Overheard: "It looked like a baby"

From the blog One in One Thousand where a self-described 26-year-old pro-choicer discusses her recent abortion:

I sat up and opened my eyes. To my right, the hovering ultrasound glowed, its screen facing toward me still showing the image of the fetus inside of me. I only saw it for a moment, just long enough to register a little head and nose, arms and a body curled up and facing left.

It looked like a baby.

It looked exactly like the ultrasound that I had imagined for my future.

"Can you please turn that off?" I said weakly, my eyes shut again.

In a more recent post, she discusses her trip to the ER after having a complication from the abortion.

Life Links 3/31/11

Numerous media outlets are carrying this AP story about prolife efforts to prevent people from deducting the cost of an abortion from their taxable income.

The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to vote on a bill Thursday that would prevent taxpayers from deducting the cost of an abortion from their taxable income. It would also prevent small businesses and taxpayers from using tax credits in the new health care law to provide or pay for insurance policies that cover the procedure.

If women pay for an abortion using tax-free income that had been set aside in a heath savings account, the money would have to be reported as taxable income.....

By law, taxpayers can deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income, a threshold that increases to 10 percent in 2013. They can also set side tax-free money in health savings accounts, and spend it on approved medical expenses. The Internal Revenue Service currently lists the cost of an abortion as an approved medical expense.

Advocates of human cloning for research in Minnesota are claiming opponents of human cloning are being deceptive because the opponents of human cloning are calling a ban on human cloning a ban on human cloning. As usual, reporter Jenna Ross has some difficulty explaining what human cloning actually is.

Actors in this scientifically complex debate define "human cloning" differently.

The U emphasizes that it has not and will not attempt to clone a human being, a process called reproductive cloning. Think Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal. "We have been crystal clear on this," said Dr. Aaron Friedman, the U's vice president for health sciences and medical school dean.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life's broader definition of "human cloning" also includes one kind of stem cell research called therapeutic cloning. In that process, a scientist would extract stem cells from a 5-day-old embryo and then destroy it in a test tube. This bill would ban that too.

Why doesn't Jenna mention how the 5-day-old embryo is created? Is it through human cloning?


In the Dominican Republic, a 59-year-old woman has been carrying the remains of a dead unborn child for at least 30 years.

The mummified remains of the fetus, which weighed 3 pounds and 12 ounces, were found during an X-ray exam of the woman. Miladys Roman, the chief gynecologist at Luis Eduardo Aybar Hospital in Santo Domingo, said the woman told doctors she had long experience pains but never received adequate medical attention.

A new study on horses reveals that female horses often abort their pregnancies if they are impregnated by a horse from another stable and not allowed to have sex with horses from their home stable.

The strange sexual behaviour may have evolved because of the risk of infanticide - seen in many species that live in male-dominated social groups, where a male will kill offspring of other males in a struggle for dominance.....

He believes that zebras and domestic horses have both evolved similar "abortion strategies". He thinks it is possible that horses "make the decision" to terminate their own pregnancy.

Natural chemically triggered abortion is a well-known phenomenon in biology. It is known as the Bruce effect, and has been observed mainly in rodents, where the scent of male urine causes a pregnant female to abort.

Overheard: Abortionist who has killed women, doesn't wash his hands between patients and lies to patients "trained" a bunch of other abortionists

From a Detroit News story on Michigan's efforts to close one of Alberto Hodari's abortion clinics comes this scary news:

"At one time, Dr. Hodari was an extremely fine physician with a very good reputation. He trained a number of physicians," said Renee Chelian, executive director of Northland Family Planning Centers, an abortion provider with three Metro Detroit sites.

Hodari gave a speech in 2007 at Wayne State University where he noted that physicians have a "license to lie" and he didn't wash his hands between patients.

He's killed at least 2 women - Tamia Russell in 2004 and Chivon Williams in 1996.

Life Links 3/30/11

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has moved to close an abortion clinic in Lathrup Village which has allegedly been violating state law by performing abortions without a surgical license.

Dr. Alberto Hodari, operator of WomanCare of Southfield, is accused by the Michigan Department of Community Health of continuing to perform surgical abortions after deciding not to renew that license in July 2010. In 2009, MDCH inspectors found a fire-code violation involving emergency exits at the facility on Southfield Road, according to court documents.

In the documents, Hodari said he was trying to sell the building and the repairs would cut into examination space. He said he would not renew his surgical license when it expired in July 2010......

State law requires a surgical license if patient load for abortions exceeds 50% of total patient load. Hodari indicated he would reduce his surgery load to comply.

Despite statistics provided to MDCH by a clinic manager, the Attorney General's Office said it doesn't believe Hodari did so, and will appear in Oakland County Circuit Court on April 6 to ask that the clinic be closed for the durationhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif of the lawsuit.

I'd never heard of Ellen McCormack before today but her obituary in the New York Times describes her as an "Anti-Abortion Presidential Candidate.":

Mrs. McCormack initially ran for the presidency to help focus national attention on abortion after the 1973 Supreme Court decision recognizing women’s right to the procedure. Her television commercials, partly paid for with federal campaign money, attacked abortion as the equivalent of murder.....

