Reclaiming Fatherhood Conference: A Multifaceted Examination of Men Dealing with Abortion – www.menandabortion.info
NEW UPDATE! Unlicensed Abortionist Bertha Bugarin Arrested and Jailed After Botched Abortion Victims Come Forward
Council of Europe Presses Member States to Lift All Restrictions on Abortion
British Doctor Columnist Notes that Abortion Often Ends More Than Life
Newborn Boy's Body Found in Toilet Tank at Cumberland County Fairgrounds
Teens Get Life Term In Assault That Killed Human Fetus
National Law Banning "Live Birth" Abortions Needs Better Enforcement
Scottish Abortion Rate Continues to Rise in Tandem with “Values-Free” Sex Education
Using Maternal Mortality to Promote Abortion
Maternal Mortality Decreases in Nicaragua after Abortion Made Illegal
Abortion Businesses Sued Over Botched Abortions
UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Award Ceremony Honors Abortion Advocates
Historic Human Life Amendment Officially on CO Ballot
Planned Parenthood Sued for $50 Million for Injuring Teen in Failed Abortion
NEW! Sufficient Evidence: 18 Counts, Practicing Medicine Without a License
NEW! United Nations Agencies Use Stealth Strategy to Promote Abortion in Documents
NEW! KY Abortionist’s License Suspended, Business Closed
NEW! Life Advocates Relieved about the Closing of New York City Abortion Business
NEW! Abortion Increase Among Young Girls in British Isles
NEW! RU-4Safety?
NEW! Mexico Tamaulipas State Legislators Reject Legalization of Abortion
El Salvador Lawmakers Sign Petition to Oppose Abortion, Other Nations Encouraged to Follow
Reproductive Racism: Planned Parenthood Targets Native Americans with Abortion
The Unborn's Silent Suffering: They Are No Strangers to Pain…
CONFERENCE ON MEN AND ABORTION. Contrary to what the culture of death will tell you, women are not the only ones who feel the affects of abortion.
Reclaiming Fatherhood: A Multifaceted Examination of Men Dealing with Abortion
September 8-9, 2008 at the Chicago Marriott, Oak Brook.
Contact: [email protected] or call 414-483-4141; www.menandabortion.info…
Father's Day isn't easy for those who have lost a child to abortion…
"Fathers and mothers of aborted children … struggle with how to grieve the loss of a person who 'disappeared' from their lives." —Wayne Brauning, M. Div., D. Min.
"Meds and massive amounts of therapy helped. But not completely. Something was still missing."
"There is a myth in society that says men don’t care. … that men are untouched by the experience. … My experience of having listened to men’s stories over the years is that the scenarios are much more complicated." —a post-abortion counselor
Free resources. Healing options.
www.TheUnchoice.com/men.htm
UNLICENSED ABORTIONIST ARRESTED AND JAILED AFTER BOTCHED ABORTION VICTIMS COME FORWARD. Bertha Bugarin was arrested on Thursday and jailed in San Diego on ten felonies and one misdemeanor for practicing medicine and prescribing drugs without a license. If convicted, she faces nine years in jail.
Bugarin, who has no medical training, owns five abortion sites in Southern California, including one in Chula Vista, a southern suburb of San Diego. She had been posing as a doctor, performing abortions illegally for $500.
Nine women came forward with stories of botched abortions received at Bugarin's hand. Many women suffered from incomplete abortions and were forced to return to have their abortions done again. One woman was hospitalized three times, and birthed a live baby that died three hours later.
Bugarin made a court appearance yesterday dressed in blue jail-house garb and shackled at the waist. She was being held on $500,000 bond. Her arraignment is scheduled for July 2.
These charges add to Bugarin's legal woes. In August, 2007, Bugarin was arrested in Los Angeles after the police raided four of her businesses. She was charged in Los Angeles County with 18 counts of committing abortions without a medical license.
Her sister, Raquel, was charged with four counts of aiding and abetting her
sister in their illegal abortion operation. In addition one of Bugarin's hired abortionists, Laurence Reich, was also arrested after he was found to be doing abortions months after losing his medical license for sexually molesting his patients.
Bugarin's abortion chain, Clinica Medica Para La Mujer De Hoy, preys on Hispanic women, and would often pass out abortion discount coupons in Hispanic neighborhoods.
Many people of good will began working to expose and close these dangerous abortion businesses in 1999. As a result, six of Bugarin's businesses have closed, at least five of her hired abortionists lost their medical licenses, and three abortionists have received discipline from the California Medical Board.
[SAN DIEGO, Calif., June 21, 2008 /Christian Newswire; PharmFacts Email Update, 21June08]
Abortionist Arrested
A 48-year-old woman has been arrested in San Diego County for performing abortions without a medical license. The Los Angeles Times reports (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-abortion22-2008jun22,0,3284857.story) that Bertha Bugarin has been charged with 10 felony counts, which, if she is convicted, could bring her a nine-year prison sentence. Bugarin's clientele was mostly Hispanic, since her Clinica Medica para la Mujer de Hoy chain (six centers) targeted the Latino community with Spanish-language coupons, advertisements and television commercials.
Even more shocking is the fact that Bugarin was arrested almost one year ago in Los Angeles (http://www.operationrescue.org/?p=978) and charged with 18 counts of committing abortion without a medical license.
Her sister was also charged, as well as one of her abortionists, who had been committing abortions despite having had his medical license revoked for sexually molesting patients.
This raises several very important questions:
Pro-lifers in Southern California, with Operation Rescue leading the charge, have been raising a ruckus over Bugarin and her chain of centers since 1999. What took so long for authorities to take action?
Did racism play any part in the long period of time between the illegal actions coming to light and charges finally being brought against Bugarin? Her businesses were targeting Hispanic women, and with the heated debate over undocumented immigration, one has to wonder if the fact that Hispanic children were the ones being killed had anything to do with the lack of action …
Where's the outrage from abortion advocates? Bugarin is the epitome of what pro-lifers have been saying for years – that abortion centers can be extremely dangerous places run by people who will go to great lengths to make money. Why isn't there an outcry from a chorus of pro-abortion bloggers and organizations trying to distance themselves from her and her shady operations?
Bugarin was arrested in Los Angeles in August 2007. How is it possible that she could continue illegally operating her business in Chula Vista this long after being arrested and charged in LA?
So long has justice been denied in this situation that RFL staffer Phil remembers collecting petitions for a pro-life effort to have this abortion chain shut down while he was still a senior in high school, way back in 2001!
Does it infuriate you that abortion advocates have hung women out to dry with their silence on this? [Rock for Life Report, 28 June08]
COUNCIL OF EUROPE. While the ACOG positions itself to control our individual conscience convictions, the Council of Europe positions itself to control the national conscience convictions of Ireland, Malta, and Poland. The following is information that you (and I) didn't know, but that we really ought to get a grasp of. The noose of unfettered abortion access is tightening around the pro-life world's neck. But we will NOT allow ourselves to be strangled.
The following is from the Population Resource Institute:
The Council of Europe Presses Member States to Lift All Restrictions on Abortion
A resolution approved by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is demanding that its 47 member states "legalize abortion if they have not done so."
Although legally non-binding, the resolution not only effectively endorses the "right" to kill the unborn, it puts pressure on nations to lift any and all restrictions on abortion throughout the whole continent.
The resolution, named "Access to Safe and Legal Abortion in Europe," was approved by a vote of 102-69, with 69 abstentions. (See
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Votes/DBVotesResults_EN.asp?
VoteID=793&DocRef=11537&SessionID=317). The full text of the resolution is available at the official website of the Council of Europe. (See http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?
link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta08/ERES1607.htm )
The first section of the resolution states: "The Parliamentary Assembly reaffirms that abortion can in no circumstances be regarded as a family planning method." (Resolution, n. 1). While this statement sounds pro-life, in fact it has the opposite intent. What the Council of Europe is actually demanding is that the countries in which abortion is permitted, but carefully restricted, make the procedure readily available to all women who ask for it. Abortion on demand, in other words.
