Category: Abortion

Nat Hentoff is an interesting fella. According to Wikipedia,

Nat Hentoff (born June 10, 1925) is an American civil libertarian, free speech absolutist, pro-life advocate, anti-death penalty advocate, jazz critic, historian, biographer and anecdotist, and columnist for the Village Voice, Legal Times, Washington Times, The Progressive, Editor & Publisher, Free Inquiry and Jewish World Review. He was named as one of six 2004 NEA Jazz Masters, the first non-musician to win this prestigious award [SOURCE].

He’s also a critic of both the ACLU and the Bush administration.

One of the things that makes Hentoff interesting is that he came from and is subsantially aligned with the American "Left," but he came to hold pro-life views and has been forthright in stating them.

LIKE IN THIS RECENT COLUMN,

in which he shares some interesting thoughts regarding Jesse Jackson, the Hemlock Society, and a 9-year old boy’s insights on abortion.

It’s worthwhile reading.

When the Colorado House of Representatives decided to honor the ninetieth anniversary of Planned Parenthood’s presence in the Rocky Mountains, one pro-life representative decided to bring along a special guest for the occasion. State Representative Ted Harvey asked Gianna Jessen (pictured at left), a singer, pro-life activist, advocate for those with cerebral palsy, and — oh, yes — an abortion survivor, to help him mark the event. Harvey first introduced Ms. Jessen, told the House of her victory over her disability, had her sing, then lowered the boom by telling "the rest of the story":

[Harvey said to the House]: "The cause of Gianna’s cerebral palsy is not because of some biological freak of nature, but rather the choice of her mother.

"You see when her biological mother was 17-years-old and 7-and-a-half months pregnant, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic to seek a late-term abortion. The abortionist performed a saline abortion on this 17-year-old girl. This procedure requires the injection of a high concentration of saline into the mother’s womb, which the fetus is then bathed in and swallows, which results in the fetus being burned to death, inside and out. Within 24 hours the results are normally an induced, still-born abortion.

"As Gianna can testify, the procedure is not always 100 percent effective. Gianna is an aborted late-term fetus who was born alive. The high concentration of saline in the womb for 24 hours resulted in a lack of oxygen to her brain and is the cause of her cerebral palsy.

"Members, today, we are going to recognize the 90th anniversary of Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood…"

BANG! The gavel came down.

GET THE STORY.

(In the Giving-Credit-Where-Credit-Is-Due Department, nod to The Sacred Weblog of the Universal Inquisition for the link.)

For more information about Gianna Jessen, CLICK HERE.

Kathleen Parker has a nice piece on abortion and some of the absurd reasons that people are using to justify having them.

For example: having a clubbed foot.

She writes:

The week before, in what could have been a prequel to the child-actor story, Britain’s Sunday Times reported that more than 20 babies had been aborted in advanced stages of gestation between 1996 and 2004 in England because scans showed they had clubfeet.

She goes on to point out that, had such abortions been performed in the past, a number of very prominent individuals would have been aborted and that having a clubfoot did not stop these individuals from going on to notable successes in life.

Among them were the poet Byron, the commedian Dudley Moore, and the figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi–in fact the latter not only won her fame with her feet, but she began figure skating as treatment for her clubbed feet.

What makes the abortion of such individuals even more appalling is that having clubfoot is a treatable and often fixable disorder.

Parker writes:

While it may be intellectually easier to justify aborting a fetus in cases of severe abnormalities, terminating a pregnancy because of easily corrected imperfections should disturb our sleep.

GET THE STORY.

MORE ON CLUBFOOT.

Coming soon to a strip mall near you: A "quick-service" Planned Parenthood clinic. Next thing you know there’ll be one on every corner. Right next door to the local Starbucks, no doubt.

"Planned Parenthood wants to expand its services to more areas, and the organization’s leaders hope a plush fast-service clinic coming to this well-heeled St. Paul suburb [Woodbury, MN] next month will attract a new group of women who value convenience and can afford to pay full price.

"It could be to reproductive health care what companies like MinuteClinic and RediClinic are to strep tests and ear infections. Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit, but its leaders hope the new clinic will make enough money to help subsidize the rest of its operations."

GET THE STORY.

One these franchise PPs get going, I wonder what the tagline will be. Perhaps "Over 45 million killed"?

You’re looking at a picture of the death of abrtion (click to enlarge).

