Wichita, KS — Operation Rescue missionary Jeff Herzog reports that a baby was saved on Christmas Monday because of one of Operation Rescue’s signs. A Kansas couple came to George Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services, the largest late-term abortion mill outside Communist China, for an abortion of their 5-month old pre-born child. One of the sidewalk counselors talked to the couple, who noticed the large sign that read, “Tiller the Killer Strikes Again. Butchers women. Butchers babies. Who’s next?” with the enlarged photo of him unloading a botched abortion victim from the ambulance at Wesley Hospital. She explained to the couple that, in addition to the death of the baby, women have been seriously hurt by botched abortions at that abortion mill.
The couple agreed to go next door to the Choices Medical Clinic, a pro-life center that offers alternatives to abortion. They received a free, 3-D ultrasound and discovered that their baby was a little boy. They decided against abortion, but had pre-paid nearly $1,000 to the mill for the cost of the abortion.
The couple returned to Tiller’s to get their money back. They later explained to rescuers that while he did refund the full amount, Tiller tried to make them feel guilty about not having the abortion. He said, “You’ll just go somewhere else to have the abortion.” But they told him, “No, we’re keeping our baby.”
As the couple was leaving, sidewalk counselors gave them gifts of baby blankets and clothing. Ironically, while the couple was receiving their gifts, Tiller left the mill and saw the young mom and dad being ministered to by the rescuers who were standing next to the sign that displayed the Tiller mishap. One of the pro-lifers noticed Tiller muttering under his breath as he drove away, apparently none too happy that another one got away. But it was a wonderful Christmas present for the rescuers who rejoiced that a precious life was spared!
What a wonderful and heartwarming testimony regarding Monday’s miracle! Praise God for the rescuers…..for the Choices Clinic….and for the couple themselves, who allowed God’s graces to reveal their baby’s true humanity to them during this holy week.
I have never been a sidewalk counselor; indeed, my emotionality (i.e., vulnerability) concerning this issue probably precludes that. But I must give abundant credit to Monday’s rescuers, dedicated souls who were able to save the life of an irreplaceable, precious child – a creation whose unique spirit and essence are gifts endowed by our Lord upon all of us.
There are many accomplishments in life that merit praise: professional success…..athletic feats….musical talents….etc. But if I believed that I had truly saved someone’s life, I would be very happy indeed.
May God bless all involved in this Christmas miracle – now and for always.
you people need to get your heads looked at, trying to scare women away from a medical precedure they need with photographs & signs highlighting the few complicatios, you disgust me
Apparently these people did not NEED to kill their baby. Their final “choice” was to allow their baby to live. What is truly disgusting is when people think it is somehow good for women that the truth be hidden from them. Is it a fact that women are hurt by slipshod work at abortion mills? Yes. Do women deserve to be made aware of that fact? Only someone who really cares nothing for women would say “no.” For some it seems that the only “choice” they find acceptable is the choice that leads to a dead baby.
Leon,
Can you explain why you believe the woman “needed” to have an abortion? I am a little confused on that part, as this did not appear to be a case where the woman’s life was in danger. Name-calling doesn’t help, and it reminds me of my elementary-school days. You will not be able to make a point by doing that rather than arguing logically.
GREAT work, ORW! Herzog’s poster is truly “a sign from heaven”…keep this photo and article up, at least until street lifers all over the country have similar ones in use!
Leon, leon, leon…I don’t know where you’ve been for the last century or so, but here are a few signposts you’ve apparently missed to help bring you (and others of your view) up to speed…assuming, for no particular reason, that you want to go there…!
“The perpetration of infant murder…is rank and smells to high heaven.” –(“The Least of These Little Ones,”The New York Times)
“The enormous amount of medical malpractice [the common euphemism for abortion] that exists and flourishes, almost unchecked, in the city of New York, is a theme for most serious consideration. Thousands of human beings are thus murdered before they have seen the light of this world, and thousands upon thousands more of adults are irremediably robbed in constitution, health and happiness.” (“The Evil of the Age,” The New York Times)
“The Civilization of today is opposed to babies, and its basest product is the abortionist. He is the human hyena, and the living, quivering flesh of foolish or unfortunate womanhood is the grave from which he tears his prey. He lives upon the crushed and mangled bodies of tender, breathless infants.” — (“Hellish Earl”, The National Police Gazette)
These statements were published in the respective publications cited towards the end of the 18th century; like something more up to date? Ok!