Although the Parliamentary Assembly's decision is non-binding on member states, it puts pressure on the Council of Europe to make abortion an unconditional "right." Even without a formal and binding decision from the Council of Europe, the resolution has a certain moral force, and can be used to intimidate countries such as Poland into establishing a "right to abortion."
Gisela Wurm, an Austrian Socialist parliamentarian, was the chief promoter of the
resolution. She was at pains to explain that the resolution is intended to ensure that
"society can protect women who don't want to continue with their pregnancies." She made no mention of particular countries. In fact, however, the resolution is clearly targeted at three countries which forbid all abortions: Ireland, Poland, and Malta.
Much of the resolution simply details the current European status quo. It reads: "In most of the Council of Europe member states the law permits abortion in order to save the woman's life for a number of reasons including to preserve physical and mental health, rape and incest, fetal impairment, economic and social reasons and in some countries on request.". The only three European countries that do not conform to this standard are, once again, Ireland, Poland, and Malta.
The seventh paragraph of the resolution–although it doesn't name names–is clearly
directed at these holdouts. It states, "The Assembly invites the member states of the Council of Europe to … decriminalize abortion within reasonable gestational limits, if they have not already don
e so."
Abortion in Ireland has been illegal since the founding of the Republic. The operant law, the "Offences Against the Person Act," was inherited from the United Kingdom. Under this Act, procuring or performing an abortion is an "unlawful" act, with both the person performing the abortion and the pregnant woman subject to imprisonment. While Great Britain later changed its laws to allow abortion up to 20 weeks gestation, Ireland moved in the opposite direction. The 1983 abortion referendum added even stronger anti-abortion language to the Irish Constitution. A 1992 decision by the Supreme Court of Ireland weakened the Offences Against the Person Act by ruling that an abortion could be lawfully performed if the continuation of the pregnancy would cause substantial risk to the woman's life. This decision aside, Ireland today has one of the most restrictive abortion
laws in Europe.
The legal situation in Malta is even more straightforward, and thus poses even more of an irritant to the pro-abortion lobby. The Criminal Code of Malta simply prohibits abortion under all circumstances. Moreover, when Malta joined the Council of Europe, it insisted on the following condition: It would not change its laws concerning human life.
The resolution passed by the Parliamentary Assembly essentially targets three pro-life nations: Ireland, Malta, and Poland.
Abortion resolution or no, Malta is not about to back down. In the words of Maltese lawmaker Leo Brincat: "It is impossible to legalize abortion" in Malta. Even the country's socialists oppose the practice.
In Poland, abortion is illegal except for certain narrow exceptions. Moreover, it is as a practical matter, almost impossible to obtain. The Population Policy Data Bank of the U.N. Population Division notes that "the pregnant [Polish] woman would be required to undergo counseling, give written consent to the operation, and wait three days after the counseling until the abortion took place. . . At the same time, growing numbers of physicians and hospitals refused to perform abortions, as they were allowed to do under a conscience clause contained in the law. In some cities, there were no public institutions willing to perform abortions, leaving private clinics with much higher fees as the only resort for women seeking abortions. Some estimates were that almost half of all public hospitals in Poland had adopted this approach to the issue."
The resolution itself recounts in detail the various roadblocks that the country has placed in the way of abortion: "The Assembly also notes that, in member states where abortion is permitted for a number of reasons, conditions are not always such as to guarantee women effective access to this right: the lack of local health care facilities, the lack of doctors willing to carry out abortions, the repeated medical consultations required, the time allowed for changing one's mind and the waiting time for the abortion all have the potential to make access to safe, affordable, acceptable and appropriate abortion services more difficult, or even impossible in practice."
The Council of Europe is not happy with this deviation from the prevailing cultural line. It is attempting to use its diplomatic clout to bludgeon these three countries into line. Let us hope that it does not succeed.
[May 4, 2008, AAPLOG; Carlos Beltramo is a PRI correspondent, European Union]
BRITISH DOC: OFTEN ABORTION ENDS MORE THAN A LIFE. In his regular health column in the London Times, responding to the question, "I had an abortion recently, and though my boyfriend and I agreed it was the right thing to do, I feel guilty and I've gone off sex. Will these feelings pass?", Dr. Thomas Stuttaford remarked that the loss of libido following an abortion is "so common that it can almost be said to be expected."
Stuttaford continued, "It is possible, but by no means inevitable, that the changes this will have wrought in the way you feel about a future together may have irretrievably undermined your relationship…Years of experience with patients have reinforced the teaching I received in my early medical life that even the most ardent affair may not survive an abortion… Frequently, there has been too much emotion around, even if there have been no spoken recriminations…usually the underlying cause of the continuing grief was that unavoidable pressure to have a termination, placed on the woman by her family or her partner…"
The other columnist, Suzi Godson, responded in part: "The irony, of course, is that the 'choice' to have an abortion is one that no woman wants to make. Though yours was a mutual decision, abortion often unsettles relationships. Couples can feel subconscious hostility towards each other, and withdrawing from sex is an obvious way of manifesting conflict." [“I’ve lost interest in sex after an abortion,” TimesOnline, 05-02-08, http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article3860978.ece; Abstinence Clearinghouse, 7May08]
NEWBORN BOY'S BODY FOUND IN TOILET TANK AT CUMBERLAND COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS. On Sunday, the Cumberland County Fairgrounds was the site of a celebration. On Monday, with Cinco de Mayo revelers long since gone, cleaning crews made a gruesome discovery when they found what was originally thought to be an aborted fetus in the upper tank of a public toilet.
A preliminary investigation revealed it was a newborn baby boy brought to full-term. County Prosecutor Ron Casella said an autopsy is scheduled for today to determine whether or not the baby was alive when it was born. [http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/182/story/150858.html, The Press of Atlantic City, ALL News, 7May08]
TEENS GET LIFE TERM IN ASSAULT THAT KILLED HUMAN FETUS. A judge sentenced two teens to life in prison for a beating that injured a pregnant woman and killed her unborn child.
Alfonso Price, 16, and Jebrell Wright, 17, will be eligible for parole in 23 years for their convictions on murder, felonious assault and kidnapping charges in the July 2007 attack. Authorities said the pair attacked 18-year-old Kerria Anderson, who told Price she was pregnant at the time with his unborn child. [WLTL-TV Channel 5, http://www.wlwt.com/news/16179390/detail.html; ALL News, 7May08]
NATIONAL LAW BANNING "LIVE BIRTH" ABORTIONS NEEDS BETTER ENFORCEMENT; SUGGESTIONS. Until a whistle-blower blew the lid off a little-known practice, babies that survived abortions lacked clear legal rights and protection. Jill Stanek, once a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL, entered the abortion battle in 1999 when she discovered that babies that “accidentally” survived abortions were placed in a closet and left to die.
In 2000 and 2001 she testified about her experience to the US House Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution on behalf of the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act.
Her credible eye-witness testimony thrust this practice before lawmakers and helped pass a federal law defining that a baby who is born alive is in fact a person deserving respect. She now faces the challenge of ensuring that this law is enforced.
Stanek’s public stance eventually cost her job at Christ Hospital, but their loss was the pro-life community’s gain. She is currently an act
ivist, columnist and blogger.
Congress passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA) and it was signed by President Bush in 2002. More than 30 states had already passed similar measures beforehand.
But legislation is just empty words without enforcement.
A little research renders stories of breathing infants being smothered in biohazard bags or refusal by clinic workers to administer emergency care as in the case of baby Rowan. Both of these situations occurred after the passage of the Act and there are no doubt countless other violations of BAIPA that have gone unreported.
Why does this barbaric activity continue?
One answer lies in the legislation itself. BAIPA lacks penalties for violations.
However, there are possible avenues for enforcement. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have been charged with this task.
Jill Stanek offers suggestions for jump-starting enforcement. For one, Mrs. Stanek suggests requiring abortion centers involved in late-term abortions to have resuscitation equipment on the premises and personnel trained in neonatal resuscitation.