In 1976, Mrs. McCormack, who ran as a Democrat and campaigned almost solely on the abortion issue, raised a total of $525,580 in contributions of $250 orhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif less from 20 states. That made her eligible for $247,220.37 in federal matching money for the primaries. The money went mainly for anti-abortion television commercials.

Mrs. McCormack won 238,000 votes in 18 Democratic primaries, and 22 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention.

A prolife billboard campaign which uses an image of President Obama is drawing the ire of pro-choicers in Chicago.

Abortion-rights campaigners clashed with Always Life, the Texas-based anti-abortion group that plans to install 30 billboards across the South Side to draw attention to the disparity in the number of black women seeking abortions....

Protesters Tuesday tried to drown out the campaign’s Chicago launch at an empty lot at 58th and State, heckling speakers and shouting that the campaign misappropriates an African-American icon and does nothing to offer desperate women alternatives or to help them raise their children.

Life Links 3/29/11

Michael New has a new study on the effects prolife legislation has on abortion rates and ratios.


Virginia Governor Bob McConnell has signed legislation to step up regulations on abortion clinics.

The law requires clinics that offer first-trimester abortions to meet the same health standards required of hospitals.

The state Department of Health now has to decide how that standard will be applied to the 21 clinics currently operating in the state. Changes may include widening hallways, giving staff more training, and purchasing new equipment. Detailed regulations must be delivered by September 15, and will go into effect January 1 next year.

NARAL threw their annual "Power for Choice" luncheon with speakers Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Jackie Speier. The end of the article has this from a local Planned Parenthood rep. who changes Planned Parenthood's 3% statistic to 2% and falsely claims "visits" not services.

Heather Estes, who heads the Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific-Mill Valley Health Center, said as many as 1 in 5 American women have used the services of Planned Parenthood at some point in their life. Just 2 percent of the visits of clients and patients of the organization are for abortion-related services, she said, and none of the federal money the organization receives goes to abortion services.

A public library in Wisconsin cancelled a showing of the prolife movie Blood Money after pro-aborts planned to protest the showing of the film.

Overheard: Abortion activist couldn't get job at pro-choice orgs

Various pro-choice blogs had this guest post from abortion advocate Steph Herold about how she couldn't find a job with pro-choice groups after moving to New York.

You can imagine my excitement when over the course of a few months, I landed interviews at many of the big pro-choice organizations here. I don’t have to name them. You know who they are. I interviewed for jobs at these places that fit my experience, jobs at which I could’ve kicked ass. But each interview ended with some version of this: “I’m sorry, but you are too radical/too much of an activist to work for us.”

Life Links 3/28/11

New Jersey Right to Life's YouTube page has a video of U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg saying that prolifers "don't deserve the freedom in the Constitution, but we'll give them to them anyway."

He also said that prolifers "don't want other people to have their own opinions."



The second page of the New York Times obit for former VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro notes how her position on abortion affected her stops on the campaign trail.

The abortion issue, magnified because she was Roman Catholic and a woman, plagued her campaign. Though she opposed the procedure personally, she said, others had the right to choose for themselves. Abortion opponents hounded her at almost every stop with an intensity seldom experienced by male politicians.

It also shows her "personally opposed" position was a bunch of hooey on page 3.

Ms. Ferraro was a co-sponsor of the Economic Equity Act, which was intended to accomplish many of the aims of the never-ratified Equal Rights Amendment. She also supported federal financing for abortions.

In Louisville, 21-year-old Ruben Anthony has been charged with fetal homicide after he allegedly kicked his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach, causing the death of her child.

Police say it all started when he got angry with her because she would not, "watch TV or use her phone." At this point, he allegedly became violent, striking her in the mouth with his fist and causing swelling and a minor cut. Police say that's when he kicked her in the stomach.

A bomb scare took place outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Austin. The scare closed the shopping center and northbound lanes of a road. Someone saw a backpack and thought it was out of place.

The bomb squad was called out. Two in-a-half hours later, the all clear came and the backpack was found to be just that-- a backpack.

Police say they found a hair brush and ear buds inside the backpack.

The Pasadena Star-News covered a prolife march around the Rose Bowl.

Thousands of abortion opponents walked 2.5 miles around the Rose Bowl Sunday after an opening prayer by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez.

People from all over Southern California came together for Walk4Life, organized by LIFEsocal, a nonprofit created by students and parents from Pasadena high schools, and the Right to Life League of Southern California.

The Prague Daily Monitor covered a prolife March in Prague.

About a thousand people marched through Prague centre to protest against abortions, some carrying white wooden crosses, others photos of newborn babies, pictures of saints or banners saying "Gynaecologists, Don't Be Contract Killers" and "Tolerance From Conception" Saturday.

Overheard: Crazy pro-choicer Jane Cawthorne

I couldn't make this lunacy up if I tried.

