NEW! Late-Term Abortionist's Patient Exposes Coercion in Her Testimony About Her Abortion
Woman Sues Nebraska Planned Parenthood – Lost 80% of Blood in Botched Abortion
Study Shows New York City Teens Have High Pregnancy, Abortion Rates
Another NJ Abortion Business Sees More "Customers" After Atlantic City Abortion Site Again Shut Down
Aurora, Illinois Abortion Center Sees Hundreds of Pro-Life Teens Protest
Abortion RU 486 Pill not 'Safe' Despite Media Spin – Study Only Suggests Pill as 'Safe' As Surgical Abortion
British Abortionist Who Botched Abortion Won't Get Medical License Back
International Planned Parenthood Releases Abortion Report for Latin America
International Planned Parenthood Federation Launches New Abortion Campaign in Europe
Oregon Will Get New Planned Parenthood Center, with Abortions Coming Soon
KS Legislator Backs Down From More Late-Term Abortion Restrictions
Sweden Cuts Aid to Countries that Oppose its Pro-Abortion Stance…
LATE-TERM ABORTIONIST'S PATIENT EXPOSES COERCION IN HER TESTIMONY ABOUT HER ABORTION. A former patient of abortionist George R. Tiller gave jaw-dropping testimony before a joint interim legislative committee Friday, telling the detailed story of her late-term abortion experience that, as described, violated the Kansas ban on such abortions at nearly every turn.
"This is perhaps the most explosive testimony that has every been heard at the Capitol. Based on this testimony alone, Tiller's medical license should not survive to the end of the day," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We demand that the Board of Healing Arts take immediate action to stop Tiller from victimizing any more people as this young lady was victimized."
The woman, Michelle Arnesto-Berg, appeared with her attorney, and told the committee of her abortion that took place at Tiller's Women's Health Care Services in May, 2003, while she was 18 and about to graduate from High School. Michelle related how her parents were upset to discover that she was pregnant and immediately began to pressure her into an abortion that she didn't want at 26 weeks into her pregnancy. Michelle's boyfriend opposed the abortion and had planned with Michelle to marry and raise their child together.
The following account is a reconstruction of events from Michelle's testimony:
Michelle's mother discovered George R. Tiller on the Internet and arranged for Michelle to have an abortion there the following Tuesday. After several days of nearly constant pressure and coercion, and fearing the loss of her family's love, Michelle relented to their demands.
Michelle and her mother became lost on the way to the abortion clinic and arrived two hours late for her appointment. Upon arrival, she was placed immediately into a group with several other women also receiving late-term abortions who were in the process of watching a video about the Tiller abortion legacy.
From there, without having spoken to anyone or signed any paperwork, Michelle was taken to a room with an ultrasound machine. She was prevented from seeing the viewing screen by the clinic worker who did her ultrasound. At that time, abortionist Shelly Sella came in and administered the injection through her abdomen into her baby's heart that immediately killed her child. Sella is a California abortionist who travels to Wichita every third week to do abortions for Tiller at his late-term abortion mill.
After receiving the fatal injection, Michelle was sent to the receptionist to fill out her paperwork and consent forms. There was no effort before the injection to insure that Michelle was over 18, or that she suffered from any kind of condition that would meet the legal requirement of "substantial and irreversible impairment," either physically or mentally, for an abortion after 22 weeks. She told the committee that at no time was she asked medical questions, but was asked questions only of a social nature.
In the three to four minutes that she spent with Tiller during her three-day stay, he told her that if one of his children were in her situation, he would have them get an abortion as well. Another clinic worker told her that if she had the baby, her life would be over and that she would never be able to go to college.
Michelle delivered at the abortion clinic on the third day of the procedure. She refused to deliver her baby into a toilet bowl, as ordered by clinic workers. Instead she delivered her dead baby on the floor next to the commode, a sight that still haunts her to this day.
A minister from the Unity Church met with Michelle and told her that God would forgive her for her abortion, but he never asked her questions or even inquired about how she was doing.
