russians Find Poverty Leads to Increased Abortions –Ten years ago, nearly 4,000,000 abortions were performed per year, 2.2 abortions for every live birth. Poverty is pushing Russian women toward abortion which is free. Abortion, notes a Russian doctor, can have serious medical side effects; it accounts for 10- 15% of secondary infertility. Russia's abortion rate, although somewhat declining, is still the second highest in Europe, after Romania, and is three times that of the U.S. rate. Ironically, abortion is widely practiced, even as Russia is experiencing a severe population crisis. The country's death rate is now higher than the birth rate. Ten years ago, there were 13.5 newborns per thousand population. Today, there are just 8.5. A month's supply of chemical contraceptives costs from $1.50 to $10. But the monthly salary of many Russians is just $20. [ CNN; January 20, 2001]
• MAFIA, UNLICENSED MDs LINKED TO ABORTION SITES A federal racketeering probe in Chicago alleges that a Mafia don owns/operates a prominent abortion site & actively tries to bribe friendly politicians on the premises & that he engaged "in sexual activity with a woman who was part of the clinic's administrative staff," according to a defense document in Centracchio's racketeering case. Pro-life activists say the case, entitled "The People v. Anthony Centracchio" is only one example of the questionable activities at abortion sites here and possibly elsewhere. "What type of doctors work in these clinics? Many have lost legitimate practices and find the abortion industry welcomes them. NOW & NARAL refused comment. [Gene Koprowski, CNS News, 5Mar01]
• The Horror Behind London Abortion Facilities - An investigation into a leading London abortion facility "has revealed a plethora of disturbing stories from dozens of women" who had abortions there. An abortion facility run by the pro-abortion group Marie Stopes Int’l was exposed by the paper to be treating women to "conveyor belt" abortions & hurrying them through without adequate counseling or care. Dozens of women contacted the publication to talk about their experiences. Many of them had never spoken to anyone before about their pain because abortion is still largely a taboo subject. Several women told about the complications they suffered as a result of undergoing an abortion. Some of the testimonies appear below. The names have been changed. Veronica is a 21-year-old who lost her womb and nearly died after a routine abortion at Park View; she was rushed to the hospital where doctors saved her life after nine hours of surgery. She had lost 48 pints of blood. Jane is a 44-year-old university lecturer who, after a failed sterilization in 1992, underwent an abortion at Marie Stopes three years ago. Before the abortion, she had an ultrasound scan carried out by a consultant gynecologist whose name she is still trying to discover. The surgeon spoke to her about the possibility of being re-sterilized. She had the abortion and afterwards he told her that he had not performed a resterilization, because a laparoscopy had revealed a "fibroid" at the opening of the womb. In fact, the growth was an unborn child growing in her fallopian tube and the abortion had been useless. Weeks later, Jane's stomach was enormous. She had another scan where staff found she was nearly 10 weeks pregnant. "Three hours later, I was undergoing surgery to remove the fetus and the tubes." Later, her husband confessed that the doctors had prepared him for the fact that she might not survive the operation. Rachel became pregnant two years ago at the age of 32, and as she already had one child, she and her boyfriend opted for an abortion. "I was scanned twice and the [abortion practitioners] on both occasions said they could see the fetus and no one suggested anything was wrong." The abortion, carried out under a local anaesthetic at the abortion site in 1998, was agonizing, and useless because it also was a tubal pregnancy. Rachel almost died. "I'm desperately sad to think of all the women who have had their lives put at risk, as mine was." [London Evening Standard; June 14, 2000, Infonet]