From a guest post on the Abortion Gang Blog by Jane Cawthorne:

There are a lot of things to worry about right now. Last weekend, I attended a conference on climate change. It was devastating, if unintentionally so. I left knowing that it is less likely my daughter will reach fifty years old than I will, and if she does, she will live in a world markedly different from the one I know.

Seriously!

What climate change kooks are claiming that climate change is going to significantly reduce life expectancy in the next 50 years? How did they not get laughed off the stage?

Then Jane explains prolifers like me are in denial and our focus on saving unborn lives helps us deny how scary climate change is.

Then I started to wonder if the current frenzy of activity among anti-choicers is motivated by denial. All this focus on the fetus might be their way of forgetting that post-utero humanity is in pretty big trouble. Anti-choicers are pretty busy right now. If you read the news, Abortion seems to be the single most important issue in America, even more important than the economy, and certainly more important than climate change.

Life Links 3/25/11

Freya-Grace Barrett was born at 23 weeks and weighed only 13 ounces. Now, eight months later she's going home with her family. Her twin Mollie, died shortly after birth.

In the months after Mollie’s tragic death, Freya-Grace endured nine blood transfusions, a plasma transfusion, and a heart valve operation at Singleton Hospital, in Swansea.

She still needs a constant oxygen supply to help strengthen her lungs, but doctors are hopeful she will go on to lead a normal life......

Controversy has been raging after it emerged many hospitals leave babies born before 24 weeks to die because they only have a two per cent chance of survival.

Just last week, Tracy Godwin, 31, of Southend, Essex, told how doctors would not resuscitate her son born at 22 weeks. Mrs Barrett, who became pregnant after IVF treatment, said: “I’m infuriated. Just look into Freya-Grace’s eyes then ask whether treating 23-week babies is a waste of money.”

The Pinellas chapter of NOW has a new strategy to stop prolife legislation.

The Pinellas National Organization for Women opened their monthly meeting with a firm stance on abortion.

“If they ban abortion, we’re going on strike. No sex,” said Peggy Goodale, of Pinellas Park.

In Australia, a woman lost her child after her water broke and she waited 5 hours in an emergency room for a room to become available.

Life Links 3/24/11

When pro-aborts attack......

Prolife News of the Day has images from a recent break-in, theft and vandalization at the EMC Frontline Pregnancy Center in the South Bronx. Numerous items were stolen, including diapers, and it appears some of their floors were ripped up.


The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that a court order freezing abortionist Kermit Gosnell's assets will stay in place and Gosnell won't try to sell any of his properties without notifying the family of Karnamaya Mongar, the woman he allegedly killed.

The local NBC station is claiming Gosnell might sell his 900K house to pay for his defense.


The Atlantic has an interview with former Congressman Bart Stupak. He says he has no regrets. Here's the part where abortion is touched upon:

You were a central player in the abortion fight. You supported the Hyde language throughout, and then at the last minute it passed on the agreement that President Obama would issue an executive order clarifying the language that was in the bill. Do you still feel that executive order was enough to live up to your expectations on abortion policy?

Yes, because the president has had three opportunities to throw us under the us, if you will, and he has not. Number one, in the high-risk pools. Remember how New Mexico send theirs in and had abortion in there, and Right to Life and all of them jumped right on it, and [Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius and all of them said, 'Wait a minute, you can't do that. We had an executive order.' They changed their law. So did Pennsylvania. So in order to apply for the high-risk pool, their law had to be reflective of the executive order, which says no public funding for abortions. They held firm to it.

Secondly, the community health centers, which the law was silent on. The executive order says you cannot perform abortions or advocate for them in public health centers. That has been upheld.

And, last but not least, there's a number of grants you can apply for right now, especially for developing health care professionals--that's going on right now in the bill--and if you go online and look at the applicaiton form, it says you must comply with the Hyde language, even in your application for the use of these federal funds. So there have been three opportunities for Secretary Sebelius or Presient Obama to just sorta look the other way, and they haven't. They've upheld it. So there have actually been less abortions now because of that executive order and the health care bill than there would have been if we'd never had it.

He also goes into his work on President Obama's executive order.

Life Links 3/23/11

South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard has signed a bill to require women seeking abortions to wait 72 hours and get counseling at a pregnancy center.

The law, which also requires the woman to receive counseling at a "pregnancy help center," is currently scheduled to take effect July 1.

But the American Civil Liberties Union and a regional office of Planned Parenthood said they will file a lawsuit to stop the law.

The Delaware House passed legislation which is supposedly designed to allow abortion clinics to be inspected but the Democratic sponsors didn't want abortion mentioned in the legislation. Planned Parenthood of Delaware supports the legislation.

House Minority Leader Greg Lavelle sought to add language to make it clear that abortion clinics would be subject to inspections. He noted the bill specifically singles out podiatrists and dentists as falling under the proposed regulations.

"We're here for a reason and it's not podiatry, it's not dentistry," said Lavelle, R-Sharpley "It's because of the lack of oversight [of abortion clinics]."

Various news outlets are reporting that Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown opposes the defunding of Planned Parenthood. From the part of his statement that is quoted, it's difficult to tell if he opposes defunding Planned Parenthood or is opposed to completely cutting Title X funding. He's already been praised by NARAL.