“AN ABORTION KILLS THE LIFE OF A BABY AFTER IT HAS BEGUN. IT IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR LIFE AND HEALTH. IT MAY MAKE YOU STERILE, SO THAT WHEN YOU WANT A CHILD YOU CANNOT HAVE IT…”
Planned Parenthood has a fit of relative honesty, albeit tactical, and admits that induced abortion is both genocide and ‘gynocide’, in a 1963 pamphlet on birth control. Although PP has changed its tune considerably since 1973, especially when selling abortion “services” to women in crisis, nothing about induced abortion has changed in the intervening years …as they, and other proabortionists well know. . .
According to the World Health Organization, 500 women die every day from these so-called “safe, simple procedures.” Many women who survive them are left comatose, maimed, sterile, or otherwise impaired /incapacitated for life. According to one former abortuary owner, “We were maiming or killing one out of every 500 women who came to us for an abortion.”
“People do not realize that there are thousands of serious physical complications from abortion every year in this country.”
–Dr. Bernard Nathanson, OB Gyn. — former American abortionist and abortion-rights advocate
“In medical practice, there are few surgical procedures given so little attention and so underrated in its potential hazards as abortion. It is a commonly held view that complications are inevitable.”
“Most physicians regard abortion as a stigmatized operation done by people who are otherwise incompetent and can’t do anything else.”
“The sensations of dismemberment flow through the forceps like an electric current.”
– Warren Hern, Abortionist
“In some ways it is very boring, these abortions — the same thing day after day. In fact the nurses are excited about complications because it’s something different.”
– A Director of Nursing at an abortion facility
In Necessity and Sorrow, Magna Denes, New York: Basic Books. Inc.. 1976
“The abortion clinics never accept any responsibility for complications. They just say it was not their fault. The concern is not the patient at this time. The concern is with taking care of the doctor and keeping his reputation and the clinic’s [reputation] clean.”
– Carol Everett, Former Clinic Director and Owner
“You know that there is something alive in there that you’re killing.”
– Unidentified Abortionist
In Necessity and Sorrow, Magna Denes, New York: Basic Books. lnc., 1976
“[The abortion procedure is] inherently negative. I don’t think that anyone can say that abortion is right. It’s a form of life … This has to be killing …”
– New York Abortionist
Democrat and Chronicle, July 5, 1992
Are you aware, Leon, that the National Abortion Federation was refused group malpractice insurance coverage by Lloyd’s of London? Lloyd’s is known internationally for insuring many high-risk elements; but they know where to draw the line, or they would not have been in business all these decades…Seems they know something you don’t: namely, the difference between real medical procedures (spelling corrected), which try to save human life, and phony ones, which intend the opposite. I’m sure you’ll also be interested to learn that the above-quoted Warren Hern has been virtually jeered off the stage of more than one abortion trade convention for daring to suggest that they focus on avoiding injuries to women (what a concept, in an industry devoted to reducing the population) instead of covering them up…
The only real medical advance in recent decades which has somewhat reduced the physical risks of induced abortion is the discovery of antibiotics, which has, obviously, helped deal with some infections. However, it has not made a dent in the hundreds of other medically recognized post-abortion complications; and what good it may have done women has been more than overwhelmed by the increased dangers to women resulting from legalizing the murder of the unborn. You see, Leon, prior to Roe v. Wade, it was largely illegal to kill innocent unborn babies, as it was illegal to endanger their mothers. So abortionists had to avoid complications to moms in order to keep their child-murdering under cover. Now that they no longer feel that need, and the money to be made has motivated many of them to operate on even more of an assembly-line basis, and more women have gotten abortions, mistakenly buying the “legal means safe” propaganda, more and more maternal fatal mistakes actually occur.