This is a map prepared by USA Today of what would happen in the immediate aftermath of The Evil Decision being overturned.

The light colored states (think: those on the Side of Light) would be expected based on their current laws to move to curb abortion sharply. Some even have trigger laws in place that would kick in as soon as The Evil Decision is overturned.

The dark colored states (think: those on the Dark Side) would move to protect it.

Those in the middle are well, in the middle.

But it’s still the beginning of the end for abortion. This is the lay of the land in the immediate aftermath of when we can drive a stake thorugh the heart of Roe.

But the map won’t stay this way forever.

The light states will get lighter. Because they will have fewer abortions, the Roe Effect will intensify and their populations will rise. They will therefore acquire more legal representatives and have more pro-life folks in them at the same time.

The states in the middle will also get lighter, because the Roe Effect will continue in them, and they may even pass some modest abortion curbing measures that would intensify the effect.

Eventually, the dark states will not be able to compete with a move to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and one will get added, ending abortion in the United States. They also may get lighter due to cross-pollenation from the light states and because even in the heart of darkness the Roe Effect will continue to work.

Make no mistake: This battle will be messy, there will be advances and losses, and it will take decades.

But what you’re looking at is . . . the Beginning of the End for abortion.

Bring it on, baby! Bring it on!

GET THE STORY.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer (NOT the National Enquirer),

A professor at Northern Kentucky University said she invited students in one of her classes to destroy an anti-abortion display on campus Wednesday evening.

Witnesses reported "a group of females of various ages" committing the vandalism about 5:30 p.m., said Dave Tobertge, administrative sergeant with the campus police.

Sally Jacobsen, a longtime professor in NKU’s literature and language department, said the display was dismantled by about nine students in one of her graduate-level classes.

"I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom-of-speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to," Jacobsen said.

Asked whether she participated in pulling up the crosses, the professor said, "I have no comment."

And why is she cagey on her own involvement in the vandalism?

NKU President James Votruba said any evidence of criminal conduct in the incident will be turned over to prosecutors. He said he appreciated the emotional nature of the abortion debate and was glad that diverse viewpoints are represented at the school, but he condemned the destruction of the crosses.

"Freedom-of-speech rights end where you infringe on someone else’s freedom of speech," Votruba said.

"I don’t buy the claim that this is an act of freedom of speech, to destroy property."

GET THE STORY.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed.)

So . . . abortion advocates turn to violence.

Isn’t this a "Dog Bites Man!" story?

PRE-PUBLICATION UPDATE: Instapundit reports that Professor Jacobsen is being removed from her position.

GET THE STORY.

Just as pro-lifers begin to find themselves tempted to despair over the Empire of Death that is ever more quickly strangling our society comes a message of hope from the Rebel Alliance for Life:

"A seven-month pregnant woman — her belly vast — was at a supper with a friend. He, being of the family type, told her she was very lucky to be expecting a baby. He was the first person who had said such a thing, she told him.

"It’s a jarring anecdote because it so sharply puts into focus how pregnancy has become the occasion not for congratulations, but for anxious questions about childcare, leave and work. Watch how the announcement of a pregnancy among women is followed within minutes by the ‘What are you going to do?’ question. We’ve replaced the age-old anxiety around life-threatening childbirth with a new — and sometimes it appears just as vast — cargo of anxiety around who is going to care.

[…]

"The painful paradox is that while women have liberated themselves from being defined by their biology — the fate of the girl in many African and Asian societies who is not truly a woman until she has given birth — mothers have ended up relegated to the status of constant abject failure in a culture driven by consumerism and workaholism. There is no kudos in being a mum, only in being other things — such as thin, or the boss — despite being a mum. Motherhood is a form of handicap.

"The fact that we still have as many births in the UK as we do is extraordinary. Some cynics would say it’s the triumph of biology over culture — we are programmed to reproduce regardless. I prefer a more romantic notion: that it’s a form of popular rebellion by which the prevailing anti-natalist mores of a manipulative consumer capitalism are trumped by the innate understanding of millions of women (and men) of what really constitutes love and fulfilment — dependence, commitment, the pleasure of guiding enthusiasm and, above all, the privilege of nurturing innocence."

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to the reader who sent the link.)

"It’s a … popular rebellion by which the prevailing anti-natalist mores … are trumped by the innate understanding of millions of women (and men) of what really constitutes love and fulfilment."