Pro-choice letter to the editor of the week

Andrew Green of Lubbock provides an unintentionally hilarious letter to the editor.

I am neither for nor against abortion. As a man, it’s inherently difficult and asinine to take one side over another. But given the context surrounding the recent act passed by Texas lawmakers, I would like to take a stand and steadfastly defend the rights of women to choose the prosperity or demise of their future by having the choice to abort a pregnancy if unplanned or unexpected.

I'm neither for or against abortion but then I'll use a lot of words to say that I'm for abortion.

But, wait, it gets even better.

Republicans are pushing this law solely on the basis of biblical interpretation, which any rational person would clearly see to be a clouded, half-truth judgment. If life begins at conception, then why do I not recall one solitary moment of my life prior to age 4?

Because you were obviously a zombie baby who was dead (which explains the lack of memory) yet still growing and developing and were somehow brought to life at the age of 4.

Life Links 3/22/11

Paul Pauker on Jonathon Alter's advice column to prolifers.

First, Alter admits the “best” available studies are from the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion organization that was founded as a division of Planned Parenthood. No conflict of interest there.

Second, Alter falsely assumes the 600,000 women a year who get birth control from Planned Parenthood wouldn’t have anywhere else to get birth control. He then falsely assumes Planned Parenthood is the reason 600,000 women a year end up not getting pregnant. He completes his argument with the ridiculous claim that Planned Parenthood prevents a few hundred thousand abortions a year, a claim based on his own false assumptions. You’re a gem, Alter.

On Friday, a court in Illinois is set to hear motions regarding a battery lawsuit against the Hope Clinic for Women abortion clinic.

Plaintiff Brandy Hildreth is seeking damages in excess of $1.4 million and other relief in the suit.

Hope Clinic for Women, its director Sally Burgess, staffers Clara Dixon, Debra Weihardt, Anne Baker, Denise Caldwell, Dr. Allen Palmer, Dr. Melissa Gilliam, Dr. Lisa Memmel and the University of Chicago Medical Center are all named as defendants in the suit.

Hildreth claims she was battered by Memmel and misled by the clinic staff as to whom would perform her 2008 abortion. That misrepresentation, she alleges, caused her emotional distress.

Hylla is set to hear motions in the case at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Memmel and several of the other defendants in the suit have filed motions asking for summary judgment in the suit.

In those moves, the defendants contend that Hildreth was aware that Memmel, a graduate student in a program through the Chicago medical center, would perform the procedure and that she did not object to Memmel performing the abortion.

A study by Greek researchers found that adult stem cells can help prevent multiple sclerosis (MS) from progressing.

An average of 11 years after their transplants, 25% of the patients in Greece have not seen their disease progress, the researchers report.

Among patients with active lesions on MRI scans before their transplants, indicating that they were in an inflammatory phase of the disease, 44% have not progressed.

Only 10% of patients who went into the study without evidence of ongoing inflammation were able to remain disease free.

Two patients died from transplant-related complications.

Overheard

From the blogger One in One Thousand about her second-trimester abortion after relating that a friend's question about what happens to the fetal remains unsettled her:

I do feel loss, but I am not and will not be unhappy. My choice was right for me, my partner and the potential life I carried for 14 weeks. I am grateful to be 26, unmarried and without children, paving a life path that is right for me and that will allow me to flourish as a woman and, one day, a mother.

I don't think I'll ever understand how people can actually think that killing an unborn child is the right thing for the unborn child.

Life Links 3/21/11

A local TV station recently covered a pro-choice rally in Anchorage, Alaska. It looks like there are 20, maybe 25 people there. Here's a quote from the Planned Parenthood spokeswoman:

"Planned Parenthood is here to provide prevention and life saving resources for Alaskan women," said Clover Simon, Spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Great North West. "By cutting our funding, you are not decreasing the abortion rate; you are actually making it higher. When women don't have access to birth control methods, they are more likely to suffer from an unintended pregnancy."

"Not so fast," says National Right to Life's Randall O'Bannon who recently showed how the number of abortions provided at Planned Parenthood has risen almost step by step with the amount of government funding they've received.

Revenue Planned Parenthood receives in "Government Grants & Contracts" has gone from $165 million in 1998 to $363.3 million in the organization's fiscal year ending June 30, 2009. During the same time, and at roughly the same rate, abortions have more than doubled at Planned Parenthood, from 165,509 in 1998 to 332,278 in 2009.

The Philadelphia Inquirer looks deeper into how abortionist Kermit Gosnell was able to operate for so long despite the complaints against him. It also notes how Gosnell likely got rid of some lawsuits.

Cassandra Barger knew something was wrong almost immediately. Kermit Gosnell, the abortion doctor charged in January with eight counts of murder, had begun giving her anesthetic to end a pregnancy. Barger ripped the IV from her arm.

Racked by convulsions, she crashed from the exam table to the floor. She would stay there nearly an hour while Gosnell and his staff refused to call 911 or allow her companion to leave the locked clinic for help, according to a lawsuit her lawyer filed......