• Viet Nam's Abortion Rate Declining but Remains High -- Vietnam's abortion rate is declining, but remained very high in 2000 at 679,000 abortions, 50.3 percent of the number of babies born in 2000, lower than the 63.8 percent recorded in 1999. It was a considerable decline from 1991-1992, when 1.3 million to 1.5 million abortions were reported each year. Vietnam hopes to lower the abortion rate to 25 percent of live births by 2010. Abortions are legal in Vietnam. [Lao Dong Newspaper; April 19, 2001; Infonet]
• New Research Clearly Documents Infanticide in China Researchers say comprehensive new data shows that traditional family patterns in China, combined with tough population-control measures, have resulted in ``female infanticide on a grand scale'' – over 808,000 baby girls abandoned or killed in a single region between 1971-80 alone. Skinner, anthropologist & China specialist at the University of California-Davis, & Chinese researcher Yuan Jianhua based their conclusions on an analysis of 1990 Chinese census data. They presented their findings at the Association for Asian Studies' annual meeting. They are the first to show how location and family composition help determine infants' fate: The more rural a baby girl's surroundings, and the more sisters she had at birth, the higher her chances of not surviving. Chinese officials have long maintained that missing girls are adopted or raised on the sly, but Skinner said the data does not allow for concealment. Skinner and Yuan, focused on a 1 percent census sample of China's lower Yangtze region; it ranges from crowded coastal cities to surrounding rural communities, and had a population of 140 million in 1990. China began trying to control its massive population growth in 1970 and introduced a one-child-per-family policy in 1980. From 1971 to 1980, Skinner and Yuan found that 808,300 baby girls were missing, or about 8 percent of all girls born in the lower Yangtze region during the decade. About 81,800 boys, or 4.7 percent of the total, are missing, too. But Skinner and Yuan conclude that while most of the boys were adopted or ``transferred'' to other families, most of the girls were killed shortly after birth. Their research was aided by the fact that the Chinese census collects a birth history from every woman under the age of 65. The disappearance of girls has continued over time. All Yangtze-region couples with two daughters reported more than twice as many male as female births in 1989-90 when it came to baby No. 3. That's more than double the natural ratio of 104-106 baby boys born for every 100 baby girls. For couples with two daughters, the ratio shot up to 232 baby boys per 100 baby girls in 1989-90. Many girls were abandoned at birth, but the traditional method of infanticide is drowning. Statistics since 1990 show that China's male-female imbalance is persisting, and there have been reports in both the Chinese and the Western press about the rise of targeted abortions of female fetuses after their sex is detected by ultrasound. In 1997, a Univ of Washington demographer cited statistics from a 1995 Chinese census sampling that reportedly showed that among 3-year-olds, there were 119 boys per 100 girls; among 2-year-olds, 121 boys; and among children less than a year old, 116 boys. [San Jose Mercury News, 5June00; Infonet]
• Since 1973, approx. 40 MILLION babies have been legally destroyed by surgical abortion. According to industry trade group Computing Technology Industry Assoc, the US is NOT able to fill 269,000 high-tech jobs, costing US businesses about $4.5 billion annually in lost production. [HLA Action News, Spring 2000]

• Therapeutic Abortion & Breast Cancer – by Joel Brind, Ph.D.; for the complete text: http://198.78.170.85/news/2001/NRL02/joel.html
• New Research Shows 1 in 6 People Involved in an Abortion Chicago, IL -- One in six Americans report being responsible for a pregnancy that ended in abortion, according to University of Chicago researchers who released more data from the National Health and Social Life Survey (the nation's most comprehensive scientific study of American sexual behavior and attitudes). "Sex, Love, and Health: Private Choices and Public Policies," containing reports by 16 researchers, is the second installment of the U. of C. project launched a decade ago by the NIH to update a body of research on sex that hadn't changed much since the Kinsey reports of the 1940s and 1950s. The U. of C. researchers found that a first pregnancy (esp. in the teen years) & late pregnancies (esp. mid-30s+) are the ones most likely to be aborted, with pregnancies in the 20s and early 30s more likely to go to term. A teenage girl is much more apt to have an abortion if her parents are better educated and less likely if she is African-American, but black women have on average more conceptions and are more likely to have had an abortion over their lifetime. [Chicago Tribune; 25Jan01; Infonet]