Because Michelle's mother was set to graduate from college the following day, Michelle was released a day earlier than she normally would have been released, with the verbal promise that she would seek follow-up care in one week. However, because of turmoil in her family and embarrassment over her abortion, she did not get follow-up care. She stated that Tiller's office never called her to even ask how she was or if she had indeed made the follow-up appointment.
Earlier this year, Michelle requested her medical records from Women's Health Care Services and was shocked to learn that her healthy 26-week baby had been diagnosed as "not viable" by Sella. This designation allowed Tiller and his staff to circumvent the Kansas ban on abortions of viable babies after 21 weeks, a gestational milestone that is considered the earliest a baby can survive outside the womb if born.
Michelle did not receive a second opinion as required by law for post 21-week abortions, and she was never diagnosed with any condition that would have met the "substantial and irreversible impairment" standard in the law.
Michelle agreed to make her medical records available to the committee.
Rep. Jene Vickery commented that it seemed her abortion was done without any consideration of the laws of Kansas.
Michelle indicated that after reading the law that bans late-term abortions, she believes that the law failed to protect her and her baby from an unwanted abortion that has caused her painful consequences. She expressed that she is equally upset at her parents for pressuring her to abort and Tiller for allowing the abortion to take place.
"Michelle's emotional testimony is perhaps the most compelling evidence to date that Tiller has committed illegal abortions while the authorities have
refused to enforce the law," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Her testimony was a powerful indictment against those in Kansas that have the authority to enforce the law and protect people like Michelle, but instead look the other way. If this isn't the end of George Tiller, then there is no justice in Kansas."
Click here to listen to unedited file of Michelle’s actual testimony: http://operationrescue.org/audio/Michelle.WMA[TOPEKA, KS, September 10, 2007 LifeSiteNews.com]
WOMAN SUES NE PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Botched Abortion Nearly Killed Her. A Nebraska woman is suing Planned Parenthood after an abortion at its facility resulted in the perforating of her uterus and a severe loss of blood. The abortion perforated the woman's uterus and, according to doctors who treated her later, could have killed her.
The unnamed woman filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs on 1Sept07 with the help of Lincoln attorney Jefferson Downing.
The suit was filed in Lancaster County District Court and the woman has issued a complaint to the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department.
"Our client has filed these complaints to bring to light the negligent actions of Planned Parenthood and Dr. (Meryl) Severson," Downing said in a statement.
The woman had the abortion at the Lincoln facility last month and the abortion perforated her uterus. She was ultimately taken to a local hospital where she lost 80 percent of her blood and experienced severe pain.
An ultrasound done prior to the abortion found the woman was eight weeks pregnant and had a tilted uterus.
After waiting several hours, the woman was taken into an exam room, according to the Lincoln newspaper, and given a shot in her cervix. She then heard a suction sound and "immediately complained of excruciating pain," according to the lawsuit. She told the abortion practitioner and his assistants to stop, but Severson allegedly replied, "We can't stop."
According to the lawsuit, three Planned Parenthood employees held the woman down while Severson completed the abortion. The woman experienced severe pain and bleeding afterwards and ultimately experienced three seizures by the time she was rushed to BryanLGH Medical Center East.
A hospital report said her uterus was perforated in the abortion and doctors there had to perform an emergency hysterectomy because of the severe damage to her body.
"Had she not received emergency care when she did, it is my professional opinion that the patient could have hemorrhaged to death," the doctor said, according to a sign statement Downing obtained.
Downing said the woman felt violated by the abortion and her treatment at Planned Parenthood and was not named in the lawsuit to protect her privacy.
Chris Funk, president of Planned Parenthood's local affiliate, told the Lincoln Journal Star that he hasn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment on it.
The newspaper reports that Severson resigned form the University of Nebraska Medical Center in March 2001 after doing an abortion there outside college policy. He subsequently joined Planned Parenthood as an abortion practitioner. [3Sept07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com Lincoln, NE]
After Abortion She Nearly Died, Lost 80% of Blood — Said to be "just the tip of the iceberg". As pro-lifers protested on Saturday at the Omaha home of Planned Parenthood abortionist Meryl Severson, news broke that Severson is being sued by a 40-year old woman whose abortion he botched.