Barger filed her case, alleging negligence and battery, in September 2005.

Gosnell responded, denying the allegations, without a lawyer. That was a red flag for Barger's Philadelphia attorney, Derek Layser. A malpractice-insurance carrier typically provides counsel, he said.

As in most states, physicians and surgeons in Pennsylvania must carry liability insurance. The requirement is aimed at deterring negligent care and giving wronged patients some recourse.

Layser wrote to the Department of State on Sept. 13, 2005, requesting an investigation into Gosnell's self-representation. Soon afterward, Layser said, Barger stopped returning his phone calls.

"As far as I know," Layser said, Gosnell "contacted her directly and paid her some amount, and then I couldn't get a hold of her."

In Florida, charges of practicing healthcare without a license and tampering with evidence against abortion clinic owner Belkis Gonzales have been dropped after doctors set to testify against her changed their positions. Belkis Gonzales was charged after a woman gave birth at her abortion clinic and she allegedly put the child in bag and hid the bag.


CBS News has an article on the prolife legislation in various states.

In April 2010, Nebraska passed a law barring abortions after 20 weeks on the premise that the fetus could feel pain at that point. Opponents of the law dispute the science that allegedly proves that point -- but whether the science is valid or not, the law clearly disregards the viability test (by focusing instead on pain). The law went into effect in October but has yet to face any legal challenge.

"Frankly, I don't think they want to have a public debate about the fact the child can feel pain," McConchie of Americans United for Life said, speculating as to why pro-abortion rights advocates have not challenged the law. "That is a PR battle they don't want to have... We can't force the other side to take the bait if we put it out there."

With no challenge forthcoming, there are at least a dozen states where similar legislation was introduced this year, including Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma.

Life Links 3/18/11

A Colorado bill designed to prosecute individuals for killing unborn children was doomed by a single sentence.

The provision in question says nothing in the bill "shall be construed to confer the status of 'person' upon a human embryo, fetus or unborn child at any state of development prior to live birth."
......
Colorado Right to Life accused the GOP sponsors, including Majority Leader Amy Stephens of Monument and Rep. Bob Gardner of Colorado Springs, of being RINOs (Republican in Name Only). The group also accused Waller of conceding the "battle with the liberal, godless, left-wing abortion industry."

In a letter, the organization called the bill a "16-page monstrosity that has specific anti-personhood wording."

In a small Phase I study, adult stem cell have been used to treat patients with enlarged hearts.

The approach involves taking stem cells from a heart patient's own bone marrow, then injecting them into the patient's damaged heart.

The result: a significant improvement of heart performance within months, and a significant reduction in both scar tissue and heart size within a year after the initial therapy......

What's more, by the one-year point after a single stem cell injection, heart size was found to have diminished by an average of 15 to 20 percent. That reduction, they noted, is roughly three times what's achievable with current therapies. The approach also reduced the presence of scar tissue by an average of more than 18 percent.

Misinformed reporters strike again on stem cell research - this time in Oklahoma. NewsOK claims that the Oklahoma House passed a bill "banning embryonic stem cell research." If reporter Michael McNutt actually took the time to look up and read the legislation, he would realize that H.B. 1442 doesn't ban embryonic stem cell research, it bans destroying human embryos for research. Nothing in the bill would prevent researchers from working on embryonic stem cell lines.

H.B. 1442 outlaws "destructive research on a human embryo" and defines it by saying:

“Destructive research” means medical procedures, scientific or laboratory research, or other kinds of investigation that kill or injure the subject of such research."

McNutt's article also includes this howler from Jennie McDaniels, D-Tulsa:

“I do value life,” McDaniel said.

“I value the life of the unborn child, and I understand what embryonic research is about and I ask you to think about how it can help lives. ... Why would we say Oklahoma is closed to this type of research? Why put roadblocks up?”

Life Links 4/17/11

Authorities in Indiana have charged Bei Bei Shuai with murder and attempted feticide after she allegedly ate rat poison while pregnant.

Shuai consumed rat poison while 33 weeks pregnant, prosecutors said. On December 23, she was taken to a hospital where she admitted to taking rat poison in an attempt to kill herself after her boyfriend left her, according to a police statement.

Shuai's baby girl, Angel Shuai, was born alive on December 31. On January 3, the baby died after being taken off life support. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was her mother's ingestion of the poison, police said.

A jury has found Marni Yang guilty of killing Rhoni Reuter and her unborn daughter. The story has received a fair amount of publicity in the Chicago area because the child was the child of ex-Chicago Bear Shaun Gayle.


A Planned Parenthood facility in Ohio will be closing. The center being closed offers abortion referrals but doesn't perform abortions.

The letter specifically cites the current economic and political environment as presenting challenges the Mansfield Health Center Manager, Trish Malko, says necessitated the difficult decision to close the Galion center.

Overheard: Powers responds to Marcotte

The RH Reality Check has published a letter from Kirsten Powers in response to one of Amanda Marcotte's typical strawman-laden, argument-deficient posts about a Powers' column.