For another, she recommends requiring the Centers for Disease Control create a separate category for induced labor abortions, technically “vaginal prostaglandin abortions,” for reporting purposes. Currently it lumps induced labor abortions into the “medical abortions” category along with RU-486 abortions.
Another strategy comes from Regent University Law Review article by student Roger Byron (Fall 2006, Vol. 19, No. 1) entitled “Children of a Lesser Law.”
In his article, Byron supports amending the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to include prevention of abuse and neglect of all infants born alive as defined by BAIPA.
Byron would also include the following, “…an immediate transfer of parental custody procedure; an express requirement that all abortionists provide immediate onsite neonatal resuscitation and stabilization procedures for any child born alive, including immediate patient transfer to a qualified, independent medical professional for treatment; specific penalties for violations; and appointment of a disinterested third party to neutralize the inherent conflict of interests present when an infant is born alive through an abortion attempt.”
One important avenue that can be pursued immediately is reporting violations.
Pro-life organizations and individuals are encouraged to report any known or suspected acts (that can be verified) to the Center for Medicaid Services, both the regional office and the headquarters. The Center has a compliance office and an investigation office that look into these reports.
By reporting these cases, a record of violations can be built citing the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act around the country.
The toll free number for the Center for Medicaid Services is (866) 226-1819.
BAIPA is a quality piece of legislation. Let’s make every effort we can to see that this law is enforced and our smallest citizens protected inasmuch as we are able.
[28May08, Marian L. Ward, LifeNews.com; http://www.lifenews.com/nat3948.html] Note: Marian L. Ward writes for the Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee. CWA is a pro-woman, pro-life group that lobbies Congress and addresses pro-life issues on a national basis.
SCOTTISH ABORTION RATE CONTINUES TO RISE IN TANDEM WITH 'SAFE SEX' SEX EDUCATION. The abortion rate has continued to rise alarmingly in Scotland, despite claims by health officials that it would be slowed by sex education, increased access to contraceptives at earlier ages and the wide availability of the morning after pill.
Scottish abortions topped 13,703 in 2007, up on the previous year’s figure of 13,163.
The overall number of women who have had abortions differs according to region, ranging from 19.2 per cent to almost 33 per cent of 15- to 44- year-olds. 372 of the total abortions were carried out on girls less than 16 years of age, among which age group repeat abortions also reached a record number.
In the face of rising abortion statistics in recent months, spokesmen for the Labour government’s health ministry have said that more money will be allotted to sex education programmes and increased distribution of artificial contraception.
Leaders have called the government’s “value-free” sex education “redundant”, saying, “Increased repeat abortions and record numbers of under-16s having abortions simply confirms the empirical and statistical evidence that the ‘value-free’ sex education experiment is redundant.”
Ian Murray, from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said the abortion statistics showed that society is letting women down. He added: "Either our sexual health policies don't teach women anything about their fertility, or life in Scotland has been reduced to a commodity that can be disposed to suit the convenience of others.
"The reality is these statistics refer to human lives – both the babies lost and the women whose lives will be scarred by their decision forever.”
The statistics were released by the health service information department in connection with the debates in the House of Commons over proposals to lower the gestational age limit for abortion. MPs voted to retain the current age restriction at 24 weeks, the highest in the European Union. [28May2008, Hilary White, Edinburgh, LifeSiteNews.com]
USING MATERNAL MORTALITY TO PROMOTE ABORTION
"We have noted in previous letters that a basic United Nations associated program for reducing maternal mortality in all countries is to reduce the number of births by pushing for widespread access, ie, total access, to abortion. It doesn't seem to matter so much if the woman dies from abortion complications, as these kind of statistics are very difficult to collect. You can appreciate the schizophrenic nature of this reasoning, but world-scale policy making groups don't seem to.
"We are all in favor of taking every legitimate means to reduce maternal mortality, of course. We don't consider induced abortion to be a
legitimate means, considering that all the babies die, and a number of women will also die, and especially in medically underserved countries. A second objection we have to this grisly method of reducing "maternal mortality" is that it seeks to override the conscience
convictions of physicians who hold a "sanctity of human life" ethic.
"Will this world wide push for complete abortion access impact American doctors?
"Enter ACOG Ethics Committee Opinion #385, (which to this point has not been rescinded), and associated new recertification rules from ABOG. Also enter U.S. Congressional legislative action, which has a tendency to get sucked into scheme
s like this. Consider the following, and give sincere thanks that we have men and women in the congress who share our ethical convictions, and "put their money where their mouth is".
"From the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus:
'Earlier this week the House debated H. Res. 1022 regarding reducing maternal mortality both at home and abroad.
'The original resolution contained language of concern to pro-life Members. For example the reference to participation in global initiatives raised concerns because a number of abortion supporting organizations have used the issue of maternal mortality as a platform to promote global initiatives that advocate for legalized abortion.
'Reducing maternal mortality and the closely associated issue of promoting child survival are very important humanitarian goals that pro-life Members support. However, such support should not and need not include the abortion agenda.' (aaplog note: but it
does!! And will continue to on a world wide scale.)
'The problematic language was removed and replaced with compromise language. Final consideration of H. Res. 1022 was postponed and last night the bill passed the House by voice vote.
'As abortion supporting organizations are ramping up their efforts to use the tragic issue of maternal mortality to promote abortion, it is important to counter those efforts with the real message that women's lives can and must be saved with out taking innocent human
life.
'According to Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ):
'"Helping mothers and helping their babies goes hand in hand. There is no dichotomy. When women receive proper prenatal care, they are less likely to die in childbirth and when unborn babies are healthy in the womb they emerge as healthier, stronger newborns. I am pleased that the resolution before us today does not endorse—in anyway whatsoever—the cruel ideology that pits women against babies by suggesting abortion as a means of combating maternal mortality." Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)'"
[30May08, AAPLOG; Autumn Fredericks, Congressional Pro-Life Caucus]
MATERNAL MORTALITY DECREASES IN NICARAGUA AFTER ABORTION MADE ILLEGAL "…Let's take another look at the most fascinating and heroic case study in the abortion wars that our modern age has seen: Nicaragua.
"That marvelous little pro-life country in Central America is a good example of what happens when a country chooses a culture of life.
"Remember that Nicaragua made abortion completely illegal in 2006 and then reaffirmed that prohibition in 2007. The overall positive results for Nicaraguan women have been just amazing.
"The abortion promoters screamed that making abortion illegal would cause women to die in droves because of more back-alley abortions, but that didn't happen. In fact, the opposite is true – fewer women are dying now!
"A recent publication by Nicaragua's Ministry of Health noted that the overall maternal mortality rate decreased by 58% in the year that abortion has been made totally illegal. There were 21 maternal deaths for 2007 compared to 50 maternal deaths the year before. This is a stunning reversal.
"The myth that women will die from back-alley, "unsafe," abortions is nothing but a scare tactic to coerce pro-life cultures into compliance with abortion. The truth is that abortion-free cultures have a greater respect for women and babies and are not subject to that degrading pall of killing that lies over the medical profession.
"In the case of Nicaragua, their rejection of abortion in 2006/2007 coincided – not surprisingly – with a greater provision of basic pre-natal services for pregnant women and accompaniment in childbirth which is what led to the surprising turn-around in the maternal death rate.
"Even aside from legal protection of babies, pro-life cultures just protect women better; it's that simple.
"We don't have to listen to the liars who tell us that legalized abortion is 'safe'. Women are much safer in countries where abortion is not legal. Abortion enthusiasts were never able to use the maternal death argument in abortion-free Ireland which has the lowest rate of maternal deaths in the world.
"They are also confounded by pro-life cultures like Poland that restricted abortion in 1993 and has seen a phenomenal increase in maternal well-being ever since.
"The abortion promoters tell us that certain abortions are unsafe. They're half right. Actually, all abortions are unsafe. The numbers don't lie…" [7June08, http://www.lifenews.com/int776.html]
ABORTION BUSINESSES SUED OVER BOTCHED ABORTIONS. Two abortion businesses are facing lawsuits over botched abortions that allegedly left the women infertile, one a 13-year-old girl who had been raped.