“Here is yet another example of the abortion industry’s calloused heart toward precious women and their children. The enemy that inhabits the shell of the abortion industry is the same one who inhabited the shell of Pharaoh, King Herod and Adolph Hitler. He has come to rob kill and destroy and he is filled with the demonic fury that cares nothing for life, mercy, or compassion. Yet, he (Satan) is always presented as a compassionate, merciful friend to mothers in a crisis pregnancy situation. He always appears to be an “angel of light.” His solution always seems to be the easiest and quickest way to solve a problem. It is the wide path. It leads only to destruction, not only of the child, but also the mother who chooses this path…Two weeks ago Tuesday, another woman was murdered by an abortionist in Birmingham , AL . The media never seems to cover this butchery in our nation’s abortion mills. As a matter of fact, the media is the cover the devil uses to blind us to his murderous ways. If the truth were ever told, legalized abortion in this country would come to an end. —Rev. Flip Benham, Director, Operation Save America.
A List Of Major Physical Sequelae Related To Abortion 1
DEATH
The leading causes of abortion related deaths are hemorrhage, infection, embolism, anesthesia, and undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies. Legal abortion is reported as the fifth leading cause of maternal death in the United States, though in fact it is recognized that most abortion related deaths are not officially reported as such.2
BREAST CANCER
For women aborting a first pregnancy, the risk of breast cancer almost doubles after a first-trimester abortion and is multiplied with two or more abortions. This risk is especially great for women who do not have children. Some recent studies have refuted this finding, but the majority of studies support a connection.3 More on abortion and breast cancer.com (incidentally, Leon, the number of independent studies, world wide, linking induced abortion with breast cancer is now at least 29…)
CERVICAL, OVARIAN, AND LIVER CANCER
Women with one abortion face a 2.3 relative risk of cervical cancer, compared to non-aborted women, and women with two or more abortions face a 4.92 relative risk. Similar elevated risks of ovarian and liver cancer have also been linked to single and multiple abortions. These increased cancer rates for post-aborted women are apparently linked to the unnatural disruption of the hormonal changes which accompany pregnancy and untreated cervical damage.4 More on cervical cancer.
UTERINE PERFORATION
Between 2 and 3% of all abortion patients may suffer perforation of their uterus, yet most of these injuries will remain undiagnosed and untreated unless laparoscopic visualization is performed.5 The risk of uterine perforation is increased for women who have previously given birth and for those who receive general anesthesia at the time of the abortion.6 Uterine damage may result in complications in later pregnancies and may eventually evolve into problems which require a hysterectomy, which itself may result in a number of additional complications and injuries including osteoporosis.
CERVICAL LACERATIONS
Significant cervical lacerations requiring sutures occur in at least one percent of first trimester abortions. Lesser lacerations, or micro fractures, which would normally not be treated may also result in long term reproductive damage. Latent post-abortion cervical damage may result in subsequent cervical incompetence, premature delivery and complications during labor. The risk of cervical damage is greater for teenagers, for second trimester abortions, and when practitioners fail to use laminaria for dilation of the cervix.7
PLACENTA PREVIA
Abortion increases the risk of placenta previa in later pregnancies (a life threatening condition for both the mother and her wanted pregnancy) by seven to fifteen fold. Abnormal development of the placenta due to uterine damage increases the risk of fetal malformation, perinatal death, and excessive bleeding during labor.8
HANDICAPPED NEWBORNS IN LATER PREGNANCIES
Abortion is associated with cervical and uterine damage which may increase the risk of premature delivery, complications of labor and abnormal development of the placenta in later pregnancies. These type of reproductive complications are the leading causes of handicaps among newborns.9
ECTOPIC PREGNANCY
Abortion is significantly related to an increased risk of subsequent ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies, in turn, are life threatening and may result in reduced fertility.10 More on ectopic pregnancy.
PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE (PID)
PID is a potentially life threatening disease which can lead to an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy and reduced fertility. Of patients who have a chlamydia infection it the time of the abortion, 23% will develop PID within 4 weeks. Studies have found that 20 to 27% of patients seeking abortion have a chlamydia infection. Approximately 5% of patients who are not infected by chlamydia develop PID within 4 weeks after a first trimester abortion. It is therefore reasonable to expect that abortion providers should screen for and treat such infections prior to an abortion. 11 More on pelvic inflammatory disease.