Here's a portion of Powers' response:

Marcotte also claimed on your site that, "Kirsten Powers would have you believe everyone who struggles with work schedules, child care or transportation, or funding is just stupid and lazy."

I'm curious on what basis she makes this claim? If you read my column, you will see that I never touch on this issue even tangentially and I can assure you I hold no such view. Amanda Marcotte made this up from whole cloth. This should be concerning to you, especially considering your stated journalistic standards.

I always welcome feedback and criticism on my columns, but I do ask that it somehow relates to what I actually wrote.

Life Links 3/16/11

A girl at a Catholic high school in Canada was sent home after wearing tape on her uniform to symbolize her pro-choice opinion.

The anti-abortion message her schoolmates wore inspired Alexandria Szeglet to don her opinion too. Instead of the word “life” written along strips of red tape, the 15-year-old Thunder Bay resident wore the word “choice” written on strips of green tape stuck to her Catholic high school uniform.....

Alexandria left, but the soft-spoken Grade 10 student had started a movement: In a show of solidarity, 24 of her peers followed suit, adhering green tape to their uniforms. Four of them were also sent home, some for a two-day suspension.....

The students who wore an anti-abortion message were allowed to remain at school because their event had been approved by the school’s administration. The stickers were part of an annual Day of Silent Solidarity in which students take a vow of silence in order to raise money for an anti-abortion student group.

The students who wore a pro-choice message hadn’t asked for permission and some swore or were belligerent to teachers, Mr. De Faveri said.

A Florida woman going to Planned Parenthood for an annual gynecological exam claims people with the local 40 Days for Life tried to intimidate her. It seems like she's just extremely paranoid.

Kerry Fagan tells WINK News due to her insurance she’s left with little options for gynecological exams, so she goes to Planned Parenthood. On a recent trip to the clinic she felt the picketers tried to intimidate her, and found it to be borderline harassment when she went for her annual exam. Fagan says about 20 picketers were outside on the day she went in.

“My heart started racing like someone was going to come out of the bushes or something,” she explains.

People with the organization tell WINK News that is never their intent.

Pam Kessen with 40 Days For Life tells us, “we sit here and pray. We do not harass, we do not intimidate.”

Delaware Online has a story about Delaware's lack of a late-term abortion law after their former law (which prohibited abortion after 20 weeks) was ruled invalid. The last page of the article also quotes a Planned Parenthood representative misstating Roe v. Wade effects on third-trimester abortions.

After Roe v. Wade, then-Delaware Attorney General W. Laird Stabler issued a detailed written opinion identifying portions of the state's abortion law that the office believed were no longer constitutional. Four years later, then-Attorney General Richard Weir conceded in a federal lawsuit that the state's abortion statutes were unconstitutional and told the court that they would not be enforced.

The only way a doctor can be prosecuted in Delaware for performing late-term abortions would be under the state's homicide statutes, "which seems a bit drastic given it is a woman's health care issue," said former federal Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr. "Delaware presently lacks a definitive enforcement scheme with regard to pregnancy terminations."

The Delaware Online also has information on the ongoing attempts to keep valid medical licenses away from the two abortionists who worked with Kermit Gosnell at former NAF abortion clinic in Delaware.

State prosecutors charged at a hearing Tuesday night that Dr. Albert Dworkin signed a letter that was vital in keeping Dr. Kermit Gosnell's alleged "house of horrors" clinic operating in West Philadelphia.

Deputy Attorney General Barbara Gadbois also said Dworkin, 84, of Kennett Square, Pa., was the medical director at Atlantic Women's Medical Services in Wilmington and was therefore responsible for Gosnell's activity at that clinic. The comments came at a hearing to determine if an emergency suspension of Dworkin's medical license should be lifted or made permanent.

Jonathan Alter proves himself a fool

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter embarrasses himself in his latest editorial on why prolifers should want to fund Planned Parenthood. Let's see how many basic and crucial facts Alter can get wrong in a 3-sentence paragraph:

Last month, the House of Representatives approved the Pence Amendment. The bill, sponsored by Indiana Representative Mike Pence, would prevent 830 Planned Parenthood health centers from distributing birth control and offering pregnancy tests, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, breast exams, and cancer screening, among other health services, unless the venerable family-planning organization refuses to discuss abortion as an option. Planned Parenthood doesn’t explicitly advocate abortion, but can help arrange for one if the woman so chooses.

He gets the Pence Amendment wrong (note to Alter - try Google once in a while). The legislation that passed would explicitly defund Planned Parenthood of all their federal funding regardless of whether they stop performing or discussing abortion. Alter apparently thinks another piece of legislation entitled the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act passed. The amount of federal tax dollars Planned Parenthood receives is around $100 million, not the $360 million in total government funding which Alter cites later.

Also, taking away their federal funds would not prevent them from "distributing birth control and offering pregnancy tests, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, breast exams, and cancer screening." Those are services they can still offer if they want to. Taking away their federal funds doesn't prohibit them from offering those services.

He then claims the largest abortion provider (more than 330,000 in 2009) in America doesn't advocate for abortion but simply arranges for them.