In that case, Emma Jean Butler filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood Metropolitan, of Washington D.C., for performing a botched abortion on her 13-year-old daughter in Sept. 2006. According to the lawsuit, the girl became pregnant as a result of a rape and was taken by her mother to Planned Parenthood for the abortion.
The lawsuit claims that the day after the abortion, the teen was admitted to the emergency room with severe injuries and an incomplete abortion. Butler says her daughter was left infertile as a result and that Planned Parenthood was negligent in botching the abortion and failing to notice her daughter's injuries afterwards.
The abortion business has asked the judge to dismiss the case and is also asking to be awarded attorney fees.
In the second case, Hope Clinic in Granite City, IL, is facing a lawsuit from 20-year-old Antoinette Blanton. Blanton says Hope Clinic abortionist Allan S. Palmer performed an incomplete abortion on her in March 2006, leaving her infertile.
Another lawsuit was filed against Hope Clinic in April for performing an abortion on a woman without her consent. Brandy Hildreth says she did not consent to be treated by the doctor who performed her abortion and suffered physical and emotional injuries as a result of the abortion.
The new lawsuits come after a Planned Parenthood in Lincoln, NE recently settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who had to have an emergency hysterectomy after undergoing an abortion that perforated her uterus. According to the lawsuit, the woman experienced severe pain during the abortion and asked the staff to stop, but was instead held down by three employees while the abortion was completed. The details of the settlement were not disclosed.
~~~
For more information and research on coerced and forced abortions and the physical and emotional trauma of abortion, visit www.unchoice.info. [Elliot Institute News, Vol. 7, No. 8 — June 6, 2008, www.afterabortion.info]
UN POPULATION FUND (UNFPA) AWARDS HONOR ABORTION ADVOCATES. Last week the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hosted its annual population award ceremony at the United Nations to honor an individual and an organization for “outstanding” work in the population fi
eld, including family planning. This year’s honorees were abortion advocates Dame Billie Miller in the individual category and New York-based Family Care International (FCI) in the institutional.
In an elaborate ceremony at UN headquarters, guests were greeted with performances by the New York Symphonic Orchestra and the UN staff choir. Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka presented the awards on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Reading Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, Akasaka lauded both Billie Miller and FCI for their “significant contributions” which, he asserted, had allowed countless people “to plan pregnancies, avoid recourse to unsafe abortion, practice responsible sexual behavior, and prevent the spread of HIV.”
UNFPA executive director Thoraya Obaid lauded Dame Billie Miller’s “exemplary achievements as a tireless advocate, policy maker, change agent and role model for policies on gender, sexual and reproductive health, including family planning.” Miller is a well-known fixture at the UN as a past president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, and has served as Chair of the NGO Planning Committee for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
In her acceptance speech, Miller mentioned several career “highlights” in her work to promote “sexual and reproductive rights,” including the decriminalization of abortion in her home country of Barbados.
Ann Starrs, president of FCI, accepted the institutional award on behalf of the organization. FCI was praised by the committee for its work to reduce maternal mortality and to promote safe motherhood and sexual and reproductive health for adolescents. The committee also praised FCI’s pivotal role in planning and hosting last year’s Women Deliver conference in London.
In her acceptance speech, Starrs touted Women Deliver for its role in bringing the issue of maternal mortality to the forefront, though many critics blasted Women Deliver for its extensive focus on abortion.
According to Spanish pro-family advocate Lola Velarde, the then president of FCI, Jill Sheffield, dismissed her concerns that Women Deliver did not adequately address practical solutions to reduce maternal mortality – namely providing skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetric care – by saying, “You’re wasting my time.”
2008 marks the silver jubilee of the UN population awards. Past recipients include other abortion advocates such as Nafis Sadik, former head of UNFPA, and Fred Sai, chair of the ICPD conference held in Cairo in 1994 and FCI’s current chairman of the board, as well as the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
One of the awards’ most controversial past recipients was Qian Xinzhong, who as minister of China's State Family Planning Commission was responsible for overseeing China’s draconian one-child policy, which included forced abortion and mandatory sterilization.
Algeria, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iran, Malaysia, Peru, Sweden and Tanzania currently comprise the awards committee, with UNFPA serving as the administrator. Nominations for next year’s laureates are being accepted by the committee. [29May08, Samantha Singson, NYC, C-FAM.org; www.LifeSiteNews.com]
HISTORIC HUMAN LIFE AMENDMENT WILL BE ON NOVEMBER BALLOT. For the first time in US history, the issue of personhood will be decided in the public forum by a constitutional amendment. Colorado for Equal Rights has been notified by the Colorado Secretary of State's Office that
enough valid signatures were submitted to put the Every Human is a Person amendment on the November 2008 ballot. The Secretary of State's Office's random sampling indicated that there were 103,377 valid signatures, surpassing the 76,047 valid signatures that were required.
"The people of Colorado have spoken, the Secretary of State's Office has certified our signatures, and our equal rights amendment will be on November's ballot," stated Kristi Burton, initiative sponsor. "All humans should be protected by love and by law, and this amendment is a historic effort to ensure equal rights for every person."
Colorado for Equal Rights has demonstrated an unparalleled grassroots effort thus far, with likely more volunteer circulators than any other ballot initiative in the State's history. The grassroots initiative had over 1,300 volunteer petition circulators.
"We at Colorado for Equal Rights are incredibly thankful for our many
volunteers who worked so hard for each signature we delivered to the
Secretary of State's Office and the churches who stood behind us and supported us," Burton continued. "This victory is the voice of the people and all credit goes our Creator"
Colorado for Equal Rights is a statewide grassroots organization of
concerned citizens who value human life. Colorado for Equal Rights is
sponsoring the Human Life Amendment to the Colorado constitution, stating "(t)he term 'Person' or 'Persons' shall include any human from the time of fertilization." [29May08, Denver, www.Personhoodcolorado.com]
PLANNED PARENTHOOD SUED FOR $50 MILLION FOR INJURING TEEN IN FAILED ABORTION. A Planned Parenthood in the District of Columbia is the subject of a new lawsuit from the mother of a teenager injured in a botched abortion. The abortion involved a teenager who was a victim of rape and the abortion left her with significant medical problems.
Emma Jean Butler took her daughter Shantese Butler to Planned Parenthood Metropolitan on September 7, 2006 for an abortion after Shantese was a victim of sexual assault.
According to the lawsuit, Shantese Butler sustained significant physical damage as a result of the abortion.
The abortion resulted in severe abdominal bleeding, severe vaginal injury, severe injury to the cervix, significant uterine perforation, and a small bowel tear. As a result of the injuries, Butler will be unable to have biological children the rest of her life.
Additionally, parts of the unborn child were left inside Butler after a post-abortion examination conducted the next day.
Kristan Hawkins, the director of Students for Life of America, notified LifeNews.com of the lawsuit, filed on February 12, 2008, that seeks $50 million in damages.
Hawkins says Planned Parenthood has denied the injuries and Butler's infertility as a result of the botched abortion. Lawyers for the abortion business state in their response to the lawsuit that Butler's claims are barred by the doctrines of informed consent and assumption of risk.
"It is outrageous that Planned Parenthood thinks they are excused from being held liable because Shantese was informed of possible risks associated with abortion," Hawkins told LifeNews.com. "In no other medical profession would this be acceptable."
"How ironic is it that the pro-abortion movement claims they want abortions to be 'safe, legal, and rare,' when, in this poster case for abortion, Shantese was permanently inj
ured," Hawkins added.
She said it is a shame that Planned Parenthood won't acknowledge its culpability in a failed abortion "resulting in infertility for the rest of her life, making abortion harmful and almost deadly to the young girl."
"This is a horrible situation. Our thoughts go out to Shantese and her family as she recovers from her injuries both from the rape and abortion," she said.