The woman, who filed the suit 1September07 under the pseudonym "Jane Roe," alleges that Severson so severely botched her abortion that she lost 80% of her total blood volume and required an emergency hysterectomy to save her life.
According to the complaint, the woman reported to the Lincoln Planned Parenthood office on August 17, 2007, for an abortion in the 8th week of pregnancy. In the recovery area, a friend who accompanied her to the abortion clinic attempted to help her to the bathroom, but the woman, who was in intense pain and bleeding, passed out and suffered the first of three seizures.
The woman was transported by ambulance to the local hospital where doctors treated her for "catastrophic perforation" of the uterus, which would have resulted in her death if treatment had been delayed any longer.
Severson lives in Omaha, but splits his time between three abortion mills in Lincoln, Nebraska, Council Bluffs and Souix City, Iowa.
[OMAHA, September 4, 2007 LifeSiteNews.com]
STUDY SHOWS NYC TEENAGERS HAVE HIGH PREGNANCY, ABORTION RATES. A presidential candidate likes to talk about how he lowered teen pregnancy rates and abortions by promoting adoption when he was mayor of New York. However, a new report finds teens in the nation's largest city have alarmingly high rates and over half of all teen pregnancies end in abortion.
The city government released the full report "Teen Sexual Activity and Birth Control Use in New York City," which contains a new survey of public high school students.
It finds that 69 percent of sexually active New York City teens use condoms, compared to 63% nationwide.
In 2005, the New York City teen pregnancy rate (including live births, abortions and miscarriages) was 94 per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19. Nationally, the rate was just 76 per 1,000 in 2002 (the most recent year on record).
The vast majority of teen pregnancies (86 percent) are unintended, and more than half (62 percent) end in abortion.
Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner, admitted that abstinence education could help lower these rates, but still promoted contraception.
"Postponing sex has many benefits for teens," Frieden said. "It's the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Teenagers who choose to have sex should know that condoms and long-acting contraceptives are both important."
The survey also asked teenagers about the morning after pill and found only 47 percent had heard of it with 54 percent of girls and 39 percent of boys knowing about Plan B.
Despite the results of the study, the city's health department said it will continue a school condom distribution program. The city also said it would to encourage teens to delay sexual intercourse as well. [3Sept07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com New York City, NY]
ANOTHER ABORTION SITE SEES MORE CUSTOMERS AFTER NJ ABORTION BUSINESS REMAINS SHUT DOWN. New Jersey women in the Atlantic City area are traveling to Cherry Hill to get abortions after the state's health department shut down an abortion center for violations. Officials closed the Alternatives abortion center in June after they found multiple "profound" health code violations: infection control issues, poor documentation and record-keeping, and problems with the facility itself.
Since the closing, there has been a "spike" in women making the trip north to Cherry Hill
Women's Center, near Philadelphia.
Elizabeth Barnes [v-p, Cherry Hill abortion business] told the Press that she was worried New Jersey residents would worry that all abortions centers in the state had health code problems because the Alternatives business and another in Englewood have been closed.
Like Alternatives, the Cherry Hill Women's Center is one of several abortion facilities state health inspectors have not probed despite a state requirement to do so. Health officials say they don't have enough inspectors for cover all of the medical center in the state. As a result, Cherry Hill Women's Center has not had a proper state health inspection since December 2004, and other abortion centers have gone longer. [see article below]
Barnes told the Press newspaper that the Cherry Hill abortion center recently had an inspection but that the state has not published the results. She said officials found problems with improper documentation and temperature control issues.
The 2004 report found dirty, dust-covered poles used for IVs and "white scum" on them as well as not having proper anti-hypothermia drugs in place and improper infection control records.
The Cherry Hill Women's Center reportedly issued a corrective report to the state a month later fixing the problems.
Meanwhile, the newspaper says the Alternatives abortion center is still closed and has been for two months and that state Health Department spokesman Tom Slater said it has yet to correct the problems.