I like that. Now I just have to find the rebel base so I can join the alliance being formed to restore the culture of life…. Oh, wait! I’ve already found it.

A reader writes:

I recently had a relative who had an ectopic pregnancy that was terminated by using the drug Methotrexate.  Everything that I have read says that ectopic pregnancy cannot deliver the baby alive.

I believe that from reading the Catechism that this was an abortion and that this person has excommunicated herself by submitting to the abortion?  I have not spoken to her and do not know how or if I should bring up the subject of what happened and what it means to her relationship with God.  I have prayed much for her and her aborted baby, but any advise you could offer would be greatly helpful.  This is a horrible situation for any mother to be in.

It is indeed. Discovering that you are experiencing an ectopic pregnancy is horiffic.

First, some (partial) good news: Your relative may well not be excommunicated.

Although canon law provides an automatic excommunication for procured abortion, it also includes a number of exceptions which keep this excommunication from being triggered.

Among those exceptions is not knowing that a particular action would incur a canonical penalty. If your relative did not know that procured abortion carries a penalty under canon law then she is not excommunicated.

There are also several other exceptions that might pertain to her state and keep the excommunication from being triggered.

In view of this, I would not raise the possibility of excommunication to her, especially at this time, when she is still recovering emotionally from the ectopic pregnancy.

Now: What about the use of the Methotrexate?

I assume from the way that you present the matter that this drug was used while the child was still alive.

That may not be the case, however. If the child was already dead then its use would not have been immoral. If they knew that the child was dead then it would have been morally legitimate to use this drug to remove the child’s body from the mother.

If you address this situation with your relative then you should first verify that the child was still alive before telling your relative that what she did was wrong. (I’d also verify that Methotrexate was used. Always verify your facts rigorously before accusing someone of a grave sin.)

Now: What if the child was alive?

In that case, what she did was a procured abortion and it was gravely immoral.

Although there are ways of dealing with ectopic pregnancies that many orthodox Catholic moral theologians regard as morally licit, use of an abortifacient drug like Methotrexate is not one of them. The reason is that Methotrexate directly kills the child, and it is never morally permissible to directly take the life of an innocent.

If the child was alive then this was an abortion. It’s too bad your relative did not know about or did not pursue methods of dealing with her situation that are potentially morally licit.

Given what happened, it would in principle be a spiritual work of mercy to alert your relative to the moral character of the act she performed so that she knows that she can take the appropriate steps to deal with it (going to confession).

Your job in delivering such a message to her would be to do it in the way that has the best chance of actually prompting repentance, meaning not only using the best words but also doing it at the best time possible.

When and whether such a time might be, I can’t say. I don’t know how long ago this occurred, what your relative’s state of mind is at present regarding the abortion, or what your relationship with her is.

Ultimately, the decision of when and how to broach the subject is a judgment call, and you just have to make the best decision that you can and trust God with the results.

(You also do not have to assume that you are the only instrument God has to work with your relative. He’s got lots. So don’t think this all hinges on you. In fact, depending on what your relationship with your relative is, you may simply be the wrong person to deliver this message. That’s something that has to be considered.)

If you do decide that it is opportune to discuss this with your relative, what words should you use?

Myself, I tend to be direct about the evil involved, while trying to frame the subject in as compassionate way as possible.

If I were in your position and decided that the moment to talk about it had come, I would probably say something like:

<massively compassionate tone of voice>I just wanted to let you know that I feel really horrible about what happend. Having an ectopic pregnancy is a nightmare that no woman should have to go through. It must have hurt you tremendously to have to go through that, and I want you to know that you and your baby are in my prayers.

That being said, I understand that you used Methotrexate to deal with the situation. While it’s understandable that you felt the need to do something, and while there are potentially moral ways to handle an ectopic pregnancy, this was not one of them. Methotrexate directly brings about the death of the child, and it is never morally licit to directly bring about the death of an innocent.

I don’t know how much you understood about all this at the time. I’m not judging you AT ALL. I know this was a horribly shattering experience for you, and I don’t want to do anything but offer my support for you.

I also don’t want to pry into this matter. I respect your privacy. But I hope that you’ll consider going to the sacrament of reconciliation to make sure that you’re square with God about this. He loves you even more than I do, and I know that you will find healing and relief in the sacrament.</massively compassionate tone of voice>.

That’s what I’d be inclined to say, but others may be able to propose better words.

