Study Finds Women Who Have Abortions Experience Post-Traumatic Stress
Trauma Symptoms After Abortion Are Common, New Study Shows: Women Attribute Substance Abuse, Sexual Disorders, and Suicidal Thoughts to Abortion
African-American Leaders Protest Racist Planned Parenthood Antics
New Web Site Establishes Safe Environment for Those Changed by Abortion
Pro-Choice's Consequence: Premature Birth in Future Offspring
The Mystery of the Missing Lawsuits: One Year After the Supreme Court’s Partial-Birth Abortion Ruling, Something Remarkable has Happened: Nothing.
Pro-Abortion Group Honors Abortionists, But Ignores Illegal Activities
Medical Waste, Patient Records Found in Michigan Abortion Business Dumpster
Quotes from Abortion Textbooks and Court Testimony about Legal Abortion Activity
NEW! Another MI Abortionist Trashes Babies in Dumpster…
STUDY FINDS WOMEN WHO HAVE ABORTIONS EXPERIENCE POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS. A study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry found that women who have abortions typically experience high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The findings mirror other research reports showing women are more likely to suffer mental health issues following abortions compared with keeping the baby.
The study appeared in the July 2007 issue of the professional psychological publication but it only coming to light now.
The research involved 155 women from South Africa who had abortions and were evaluated one month and three months afterwards.
Approximately 20 percent of the women had post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms just one month later.
The results led the authors to note that "high rates of PTSD characterize women who have undergone voluntary pregnancy termination".
Dr. David Reardon, the head of the Elliot Institute and a post-abortion research who has been involved in more than a dozen studies documenting the psychological impact of abortion on women, notified LifeNews.com of the new study.
"The abortion industry should not be subjecting women to a procedure that is likely to increase or cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress or other mental health problems," he said.
"Furthermore, the evidence shows that many of these abortions are unwanted and the result of pressure or coercion from others," Reardon added. "The industry should be held liable for putting women at risk and performing unwanted and dangerous abortions."
Reardon said the researchers also examined the effect of levels of pain and post-abortion psychological outcomes.
The study found women who had received a local anesthetic versus those who had received IV sedation had higher levels of pain and were more likely to experience PTSD symptoms in the short-term but there was no long-term difference.
According to Reardon that means the abortion itself is more likely to cause the PTSD issues rather than the kind of pain management given during the abortion process.
This isn't the first study to show a link between abortion and post-traumatic stress disorders.
In a 2004 study published in the Medical Science Monitor (see below), 65 percent of American women reported PTSD symptoms after an abortion and just over 14 percent reported all the symptoms necessary for a clinical diagnosis of PTSD.
Related web sites:
Elliot Institute – http://www.AfterAbortion.Info
[July 2007, BMC Psychiatry; 13Feb08, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, DC]
TRAUMA SYMPTOMS AFTER ABORTIONS ARE COMMON, STUDY SHOWS: WOMEN ATTRIBUTE SUBSTANCE ABUSE, SEXUAL DISORDERS, & SUICIDAL THOUGHTS TO ABORTION. Post-traumatic reactions to induced abortion may be far more common than previously thought, according to a new study published in the Medical Science Monitor. Sixty-five percent of American women studied experienced multiple symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which they attributed to their abortions. Slightly over 14 percent reported all the symptoms necessary for a clinical diagnosis of abortion induced PTSD.
Researchers gathered data from women seeking general health care treatment at clinics and hospitals in both the United States and Russia. Women with a history of pregnancy loss, including miscarriage or abortion, were asked to complete an extensive questionnaire about their experiences.
The subsample used in this study included 331 Russian women and 217 American women. American women were significantly more likely to report traumatic reactions they attributed to their abortions, while Russian women were more likely to report disruption of cognitive schema, which is described as the equivalent of one's "psychological road map" for understanding the world and one's place in it.
Both Russian and American women were more likely to experience negative reactions to abortion if they had prior negative opinions of abortion, felt pressured into unwanted abortions, were more religious, or received little or no counseling prior to the abortion. American women were more likely to report being exposed to one or more of these risk factors. For example, 64 percent of American women felt pressured by others to choose abortion compared to 37 percent of Russian women. In addition, only 25 percent of American women reported receiving adequate counseling prior to their abortions compared to 64 percent of the Russian women.
American and Russian women reported fewer postive reactions to abortion than negative ones. The most commonly reported positive reaction was relief, but only 7 percent of Russian women and 14 percent of American women attributed this feeling to their abortions. American women were more likely to attribute to their abortion subsequent thoughts of suicide (36 percent), increased use of drugs or alcohol (27 percent), sexual problems (24 percent), relationship problems (27 percent), guilt (78 percent), and an inability to forgive themselves (62 percent). Approximately two percent of the American women studied attributed a subsequent psychiatric hospitalization to their abortion.