But abortion is the centerpiece of the debate. While funding for abortions constitutes only 3 percent of her budget, Richards says there’s no discussion inside the organization of jettisoning that portion of the operation in the name of maintaining federal funding. With the $500 cost of an abortion beyond the reach of poor women and with abortion clinics closing all over the country under pressure from anti-abortion activists, Planned Parenthood will stand on principle that women should have the full array of legal choices.

After talking to Cecile Richards, Alter seems to think that Planned Parenthood funds abortion as opposed to taking the $500 from women to provide abortions.

I'm always amazed how people who make a living writing can be so unbelievably lazy as Jonathan Alter. How could you not read the actual text of the Pence Amendment before writing a column on it?

Why one woman thinks "killing babies" should be legal

At a pregnancy blog, Kate Tietje asks, "How Can I Hate Abortion, but Not Want it to be Illegal." The answer to me is that Kate hasn't thought very deeply about why she hates abortion. She says she "really, really hate(s) abortion" and that "abortion is wrong" but only once provides a sliver of an idea for why she believes abortion is wrong.

Her main argument for why she thinks abortion should stay legal is that "making abortion illegal isn't going to stop it" and then cites drugs and prostitution as examples of crimes which still occur even though they are illegal.

I'm just saying, making something against the law does absolutely nothing to stop it.

Really? Nothing? Police breaking up drug houses and arresting drug dealers and users has had absolutely no effect on drug usage? Prostitution rates are exactly equal in places where prostitution is legal vs. illegal? Come on.

If making something illegal does nothing to stop it, then why isn't Kate calling for laws prohibiting rape and murder to be overturned?

Then, for a second, Kate seems to indicate why she hates abortion.

And while I don't condone killing babies, I don't condone hurting or killing women, either.

So we should keep killing babies legal so women don't hurt themselves while trying to kill babies?

Life Links 3/14/11

Apparently, the Abortion Care Network doesn't understand that there are repeat abortions. From one of their brochures (entitled "You Are a Good Woman") posted by an Abortioneer:

Since 1973, when the United States Supreme Court made abortion legal, there have been more than 53 million women in America who have chosen abortion. Those abortions also involved nearly 53 million men.

At a Washington Post blog, Rosalind Helderman discusses the process which new abortion clinic regulations in Virginia will be installed. Abortion clinics will have to abide by new regulations on January 1.


Federal prosecutors have filed suit against a man named John Kroack in Seattle for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

According to the complaint, Kroack first entered the health center on Jan. 5, 2010, and struck up a conversation about abortion services. Kroack grew agitated but left without incident.

Two days later, Kroack was spotted walking in a wooded area near the center. At 10:30 a.m., he entered the facility and again struck up a conversation about abortion.

Writing the court, Diaz said Kroack became irate and tried to force his way into the clinic exam area. Diaz contended Kroack kicked and slammed himself into the door several times while shouting.

Life Links 3/11/11

The Philadelphia Inquirer has more details regarding the clinics 83-year-old abortionist Soleiman Soli decided to close rather than bring up to code.

Land records show Soli opened a clinic at 5188 Neshaminy Blvd. in 1972. Soli did not register it with the state as an abortion clinic until December 1987. That same year, he registered the facility at 6043 Germantown Ave. Both are named Abortion as an Alternative.

Kelley said there were no records of any inspections prior to last fall.....

The clinics had no recovery room and, because of the lack of staff, patients were discharged still groggy. A secretary told inspectors she helped patients dress and then they walked out as if in "a drunken state."

The Washington Post has a story on state efforts to ban abortion coverage from in government-run health insurance exchanges.

"I don't remember the last time I saw [so many] states try to do one thing on abortion," said Rachel Sussman, who tracks state-level antiabortion efforts for Planned Parenthood.....

n most of the states considering abortion insurance bans, avowed abortion opponents control both the governor's office and the statehouse. Analysts predict most will pass a bill by the time the exchanges are rolled out in 2014.

A nurse from San Antonio has filed a defamation lawsuit after she was fired allegedly for informing the San Antonio Archdiocese that an abortion took place at a Catholic hospital where she worked. The hospital claims an abortion did not take place.


The San Jose Mercury News has an article on the push for new abortionists and how Stanford and UCSF are leading the way. It includes this nonsense quote from bioethicist Art Caplan:

"Education about abortion is not the same as advocating for abortion," he said. "Medical schools feel that abortion is a medical procedure that doctors need to know about. We have all kinds of topics in medical education, like physician-assisted suicide, but that doesn't mean we're in favor of them."

Life Links 3/10/11

How do you know an abortionist is lying?

He's moving his mouth.

At Feministe, Clarisse Thorn interviewed abortionist Doug Laube for Abortion Provider Appreciation Day and here's what she got from their conversation about the times when abortion was illegal.

I hadn't realized that immediately post-legalization, abortion was a mainstream ob-gyn practice. I did know, however, that abortion was incredibly unsafe when it was illegal. Dr. Laube provided some gruesome insights: pre-legalization, there were entire wards in some inner-city hospitals that were dedicated to women who had received illegal abortions, because so many women came in suffering complications. Of the women who populated those wards, 50% died. As Dr. Laube put it, "It was a matter of necessary service to bypass all that."