The state normally fines centers $2,500 a day for every day they are closed and do not fix the issues inspectors find. As of now, Alternatives owes $167,000 in fines over its health violations. [3Sept07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com Cherry Hill, NJ]
New Jersey Government Well Behind on Abortion Business Inspections. New state government papers show health inspectors are significantly behind in their task of checking on abortion centers in New Jersey to make sure they are complying with health and safety laws. The revelation follows the closing of two abortion centers there for serious violations.
State health inspectors recently closed an Atlantic City abortion business that has been found to have multiple health code violations.
The problems at the Alternatives abortion center were so profound that state officials could not let it stay open.
Earlier this year, state officials closed the Metropolitan Medical Associates abortion business in Englewood after a botched abortion went so badly that a young woman nearly died as a result.
Now, the Atlantic City Press newspaper has uncovered new papers from the state showing that health officials inspected just one abortion business in the past two years before these recent ones. That's despite a state requirement that abortion centers be probed every other year.
The newspaper obtained state records showing that past inspections found health code violations in almost every case.
Three other abortion facilities are overdo for monitoring by health officials — including the Planned Parenthood center in Shrewsbury, which is seven years behind schedule.
The state of New Jersey also does not keep track of all abortion facilities and could not confirm to the newspaper that there are not other centers where abortions are done that should be on the list of those that need to be checked out.
State health department spokesman Tom Slater said the problem is related to a lack of health inspectors for all health facilities and he said only 17 percent of all medical clinics are inspected every two years, as state law requires.
He said there are 1,003 medical centers in the state and just 117 health inspectors.
"There has been a nationwide attrition in the health work force," Slater told the Atlantic City paper. "The Baby Boomers are retiring. Those are the type of people that took public jobs. And we are competing with the private sector."
But pro-life advocates say that the politicized nature of abortion is keeping state officials from making the inspection of abortion centers a priority.
"I think it's been a long-standing position of the state that abortion is the great untouchable of law and politics," Marie Tasy, of New Jersey Right to Life, told the newspaper.
Her position has the support of Congressmen Chris Smith and Scott Garrett. They wrote a letter to the newspaper complaining about the lack of inspections.
"It is our greatest concern that in the state's haste to appear supportive of abortion rights, it is failing to safeguard the health and safety of the vulnerable young women who seek abortions in New Jersey," the letter reads.
Looking at the probe of he Alternatives abortion center in Atlantic City, officials found that the abortion center had problems with infection control issues, poor documentation and recordkeeping and problems with the facility itself.
Also, state health officials closed the Metropolitan Medical Associates abortion business in Englewood after Newark Beth Israel Medical center filed a complaint reporting that a 20-year-old woman nearly died from a botched abortion there.
The abortion center failed a followup inspection two weeks later and authorities released information to a local newspaper recently on the shoddy conditions there.
Papers from the state obtained by the Bergen Record newspaper indicated that health authorities inspected the abortion center every year from 1990 to 1996 but did not show up again for an inspection until 2000 and then once again in 2002. There were no inspections after that.
In their review, health inspectors found dirt and debris throughout the abortion facility, open packages of items that were supposed to remain sterilized before their use, and other problems. [19August2007, Ertelt, LifeNews.com, Trenton, NJ]
NEW AURORA IL ABORTION CENTER VISITED BY HUNDREDS OF PRO-LIFE TEENS. The teenagers gathered outside the new abortion center in Aurora over the weekend to show their support for a campaign seeking to shut it down. Planned Parenthood upset residents and surprised local officials by building the abortion facility entirely in secret using another name.
Pro-life groups have been working overtime with protests and meetings with city officials in an attempt to close the abortion facility which is scheduled to open in two weeks. They are calling themselves Youth for Truth and they walked up and down East New York street with pro-life signs showing their opposition.
Mary Kate, an Aurora teen who helped coordinate the event, told the Suburban Chicago News that more than 700 teens attended. The ad hoc group formed just two weeks ago as local residents learned more about the covert building process. "Lots of kids feel this way," she said, "and we put this together because we know we can make a big stand." [4Sept07, Aurora, IL LifeNews.com]
BRITISH ABORTIONIST WHO BOTCHED ABORTION WON'T GET MEDICAL LICENSE BACK. Andrew Gbinigie nearly killed a woman in a botched abortion and was the subject of charges of sexual harassment from 35 women. He has been unable to find a job since multiple hearings were held on the cases and has now lost an appeal to get
his medical license reinstated.