"This is the first published study to compare reactions to abortion among wome
n in two different countries," said Dr. Vincent Rue, the lead author of the study and a traumatologist who heads the Institute for Pregnancy Loss. "It is also the first to provide a detailed breakdown of traumatic symptoms which the subjects themselves attribute to their abortions. These results will help mental health workers to be better prepared to recognize and treat the psychological complications of abortion."
While this new study focuses on traumatic reactions to abortion, it follows on the heals of nearly a dozen other peer-reviewed studies published in the last three years linking abortion to increased risk of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, suicidal behavior. Recent studies have also linked abortion to higher rates of death from heart disease, which investigators believe may be a long term effect of elevated rates of anxiety and depression.
Because of the increasing concern about the mental health effects of abortion on women, legislation has been introduced in Congress to expand funding for treatment programs and research in this area.
# # #
Citing: Rue VM, Coleman PK, Rue JJ, Reardon DC. Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women. Med Sci Monit, 2004 10(10): SR5-16.
The article can be downloaded free of charge at:
http://www.medscimonit.com/medscimonit/modules.php?name=GetPDF&pg=2&idm=4923
[Springfield, IL (November 16, 2004]
AFRICAN-AMERICAN LEADERS PROTEST RACIST PLANNED PARENTHOOD. Students for Life of America mobilizes African-American Pastors and Pro-Life leaders to call on Congress to De-fund Planned Parenthood.
[See the highlight video soon at www.studentsforlife.org.]
On 24April2008, Students for Life of America organized and led a protest against the racist practices of Planned Parenthood.
In widely circulated YouTube videos during recent months, Planned Parenthood staffers are caught on audio getting "excited" for a donation by a no-holds-barred racist over the phone. The caller plainly states that he wants his donation to be earmarked for a "black baby" because he thinks there are too many blacks already. To see one of the videos, click here.
The protest and press conference was held outside of the Planned Parenthood on 16th St. NW in Washington, D.C. In attendance were: Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-2), Kristan Hawkins (Students for Life of America), Day Gardner (National Black Pro-Life Union), Rev. Clenard Childress (BlackGenocide.org), Rev. Jesse Peterson (B.O.N.D.), Dr. Lillie Epps (Preserving Life and Legacy, Inc), Pastor Stephen Broden, Rev. Derek McCoy (High Impact Leadership Coalition), and Catherine Davis (Network of Politically Active Christians).
Students for Life of America's Executive Director, Kristan Hawkins, opened the press conference by quoting eugenicist Margaret Sanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood.
Hawkins quoted from Sanger's 1939 letter, "We should hire 3 or 4 colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population."
Hawkins went on to highlight how Planned Parenthood has continued the agenda of Margaret Sanger by maintaining policies that discriminate against minority communities. She highlighted that while African-American women only make 17% of all live births, they make up 36% of all abortions.
At the press conference, Day Gardner read a letter signed by over 30 African-American pastors and pro-life leaders calling on Congress to investigate and de-fund Planned Parenthood which receives over $300 million each year from taxpayers.
Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) offered his support and assistance to the cause. And Dr. Lillie Epps spoke of her personal abortion experience at the very Planned Parenthood location. After being promised by Planned Parenthood that they would take care of her "problem," the problem of her child, she came back to say that Planned Parenthood lied to her and stripped her of her legacy. She said, "We are tired of being targeted, we are tired of being called weeds and enough is enough, the buck does stop here. If we don't do something today, if we don't stop abortion in the African American community, we will not have a generation to come. We must stand today not just for our generation but for the generation to come." [25Apr08, Students for Life of America, www.studentsforlife.org]
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Reproductive Racism http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62426
23April08
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NEW WEB SITE ESTABLISHES SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR THOSE CHANGED BY ABORTION. AbortionChangesYou.com Extends Invitation to Make Sense of One's Abortion Experience and Find Support, Healing
Michaelene Fredenburg became pregnant at 18. "I thought abortion would erase the pregnancy," she says. "I thought I could move on with my life. I was wrong." With the help of a professional counselor and the support of family and friends she was able to begin a healthy grieving process.
During the grieving process Fredenburg discovered that her family had also been impacted by her decision to abort. Drawing from this experience, Fredenburg is breaking new ground with the launch of the Abortion Changes You(TM) outreach that connects those touched by abortion with support resources.
AbortionChangesYou.com is more than a Web site for people who have experienced abortion – it's a safe online environment where visitors can participate in interactive content, explore the experiences of others and type in a ZIP code to connect with local resources.