Related: Students for Life of America – http://www.studentsforlife.org
Lawsuit Filed Against Planned Parenthood – http://www.studentsforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dc-pp-lawsuit-filed-21208.pdf
Planned Parenthood response – http://www.studentsforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dc-pp-lawsuit-answer-4308.pdf
[28May08, Ertelt, DC, LifeNews.com]
SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE: Judge rules sisters linked to notorious chain of Southern California abortion businesses must stand trial on charges of practicing medicine without a license.
Bertha Bugarin, manager of a notorious chain of abortion centers catering to lower-income Hispanics in Southern California, has been ordered to stand trial on 18 counts of practicing medicine without a license.
Also ordered to stand trial on four counts of practicing medicine without a license was Bugarin’s sister, Raquel Bugarin. Both sisters are scheduled for arraignment in Department 120 of Los Angeles County Superior Court on June 19, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney.
Following a three-day preliminary hearing that ended on Friday, June 6, Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson ruled there was sufficient evidence against the Bugarin sisters to order them to stand trial on multiple counts of practicing medicine without a license, Robison said.
Two misdemeanor counts of dispensing medicine without a license were dismissed.
The charges against Bertha Bugarin, 47, of Granada Hills, and Raquel Bugarin, 49, of Los Angeles, were filed following an investigation last year by the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force, which is overseen by the county Department of Public Health. As part of the investigation, a search warrant was executed at Bugarin-run businesses in Panorama City, Baldwin Park, Los Angeles and Huntington Park.
The Bugarin sisters were arrested in August 2007. Bertha Bugarin was later released on $500,000 bail, and Raquel Bugarin on $100,000 bail.
In February and March of 2007, according to the district attorney, Bertha Bugarin allegedly performed “medical procedures” on five patients “when physicians were not in the office.” She was originally charged with five counts of practicing medicine without a license, but 13 additional counts were added once the investigation was complete.
Raquel Bugarin allegedly assisted Bertha Bugarin on at least four occasions, resulting in her being charged with four counts of practicing medicine without a license.
Bertha Bugarin has long been associated with a notorious chain of abortion businesses known as Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy, although she has been careful to avoid naming herself as the owner. According to California Medical Board records, the chain was registered to Dr. Nicholas Braemer between 1991 and 1999.
The Medical Board revoked Braemer’s license to practice medicine in 2000 following a series of botched abortions dating back to 1987. In a 1996 incident at the Panorama City Clinica Medica, Braemer left an unborn baby’s cranium inside a woman, requiring her to spend a month in the hospital in order to have her bowel repaired, according to Medical Board records.
Dr. Philip Rand, another Clinica Medica physician who had been repeatedly disciplined by the Medical Board, was forced to surrender his license in 2005 stemming from an incident in which one of his patients had to be rushed to a hospital from the Santa Ana Clinica Medica in the summer of 2004. Rand had performed a vaginal suction abortion on a woman who was 20 weeks pregnant without anesthesia – a procedure the Medical Board termed "barbaric" and which constituted a "severe departure" from a reasonable standard of care.
The Medical Board has disciplined at least four other Clinica Medica doctors, and dozens of malpractice lawsuits have been filed against either the abortion chain or its physicians.
Although some of the sites have closed, at one time there were as many as nine in the chain, including locations in Baldwin Park, Huntington Park, Los Angeles, Panorama City, Chula Vista, North Hollywood, Torrance and Santa Ana. Bugarin is said to have hired the abortionists who worked at the centers on an on-call basis.
The 2007 undercover investigation by the Health Authority Law Enforcement Task Force was not the first time Bugarin and the Clinica Medica chain have been accused of wrongdoing following a covert probe. Eight years ago, Medical Board investigators posing as patients discovered that unlicensed personnel – including receptionists – were performing procedures such as ultrasounds at several Clinica Medica locations.
The Bugarin sisters, who have maintained their innocence since their arrests, will enter pleas to the charges at their June 19 arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court.
[10June08, http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=587be8b4-55db-4d1c-8458-e46e24faf497; Pro-Life America Daily News, 11June08, http://www.prolifeamerica.com/]
UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES USE STEALTH STRATEGY TO PROMOTE ABORTION IN DOCUMENTS. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other United Nations (UN) agencies and officials over the last several months have been boasting of a “new target” of “universal access to reproductive health by 2015” under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted with much fanfare eight years ago.
Given that the MDGs were developed and passed by a meeting of heads of state after months of negotiations, a new target would have to have been passed by explicit agreement of the General Assembly.
UNFPA claims that there is a new target based on a single sentence buried in Annex II on page 73 of a 76 page Secretary General's Report (A/62/1) which was adopted by the General Assembly last year.
More than 150 heads of state, the largest gathering of its sort in history, negotiated the MDGs in 2000. Their agreement consisted of eight broad, largely non-controversial goals such as eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, and reducing child mortality.
None of the MDGs makes any mention of “reproductive health” and neither does the Millennium Declaration upon which they are based.
The reason UNFPA and other groups are eager to adopt a new MDG on "reproductive health" is that the term is then used to promote abortion, even though the General Assembly has never agreed to such a definition.
In the lead up to the five year review of the MDGs three years ago, pro-abortion advocates, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation and UNFPA, launched
aggressive campaigns to get governments to agree to a new goal on “reproductive health.” Their efforts were defeated.
The 2005 meeting of national leaders decided against issuing new MDGs and instead issued a political declaration that did endorse “reproductive health,” but it is considered a non-binding, aspirational document that has no force in international law.
Since those failed attempts to create a new and separate MDG on “reproductive health,” abortion proponents have tried to attach “reproductive health” to the existing MDGs.
The United States (US) consistently asserts that a target on “reproductive health” has never been agreed to by member states.
At the board meeting of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) earlier this month, the US delegation took issue with the latest UNICEF report which includes a reference to a “reproductive health” target under the MDGs.
US Representative to UNICEF Bill Brisben stated that, while the US is committed to achieving the core MDGs as agreed to in the Millennium Declaration and reaffirmed in the 2005 Outcome Document of the World Summit, the US “does not support the addition of new goals, targets, or indicators to the internationally-agreed Millennium Development Goals."
He also said that “neither we nor other UN Member States have agreed to the creation by the UN Secretariat of a new MDG target on reproductive health.”
[20June08, Samantha Singson, www.LifeNews.com, New York; Note: Singson writes for C-FAM. This article originally appeared in the group's Friday Fax publication.]
KY ABORTIONIST'S LICENSE SUSPENDED, BUSINESS CLOSED. Abortionist Hamid Sheikh has had his medical license suspended and his Lexington, Kentucky, abortion site closed after the state’s medical board revealed evidence of fraud, filthy conditions, and illegal abortions that led one reporter to describe Sheikh’s business as a “hellish abortion operation.” Sheikh has been indicted for defrauding Medicaid out of thousands of dollars. He is also accused of maintaining unsanitary conditions, including dirty hospital gowns and surgical equipment. An investigation revealed out of date medications and biohazardous waste that had not been picked up for 12 weeks. [http://www.operationrescue.org/, Operation Rescue; ALL Pro-Life Today, 20June08]
A Kentucky abortion practitioner engaged in such shoddy practices that state officials have temporarily suspended his medical license. The action comes after Hamid Hussain Sheikh pleaded not guilty in November to charges that he wrongly billed the state for abortions at his business.
Sheikh was arrested after Attorney General Greg Stumbo conducted an investigation and found he erroneously reported abortions as ultrasounds in Medicaid billing records.
He was indicted on four counts of billing Medicaid for abortions and could face 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
In the course of the investigation, the Kentucky medical licensure board talked with numerous former patients who said he treated them poorly. The agency also found problems at his abortion center.
According to a WHAS-TV report, former patients told Kentucky officials Sheikh didn't perform ultrasounds prior to abortions, did a vaginal exam without sterile equipment, and several reported dirty clothing or saw blood on the equipment.
Most of the 22 patients interviewed say they didn't get pain pills or anesthesia prior to the abortion and 8 patients were not required to wait the 24 hours state law requires after getting information about abortion's risks and alternatives.