ENDOMETRITIS
Endometritis is a post-abortion risk for all women, but especially for teenagers, who are 2.5 times more likely than women 20-29 to acquire endometritis following abortion.12
IMMEDIATE COMPLICATIONS
Approximately 10% of women undergoing elective abortion will suffer immediate complications, of which approximately one-fifth (2%) are considered life threatening. The nine most common major complications which can occur at the time of an abortion are: infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, ripping or perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury, and endotoxic shock. The most common “minor” complications include: infection, bleeding, fever, second degree burns, chronic abdominal pain, vomiting, gastrointestinal disturbances, and Rh sensitization. 13
INCREASED RISKS FOR WOMEN OBTAINING MULTIPLE ABORTIONS
In general, most of the studies cited above reflect risk factors for women who undergo a single abortion. These same studies show that women who have multiple abortions face a much greater risk of experiencing these complications. This point is especially noteworthy since approximately 45% of all abortions are repeats.
INCREASED RISKS FOR TEENAGERS
Teenagers, who account for about 30 percent of all abortions, are also at much high risk of suffering many abortion related complications. This is true of both immediate complications, and of long-term reproductive damage.14
INCREASED RISK FOR CONTRIBUTING HEALTH RISK FACTORS
Abortion is significantly linked to behavioral changes such as promiscuity, smoking, drug abuse, and eating disorders which all contribute to increased risks of health problems.15 For example, promiscuity and abortion are each linked to increased rates of PID and ectopic pregnancies. Which contributes most is unclear, but apportionment may be irrelevant if the promiscuity is itself a reaction to post-abortion trauma or loss of self esteem.
NOTES
1. An excellent resource for those interested in legal aspects of abortion is Thomas Strahan’s Major Articles and Books Concerning the Detrimental Effects of Abortion (Rutherford Institute, PO Box 7482, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482, (804) 978-388.) This resource includes brief summaries of major findings drawn from medical and psychology journal articles, books, and related materials, divided into major categories of injuries.
2. Kunitz, “Causes of Maternal Mortality in the United States,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 65(5) May 1985.
3. H. L. Howe, et al., “Early Abortion and Breast Cancer Risk Among Women Under Age 40,” International Journal of Epidemiology, 18(2):300-304 (1989); L. I. Remennick, “Induced Abortion as A Cancer Risk Factor: A Review of Epidemiological Evidence,” Journal of Epidemiological Community Health, (1990); M. C. Pike, “Oral Contraceptive Use and Early Abortion as Risk Factors for Breast Cancer in Young Women,” British Journal of Cancer, 43:72 (1981). See also this current reference list.
4. M-,G, Le et al., “Oral Contraceptive Use and Breast or Cervical Cancer: Preliminary Results of a French Case-Control Study, Hormones and Sexual Factors in Human Cancer Etiologly, ed. J P Wolff, et al., Excerpta Medica: New York (1984) pp. 139-141; F. Parazzini, et al., “Reproductive Factors and the Risk of Invasive and Intraepithelial Cervical Neoplasia,” British Journal of Cancer, 59:805-809 (1989); H. L. Stewart, et al , “Epidemiology of Cancers of the Uterine Cervix and Corpus, Breast and Ovary in Israel and New York City,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 37(i):1-96; I. Fujimoto et al., “Epidemiologic Study of Carcinoma in Situ of the Cervix,” Journal of Reproductive Medicine 30(7):535 (July 1985); N. Weiss, “Events of Reproductive Life and theIncidence of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer,” Am. J. of Epidemiology, 11 7(2):128-139 (1983); V. Beral, et al., “Does Pregnancy Protect Against Ovarian Cancer,” The Lancet, May 20, 1978, pp. 1083-1087; C. LaVecchia, et al., “Reproductive Factors and the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Women,” International Journal of Cancer, 52:351, 1992.
5. S. Kaali et al., “The Frequency and Management of Uterine Perforations During First Trimester Abortions,” Am. J. Obstetrics and Gynecology 161:406-408, August 1989; M. White, “A Case-Control Study of Uterine Perforations Documented at Laparoscopy,” Am. J. Obstetrics and Gynecology 129:623 (1977).
6. D. Grimes et al., “Prevention of uterine perforation During Curettage Abortion,” JAMA, 251:2108-2111 (1984); D. Grimes, et al., “Local versus General Anesthesia: Which is Safer For Performing Suction Abortions?” Am. J. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 135:1030 (1979).
7. K. Schulz, et al., “Measures to Prevent Cervical Injuries During Suction Curetage Abortion,” The Lancet, May 28, 1983, pp. 1182-1184; W. Cates, “The Risks Associated with Teenage Abortion,” New England Journal of Medicine, 309(11):612-62, l; R. Castadot, “Pregnancy Termination: Techniques, Risks, and Complications and Their Management,” Fertility and Sterility, 45(l):5-16 (1986).