"Just as each person's story is unique, every person moves through the process of healing differently. The Web site allows visitors to privately explore the voices of men, women, grandparents, other family members and friends who have been touched by abortion. The Web site also offers suggestions about how to begin the healing process," Fredenburg says. For example, the section Healing Pathways offers interactive content such as how to build a support system, explore emotions, identify unhealthy behaviors, and space to anonymously share stories, artwork, poetry, and songs.
The outreach and Web site are non-political and non-religious. Ultimately, Abortion Changes You(TM) hopes to demonstrate to anyone touched by abortion – either their own or that of someone close to them – that they are not alone.
"It is my hope that this Web site will assist men and women as they seek to make sense of their abortion or the abortion of someone close to them," Fredenburg says.
Michaelene Fredenburg is available for interviews. Please contact Ashley Walker at 678-990-9032 or Christine Schicker at 404-610-8871, both with The Maximus Group. [http://www.earnedmedia.org/maxg04231.htm; Contact: Ashley Walker, 678-990-9032; Christine Schicker, 404-610-8871; both with The Maximus Group
San Diego, Ap
ril 23, 2008 /Christian Newswire]
PRO-CHOICE'S GUINEA PIGS. The birth of my fourth granddaughter two weeks ago — healthy, a good weight — was the occasion for joy and relief in equal measure.
My daughter's pregnancy had first been fraught with ominous signs of imminent miscarriage. Then the worry was a probable extremely pre-term birth (at 24 weeks' gestation, her high-risk specialist ominously murmured, "Let's try to get you to 28 weeks … "). Even on bed rest she was offered only 5% odds of going 37 weeks (she made it to 39!).
This was our family's first experience with an abnormal pregnancy. In the course of the unwanted adventure I acquired an education in the risks associated with prematurity, today a feature of one in eight births.
The most harrowing risk of an extremely pre-term birth (XPB) — under 28 weeks gestation — is cerebral palsy. The risk is about 38 times higher in XPB than in the overall newborn population.
Sometimes XPB is just bad luck. Sometimes it isn't. According to obstetrician Barbara Luke's classic Every Pregnant Woman's Guide to Preventing Premature Birth, "If you have had one or more induced abortions, your risk of prematurity with this pregnancy increases about 30%." After two, a woman's chance of an XPB doubles. A woman who has had four or more abortions runs nine times the risk of XPB, an increase of 800%.
Studies of black American women throw the problem into bold relief. Black American women, although only 12% of the American population, undergo 35.2% of all abortions. In 1987 it was reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that black American women with two previous abortions had a 91% higher relative risk of a subsequent pre-term birth.
As far back as 1967, Dr. Malcolm Potts — himself a robust defender of abortion — writing in The Eugenics Review, noted: "There seems little doubt that there is a true relationship between the high incidence of therapeutic abortion and prematurity. The interruption of pregnancy in the young (under 17) is more dangerous than in other cases."
(Of the approximately 120,000 abortions performed annually in Canada, the repeat rate is more than 29%, and amongst teenagers repeats are four times as high as for older women.)
This concession by Potts, who actually believed in eugenics, well before the organized and militant ideological polarization on abortion we're so familiar with, gives the lie to pro-choicers insisting such claims are "scare tactics" fabricated by pro-life activists.
But you won't find a future-pregnancy prematurity risk on pro-choice Web site fact sheets. The National Abortion Federation's states: "Comprehensive reviews of the data have concluded that a vacuum aspirational procedure in the first trimester poses virtually no risk to future reproductive health."
Since "suction" is the standard abortion method, I wondered if abortion clinics give actual potential clients a more nuanced picture. So I asked a friend in her 30s to do some sleuthing in person.
"Johanne" visited two abortion clinics in Montreal.
The Morgentaler clinic does not offer consultations prior to abortions. One signs the consent form and proceeds directly to the abortion. A consultation was only reluctantly arranged at Johanne's insistence.
Johanne asked a number of questions, including: "Is there a risk associated with a second abortion?" Answer: "No, and the proof is that [the woman] is fertile … One, two, three abortions, there are no risks."
At the Clinique Medicale de l'Alternative, Johanne was received with less suspicion. As at the Morgentaler, there is no consultation prior to the abortion. (I stress this because where prior counselling is offered, as in Sweden, fewer women choose to abort).
Johanne asked a doctor there the same questions, and again, was there a risk to future pregnancies associated with a second abortion? "No, a woman can have one, two, three, four, five abortions with no problem… "
In response to Nazi atrocities in human experimentation, the Nuremberg Code was adopted in 1964. The code insists on animal studies before exposing human beings to any procedure. All surgical procedures in Canada have been tested on animals. Except one. There are no published animal studies on vacuum aspiration abortion.