In May 2006, the British General Medical Council determined that Gbinigie, a 51-year-old, could practice medicine again if he underwent retraining to update his medical skills. He also faced restrictions including only working at hospitals with intensive care facilities and not performing abortions or work in gynecology. The medical panel said it would review those conditions nine months later.
1Sept07, the GMC said Gbinigie could still not work alone at a medical center for another year and must continue to be under the supervision of another physician. As a result, he could not re-obtain his medical license. According to the Birmingham Mail newspaper, he has still not been able to obtain a job because the administrators of various medical facilities have refused to hire him because of his problems. [2Sept07, London, England, LifeNews.com #4112]
INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD RELEASES ABORTION REPORT FOR LATIN AMERICA. The International Planned Parenthood Federation, one of the largest abortion businesses in the world, has released its annul report about abortions in the Western Hemisphere. The report claims that millions of illegal abortions are done annually in these Latin American and Caribbean nations that prohibit abortion.
The report begins with the very revealing strategy of IPPF in the region in order to overturn the pro-life cultural values reflected in the abortion laws there.
"Since political conditions will not change dramatically in the region in the short-term, we must strengthen our advocacy agenda towards abortion law reform so that we don't continue
to hold women hostage in the meantime," IPPF says.
That means the abortion group plans to get its foot in the door in pro-life nations by providing post-abortion care for women who have illegal abortions.
The strategy, IPPF says in the report, also includes promoting anti-HIV programs, promoting contraception and plugging the morning after pill wherever possible. It hopes these less controversial initiatives will pave the way to legalize some or all abortions.
"The first step — expanding the social base of support towards change — should come from teams and institutions committed to sexual and reproductive rights," the group explains.
Planned Parenthood makes wild claims about the number of illegal abortions in the region, yet offers no explanation for its figures.
"Highly restrictive laws and the social stigma surrounding abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean leave women with a lack of options, forced into a state of isolation and fear. The region has one of the highest unsafe abortion rates in the world, with approximately 3.8 million illegal abortions performed in dangerous conditions every year," it says.
IPPF says a group called Iniciativas Sanitarias (“Health Initiatives”) based in Uruguay is a key partner" in its effort to stop illegal abortions.
However, Dr. Randy O'Bannon, Education Director for National Right to Life, has said that the number of illegal abortions in developing countries is likely inflated.
"The precision implied in such numbers is highly misleading," O'Bannon says. He adds that such figures "are based on meager data and a lot of assumption-laden extrapolations."
Many of these countries do not maintain detailed birth or mortality records, much less abortion statistics, making even the roughest of estimates problematic," he explained.
WHO also relies on what is calls "public source data" to provide illegal abortion death guesses. Typically, a "public source" is a journal article, report, or unpublished document, often from a pro-abortion organization, raising questions about its objectivity.
O'Bannon says these sources of information are unreliable.
In Uruguay, for example, the WHO relies on studies with samples sizes of 5, 14, and 23 individuals to extrapolate the number of deaths due to illegal abortions for the entire country. In addition, the studies were done in the 1970s and 1980s and are not current.
The data may provide anecdotal evidence of abortion-related deaths but does not validate the claims of thousands of such deaths, O'Bannon concludes. [31Aug07, Ertelt, LifeNews.com #4112, New York, NY]
INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION LAUNCHES NEW ABORTION CAMPAIGN IN EUROPE. Using strongly anti-religious language, the European branch of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has recently issued a document entitled "Why We Need to Talk about Abortion" calling for the legalization of abortion in the European Union (EU). While acknowledging that the member states retain "ultimate responsibility" for abortion legislation, the IPPF-Europe urges the EU Commission and the European Parliamentarians to act "despite this mandate" to "drive the issues forward" and "keep them high on the political agenda."
