Guest Post: The Right Frame of Mind, by Dr. Mark Creech

The Right Frame of Mind

Coat Hangers with Baby Clothes on Them 

By Dr. Mark Creech

Listening to some of the railing by pro-choice legislators against SB 353 – Health and Safety Law Changes – the abortion bill considered this week in the North Carolina House – could at times be exasperating.

No moment was more strenuous to the ears of pro-lifers than when Rep. Alma Adams (D-Greensboro) insisted that if the bill closed abortion clinics across the state, it would force women back to the time of back alley abortions and pregnancies ended with coat hangers.

Adams decried, “What a terrible day for North Carolina women – shame on us,” while waving high a coat hanger. “Do we really want that blood on our hands? I do not,” she said.

Granted, this is an emotional issue, but the use of such hyperbole is really what’s shameful.

More than a decade before abortion was legal in this country; the vast majority of illegal abortions were performed by reputable physicians in good standing. [1] In 1960, Planned Parenthood stated 90% of all illegal abortions were done by physicians. [2] Actually, the vast majority of women were not getting abortions from butchers as pro-choice people like to claim. In fact, most abortions performed after legalization were performed by the same doctors that were providing them before legalization. Neither their training nor their equipment really improved after abortion was decriminalized. [3] So, the entire argument about back-alley abortions and coat-hangers is, to say the least, highly exaggerated.

The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, an abortion activist of yesteryear, admitted that he and his cofounders of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) fabricated the figure that a million women were getting illegal abortions every year, as well as the number of maternal deaths, 5,000 to 10,000 each year resulting from them. [4]

Nathanson said: “I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the ‘morality’ of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics? The overriding concern was to get the laws eliminated [laws against abortion], and anything within reason that had to be done was permissible.” [5]

Research confirms that in 1972, the year preceding the legalization of abortion, the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported only 39 maternal deaths from illegal abortions. [6] These numbers are a far cry from those figures of tens of thousands touted by pro-choice advocates. Today, maternal deaths caused by an abortion procedure are very difficult to track because the reporting is dependent on the abortion clinics, which is much like asking the alcoholic to guard the liquor cabinet. But make no mistake, women are still dying from abortions and the fatalities are mostly post-abortion surgery and secondary reasons for these deaths like a blood clot, blood poisoning, heart attack, hemorrhage, pelvic abscess, etc., are listed as the official cause instead of the actual cause – the aftermath of an abortion procedure. The point here is that abortions performed today are characteristically performed as they always have been, but there is now a greater risk posed to the health of women largely by the incredible increase of the numbers performed every day.

Moreover, women lawmakers on the House floor defending so-called abortion rights repeatedly said that women are smart. Women know what they are doing when seeking an abortion and don’t need the government to tell them what to do with their own bodies. But then they turned around and insulted women by arguing that if some or all of the clinics were to close in North Carolina these same intelligent women would be so foolish as to use a coat hanger to end their unwanted pregnancy. Such logic not only boggles the mind, but is demonstrably revealed for what it is – hypocritical propaganda!

There is one final critical thought, however, that has yet to be mentioned. For every two people that enter an abortion clinic, in some cases neither come out alive, while in all cases, only one comes out alive and it’s not the baby. Whether an abortion is legal or illegal, whether it’s safe or unsafe, whether it’s in a clinic or in a back alley, in no situation is it ever safe for the unborn innocent that is subjected to the violence of a uterine invasion. The primary horror of abortion, no matter the means, is not the threat it poses to a woman’s health (as bad as that threat is), but the certain death it causes to the most vulnerable of all human beings – a tiny and defenseless little baby.

That being said, perhaps next time Rep. Alma Adams and her cohorts, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice North Carolina, and NARAL wave their coat-hangers in protest to pro-life legislation, then those who respect life should wave coat-hangers in kind with baby clothes on them.

Dr. Mark Creech is the Executive Director of the Christian Action League. 






Resources

[1] Original source, Alfred Kinsey, cited by John Wilke, Abortion Questions and Answers (Cincinnatti: Hayes Publishing Company 1988) pg. 169.  Cited by Randy Alcorn, Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments (Portland: Multonomah Press 1992) pg. 137

[2] Original source, Mary Calderone, “Illegal abortion as a Public Health Problem,” American Journal of Health 50 (July 1960):949. Cited by Randy Alcorn, Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments (Portland: Multonomah Press 1992) pg. 137

[3] Original source, Bernard Nathanson, Aborting America (New York: Doubleday, 1979), pg. 193. Also quoted by Randy Alcorn, Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments (Portland: Multonomah Press 1992) pg. 138

[4], [5] Randy Alcorn, Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments (Portland: Multonomah Press 1992) pgs. 137, 138

[6] National Right to Life, “Argument 4: If Abortion is Made Illegal, Women Will Die,” http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/responseargument4.html

Testimony: H695 Will Help Support and Protect Babies with Disabilities

My name is Julie Scott Emmons, and I am a longtime Educator and advocate for persons with disabilities.  I believe that every single human life has value, and that individuals with differences make our society whole. 