So the fact that women are guinea pigs is something else you won't see on the pro-abortion fact sheets or on consent forms. What other abortion risks are women not being warned about? Too many to mention in one column, that's for sure.
[email protected] [http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=415216
Barbara Kay, National Post, Published: April 02, 2008]
THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING LAWSUITS: ONE YEAR AFTER THE SUPREME COURT'S PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION RULING, SOMETHING REMARKABLE HAS HAPPENED: NOTHING. Exactly one year ago today, the Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Carhart rejected a facial challenge to the constitutionality of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003. Confronting “documented medical disagreement whether the Act’s prohibition [on partial-birth abortion] would ever impose significant health risks on women,” the five-justice majority ruled that such disagreement about health risks in particular circumstances did not warrant invalidating the act in its entirety.
Instead, the Court virtually invited practitioners of partial-birth abortion and their allies to bring so-called as-applied challenges that would carve out from the Act’s scope any circumstances in which partial-birth abortion might be shown to be necessary to preserve the mother’s health. (See my essay “The Face-Off Over Partial-Birth Abortion” for a fuller discussion of the distinction between facial and as-applied challenges.)
In dissent, Justice Ginsburg predicted that these as-applied challenges would “be mounted swiftly, to ward off serious, sometimes irremediable harm, to women whose health would be endangered by the [Act’s] prohibition.” According to Ginsburg, “the record already includes hundreds and hundreds of pages of testimony identifying ‘discrete and well-defined instances’ in which recourse to an intact D&E [i.e., partial-birth abortion] would better protect the health of women with particular conditions.”
So how many as-applied challenges have been filed over the past year? Zero.
This fact is worth pondering, not only because the abortion industry had already compiled its best evidence of alleged health risks but also because it has long demonstrated its zeal to race to court on a moment’s notice. Why hasn’t it brought any as-applied challenges?
In a debate with me ten months ago, the Planned Parenthood attorney who presented oral argument in Gonzales v. Carhart offered successive makeshift explanations for the surprising inaction as of then. First, she contended that the as-applied challenges contemplated by the Court required that “a woman who has a serious medical need for an intact D&E abortion … just wait until the exact moment of that need, when she may in fact be hemorrhaging, [when] she may be hospitalized due to a systemic infection … [and] then file a lawsuit in federal court and wait for relief.”
Nice sound bite, perhaps, but manifestly untrue. As I pointed out, the proper plaintiff in as-applied actions is the abortionist, not the mother,
as the penalties under the Act apply to him, not her. It’s quite clear from the Court’s ruling (and Ginsburg assumes as much in her dissent) that an abortionist who reasonably expects to face circumstances in his practice that he thinks call for partial-birth abortion to preserve the mother’s health can challenge the Act’s application to those circumstances.
Indeed, the Court notes that even the Department of Justice “has acknowledged that preenforcement, as-applied challenges to the Act can be maintained.” And even if it weren’t clear, that wouldn’t typically stop the pro-abortion litigation juggernaut from striving to establish the point.
The Planned Parenthood attorney then shifted to another explanation, as she asserted that the two injunctions that had been put in place “in the cases that went to the Supreme Court . . . have not yet been lifted by the lower court.” But that explanation made no sense either. By reversing the rulings below, the Supreme Court swept away the injunctions; no mopping-up by the lower courts was necessary.
So, given the supposed need to “ward off serious, sometimes irremediable harm” to pregnant women, why haven’t Planned Parenthood and its allies pursued any as-applied challenges over the course of the past year?
~~~~
One hint to the answer may be provided by the abortion industry’s previous record of remarkable misstatements about partial-birth abortion. To cite two leading examples:
In 1995, as the barbaric facts of partial-birth abortion were first coming to light, Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups claimed that anesthesia given to the mother caused painless death of the baby before the partial-birth abortion was done — before, that is, the abortionist extracted the baby by her feet until all but her head had emerged, stabbed scissors into her head, sucked out her brains, collapsed her skull, and delivered her dead body. A Planned Parenthood abortionist even made that claim to the Senate Judiciary Committee. But two major societies of anesthesiologists firmly repudiated it.
Planned Parenthood and its allies also claimed in the mid-1990s that partial-birth abortion was “rare and performed primarily to save the lives or fertility of women bearing severely malformed babies” (in the New York Times’s paraphrase of a typical claim).