The IPPF document praises the European Parliamentarians and the Council of Europe for issuing two non-binding pro-abortion documents in recent years. The document quotes something called the "Van Lancker Report" of the European Parliament, which calls for unrestricted abortion rights in Europe.
IPPF also mentions the EU Commission's support for the conclusions of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Although the Cairo document makes no call for abortion, pro-abortion advocates claim that Cairo's call for "reproductive health" is synonymous with abortion, something the UN General Assembly never intended or voted for.
Throughout the text, the IPPF text targets the countries of Slovakia, Malta, Ireland, Portugal and Poland as specific examples where women are faced with "no other option than forced pregnancy," unless they want to…travel abroad to have it. "Unplanned pregnancy" is portrayed as a "shock," leading to "clear-cut panic." An aborted life is equated to an exercise of a woman's right "to choose what to do with their bodies." [The human fetus is a totally separate human life.]
The IPPF document also illustrates that abortion advocates believe that linking the pro-life cause with religion will help promote abortion rights.
Slovakia is criticized for allowing doctors "conscientious objection" against performing abortion for religious reasons, IPPF has clearly taken sides in the debate about religious freedom in Europe. The IPPF document also includes a section called "Every abortion has a story" contains stories of women faced with an "unplanned or unwanted pregnancy" in six European countries.
It should be noted that most countries of the European Union have more limitations on abortion than the United States where there is abortion on demand. Most European countries have fairly conservative gestational limits on abortion, and some EU countries ban abortion outright.
While the European Institutions have repeatedly said that abortion lies outside their competence and should be left to the individual, this recent IPPF campaign shows that pro-abortion organizations consider the institutions of the EU as useful lobbying targets to put the "right to abortion" o
n the EU agenda.
See related LifeSiteNews.com Stories
Low Birthrates Causing European Pension Funds to Run Out
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/jul/03070404.html
German Population Plunge “Irreversible,” Federal Stats Office Admits
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/nov/06110903.html
France Offers Cash Incentives for More Babies to Buffer Population Crisis
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05092804.html
UN WARNS OF EUROPEAN DEPOPULATION DISASTER
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/jan/00010501.html
EU Commissioner calls on Europeans to have More Children
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/aug/05081006.html
[31August 2007, By Maciej Golubiewski, Brussels, Belgium, C-Fam.org; lifeSiteNews.com, 31Aug07]
OREGON WILL GET NEW PP CENTER, ABORTIONS COMING SOON. Planned Parenthood has caused a national stir with a new abortion center in Aurora, Illinois that it built under the table without the public knowing until the last minute. The abortion business is preparing a new center in Oregon that is already drawing significant opposition because it will target college students. PP has already upset pro-life advocates and African Americans in Portland by choosing to build an abortion center in a predominantly black community. Now the abortion business is headed for McMinnville, a city southwest of Portland that is the home to Linfield College, a private liberal arts school. [31Aug07, McMinnville, OR, LifeNews.com #4112]
KANSAS LEGISLATOR BACKS DOWN FROM MORE LATE-TERM ABORTION RESTRICTIONS. A top pro-life Kansas lawmaker is backing down from proposing more restrictions on late-term abortions. Instead, state Rep. Arlen Siegfreid says he wants to make sure the health department is following the law and accurately and adequately reporting how many of the abortions are done and why. Siegfried also wants to propose new legislation making the reporting requirements for abortion practitioners more thorough.
Current state law requires that late-term abortions only be done to save a woman's life or to prevent “substantial and irreversible harm” to “a major bodily function.”
However, Wichita abortion practitioner George Tiller, under charges from former Attorney General Phill Kline, appeared to have been doing abortions for specious mental health reasons.
Siegfried planned to submit legislation limiting the abortions to cases when the life of the mother is in danger, but he told the Lawrence Journal World “I’m not getting good feedback on that.” He said attorneys have told him such a bill could be unconstitutional.