The television station reported that one woman complained Sheikh told her to "shut up" after experiencing pain during the abortion so other patients in the waiting room wouldn't hear her screams.
The board's inspection of the Lexington abortion business found medications that had expired and bio-hazardous waste that has not been properly disposed in over 12 weeks.
Sheikh told the station he's been a physician for 33 years and never had complaints until last year. He denies all of the allegations from state officials and claims the investigator who inspected his abortion center was biased.
However, a board consultant told WHAS that Sheikh committed “gross negligence” and “put his patients at risk.”
In the fraud case, Sheikh, 62, said he billed the state for the ultrasounds he did that were required to determine the gestational age of the unborn child prior to the abortions. He said Medicaid normally covers the ultrasounds and that he charges the women $400 if they go on to have an abortion.
He also claimed the charges were motivated by pro-life advocates and alleged that Kentucky Bureau of Investigation agent Keith Howard, who talked with him before the charges were handed down, was pro-life.
“To serve 35 years with these anti-abortion people is not an easy thing,” he told the Herald Leader newspaper. “They will do as much as possible to hurt me, but I am right and I will defend myself.”
Medicaid rules, under the federal Hyde amendment, only allow states to pay for abortions in the rare cases of rape, incest or to save the mother's life.
According to the television station, Sheikh has shut down his abortion center and indicated he retired from practicing medicine earlier this month.
Hamid Hussain Sheikh Indictment – http://tinyurl.com/2jd4la
Kentucky Right to Life – http://www.krla.org
[18June08, Ertelt, LifeNews.com Lexington, KY]
NEW YORK LIFE ADVOCATES RELIEVED BY CLOSING OF NEW YORK CITY ABORTION BUSINESS. Abortion practitioner Jae-Hak Choe has closed his abortion facility located on 200 E. Eckerson Road. It appears he has retired rather than sold it to someone else.
As LifeNews.com reported in April, the Abortion Services facility was one of 50 abortion businesses across the nation that were the site of prayer vigils and pro-life advocates during the 40 Days for Life campaign.
Peggy Beirne of The Helpers of God's Precious Infants says the closing of the abortion center in the northern New York suburb is one of six in the county that has closed over the last several years.
"That was the last surgical abortion site in Rockland County," Bierne told the Journal News. "There are no more abortion businesses in Rockland County as far as we know."
David Bereit, national campaign director, told LifeNews.com back in April that his group joins pro-lifers in Rockland County, New York in rejoicing over the news.
He said the abortion business was "responsible for ending the lives of untold numbers of innocent unborn children over its many years of operation."
"The unceasing prayers of these faithful people have been answered," he said.
Bereit said he visited one night of the prayer vigil as he traveled the country to support the local efforts.
"My family and I visited that particular vigil on a snowy night earlier this year," he said. "My wife and children were photographed alongside a young man who carried a sign reading, 'Nothing is impossible with God.' That is certainly the case here."
"We are humbled to know that people participating in the 40 Days for Life campaign may have played a role in the peaceful closure of this abortion center," he said. [19June08, Ertelt, www.LifeNews.com, New City, NY]
ABORTION INCREASE AMONG YOUNG GIRLS IN BRITISH ISLES. The number of abortions among girls aged under 16 rose by 10 percent to 4,376 in 2007, official figures for England and Wales show. In the under 14 [category], abortions rose by 21 percent from 135 in 2006 to 163 last year. The number of abortions in all women rose by 2.5 percent to reach an all time high of almost 200,000.
Government advisers called for high quality [comprehensive] sex education at school and investment in contraception services for young people. Scotland has also seen a rise in the number of abortions with figures published in May showing there were 13,703 carried out in 2007 compared with 13,163 in 2006. The number of abortions carried out has been rising ever since the 1967 Abortion Act – with just over 22,000 terminations in the first year. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7462934.stm
BBC; ALL Pro-Life Today, 19June2008]
RU-4SAFETY? Racism, fraud, illegal cover-ups, and manslaughter may sound like an edgy Hollywood script, but at Planned Parenthood, it's all in a day's work. The organization, funded by millions of your hard-earned dollars, has been implicated in the deaths of at least four patients. In this week's issue of The Journal of Immunology, scientists from the University of Michigan blame the fatalities associated with RU-486 on infections that were caused by "off-label use." In other words, some of the clinics that dispensed the drugs ignored the FDA's instructions and advised women to take the pills vaginally–despite the agency's warning that oral use is much safer. At least eight women have died from bacterial infections after taking RU-486. Four of the eight victims had something in common. They had all visited California's Planned Parenthood clinics that didn't follow FDA protocol for dispensing the pills. It took four fatalities in one week before the nation's largest abortion merchant would consider changing its policy.
Although Planned Parenthood changed its guidelines for dispensing RU-386 in 2006, its defiance of the FDA continues. In addition to altering the suggested dosage, Planned Parenthood urges women to take one of the drugs at home, completely disregarding the FDA's warning that the second portion of the pill regime "should be done in a medical office to monitor women for complications." Planned Parenthood, which claims to have "done more than any other organization in the United States to improve women's health and safety," shrugged off its carelessness back in 2006. "We don't really know all the circumstances surrounding these women's deaths," a spokeswoman said. Now that we do, what can Americans expect Congress to do about it? Democrats have fully supported investment in Planned Parenthood, despite its abhorrent track record. The clinics' use of RU-486 has been linked to thousands of complications (many of them serious or life-threatening) and four fatalities, yet taxpayers are still forced to provide the resources for Planned Parenthood's medical negligence. Any institution with such a cavalier attitude toward health and safety shouldn't be trusted with women's lives or federal funding.
[Another Study Suggests Planned Parenthood at Fault in Abortion Drug Deaths
http://lifenews.com/nat3987.html; FRC, 19June08]
PLANNED PARENTHOOD & RU 486.
I found a study from the University of Michigan that detected a problem with misoprostol to be a bit curious. This is a drug that, according to patient information, "reduces stomach acid and replaces protective substances in the stomach that are inhibited by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and aspirin."
This drug is taken, for example, by people who are using NSAIDs for arthritis and other painful conditions because the NSAID can cause serious indigestion.
However, that is not why the study was begun in Michigan. No, the fact is that for some years now misoprostol has been used for the FDA-approved purpose of complimenting mifeprex (RU-486 ) in the medical abortion process. And that, my friend, is why I thought the research a bit curious!
To be frank, it isn't very often that a mainline research facility connected with a less-than-pro-life bastion of higher education exposes the gruesome underbelly of the abortion cartel.
But here we have it. The study is at hand and it is shocking.
The preliminary University of Michigan studies indicate, according to the UMHS Newsroom, that oral use of RU-486's companion drug misoprostol is safe, but off-label vaginal use may undermine body's immune responses.
Since 2000, eight women who were otherwise very healthy died rather questionable deaths – questionable because nobody could explain what had happened to them; but, in seven of the cases women who had acquired medical abortion chemicals from Planned Parenthood were instructed to use both the RU-486 and misoprostol vaginally rather than taking the medication orally. Due to the manner in which the misoprostol was administered, according to researchers, the immune system was compromised.
It is true that the initial results of the studies being done by Michigan employed rats as research subjects, but the findings are most interesting and may point directly to why the women died. This assumption is precisely what the researchers are suggesting. They report,
In animal and cell culture studies, the U-M researchers found that misoprostol, when given directly in the reproductive tract, suppresses key immune responses and can allow a normally non-threatening bacterium, Clostridium sordellii, to gain the upper hand and cause deadly infection. When absorbed through the stomach, however, the drug did not compromise immune defenses or cause illness.
The Centers for Disease Control provides a clinical definition of this bacterium
Clostridium sordellii ("klaw-strĭ-dee-um sore-dell-ee-I") is a rare bacterium that causes pneumonia, endocarditis, arthritis, peritonitis, and myonecrosis. C. sordellii bacteremia and sepsis occur rarely. Most cases of sepsis from C. sordellii occur in patients with underlying conditions. Severe toxic shock syndrome among previously healthy persons has been described in a small number of C. sordellii cases, most often associated with gynecologic infections in women and infection of the umbilical stump in newborns.
