Conscience Update

Suicide Rates Highest After Abortion

CDC Article in the NEJM Warns of Abortion Drug RU 486 Risks

Abortionist Tiller Killed Woman Procuring Abortion; Not Charged

Multiple Choice: Repeat Abortions

Georgia Abortions Down By 5%

Manitoba Taxpayers to Pay for All Abortions

Australia Will NOT Lift Ban on RU 486

ACOG Supports Planned Parenthood

British Doctors "Increasingly Uneasy" with Abortion "Survival" Rate

Bumper Sticker Saves a Baby's Life...

GEORGIA ABORTIONS DOWN BY 5% - There is good news on the pro-life front in Georgia. According to the Georgia Department of Health, abortions in the state are down by more than 5 percent.

Georgia Right to Life officials believe the decline is due in part to a television campaign that started three years ago. TV ads provide a phone number for mothers in a crisis pregnancy. Callers are referred to local crisis pregnancy centers.

According to the Georgia Right to Life officials, Atlanta centers received the second highest volume of calls in the nation. Another factor that may further the decline of abortions in Georgia is the passage of new laws that require women to be told about the risks and alternatives to abortion as well as a 24-hour waiting period to give women a chance to digest the material.

Caryl Swift, the Georgia Right to Life president said: "We will continue to reach out to women in need so that they know abortion is not their only alternative. Research tells us that 60 percent of women entering an abortion facility don't really want an abortion, but believe they have no alternative. Eighty percent regret their decision. We care about saving women from the shame and guilt of abortions as well as saving babies' lives."   [http://www.ccbama.com/audio/CCBAMA-112805.mp3 CC; Alabama Citizens Watch Weekly Radio Spots, 11/28/05; 8Dec05]

CDC NEJM ARTICLE WARNS OF ABORTION DRUG RISKS.  An article written by Centers for Disease Control officials [1Dec05 edition New England Journal of Medicine] warns women of the risks of fatal infections from the RU 486 abortion drug and asks doctors to be on the lookout for toxic shock related to the abortions. The CDC authors point to the deaths caused by the fatal Clostridium sordellii bacteria that infected four California women who used the Mifeprex abortion drug. The article noted that all of the women used one of the two-part drug process vaginally. FDA guidelines call for oral use, but Planned Parenthood abortion businesses, wanting to use the drug in lower doses, tell women to use it vaginally. All 4 women were found to have the deadly bacterium in their uteruses. Marc Fischer, M.D., and his CDC colleagues said that all 4 women died one day after going to the hospitals with recent symptoms from the infections. The women did not show normal infection telltale signs until it was too late. "The clinical and pathological findings in these cases are similar to those in 10 other cases of C. sordellii infection of the genital tract reported in the literature... Of the 10 previous cases that we identified, all occurred in previously healthy young women, and nine occurred within one week after delivery (8 women) or after abortion (1 woman)," they wrote in the NEJM. One problem they noted is that the initial symptoms of the dangerous bacteria may show as normal side effects from using the abortion drug, such as cramping or abdominal pain. The CDC authors urged doctors treating women with such symptoms to be on the lookout for toxic shock and they said women considering an RU 486 abortion should be informed of the risks. The article is important because it gives a glimpse about the direction the agency will pursue when it conducts a joint meeting with FDA officials early next year to probe how and why the women contracted the deadly infections from the abortion drug. Wendy Wright [Concerned Women for America]: "The drug's owner [Danco Labs] has only one product, so it has no incentive to pull the drug from the market. That's why the FDA must act in the best interest of women's health by pulling this drug from the market." [The article reference is: Fischer M et al. Fatal Toxic Shock Syndrome Associated with Clostridium sordellii after Medical Abortion. N Engl. J Med 2005; 353:2352-60. Ertelt, LifeNews.com 1Dec05, D.C.]

SUPREME COURT DUCKS ABORTION CASE. On October 17, the Supreme Court decided not to hear a case involving a Missouri inmate who wants the state to transport her to St. Louis for an abortion. A state law bans public financing of abortions. In addition, the state legislature put in place a policy that bars state money for prisoner trips for abortions, to funerals, and to the bedsides of sick relatives. A U.S. District Court judge issued an order requiring the state to transport the wo-man on the grounds that it was denying her rights guaranteed under Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case, allowing the District Court decision to stand. Washington Post, AP, 10-17-05. [EF News & Notes - 10/21/05]

ABORTIONIST TILLER WHO KILLED WOMAN IN FAILED ABORTION NOT CHARGED. Christin Gilbert died after a third-trimester abortion on 13Jan05.  Gilbert's autopsy report specifically indicated that she died from "complications to a therapeutic abortion." The KS Board of Healing Arts has completed their investigation and found Tiller not guilty of violating any laws, so his name supposedly has been cleared. However, this was fully expected in light of the pro-abortion make-up of the Board.  The next step is to file a demand for a CRIMINAL GRAND JURY investigation, "different from the flimsy 'investigation' they supposedly conducted with all the pro-abort cronies". Physicians are being encouraged to call the KS BOHA, or members of the Board, and request/demand an investigation.  Please contact them or write them a note encouraging them to investigate the death of Christin A. Gilbert at Women’s Health Care Services. We have also been contacted, asking if any physician(s) would be willing to provide a medical review of this case, with a medical report outlining their opinion. The phone number for the Board of Healing Arts for complaints about physicians is 1-888-886-7205 or e-mail them at