But in 1997 the New York Times reported that Ron Fitzsimmons, the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admitted that he had “lied through my teeth” in parroting that claim. In truth, “the procedure was common,” and “[i]n the vast majority of cases, the procedure is performed on a healthy mother with a healthy fetus that is 20 weeks or more along.”
In Fitzsimmons’s words, “The abortion-rights folks know it, the anti-abortion folks know it, and so, probably, does everyone else.” Yet as late as 2003, Planned Parenthood was still claiming that partial-birth abortion was “used primarily in emergency abortions.” (And, even after the Court’s 2007 ruling, the lie lives on: for example, Supreme Court reporter Jeffrey Toobin repeated the falsehood both in a New Yorker article and in his book The Nine.)
Let me offer my own best guess why the abortion industry has brought no as-applied challenges over the past year: It realizes that it has no prospect of winning because its vaunted medical evidence is, and always has been, very feeble.
That was clearly the assessment of the judge who most carefully examined the evidence, federal district judge (and Clinton appointee) Richard Conway Casey. In his lengthy 2004 ruling in National Abortion Federation v. Ashcroft, Judge Casey concluded that the government’s expert witnesses “reasonably and effectively refuted Plaintiffs’ proffered bases for the opinion that [partial-birth abortion] has safety advantages over other second-trimester abortion procedures.”
Casey stated that the government’s experts had demonstrated that some of the proffered reasons were “incoherent” and not “credible” and that others were “merely theoretical.” Providing examples of several meritless claims, Casey categorically stated: “In no case involving these or other maternal health conditions could Plaintiffs point to a specific patient or actual circumstance in which [partial-birth abortion] was necessary to protect a woman’s health.” (Emphasis added.)
Judge Casey, however, read the Supreme Court’s 2000 ruling in Stenberg v. Carhart — which invalidated a state ban on partial-birth abortion — as barring a ban on partial-birth abortion unless “there exists a medical consensus that there is no circumstance in which any women could potentially benefit from it.”
Even though he disparaged as “however hypothetical and unsubstantiated by scientific evidence” the claim that partial-birth abortion has “some safety advantages . . . for some women in some circumstances,” he concluded that the existence of a division of medical opinion on the matter required him to rule that the federal partial-birth abortion law was unconstitutional. (For a fuller discussion of Casey’s ruling, see this 2004 essay by Shannen Coffin.)
After the Court’s ruling last year, however, the extreme standard that Judge Casey (plausibly but not necessarily correctly) discerned in Stenberg no longer applies. Instead, the usual standards of evidence do. In bringing an as-applied challenge, the abortion industry would have to show (in the Court’s words) that “in discrete and well-defined circumstances a particular condition has or is likely to occur in which the procedure prohibited by the Act must be used” to “protect the health of the woman.” It hasn’t dared even to try to do so.
Planned Parenthood and its allies continue to maintain that bans on partial-birth abortion threaten women’s health. Perhaps they will bring as-applied challenges to the federal partial-birth abortion ban one of these days. But their failure to have done so over the past year naturally invites suspicion that they are, to paraphrase their own Ron Fitzsimmons, just lying through their teeth once again.
— Edward Whelan is president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and is a regular contributor to NRO’s “Bench Memos” blog.
[18 April 2008, Edward Whelan, National Review Online – http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjU3MmU2YmU4ZjAwNDVkY2NlOWJkNWE4NThlMGE0MWM=]
PRO-ABORTION GROUP HONORS ABORTION PRACTITIONERS, IGNORES ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. The national trade group for abortion businesses issued a statement on Monday honoring abortion practitioners across the country. However, the National Abortion Federation ignored the significant number of abortion practitioners who lost their medical licenses for breaking the law or abusing patients.
In 1996, abortion advocates named March 10 as a day to honor abortion practitioners for killing unborn children and injuring women through abortion.
However, the celebrants of the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers have never acknowledged how these abortion practitioners frequently violate the law.
Vicki Saporta, the president of NAF, said she was proud to celebrate the day to "honor the men and women who … make reproductive choice a reality."
'[A]bortion providers remain dedicated to protecting the lives and health of women by providing them with quality reproductive health care," Saporta said.
"[T]he men and women who brave this path are truly heroes."
As LifeNews.com has reported and as pro-life nurse Jill Stanek noted in a recent editorial, abortion practitioners continue to violate the law and, in some cases, are losing medical licenses and facing jail time as a result.
In the last 12 months alone…
* Massachusetts abortion practitioner Rapin Osathanondh voluntarily surrendered his medical license after killing 22-year-old Laura Smith in a botched abortion.
* Malachy DeHenre was found guilty this January for murdering his wife after losing his medical license in Alabama, New York and Mississippi for botched abortions, rape, and death of a patient.