(NOTE: Exhortations to approach the relative before she had a chance to recover from the event emotionally and exhortations to read the relative the riot act will be deleted.)

I’d also be prepared to answer questions about what alternatives to the use of Methotrexate that she could have used.

READ ABOUT THAT HERE.

You could also e-mail her that link if she wants rather than try to explain these things in the discussion.

Pro-abortion activists like to opine that if abortion is "safe, legal, and rare," then mothers who don’t want their children won’t turn to vacuum cleaners and clothes hangers when they decide to abort their children. But the self-abortionists are still out there. Apparently on the very day that her baby was due, one such self-abortionist decided to use a gun.

"The defense attorney for a woman accused of shooting herself in the stomach and killing her unborn child says an abortion charge won’t hold up in court.

"Suffolk’s lead prosecutor says his office is still investigating the crime.

"Tammy Skinner, 22, is charged with inducing an abortion and filing a false police report. Prosecutors have already said they plan to drop a firearms charge because it doesn’t apply."

GET THE STORY.

Prosecutors are still trying to figure out exactly what crime the woman committed. They may not get a self-induced abortion charge to stick, they’ve dropped a firearms charge, and Virginia’s fetal homicide law only provides justice to pre-born children whose mothers wanted them. That’s because the law is aimed at prosecuting those who kill the "fetus of another."

Before legalized abortion, the charge would have been simple: Murder. There also would not have been this kind of sympathetic clucking for the murderer:

"’I understand that people feel moral outrage over this,’ Martingayle said. ‘And there is likely to be some criminal punishment. But perhaps [Ms. Skinner] been punished enough.’"

Tell that to the baby girl who was shot by her own mother.

So, I surfed into an article that was billed as reporting a "an unprecedented [pro-choicepro-abortion] summit [for pro-choicepro-abortion advocates] to re-examine their strategies — and the ethical aspects of the [abortion] debate" and found out that pro-abortionists are now seeking to capitalize on the post-abortion healing services sponsored by pro-life groups by offering their own post-abortion "healing services."

"Aspen Baker does something most women don’t do: she talks about her abortion. When she got pregnant at 23 she wasn’t ready to be a mother and her relationship was already dissolving. Pro-choice, Baker unexpectedly found herself facing a moral quandary about her decision. ‘I really struggled,’ she says. After the abortion, she figured she’d be given a list of support groups or even just a number to call. But the California hospital that performed the surgery sent her home with only a prescription.

"The procedure left Baker relieved, but sad enough to seek out counseling. What she found, though, were mostly judgmental pro-life Web sites and religious groups. Even when her search led her to volunteer at CARAL, the California affiliate of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, she didn’t find many sympathetic ears. The battle to keep abortion legal left no room for emotional turmoil. Neither side of the polarized political debate really spoke to her. ‘Abortion is either tragic or a simple choice,’ Baker says. ‘But I had a lot of complicated feelings about it.’

"Today, six years later, Baker finally has a number to call. In fact, it’s a post-abortion counseling hotline that she helped to create, called Exhale. She has joined a new generation of pro-choice activists and abortion providers that is insisting on talking about the emotions — and, yes, morality — surrounding abortion. Exhale recently went national and fields hundreds of calls a month in five different languages."

GET THE STORY.

Immediately I set aside the reason I checked out the article because I was intrigued by the notion of a "pro-choice" post-abortion counseling hotline. So, I went googling to find it.

SEE THE SITE.

And what exactly does Exhale offer women who have suffered abortions?

"Exhale offers a free, After-Abortion Talkline that provides emotional support, resources and information. The talkline is available to women and girls who have had abortions and to their partners, friends, allies and family members. All calls are completely confidential and counselors are non-judgmental.

[…]

"At Exhale, we believe there is no ‘right’ way to feel after an abortion. We also know that feelings of happiness, sadness, empowerment, anxiety, grief, relief or guilt are common. Abortion can be hard to talk about and finding the right person to talk with can be even harder. Exhale provides the opportunity to talk with someone that supports and respects you, in a safe and confidential environment."

GET THE STORY.

Or, to put it more pithily, in the words of one of Exhale’s satisfied customers:

"After calling Exhale, I felt relieved because I realized that I don’t have to feel ashamed about my abortion."

This isn’t about healing from an abortion; it’s about numbing the pangs of conscience. Screwtape must be proud.