• Florida Abortion Facility Closes - after 27 years of doing abortions, Feminist Women's Health Center is closing. Only one site will remain open in Tallahassee. Feminist performed about 20 to 25 abortions per week. A crisis pregnancy center moved next to Feminist, providing services to 115 women its first year; about 600 last year; and hopes to help about 1,200 women this year choose life over abortion. More than half come to this center pregnant. [Tallahassee Democrat; February 3, 2001; Infonet]

• You can help women find abortion alternatives at Pregnancy Centers Online www.pregnancycenters.org
  America's Crisis Pregnancy Helpline 1-800-672-2296

• ABORTION FOUR TIMES MORE DANGEROUS THAN CHILDBIRTH -- FYI: the government funded study in Finland described in last month’s Lifelines asserted that women who have abortions are approximately four times more likely to die in the following year than women who carry their pregnancies to term. In addition, women who carry to term are only half as likely to die as women who were not pregnant. Researchers from Finland's National Research and Dev’t Ctr for Welfare & Health examined death certificate records for all women of reproductive age (15-49) who died between 1987 and 1994, a total of 9,129 women. They then examined the national health care database to identify any pregnancy- related events for the women in the 12 months prior to their deaths. The researchers found that compared to women who carried to term, women who aborted in the year prior to their deaths were 60 percent more likely to die of natural causes, 7 times more likely to die of suicide, 4 times more likely to die of injuries related to accidents, and 14 times more likely to die from homicide. Researchers believe the higher rate of deaths related to accidents and homicide may be linked to higher rates of suicidal or risk-taking behavior. [Elliot Institute, 18June00; from Infonet] www.afterabortion.org/PAR/V8/n2/finland.html
• Census 2000 – The USA now has 281,421,906 people, a jump of 13.2% since the Census of 1990, and 1.4 million more than estimated (which may be "because the bureau did a better job than expected of counting undocumented immigrants"), according to Census Director Prewitt. Every state gained population; but D.C. declined by 5.7%. [USA Today, 29Dec00]
• Over half of the U.S. population growth in the 1990s was attributable to immigrants and their U.S. born children. "Immigration is currently the major factor in US population growth", with 11.2 million immigrants arriving between 1990 and 2000, bringing the US total to 28.4 million immigrants, about 10.4% of the US population. Children born in the US to immigrants account for an additional 6.4 million people. [TCW, 12Jan01; Ctr for Immigration Studies Report, 4Jan01]
• [ED. It is interesting to note that the USA Today chart shows a US gain of 32,712,033 people during the last 10 years. According to the Center for Immigration Studies report, 11.2 million immigrants plus their 6.4 million children = 17.6 million people, came during those 10 years, which means that over half – 53.8% -- of the population increase came from immigration. Whether this CIS report includes "undocumented" immigrants, as did the Census, is unclear. Regardless, it is easy to see that documented/ undocumented immigration is playing a large role in keeping US population numbers up. Then consider that approximately 15 million preborn Americans have lost their lives during this past decade through abortion...]

• VACCINES - According to Human Life International, vaccines for Hepatitis-A, chicken pox, and rubella (MMR) are only available from aborted human fetuses sacrificed decades ago. The rubella vaccine originated from the 1960’s, during the rubella epidemic. In a "control experiment group, there were 27 abortions performed before the live virus was detected. The first 26 were apparently perfectly healthy babies. This 27th victim became known in the science world as human diploid cell line WI-38…In the 1970s, a second cell line derived from a 14-week-old aborted male, dubbed MRC-5, would provide fetal lung tissue for even further medical treatments." Measles, mumps, polio and rabies already are available in "tainted" and "untainted" versions; but HAV, rubella, and chicken pox are not. www.cogforlife.org. [HLI Reports, 1/01]