8. Barrett, et al., “Induced Abortion: A Risk Factor for Placenta Previa”, American Journal of Ob & Gyn. 141:7 (1981).
9. Hogue, Cates and Tietze, “Impact of Vacuum Aspiration Abortion on Future Childbearing: A Review”, Family Planning Perspectives (May-June 1983), vol. 15, no. 3.
10. Daling, et.al., “Ectopic Pregnancy in Relation to Previous Induced Abortion”, JAMA, 253(7):1005-1008 (Feb. 15, 1985); Levin, et al., “Ectopic Pregnancy and Prior InducedAbortion”, American Journal of Public Health (1982), vol. 72, p. 253; C. S. Chung, “Induced Abortion and Ectopic Pregnancy in Subsequent Pregnancies,” American Journal of Epidemiology, 115(6):879-887 (1982)
11. T. Radberg, et al., “Chlamydia Trachomatis in Relation to Infections Following First Trimester Abortions,” Acta Obstricia Gynoecological (Supp. 93), 54:478 (1980); L.Westergaard, “Significance of Cervical Chlamydia Trachomatis Infection in Post-abortal Pelvic Inflammatory Disease,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 60(3):322-325, (1982); M. Chacko, at al., “Chlamydia Trachomatosis Infection in Sexually Active Adolescents: Prevalence and Risk Factors,” Pediatrics, 73(6), (1984); M. Barbacci, et al., “Post Abortal Endometritis and Isolation of Chlamydia Trachomatis,” Obstetrics and Gynecology 68(5):668-690, (1986); S. Duthrie, et al., “Morbidity After Termination of Pregnancy in First-Trimester,” Genitourinary Medicine, 63(3):182-187, (1987).
12. Burkman, et al,, “Morbidity Risk Among Young Adolescents Undergoing Elective Abortion,” Contraception, 30:99-105 (1984); “Post-Abortal Endometritis and Isolation of Chlamydia Trachomatis,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 68(5):668- 690, (1986).
13. Frank, et al., “Induced Abortion Operations and Their Early Sequelae,” Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners (April 1985),35(73):175-180; Grimes and Cates, “Abortion: Methods and Complications”, Human Reproduction, 2nd ed., 796-813; M. A. Freedman, “Comparison of complication rates in first trimester abortions performed by physician assistants and physicians,” Am. J. Public Health, 76(5):550-554 (1986).
14. Wadhera, “Legal Abortion Among Teens, 1974-1978″, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 122:1386-1389, (June 1980).
15. See sources (12 – 19) in related document, “A List of Major Psychological Sequelae of Abortion.”. Go there.
This could go on: suffice it to say that you & ilk are doing women a grave disservice to propagate the LIE that induced abortion is either medically legitimate (is prevents no disease, nor does it cure any) or safe (for yet more documentation refuting this nonsense, please read the Blackmun Wall at lifedynamics.com in its entirety, then visit afterabortion.org for, among many other eye-openers, an independent study proving induced abortion to be 4 times as dangerous to women as childbirth…
The basis and sine qua non of a civilized, just, humane, and truly free society is its refusal to permit the strong to prey upon the weaker with impunity; for all your unsubstantiated justifications of support for Roe v. Wade, that court would have done much better to have listened to voices like these…
BY THE BABE UNBORN
If trees were tall and grasses short
As in some crazy tale,
If here and there a sea were blue
Beyond the breaking pale,
If a fixed fire hung in the air
To warm me one day through,
If deep green hair grew on great hills,
I know what I should do.
In dark I lie: dreaming that there
Are great eyes cold or kind,
And twisted streets and silent doors,
And living men behind.
Let storm-clouds come: better an hour,
And leave to weep and fight,
Than all the ages I have ruled
The empires of the night.
I think that if they gave me leave
Within the world to stand,
I would be good through all the day
I spent in fairyland.
They should not hear a word from me
Of selfishness or scorn,
If only I could find the door,
If only I were born.
G.K. Chesterton
…than the likes of Sarah Weddington, Norma McCorvey, Sandra Cano, et al. Two of these three have since wisely and courageously heeded that voice, as has the above quoted Dr. Nathanson.