* Florida abortion practitioner James Pendergraft had his licensed suspended and was fined $10,000 for doing an illegal late-term abortion.
* Michigan abortion practitioner Alberto Hodari, who had previously killed two women in botched legal abortions, was caught in videotape bragging about lying to patients and families and not washing his hands between surgical abortions.
* Former Oregon Planned Parenthood abortion practitioner George Kabacy pleaded guilty in Washington state in November for engaging in and advertising child porn.
* Alabama abortion practitioner Deborah Lyn Levich let her medical license expire after being charged with letting non-physicians do abortions and other improper practices.
* California abortion practitioner Laurence Reich was charged last month for doing abortions without a valid medical license.
* Kentucky abortion practitioner Hamid Hussain Sheikh was indicted in November on Medicaid fraud charges.
"I can’t think of anything more insane than celebrating an industry that kills 1.2 million babies a year," Stanek told LifeNews.com. "Well, actually the industry being celebrated must be considered more insane."
Instead of urging states to do more to prosecute abortion practitioners who violate the law and put women's health at risk, Saporta urged abortion advocates to sign a petition honoring them.
"Please join us in supporting the men and women who dedicate their lives to providing women with quality reproductive health care by signing the National Abortion Federation's petition to show your appreciation for abortion providers," she said. [10March08, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, D.C.]
MEDICAL WASTE, PATIENT RECORDS FOUND IN MI ABORTION CENTER DUMPSTER. Acting on a tip from a local pro-life group, Michigan officials have found parts of unborn children, medical waste and patient records in a dumpster outside an abortion center. The potentially illegal dumping occurred outside the WomanCare abortion center on Southfield Road and the contents are believed to be from the abortion business.
Sgt. Vincent Lynch of the Lathrup Village Police Department told the Detroit Free Press newspaper that a local pro-life group tipped off officials about the problems.
He said the contents of the dumpster were inspected and cataloged and a licensed hazardous waste hauler removed the contents.
Lynch also indicated local officials will investigate the improper disposal of medical records — a surprise given abortion advocates' refusal to turn over medical records in other cases in other states citing supposed privacy violations.
According to Lynch, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will conduct a probe into the medical waste, including surgical pads, gloves and other items found in the dumpster along with the records.
The newspaper indicated its attempts to reach abortion center staff were unsuccessful.
Monica Migliorino Miller said her group found the dumpster's contents during its participation in a national 40-day protest that prompted members of her group to pray and protest outside Womancare.
The Womancare abortion center has come under fire on repeated occasions.
In December, Womancare abortion practitioner Alberto Hodari told students at Wayne State University that his status as an abortion practitioner gives him license to lie to women.
Hodari also spoke about how little he washed between abortions because it chafed his hands, even though his doing so puts women's health at risk.
Last July, Hodari confirmed that the six Womancare abortion centers are willing to put women's health at risk by misusing a drug for heart conditions to do the abortions.
To get around the partial-birth abortion ban, they are using the drug digoxin to kill the baby inside the mother's womb and then cause the mother to miscarry the dead baby's body. He confirmed that all women having abortions between 18 weeks and 24 weeks of pregnancy will get digoxin.
Womancare is also the abortion business that did the botched abortion on 15-year-old Tamiah Russell, who died after the late-term abortion. [10Mar08, Ertelt, Lathrup Village, MI LifeNews.com]
Quotes from Abortion Textbooks and Court Testimony about Legal Abortion Activity
First Trimester Suction Abortion
"The physician will usually first notice a quantity of amniotic fluid, followed by placenta and fetal parts, which may be more or less identifiable." (From the medical textbook Abortion Practice – Dr. Warren Hern, p.114, in section on First Trimester Abortion).
***
"When we do a suction curettage abortion, you know, roughly one of three things is going to happen during the abortion. One would be that the catheter as it approaches the fetus, you know, tears it and kills it at that instant inside the uterus. The second would be that the fetus is small enough and the catheter is large enough that the fetus passes through the catheter and either dies in transit as it’s passing through the catheter or dies in the suction bottle after it's actually all the way out." (Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Martin Haskell, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.)
***
Question: Can the heart of a fetus or embryo still be beating during a suction curettage abortion as the fetus or embryo comes down the cannula?
Answer: For a few seconds to a minute, yes.
(Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Harlan Raymond Giles, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.)