It is a bit sobering to read such a definition and then contemplate the horror of why these eight women died.
It is obvious from all I have seen on this study that in each of the cases where the woman died, Clostridium sordelii got totally out of hand and caused the death. And in each case, the death could have been avoided had the expectant mother sought help to carry her baby to term rather than help to end her baby's life – help that organizations like planned Parenthood are all too willing to provide, I might add.
The study, which appears in the Journal of Immunology, is being described as one that will help doctors understand possible risky infections that could occur during pregnancy, but I have to ask a very simple question when I read something like this: Isn't there a huge difference between a normal pregnancy that is occurring as it should and one that is violently interrupted by the use of clearly dangerous chemicals designed to prematurely end the pregnancy? The obvious answer to my question
is yes, but then the obvious is never quite clear in some circles! I digress.
Planned Parenthood caught on right away when clients started dying and did issue a warning. Subsequently, Planned Parenthood changed their recommendations regarding the vaginal administration of the drug, but I would imagine that had more to do with the possibility of malpractice lawsuits than it did with a sincere concern for the welfare of women.
One of the news reports stated that this research done on rats caused the statement regarding the possible cause of death for the eight women to be made. It is also reported, of course, that "more than a half–million women in the United States have undergone medication abortions safely using the two drugs since the FDA approved the method in 2000."
That's the sort of callous statement that relegates human beings to percentage points on a scale and then dismisses their sad demise as a mere blip on the abortion radar screen. Business as usual it seems, though I dare say this research study has not done much to enhance the moral status of Planned Parenthood in the eyes of an ever more aware public – thanks in no small part, I would suggest, to the rats!
As Jim Sedlak pointed out today,
Planned Parenthood not only disregards the lives of babies in the womb, but the lives of their mothers as well.
It's time people stopped viewing Planned Parenthood as a responsible healthcare organization and see it for what it is – a money-making, social engineering group that plies its trade of sex and abortion without regard to human life, born or preborn.
[ALL Pro-LIfe Today, 19June08, Judie Brown is president of American Life League]
Planned Parenthood Implicated in RU-486 Deaths of Four Women
A study conducted at the University of Michigan and published in The Journal of Immunology has indicated that "off-label use" of the controversial abortion drugs Mifepristone (Mifeprex) and Misoprostol (Cytotec), collectively called RU-486, may be linked to the death of at least eight women.
A press release from the American Life League states that Planned Parenthood's recommendation to use the abortion-causing drug Misoprostol vaginally rather than orally, contrary to FDA recommendations, has led to fatal infections directly causing the deaths of four of the women.
Until 2006, Planned Parenthood told women to take the drugs Misoprostol and Mifepristone (RU 486) vaginally. This occurred despite FDA protocol instructing women to take the drugs orally. When five patients died from the drug combination, Planned Parenthood quietly changed the policy to fall in line with FDA protocol.
The Michigan Messenger reported that Dr. David Aronoff, who led the study, said, "What struck me in those cases is the women had previously been healthy, then died after taking fairly high doses of synthetic prostaglandin E2, which is Misoprostol."
"Misoprostol appears to impair the immune response of cells in the reproductive tract, which might explain the fatal outcome of the cases in which women used the drug vaginally," Dr. Aronoff said. "When the drug is given orally, it does not appear to have a suppressive effect on reproductive tract immunology."
Now, the University of Michigan study finds that Misoprostol, the second of the two drugs that cause the chemical abortion, can allow Clostridium sordellii, normally non-threatening bacteria, to cause a deadly infection when taken vaginally.
Six out the eight women were infected with Clostridium sordellii. The other two contracted a related Clostridium bacterium.
A report in ScienceDaily warns that Clostridium sordellii infection as a result of RU-486 use is being closely watched by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of the abortion-related deaths and because it is biologically very similar to another form of Clostridium bacteria, Clostridium difficile. C. difficile is of great concern especially in hospitals and other clinical settings, where it is causing increasing rates of infections.
"This study shows Planned Parenthood not only disregards the lives of babies in the womb, but the lives of their mothers as well," said Jim Sedlak.
"This is scandalous, if not criminal."
"It's time people stopped viewing Planned Parenthood as a responsible healthcare organization and saw it for what it is – a money-making, social engineering group that plies its trade of sex and abortion without regard to human life, born or preborn."
The FDA approved regimen for killing children who have already implanted in their mother's womb consists of an initial pill (either Mifepristone or Methotrexate) to kill the baby and a second pill (Misoprostol) to cause the dead baby to be expelled from the mother's body.
A report from the Family Research Council advised that although Planned Parenthood changed its guidelines for dispensing RU-386 in 2006, its defiance of FDA protocol continues in other ways as well. In addition to altering the suggested dosage, Planned Parenthood urges women to take one of the drugs at home, disregarding the FDA's warning that the second portion of the pill regime "should be done in a medical office to monitor women for complications."
Previous studies have already shown the link between RU-486 and maternal death caused by septic shock.
Research in 2005 at the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology at Brown University has provided clear evidence that Mifepristone causes conditions in which bacterial infections can take hold and become deadly.
Professor Ralph P. Miech explained that during an abortion using Mifepristone, the first stage of the drug shuts off progesterone, which halts the flow of nutrition to the placenta and the child. Dr. Miech showed that the anti-progesterone effects of Mifepristone also cause changes in the cervix that allow C. sordellii to enter the cervical canal. C. sordellii thrives in this low-oxygen environment and derives nutrition from the decaying fetal tissue.
Mifepristone, Miech said, also disrupts the immune system, which "impairs the body's ability to fight off C. sordellii and may help spread the bacteria's toxic by-products, a combination that sometimes results in widespread septic shock." The resulting infection makes its way into the blood stream, becoming life threatening.
At least two deaths from acute hemorrhage have been linked with RU-486.
In 2004 LifeSiteNews.com reported on the death of Rebecca Tell Berg, age 16, of Sweden. According to the report by a division of the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare in Gothenburg, "a young woman bled to death as a direct consequence of the (RU-486) treatment."
More recently, the death of a U.K. teen made headlines around the world. Manon Jones, 18, bled to death two weeks after having a legal chemical abortion.
The inquest into this death heard that a post-mortem examination revealed Miss Jones died of hypovolemia, an abnormal decrease in blood volume and shock caused by what officials termed the "retained products of conception" – the remains of Jones's unborn child at 6 weeks gestation.
Link to University of Michigan study:
University of Michigan Health System: Study Sheds Light on Role of Abortion Drug
http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=375
[19June08, www.LifeSiteNews.com, T.M. Baklinski, Ann Arbor, MI]
MEXICAN STATE LEGISLATORS REJECT LEGALIZATION OF ABORTION. Legislators in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, whi
ch borders the United States, have rejected an attempt to decriminalize abortion, according to the news agency Infonorte.
The state's Congress refused to allow the proposed measure to even enter the agenda, according to the agency.
"It's a topic that has to do with the life of the human person and I think that life begins from the moment of conception," legislator Jorge Díaz Casillas told Infonorte, "and not after 12 weeks like they're arguing in the Federal District (Mexico City), when women can obtain an abortion."
The government of Mexico City legalized abortion last year for the first twelve weeks of gestation, a measure that is now being examined by the nation's Supreme Court in response to a human rights complaint filed by the federal government.
Legislator Gualdalupe González Galván agreed with Casillas, and added that "if an initiative arrives all the parties in the Congress should listen to each other's point of view and give a response that respects the right to life."
Infonorte reports that although there is little support among legislators for the decriminalization of abortion, a few members of the socialistic Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) favor it. [20June08, MC Hoffman, Tamaulipas, Mexico, www.LifeSiteNews.com]
EL SALVADOR LAWMAKERS SIGN PETITION TO OPPOSE ABORTION, OTHER NATIONS TO FOLLOW. Every one of the 84 lawmakers in the El Salvador Congress have signed a petition called the Book for Life, displaying their commitment to defend unborn children and people from abortion and euthanasia from conception until natural death.