Instead, he is going to push for better reporting requirements so state officials can crack down on abortions done outside the law. He said abortion practitioners are currently just “reiterating the law back to us on the form” by saying the abortion was needed for the reasons stated in the law. [31Aug07, Topeka, KS, LifeNews.com #4112]
SWEDEN CUTS AID TO COUNTRIES THAT OPPOSE ITS PRO-ABORTION STANCE: Said to be "very concerned" about abortion policies of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru. Sweden announced 28Aug07 that it would completely sever aid to several countries that oppose its pro-abortion policy, including Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru.
Although the government of Sweden did not publicly attribute the decision to the abortion policies of the Latin American nations, the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa yesterday quoted anonymous sources who stated that the Swedish leadership, "was very concerned about the issue of therapeutic abortion." "What happened is that they are very involved in the area of health. The announcement is for the purpose of seeing if the debate over therapeutic abortion will be reopened again," the newspaper was told.
Two representatives in the Nicaraguan congress, Alba Placios and Wilfredo Navarro, accused the Swedish ambassador, Eva Zetterberg, of trying to use Sweden's foreign aid program to force abortion on the country
"The Swedes have been exerting pressure and conditioning all of their aid on meddling, principally the ambassador Eva Zetterberg…The basis for removing Swedish aid is the topic of abortion. Zetterberg is an open sponsor of abortion in Nicaragua." said Navarro.
The Swedish diplomatic corps in Nicaragua has repeatedly hinted to Nicaragua that continuing its policy of prohibiting abortions would jeopardize foriegn aid assistance from the country. Last year, when legislators were debating a new law that would make all direct abortions illegal, Zetterberg joined other ambassadors and leaders from United Nations agencies in urging the government not to pass the legislation. Zetterberg herself went to the Nicaraguan Congress to witness the vote, which was seen by some as an act of intimidation.
At a meeting last year of the Donor's Roundtable, a group of representatives of countries and UN agencies giving foreign aid to Nicaragua, Zetterberg told the media that the group "wants to ensure that mechanisms are planned to guarantee a better link between cooperation and government policies," and stated that "therapeutic abortion" was "a very important issue".
When the law banning abortions was passed, a group of feminist organizations with ties to international foundations appealed the ruling. The leader of the group, Ana Maria Pizarro, stated that Zetterberg and others in the "Donor's Roundtable" (whose members are representatives of foreign aid donors to Nicaragua) had asserted that "they saw it as a great inconsistency, given that the European cooperation is based on the promotion of human rights and respect for democratic liberties."
Although the government of Sweden did not did not directly cite the countries' abortion policies in its announcement, the Swedish ambassador to El Salvador stated that the changes in her country's foreign aid policy were meant to address topics such as "peace, security, democracy, and human rights", terms that are often used in relation to the pro-abortion agenda.
Two other countries in Central America that prohibit all abortions, El Salvador and Honduras, were also cut off, as well as Peru, which has also failed to buckle under pressure to loosen abortion restrictions.
The economist Nestor Avendano stated that the cuts would do serious harm to the most vulnerable sectors of the Nicaraguan economy, including health and education. "The government will have to reduce expenditures in other budgetary areas to be able to attend to those sectors with the same intensity," he told La Prensa.
However, Nicaragua also received news yesterday that Switzerland would more than triple its annual foreign aid to Nicaragua, from about $5 million to over $17 million annually for the next five years. This would partially offset the $21 million annual loss from Sweden's pullout.
[30Aug07, Matthew C. Hoffman, Central America, LifeSiteNews.com]
ABORTION RESEARCH
ABORTION PILL NOT "SAFE" DESPITE MEDIA SPIN – STUDY ONLY SUGGESTS RU 486 AS PHYSICALLY "SAFE" AS SURGICAL ABORTION. Misleading conclusions are being drawn about the safety of RU486. Misleading conclusions are being drawn in news stories based on a study that has indicated that the RU486 abortion drug is no more dangerous than surgical abortions. Misleading major media headlines include: Time magazine’s “Study Finds Abortion Pill Safe,” the Chicago Tribune’s “Study: Abortion Pill Doesn’t Increase Risks” and the New York Post’s “Abortion Pill Gets all Clear.”