• Planned Parenthood to pay $1 million+ to settle NY breast cancer misdiagnosis case - The trial was about breast cancer, not abortion or politics, said the attorney for 24-year-old Lisa Joseph, whose breast cancer was misdiagnosed by Planned Parenthood Mohawk-Hudson. Joseph, who has 2-5 years to live, was awarded in excess of $1 million. She is undergoing weekly chemotherapy. Linnan gave court transcripts to the New York State Dept of Health in an effort to spur full-scale investigation into PP’s Mohawk-Hudson's medical practices. PP’s medical director defended its nurse practitioner, Ella Wylie, who testified that she could diagnose cancer with her fingertips. One doctor testified that such practice was "outrageous" & another doctor voluntarily testified against PP despite his prior association with it. On two separate occasions, Wylie told Joseph that the lump in her breast was not cancerous & that she was too young to have cancer. Two months later, she sought a second opinion elsewhere and had the lump removed. However, the cancer has found its way into her chest wall. "This is another tragic case involving a Planned Parenthood clinic and we have exposed others in recent months," said STOPP International's director, Szymkowiak. "We urge women to think twice about going to any Planned Parenthood clinic for any reason." [Attorney James Linnan 518-449-5400; Jan. 23 Glen Falls, N.Y., Post Star; ALL Media Office, 7Mar01; STOPP, http://www.stoppinternational.org]
• Making Abortion Illegal Worked Well in Poland -- When it comes to curbing abortions, Poland stands as a world leader. For 44 years, Poland was dominated by Russia and abortion was not only legal, it was paid for by the government. Then in 1993, after the Iron Curtain fell, the Polish parliament severely restricted abortion. "Abortions declined precipitously so that this past year, they only had 250 abortions. So the abortion rate went from 160,000 to 250," said Jack Willke, M.D. of the Life Issues Institute. "Right now, what do we see? There are fewer gynecologic admissions to Polish hospitals today than there were when abortion was legal," Dr. Willke said. "There are fewer women dying of gynecologic problems." Lek Koleski, a Polish member of the board of directors of the International Right to Life Committee, said abortion restrictions have helped educate women. "One year we had abortion on demand again, and only 1,200 women wanted abortions on demand that year," Koleski said. "That means that the previous years had educated people not to use this way of reducing the number of your children." His conclusion: The law tends to influence opinions. Poland's experience also shows that fewer women died as a result of pregnancy and childbirth, neonatal births declined and induced abortions performed to save the life and health of the mother also became more rare after abortion laws were passed. [Family News in Focus; May 10, 2000]

• Abortion Will NOT Return to the Back Alley – clear and detailed article by Jack Willke, MD, using the abortion history of Poland to prove the point. [Life Issues Connector, 4/2000; www.lifeissues.org]
• British Medial Experts Say Unborn Children Feel Pain During Abortion -- Thousands of abortions may cause pain to the unborn children, say doctors preparing to debate the contentious issue of "fetal awareness." Professor Glover is calling for all abortions between 17 and 24 weeks to be performed under anaesthetic. Although 90 % of abortions in England take place before 13 weeks, concern has resurfaced about those carried out during the next 11 weeks. At present, some abortions during the period of 13 to 24 weeks are carried out without anaesthesia. Prof Glover, of Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, who is to chair a conference on the issue at the Royal Institution in November, said that many questions remained about when the fetus became sentient. She said: "Between 17 and 26 it is increasingly possible that it starts to feel something and that abortions done in that period ought to use anaesthesia." One scientist in the United States told the Pro-Life Infonet she knows of numerous medical and scientific experts in the field from all over the world who believe that embryos (the embryonic period is from fertilization to the end of the 8th week - beginning of the 9th week) can feel pain by at least the 8th week of pregnancy. Kevin Male, spokesperson for the British pro-life organization Life, said, "This is more evidence that human life exists from the moment of conception. We have known it all along, and I suspect that everybody else knows it subconsciously, but will not admit it." Prof Glover acknowledged that by raising the matter she could be providing fodder for pro-life advocates. She said: "I am pro-choice, but one should not muddle the two. One should think about how one is doing [the abortion] in the most pain-free way." According to one study, aborted children have been heard to cry from 21 weeks and some doctors believe that distress can be felt as early as 13 weeks. A study by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said that it was not easy to define or evaluate fetal awareness, in particular awareness of pain. It concluded that the unborn child was not "aware" before 26 weeks. "The fetus would not be capable of experiencing what we would perceive as pain." The evidence …focused on nerve connections between …the cortex and the thalamus. Until they develop after 26 weeks, sensations of pain cannot be experienced, Penney said. On the other hand, Professor Hepper, of the fetal behaviour research center at Queen's University, Belfast, said there was not enough evidence to say that the unborn child experienced pain before 26 weeks. But he believed it was "better to be safe than sorry". [London Telegraph, British Broadcasting Corporation; 28 Aug 2000]