I’d like to bring your attention to a provision in Section 6 of H695.   It requires that the Department provide resources on the State website that a woman may contact upon receiving information that her child might have a disability or serious abnormality. 

There are two reasons why this provision is necessary.  First of all, this will address an alarming trend in our nation to abort babies with disabilities.  In a society that has a renewed emphasis on tolerance and social justice, almost 90% of babies with Down Syndrome are never allowed to bring their gifts into this world.  90%.  Women whose babies are suspected to have disabilities are often pressured to abort during an extremely painful, vulnerable time.  There are dire predictions of low “quality of life” and a life sentence of “inconvenience”.  There is no mention of the goodness, truth and beauty that a child with disability will bring into their home.  

Secondly, these resources will provide parents with information about a vast network of support that is available to parents of children with special needs. They’ll have information about Down Syndrome Adoption Programs and support communities for families with differences such as Spina Bifida, Cystic fibrosis, various Trisomy Syndromes and more.  Studies show that 80% of parents with poor prenatal diagnosis choose to abort.  When they are presented with comprehensive support, however, 80% choose Life. 

**On February 7, 2013 a beautiful young Kindergarten teacher named Jennifer died in a Maryland hospital.  Jennifer’s daughter, whom she had already named Madison Leigh, had been prenatally diagnosed with a seizure disorder at 31 weeks.  Both Jennifer and Madison died painful deaths during a legal abortion.  I’ve often thought of Jennifer during the last few months, and wondered if positive support and information about her daughter’s condition would have caused her to give birth to this very wanted baby.  Unfortunately, we’ll never know.  However, we can make sure that every mother in North Carolina has access to the resources she needs during a very difficult time. **   

It is heartbreaking to find out that your child might have a severe disability.  I’ve watched close friends walk that road.  Parents who receive this diagnosis deserve support, compassionate care and resources that will lead them to information and communities that will value both them and their differently-abled child.  Our world will be better for it.  

Texas, North Carolina, and Pro-Life Legislation

It was a crazy week in Texas. On June 25, the Texas legislative session was winding down, but the Senate had yet to vote on a bill that would greatly increase regulations on abortionists and their facilities. Senator Wendy Davis became an overnight celebrity when her 10-hour filibuster, combined with the noise of the pro-abortion audience, pushed the final vote til after midnight. Because the legislative session ended at midnight, the vote was invalid.

The story doesn’t end there, though; Governor Rick Perry called a special session in order to give the bill another chance. Since Monday, July 1, thousands of Texans have swarmed Austin to voice their opinions of the bill. Supporters of HB2 wear blue; opponents wear orange. After hearing hours of testimonies, the House State Affairs Committee voted in favor of the bill, 8-3. Next week, HB2 will continue to the House, while its companion bill, SB1, will likely be discussed in committee on Monday.

In part due to the dramatic end to the legislative session, Texas has received national attention and attracted support, criticism, and debate from all over the country. However, North Carolina is fighting a similar battle, and it’s important for North Carolina citizens to be actively involved in what’s going on at home.

On Wednesday, July 3, in spite of hundreds of pro-abortion supporters who flooded the Legislature, the NC Senate passed H695.  This bill includes provisions seeking to prohibit sex selection abortions, to require physicians to be physically present during an abortion, and to opt out of abortion coverage in the federal exchange.  To pro-lifers, these measures seem obvious. Why wouldn’t people want to ban sex selective abortions, or to ensure that a doctor is in the room when a mother takes a deadly pill with risky side effects? To abortion rights supporters, though, such measures are merely obstacles between a woman and her “right” to choose, and they are desperate to protect that “right” to abortion for any reason, any time.

While H695 has passed in the Senate, it still has a long way to go before it becomes law. On Tuesday, July 9, there will be a vote to concur in the House Health and Human Services Committee, and the bill could possibly be on the House floor later that day for the full House vote.  If the committee and full House concur then it will be on its way to the governor’s desk. YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL! These measures will save lives, but our legislators need to hear from their pro-life constituents immediately. You can be sure they are hearing from those who want abortion to be legal without any restriction.  Please visit our website, www.ncrtl.org, and look under “Action Alert” to see how you can help!