"Reporters are drawing the erroneous conclusion that this study means RU486 is completely safe. That's not what the study says, and nothing could be further from the truth," said Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger. "Women are dying at an alarming rate from RU486 abortions and its widespread misuse in the abortion industry. That has not changed."
The study indicates that future pregnancies are equally affected by RU486 abortions and surgical abortions. However, it is a leap in logic to say that either are safe when the study simply shows that the risks to future pregnancies of both abortion methods are equal.
The study published today [16Aug07] in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes its abstract by underlining that the risks of medical abortion are considered in comparison with the risks of surgical abortion. It states, “We found no evidence that a previous medical abortion, as compared with a previous surgical abortion, increases the risk of spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, preterm birth, or low birth weight.” (See the abstract online here: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/357/7/648).
"Women who have had abortions have greater risks of miscarriage and infertility than women who have not had abortions. It is no accident that the study refused to compare these two groups of women, because we know they would have found that abortion hurts women, and that is obviously a conclusion that they did not want to reach," said Sullenger.
RU486 is a drug approved for abortions in pregnancies under six weeks. Three office visits are usually required for this kind of abortion. Some reports indicate that RU486 has a 15% failure rate, meaning that many women who receive the drug must also have a surgical abortion to completely remove the pre- born baby and other pregnancy tissue.
"Women aborting with RU486 can pass their babies anywhere. This has created a lot of emotional trauma for women who do not expect to come face to face with a tiny baby complete with arms, legs and a recognizable face," said Sullenger.
"The reputation of RU486 has suffered recently because of the publicity generated by a number of abortion deaths related to the drug. The media distortion we are seeing is a simple case of public relations damage control," said Sullenger. "Hiding the possibility of RU486's life-threatening dangers from women really shows that there is more concern for selling abortions than for protecting and informing women. This misinformation campaign is really a horrific thing when you think about it that could needlessly cost women's lives."
[16Aug07, New England Journal of Medicine; Washington, August 16, 2007 LifeSiteNews.com]
RU-Serious? On Wednesday the New England Journal of Medicine published a study examining the effect of the abortifacient, RU-486, on women's chances of later having tubal (ectopic) pregnancies or miscarriages. The analysis relied on Denmark's 35-year-old national abortion registry. The results were released to Time, the Associated Press, and Reuters, which splashed grossly misleading headlines like: "Study Finds Abortion Pill Safe" (Time). Actually, the researchers concluded only that there was the same risk to women and child of future miscarriages if they had used RU-486 or had a surgical abortion. The new study is problematic because it did not examine other, short-term risks, and it did not compare RU-486 and surgical abortion patients to women with no abortion history. Thus, this study says nothing about future pregnancy outcomes for RU-486 patients versus women who never have abortions – a true measure of longer-term RU-486 safety. The authors, including an NIH scientist, laid down the following unbelievable spin to explain the omission: "….women who have never had an abortion tend to have a different pattern of income, smoking rates and other health-related behaviors that would make a comparison difficult…." Riiiiiight. More likely–but not politically correct–is that women who have abortions have a higher risk of future negative pregnancy outcomes. HHS Secretary Leavitt needs to look into having this study re-done using proper methodology and unbiased scientists.
Study Finds Abortion Pill Safe – http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1653411,00.html
Resource Brochure
Politicized Science: the Manipulated Approval of RU-486 and Its Dangers to Women's Health – by: Chris Gacek
Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the abortion pill RU-486 on September 28, 2000, an estimated 600,000 American RU-486 abortions have been performed. RU-486's ability to bring an end to a human life developing in the womb is known to all, but the drug's considerable harmful effects on women's health have been minimized or ignored completely. Instead, the major media have been fully engaged in defending RU-486 despite an American track record that includes deaths and over a thousand reports of complications – many of them serious or life-threatening.
Since 2000, several organizations, including the Family Research Council, have unearthed a vast amount of information regarding safety concerns about the drug, as well as evidence documenting the Clinton Administration's manipulation of the FDA approval process. This pamphlet provides an overview of what we now know about the drug's approval and the dangers posed by RU-486 to women's health. Order this brochure from www.FRC.org.
[August 17, 2007, Family Research Council]