Reading your post, I could not help noting that you have, yourself, been granted passage through the door sought in the poem, and don’t seem to think that a bad thing: so it seems only fair to ask, just who do you think you are to judge others as unworthy of that passage, or their mothers unworthy of just warnings of danger and compassionate offers of real help, just because you apparently lack sufficient testosterone to offer these to them?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
Think about it!
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”— Isaiah 9:6
You go, arx! just surfing around, and found the following specific info on breast cancer: As of January 1999, 25 out of 31 studies worldwide show more breast cancer among women who aborted.4
• In 1981, researchers in Southern California found that an abortion before the first live birth increased risk by 140%.
• In 1989, New York State Department of Health data showed that any induced abortion increased risk by 90%, while back to back abortions increased risk by 300%.5
• A 1994 study in Seattle shows that abortions done on minors increase risk by 150%.
• A highly significant 1993 Howard University study showed that post abortive African American women over age 50 were 4.7 times more likely to get breast cancer.
• Dr. Janet Daling’s6 study in 1994 received worldwide publicity. She found:
o - An induced abortion increased the risk of breast cancer before age 45 by 50%.
o - If done after age 30, in increased by 110%.
o - If she had a family member with breast cancer and aborted after age 30, her risk increased by 270%
o - All 12 women in the study with such a family member, who aborted before age 18, got breast cancer before she turned age 45.
o - Women younger than age 18 who had an abortion experienced a 150% increase risk. This became an 800% increased risk if they had their abortions between the 9th and 24th week of pregnancy.
• Andrieu et al (1994)7 found that women who had a family history of breast cancer and who had two or more abortions had a 600% increased risk.
The Daling study is probably the most publicized in recent years: interestingly, Dr. Daling is proabortion, and very regretfully published her findings. Perhaps she has even changed her loyalties somewhat…
I personally found the Howard University findings especially interesting in view of the fact that Black History Month (February) is just around the corner; what better time to sound the alarm in the African-American community, seeing how this sector is so targeted/victimized by Planned Parenthood, et al? For more info & resources on this, see blackgenocide.org, all.org, cbrinfo.org, and klanparenthood.com…Anyone in Alabama is encouraged to hold picket/pamphleting sessions at such places as the Civil Rights Museum in B’ham, the 16th Street Baptist Church (also in B’ham), Montgomery, Selma…any place of particular significance in the struggle for Civil Rights, in addition to the number one battleground where this struggle continues…your local death camp.
Ismael Hernandez, executive director of the African and Caribbean American Center in Fort Myers, writes: “The civil rights elite has forgotten the lives of unborn black children and has joined those who choose to kill them. Unbelievable! They have forgotten that in the past racists snatched black babies from their mother’s arms and sold them into slavery. Today, they snatch them from their mother’s womb and throw them in the garbage. ”
Or, to quote a recent NAACP slogan…”Much has changed; Much has not”…let’s make a change for the better in February 2005!
& what change would that be?
leon
let’s see….lime wrote about how black babies are killed in greater proportion than white babies (this is the intention of PP and like organizations, as he clearly pointed out)……and so……i’m guessing, and this is a pretty wild shot in the dark here, leon…….but i’m guessing he means less killing in the name of ‘choice’, especially in the black community.
you think?
Mr. H–lock, er, “Leon”:
Just think – the child saved by Monday’s rescuers (including the Choices Clinic personnel) – may one day discover a cure for depression. Or, at least he may become a noted physician and discover remedies which don’t have icky side effects – side effects which propelled this feisty femme to the abyss of despair nearly 15 years ago.
Creativity-crushing side effects which contributed to the demise of a certain Nirvana frontman – whose penchant for doing heroin, self-mutilation and Courtney Love pushed him over the edge.
Yes, depression is a serious illness – and it affects millions of Americans each year. It can devastate careers, families, marriages and rock icons. Clearly, my own abortion did not save me from this malady. I may have avoided childbirth, but I spent five years (1990-1995) on the psychic rack – an aberration that very nearly destroyed me. Giving birth is a natural (albeit arduous) experience – depression is an enervating condition.
So…..who knows? The possibilities are exhilarating. Maybe this little boy will grow up to do stupendous things. Perhaps he’ll influence others to do stupendous things. Because I really wouldn’t wish a half-decade of what I call “The Dead Zone” on anyone.