• "Prenatal Diagnosis and Selective Abortion: a Challenge to Practice and Policy" by Dr. Adrienne Asch, Wellesley College, Am J Public Health, 1999, pp.1649-1657: "thoughtful, 'well-documented expose’ of the negative…attitude toward people with disabilities …urges that counseling about prenatal diagnosis include comprehensive information not only about the biologic and cognitive impairments …but also about the available services and support for disabled children…"

• According to Senator Helms, 15% of the 1200 member schools in the National Assembly on School Based Health Care are dispensing emergency contraceptive pills [Life Advocy Brfing, No 7-48, Rt to Life bulletin, 2/01]
• SCHOOL-BASED "CLINICS" (SBCs) "And its goal is to empower students to control their own health care. "The materials convey messages of safe sex…They do everything here, from throat cultures, immunizations and physical exams to Pap smears and pregnancy tests." SBCs emerged in the early 1970s. Since 1990 when there were only 200 "clinics", 1998-1999 figures indicate there are currently 1,135 such centers in schools [National Assembly on School-Based Health Care]. Parents are probably not aware that if condoms are not dispensed, "condom maps" are given to students, to locate nearby contraceptive providers. "We have so many girls with abnormal Pap smears...The[y also must] address the students' need for mental health services. There is a lot of stress and depression among these patients." [Ed. Perhaps they should try teaching teens to abstain from sex until marriage. They will likely note a dramatic drop in abnormal Pap smears and depression…][http://www.ama-assn.org/ scipubs/amnews/pick00/hlsa0807.htm; School Based Health Care, 8/7/2000; NV]

• Do you know someone who has been hurt by an abortion and needs to talk?

http://www.pregnancycenters.org

• America's Crisis Pregnancy Helpline 1-800-672-2296

LEGISLATION / JUDICIAL ACTS

• MISSOURI LAW SAYS UNBORN CAN BE CRIME VICTIMS -- State law says the life of each human being begins at conception and that unborn children, at all stages of development, have protectable interests in life, health and well-being. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, 1988, says that an unborn child has all the rights, privileges & immunities available to other people. Several cases have been tried under this law. Lester Taylor pleaded guilty in St. Louis County Circuit Court of fatally beating a pregnant woman and her fetus. The murder plea in the fetal death was unprecedented and was based on the law that says life begins at conception. Richard Hedden, 46, faces charges of second-degree murder for killing the fetus of a woman who was sleeping in another room with an accidental gunshot. Willis Bailey Jr. was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his girlfriend, who was 2 1/2 months pregnant. Malik Nettles is serving six life terms in prison for murdering a pregnant 15-year-old on her school bus in 1996. Jurors also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of her baby. National Right to Life which is pushing for passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, has cited Missouri as one of the states where the law is in effect. Illinois law recognizes "intentional homicide of an unborn child" as a crime, but the law also says a defendant had to know the mother was pregnant to be convicted of the crime. The mother herself cannot be charged under the statute, nor can an abortion provider acting with the mother's consent. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, A-section, 1June01]