Second Trimester D&E Abortion
"The procedure changes significantly at 21 weeks because the fetal tissues become much more cohesive and difficult to dismember. This problem is accentuated by the fact that the fetal pelvis may be as much as 5cm in width. The calvaria [head] is no longer the principal problem; it can be collapsed. Other structures, such as the pelvis, present more difficulty….A long curved Mayo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus…" (From the medical textbook Abortion Practice – Dr. Warren Hern, p.154)
***
"The doctor grips a fetal part with the forceps and pulls it back through the cervix and vagina, continuing to pull even after meeting resistance from the cervix. The friction causes the fetus to tear apart. For example, a leg might be ripped off the fetus as it is pulled through the cervix and out of the woman. The process of evacuating the fetus piece by piece continues until it has been completely re-moved."
(US Supreme Court, Gonzales vs. Carhart, April 18, 2007, describing the D&E p
rocedure).
***
"Let's just say for instance we took a different view, a different tact and we left the leg in the uterus just to dismember it. Well, we'd probably have to dismember it at several different levels because we don't have firm control over it, so we would attack the lower part of the lower extremity first, remove, you know, possibly a foot, then the lower leg at the knee and then finally we get to the hip."
"And typically when the abortion procedure is started we typically know that the fetus is still alive because either we can feel it move as we're making our initial grasps or if we're using some ultrasound visualization when we actually see a heartbeat as we're starting the procedure.
"It's not unusual at the start of D&E procedures that a limb is acquired first and that that limb is brought through the cervix and even out of the vagina prior to disarticulation and prior to anything having been done that would have caused the fetal demise up to that point."
"When you're doing a dismemberment D&E, usually the last part to be removed is the skull itself and it's floating free inside the uterine cavity…So it's rather like a ping-pong ball floating around and the surgeon is using his forcep to reach up to try to grasp something that's freely floating around and is quite large relative to the forcep we're using.
"So typically there's several misdirections, misattempts to grasp. Finally at some point either the instruments are managed to be place around the skull or a nip is made out of some area of the skull that allows it to start to decompress. And then once that happens typically the skull is brought out in fragments rather than as a unified piece…"
(Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Martin Haskell, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.)
ANOTHER MI ABORTIONIST TRASHES BABIES IN DUMPSTER. In April MI pro-lifers returned to search dumpsters at Alberto Hodari's infamous abortion mills to see if he had relapsed and begun throwing babies he had aborted into the trash (which he had not).
They thought while they were at it they'd check the dumpster at WAC and came up with a mother un-lode of aborted babies, many medical records, urine cups with names on them, unused syringes, sharps, and blood everywhere.
WAC is owned by abortionist Reginald Sharpe. He bought it from abortionist Rodolfo Finkelstein (recipient of my first annual abortionist of the year award) in 2005 before Finkelstein fled the country after being convicted of sexual assault of several patients.
In fact, Finkelstein started a late-term laminaria abortion on a mother the day before he fled in March 2005, leaving it for Sharpe to finish. That day Sharpe left the mill while the mother was laboring, and she screamed so loudly her mother in the waiting room called 911. Paramedics arrived and found she had just delivered a 28-week dead baby but was in acute medical trouble, so they rushed her by ambulance to the hospital.
For that WAC job Sharpe was alerted on April 3, 2005, that his license was being suspended for 9 months for committing illegal late-term abortions. Two days later his clinic burned down for unknown reasons. His license was restored in August 2006, just in time to begin aborting in a new building. Sharpe owns 3 mills.
Citizens for a Pro-Life Society has posted this story on its website but hasn't yet released it to the press. Monica Miller warned me the video was NC-17 rated, with baby skulls and body parts and so much blood just dumped in the normal trash.
The MI Department of Environmental Quality conducted its own search of Sharpe's dumpster after pro-lifers alerted it and confirmed finding what they found.
But like it did Hodari, DEQ has merely given Sharpe a warning, "less than a slap on the hand," said Monica. "They're basically saying, 'Don't do it again, and we'll be back on this date to check you.'"
[May 7, 2008, Jill Stanek, http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2008/05/breaking_news_a.html]
More Aborted Babies Found in Dumpster
Mutilated Human Remains Found at Women's Advisory Clinic, Livonia, MI
This is the tiny leg of an unwanted baby about 16 weeks gestation. Baby was found April 12, 2008 in the trash dumpster behind Women Care Abortion site in Livonia, Michigan by members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society.
On the heels of the Hodari aborted baby find, pro-lifers, with members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society, in April 2008 found the remains of at least 6 aborted babies in the trash dumpster behind the Women's Advisory abortion site, 27549 Six Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan. The remains are those of aborted babies from 16 to 20 weeks gestational age. The clinic is owned and operated by Reginald Sharpe. Extensive bio-hazard waste and patient records were discovered there as well as in the trash container behind Sharpe's other abortion business located on Warren Avenue in Detroit.