Oh, well – I survived – and I can defend myself with the best (and the worst) of ‘em: Even a barely-legal, barely-bleeding Irish peasant whose relatives probably hunt in packs and bury their food. Defending me and other post-abortive women was something I relished. But my abortion is something I shall always regret, and that won’t change in my lifetime.
The Greatest Mistake I Never Made
Dr. Frederic Loomis faced the most difficult decision a physician could ever make—whether to allow a deformed baby to live or die. He had only seconds to decide. Dr. Loomis had delivered hundreds of babies, but this one was different. The infant lay in a breech position, promising at best a difficult and dangerous birth. One of its feet stretched only to the knee of the other leg. Furthermore, it was missing a thigh. The mother, a frail person visiting the sterile delivery room for her first time, was not aware of the grossly deformed child struggling to survive.
Dr. Loomis closed his eyes; at his fingertips squirmed a pitiful creature yet unborn. Would not the most loving thing be to detain the birth long enough to cause the child to be stillborn? He agonized within himself. Will this kid not be considered a freak, a twisted burden to its delicate mother? How can I justify playing a part in such a cruel drama? Surely no one will ever know if I spare this family from inevitable pain. The doctor, through the baby’s cord, felt its heartbeat—dancing in rhythm to his own wildly racing heart. As Dr. Loomis continued to prevent the birth, he felt the normal foot pressing for passage into the world. Suddenly, he could no longer justify “playing God.” Instead, he would trust God to care for this child against what seemed to be impossible odds. Dr. Loomis delivered the infant into the world, which, he sensed, would be very unkind.
In the years that followed. Dr. Loomis often second-guessed his decision. He watched the anguish of the family as desperate parents sought in vain to find some correction for their child’s deformity. Even after they moved away Dr. Loomis continued to lament the burden that he had saddled upon the family. The heartache, he often said to himself, was his fault.
In time, however, Dr. Loomis would find peace. It came at an unexpected time and place… the hospital Christmas party.
Typically, it was during the holiday season when his pain seemed most severe. He could not shake the image of that unfortunate child from his mind. While the world celebrated the greatest birth ever known, Dr. Loomis obsessed over the saddest birth he had ever known.
At this particular party, the most heavenly music filled the room. The sadness seemed to dissipate as the rich tones of “Silent Night” washed Dr. Loomis’ anguished spirit. Following the concert, a woman approached him. “Doctor,” she said excitedly. “You saw her.”
Dr. Loomis studied the woman’s face, wanting to recognize her but unable to recall the memory. “I’m sorry. I should know you, but you may need to help me.”
“Don’t you remember the little girl with only one good leg, 17 years ago?”
Remember… it was the one thing in his life that he couldn’t forget! In disbelief, he listened to her story.
“That baby was my daughter, doctor. And I saw you watching her play the harp tonight! She has an artificial leg. She’s doing well.” At her Mom’s bidding, the lovely harpist walked toward them. With soppy eyes, Dr. Loomis enveloped the girl in his arms.
“Please” he said in a tightening voice, “please play Silent Night’ for me one time.” The young lady returned to her harp and played his request with poise and perfection. As she played, Dr. Loomis reflected on the incredible gift of life. He thought about the sanctity in every person. And he exhaled 17 years of questions and wondering whether or not it was wise to grant a baby its life.
Yes…a definite change for the better.
Leon, et al, another change for the better is to to lay aside your mockery and accept Christ’s offer of eternal life, and exhale your bloodguilt through repentance.
Shalom to all who will receive HIM,
the mcnutts
yes, that is a beautiful story. dr. willke has shared that same story on his radio show.
thank you for reminding us all that the unborn belongs to God, not us, and that each child’s potential is in His Hands.
Thank you for sharing stories of victory in the pro-life movement. I was ecstatic to hear about the baby that was saved on December 21st.
For me as a pro-lifer it is encouraging to read these articles that the liberal media will never expose.I’m sure there are so many victories on a daily basis that we may never know. It is very difficult for me to know that babies are being slaughtered on a daily basis throughout the world. However I can sleep at night knowing that we are winning! The abortion industry is crumbling. It is no longer morally or socially acceptable to be pro-death. Keep up the outstand work!