• RU-486: Sen. Hutchinson (R., Ariz.) and Rep. D Vitter (R., La.) introduced the "RU-486 Patient Health and Safety Act" -- legislation meant to codify and strengthen the FDA's patient protections for women who take the abortion-inducing drug RU-486. Why do women need to be "protected" from RU-486? "Last fall, the FDA caved in to political pressure from the abortion lobby and hurriedly approved the abortion drug without crucial health protections for those who use it." Under the proposed law, prescribing physicians must, among other things, be "qualified to handle complications of an incomplete abortion, be legally empowered to perform an [surgical] abortion and trained to do so (should the chemical abortion fail), and be properly trained in the administration of this drug." In 9/2000, the FDA approved mifepristone (RU-486) under an accelerated drug approval process intended to provide new, safe & effective treatments for serious or life-threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, cancer. Mifepristone was approved for marketing "under 21 CFR 314 Subpart H" in a memo from an unnamed FDA official to Sandra P. Arnold, the Population Council's VP, [28Sept] Subpart H, or "Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life Threatening Illnesses," was adopted by the FDA in 1992 to "accelerate approval of certain drugs for serious/life-threatening illnesses, with provisions for any necessary continued study of the drugs' clinical benefits after approval or with restrictions on use, if necessary." According to the FDA, qualification for accelerated approval depends on whether a drug is safe and effective "in treating serious or life-threatening illnesses," and whether it will "provide meaningful therapeutic benefits to patients over existing treatments (e.g., ability to treat patients unresponsive to/or intolerant of, available therapy, or improved patient response over available therapy)." Until RU-486 came along, only 30 drugs had ever been approved under Subpart H: Exactly half of these were for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. The rest were for other debilitating diseases, such as cancer, TB, and leprosy. The FDA's definition of a "serious condition" as one "associated with morbidity that has substantial impact on day-to-day functioning." The FDA defined "[the] meaningful therapeutic benefit" of RU-486 as "the avoidance of a surgical procedure." In so doing, the FDA contradicted its very own medical findings.

  In a 22Nov99 medical review of RU-486, the FDA compared mifepristone-induced abortions to surgical abortions in three countries -- China, Cuba, & India – and found that mifepristone-induced abortion caused "more adverse events, particularly bleeding, than did surgical abortion." Still other side effects, including cramping, nausea, & vomiting, were far more prevalent among the women taking RU-486 than among women undergoing regular abortions. In 1999, a smaller study comparing the experiences of U.S. women reported similar findings. Even though the FDA’s own internal studies show that taking mifepristone may lead to potentially lethal side effects, FDA stands by its decision to fast-track the drug to market.

  Searle, the manufacturer of misoprostol (marketed as Cytotec), the drug that must be taken to begin uterine contractions two days after the ingestion of mifepristone (RU-486) to induce an abortion, objected strongly to the use of its drug in combination with mifepristone. According to Searle, misoprostol "is not approved for the induction of labor or abortion." Using it in conjunction with RU-486 therefore amounts to what doctors call an "off-label" (i.e., unapproved) use. Among the adverse events reported following the off-label use of misoprostol in pregnant women include maternal or fetal death, vaginal bleeding, & pelvic pain. [National Review; 7Feb01, by Melissa Seckora, editorial assoc for NR]

  For more information on the risks and dangers associated with RU 486, see the Abortion section of http://www.prolifeinfo.org
• Bush Reinstates Pro-Life Mexico City Policy - "It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion either here or abroad,'' Bush wrote in his executive memorandum to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which oversees "family planning" aid to foreign countries. The executive order reinstated the pro-life policy known as the Mexico City policy because it was announced by Reagan at a 1984 population conference there. U.S. funds will flow unrestricted to international pro-abortion groups on Feb. 15 unless the new president acts by executive order to impose the Mexico City policy, as Bush has decided to do. [Associated Press, Reuters, ACLJ, FRC, NCCB; January 22, 2001; Infonet]

• You can help women find abortion alternatives at Pregnancy Centers Online www.pregnancycenters.org America's Crisis Pregnancy Helpline 1-800-672-2296

• Looking for information about pro-life issues in the States? Contact the Pro-Life Infonet at for contact information for the pro-life organization in your state.