[Two women] of Detroit, MI, were the first to discover bio-hazard waste in a search of the Women's Advisory dumspter on March 29, 2008. With members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society, they continued the searches on April 5, 12, 19, 24 and May 3, 2008. [Another person] filed a Police Report with the Livonia Police Department that details the dumpster findings. (See Photos, Video, and Police Report Below)
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality conducted its own investigation of the Women's Advisory dumpster on April 30, 2008. Dr. Reginald Sharpe has received only a warning! No fines, no penalties! It's Hodari all over again! It still remains to be seen if the Wayne County prosecutor will act on the illegal dumping of the patient records.
Miller explains: "When we found these aborted babies in the trash–they shared what could have been their final resting place with the most despicable waste: the bloody canulas, the bloody surgical paper, bloody gauze and gloves, half-eaten McDonald's food, pop bottles and juice box containers.
"You have to see the You Tube video to know what we are talking about. THIS IS ABORTION IN AMERICA; human beings killed under the law and treated like trash! The Discards, the Unwanted, the Throw-aways!
"When we find these dismembered, broken bodies–we find their terrible secret–the terrible secret of the injustice done to them that was never to be known. We photograph them so that their secret will be revealed to all and shake us from our stupor."
[photos — http://www.prolifesociety.com/displaypages/pages/home.aspx]
This footage is firsthand video of the discovery made by pro-lifers, including members of Citizens for a Pro-life Society, of biohazardous waste, patient records and remains of aborted babies taken from the trash dumpster behind the Woman's Advisory abortion clinic located i
n Livonia, Michigan. The trash dumpster was searched from March 29 through May 3 2008. The video you see here was taken on the evenings of April 5 and April 12, 2008. Here you will see the worst possible conduct of any medical practice as well as the wanton disrespect for the sanctity of life…
Police Report filed… with the Livonia Police Department detailing the dumpster findings:
Dear Det. Holloway– Below is a detailed report of our findings regarding the illegal dumping of patient records and bio-hazardous waste (including fetal remains) at the Women's Advisory Center, 27549 Six Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan, owned and operated by Reginald Sharpe. This report has been forwarded to the Michigan Department of Health, Bureau of Professional Licensing. Report made: April 21, 2008
Bio-hazardous waste, including fetal remains, and various documents that identify patient names were discovered in the trash dumpster located directly behind the Women's Advisory abortion center, 27549 Six Mile Road in Livonia Michigan. Searches of the trash dumpster were conducted on the following dates: March 29, April 4, April 12 and April 19, 2008 The searches were all conducted on Saturday evenings. Each evening several black-colored plastic bags were removed and searched through.
Upon examination, which occurred immediately upon removing the bags, they were found to contain the following items:
1. The remains of aborted babies, i.e. on the evening of April 4th we found a foot, rib cage, spinal column sticking to blood-soaked blue-surgical paper. Another blood-soaked surgical paper contained the eye of another fetal child and other fleshy material from the abortion procedure. On April 12th we discovered large skull fragments from one abortion procedure and the entire leg and foot of another aborted baby as well as intestines.
2. Dozens of bloody suction canulae used in the abortion procedures.
3. Several used/bloody laminaria
4. Several blood-soaked blue surgical papers with fleshy material attached to them.
5. Approximately 15 glass medicine vials discovered April 12th–(one glass medicine vial was discovered April 4th and one on April 19th)
6. Several pairs of used/bloody surgical gloves.
7. Dozens of blood-soaked surgical gauze squares.
8. Dozens of blood-stained or blood-soaked paper toweling.
9. Several used urine-sample cups
10. Various documents–approximately 30–that contain identifying patient information. Examples of documents include urine-sample cups with patients' first and last names, Rh negative identification card, handwritten notes with patient names and information, signed consent forms, prescription forms with patient name, etc.
11. Specimen jars containing formilin solution with unidentifiable specimens in gauze sacking used in abortion procedures.
12. Each search of the Women's Advisory Center dumpster yielded excessively blood-soaked surgical paraphernalia all thrown out in ordinary trash bags, thrown out with McDonald's food items and other trash material. On April 12 one trash bag actually had a large blood-stained suction canula sticking out of it.
All of these findings were video-taped and photographed each day we conducted the searches while we actually did the searches.
In addition to the Women's Advisory Center findings, a search was conducted on the dumpster of Women's Advisory's sister clinic in Detroit, Sharpe's Family Planning, 16738 East Warren, Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday, April 12th. Excessive bio-hazardous waste and patient records were also discovered there consistent with the findings at Sharpe's Livonia clinic.
[http://www.prolifesociety.com/displaypages/pages/home.aspx]