"Every human being should be protected and respected from the moment of conception…until his natural death," the petition reads. "Our primary responsibility as legislators is to unconditionally defend life. We condemn abortion as an abominable crime."
Organizers of the petition started it in Honduras and they hope to expand it to every Central and South American nation that currently prohibits abortions, as most do.
“We believe that all of us must be faithful defenders of life and not leave room for anything else,” said Hugo Martinez, a leftist Honduran lawmaker, told the media about the campaign.
Regina Cardenal, the head of the Salvadoran pro-life group Si a la Vida (Yes to Life), told CNA that organizers hope to encourage lawmakers to protect human life.
The campaign is needed because pro-abortion groups in the United States and elsewhere are backing local efforts from abortion advocates to pass laws to overturn or weaken the pro-life measures in each nation.
"Latin America is a big prize for those who would most financially benefit from legalized abortion in that region," Raimundo Rojas, the Hispanic outreach director for National Right to Life, told LifeNews.com. [11June08, Ertelt, www.LifeNews.com, San Salvador, El Salvador, http://www.lifenews.com/int781.html]
REPRODUCTIVE RACISM: PLANNED PARENTHOOD TARGETS NATIVE AMERICANS WITH ABORTION. "The American abortion lobby claims to be an equal-opportunity abortion provider, looking out for the needs and wants of all women. Not so.
"Big abortion devotes an inordinate amount of attention to blacks, Hispanics and Alaska Natives who, in proportion to their population, have the highest abortion rates in America. Now… it is turning its sights on Native Americans.
The story begins with the Hyde Amendment, which restricts abortion coverage in federal health programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Indian Health Services, although leaving open the typical exceptions: rape, incest and life of the mother.
In other words, the amendment recognizes that a huge portion of American taxpayers oppose abortion and it respects that opposition by insisting that abortions not be covered by tax-funded health care programs. The Hyde Amendment was attached to the Department of Health and Human Services appropriations bill and passed in 1976." But the abortion industry is trying to remove this protection from the Native American funding bills. [http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060903.htmlLife Site News]
THE UNBORN'S SILENT SUFFERING: THEY ARE NO STRANGERS TO PAIN. A topic receiving more attention recently in debates on abortion is the question as to whether a fetus can suffer and feel pain. A book just published brings together a variety of evidence by experts, mainly Italian, on the subject.
"Neonatal Pain: Suffering, Pain and the Risk of Brain Damage in the Fetus and Unborn" (Springer) is edited by Giuseppe Buonocore and Carlo Bellieni, who are both members of the department of pediatrics, obstetrics and reproductive medicine at the University of Siena.
The contributions from the large number of experts who contribute to the book agree in affirming that a fetus can feel pain before birth, the two editors explain in their introductory essay. "Recognizing human dignity and human suffering from life in the womb is a clinical duty in the service of better treatment," they declare.
One of the contributions, a joint effort by nine experts, looks at the evidence obtained from ultrasound techniques. The introduction of three-dimensional and four-dimensional ultrasonography has enabled a far more detailed evaluation of the fetus, thus allowing the observation of how it reacts to specific stimuli, they observe.
The uterus is a protected, but not an isolated, environment and touch is the first sense that the fetus develops.
By week 10 of pregnancy an unborn child can be observed bringing hands to its head, opening and closing the mouth, and swallowing.
As well, recent experiments show that newborns have functional memory, development of which began in the period before birth.
The authors note that, in fact, newborns remember tastes and odors perceived in the uterus and these perceptions might have an influence on future preferences.
Sounds, also, are heard by the unborn, including the mother's voice. Newborns have even been shown to recognize music that the mother listened to during pregnancy.
Protagonist
Another joint article examines the specific question of fetal pain.
The team of medical experts who authored the piece starts by noting that the unborn child is a protagonist, promoting cellular traffic with the mother, and so the fetus needs to be considered a patient, whose well-being is taken into consideration by doctors.
There is evidence, they observe, that acute or chronic pain, or even prolonged stress, can be dangerous for the fetus, espec
ially if it happens during a critical period of brain development.
Possible negative effects range from a lower pain threshold to an increase in age-related memory impairments.
Based on experiments with primates, the article hypothesizes that fetal pain can even impair the functioning of the body's immune system, with long-term implications for infections and autoimmune diseases.
Regarding stress, the authors cite a study on a group of mothers who suffered stress and compared them to a control group. The babies of the stressed mothers were characterized by a lower birth weight, smaller head circumference and a lower gestational age at birth when compared with the babies of the control group.
The authors observe that some medical experts don't consider the fetus can feel pain because it is not conscious, and also because it is normally asleep in the womb. The article on neonatal pain in Buonocore and Bellieni's book reply to this by saying there is considerable scientific evidence showing that fetuses are sensitive to a variety of sensations in the uterus: sound, changes in light, touch and pressure, and changes in balance.
Moreover, even if a fetus were not to recognize pain consciously as we do, it still remains an unpleasant experience for the unborn, they add.
Stress effects
Another chapter of the book looked at other effects of stress on the fetus. Two members of the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London, Kieran O'Donnell and Vivette Glover, explain that maternal stress is very much related to the development of the fetus.
In addition, in cases of medical intervention carried out on fetuses there is evidence showing a response to an invasive stimulus from the age of 16 weeks gestation. Even at the age of 12 weeks a fetus will move away if touched. Nevertheless, O'Donnell and Glover admit that we still do not know exactly when the fetus starts to feel pain or when it becomes conscious.
In a concluding chapter, Marina Enrichi urges readers to value prenatal life. A better knowledge about prenatal conditions and the development of the fetus will bring with it a perception of fetal life as something precious, resulting in greater respect for the developing embryo and the woman bearing it, she argues.
One of the consequences of this, Enrichi augurs, is that all of us and society itself will begin to wish to create a more protective environment for the unborn baby and the mother.
Nervous system
The Italian medical experts are not the only ones convinced of the need to pay more attention to the pain suffered by the unborn. On Feb. 10 the New York Times ran a major feature article reporting on the findings of other doctors on this topic.
The article started by citing the experience of Kanwaljeet Anand, who while a medical resident in a British hospital saw the significant harm caused to premature babies when they were operated on without anesthetic. At the time, 25 years ago, doctors thought the nervous systems of the babies were too underdeveloped to sense pain.
Through trials, Anand clearly showed this was not at all the case and that once the babies received anesthesia the mortality rate dropped from 25% to 10%. Pain relief for premature babies soon came to be standard, the article said. Anand continued his observations in this area and noted that babies as young as 22 weeks of gestation demonstrated a reaction to pain even when pricked by a needle.
The consequence of this observation was the consideration that the fetus might feel pain. This became an important question with the development of fetal surgery, since whether the unborn feels pain is an important consideration for the surgeon.
Anand, now a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and a pediatrician at the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, told the New York Times that he believes fetuses can feel pain by the 20th week of pregnancy, and possibly even earlier.
The article also cited Nicholas Fisk, a fetal-medicine specialist and director of the University of Queensland Center for Clinical Research in Australia. Fisk has carried out research showing that fetuses as young as 18 weeks react to an invasive procedure with a spike in stress hormones and a shunting of blood flow toward the brain. This is a reaction also present in infants and adults and is designed to protect a vital organ from threat.
The New York Times article acknowledged that the question of whether the fetus does feel pain has obvious implications for the abortion debate. In fact, medical evidence is showing they do feel pain, and as time goes by researchers are pushing back more and more their estimation of the age at which the fetus is affected by pain.
Admitting that a fetus does feel pain, however, is difficult for abortion advocates, as it is just one more bit of evidence proving how wrong they are about denying the unborn a chance to live.
Recognizing that a fetus can indeed feel pain is one step on the path to acknowledging it is a person. [25MAY2008, Rome, Zenit.org, ZE08052501 – 2008-05-25, http://www.zenit.org/article-22688?l=english; John Flynn, LC]