Yes, exactly 50% (that statistic doesn't sound made up at all) of the women who filled multiple inner-city hospital wards died from illegal abortions. This despite the fact that the CDC only records 39 deaths from illegal abortions in 1972.

Why do some pro-choicers continue to believe such ridiculous attempts at myth making? Are they really that gullible? Or is it just anathema to call an abortionist out on his/her obvious lies?


How do you know you need to find a better man?

You marry the guy who tried to kill your unborn child without your consent.

Orbin Tercero has been sentenced to 4.5 months to two years in jail after attempting to kill his unborn child by giving abortion drugs to his girlfriend.

In February 2010, police said Tercero gave his then-pregnant girlfriend, Amy, who is now his wife, a drug called misprostol without her consent, causing her to have a miscarriage.

He was originally charged with murder of an unborn child, tampering with evidence, and aggravated assault of an unborn child.

He plead guilty to lesser charges in court in January.

Tercero's Attorney Joe Joch was pleased with the sentence. He said the sentence did justice to all parties.

Judge Jeffrey Smith said the sentence would allow Tercero to see his son, who is in seventh grade, and his unborn child.

You know the kid he tried to kill.


How do you know you have some serious pet issues?

You spend $310,000 to clone two of your dogs and want to clone yourself.

Wolfie died two years ago, at age 15. But long before she and her sister, "Bubble," passed away, Onruang had plans to bring them back to life.

"I buried them at home," Onruang tells KTLA, "So, you know, I visit them. And when I'm there, I say, 'Hi, I'm making a new body for you.'"

Onruang found a South Korean biotechnology company called RNL Bio, a company that can and will clone animals.

Onruang saved his dogs' stem cells, then he started the website HollywoodPaintball.com, so he could earn and save the $310,000 the clonings would cost.

The new dogs should look identical to Wolfie and Bubble, and have similar dispositions.

The way the cloning process is done, Onruang may end up with several clones of each dog..

Inspections of Pennsylvania abortion clinics leads to shut down of two more clinics

From an AP story at local FOXNews website:

The physician who operated the two Abortion as an Alternative Inc. clinics, in Bensalem and the Germantown section of Philadelphia, received scathing reports and was ordered to suspend performing abortions.

Two days later, Dr. Soleiman M. Soli, 73, announced he would shut down the clinics instead. He then retired, according to the state Department of Health......

At Soli's clinics, the Department of Health found drugs decades past their expiration dates, inadequate or inoperable equipment, poor record-keeping and mishandling of fetal tissue.

"Dr. Soli served his patients for more than 53 years as a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist. He retired last year," his attorney, Stanley J. Milavec Jr., said in an e-mail response. Milavec said Soli, who retired from practice Nov. 19, was not available for further comment.

An Oct. 26 inspection report of Soli's Bensalem facility found that drugs and equipment required to resuscitate abortion patients were missing and that it took Soli and a secretary 10 minutes to figure out how to use the clinic's oxygen tank, the mask for which was found covered in dust.

Dozens of expired drugs and medical equipment were found, some dating back decades, including Benadryl from 1970, a saline vial from 1978, progesterone from 1982 and Depo-Provera from 1989......

When inspectors inquired about fetal tissue samples inside a cabinet in procedure room, Soli responded that he did not know why they were there and then placed them in a trash bag for disposal, the state agency said.......

After the inspections, the Health Department ordered him to cease performing abortions at both clinics and to file plans of correction.

Life Links 3/9/11

The Indianapolis Star has a piece about a pro-Planned Parenthood protest outside the state capital. The article also includes information on various pieces of prolife legislation including a measure to defund Planned Parenthood's state funding and ban abortions after 20 weeks.

"There's virtually nothing to stop these now that there's a Republican majority in both houses and a Republican governor," said Robert Dion, political science professor at the University of Evansville.

Remember how after the Arizona shootings there was this big debate over the importance of language and rhetoric and how numerous liberals blamed the shootings on conservative rhetoric? Well, now the pro-choice blog Feministing has a bowling team for a bowl-a-thon to raise money for the National Abortion Access Fund.

Their name: The Boehner Killers.


Pro-choice college students in Amherst organized a small protest against a local crisis pregnancy center on International Women's Day. While the protesters claimed Birthright International is deceptive and tries to pass themselves off as a "comprehensive reproductive health clinic," the reporter notes a description of their services from Birthright's web site.

On the homepage of Birthright’s website they ask, “Are you pregnant and in need of help?” Below the question the homepage reads, “we can offer you free pregnancy testing, completely confidential help, non-judgmental and caring advice, friendship and emotional support, legal, medical and educational referrals, prenatal information, maternity and baby clothes, housing referrals, social agency referrals, information on other community services, adoption information.”

Yep, that sure sounds like an organization trying to pass itself off as abortion clinic to me.

Life Links 3/8/11

Abby Johnson and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards have dueling editorial in AOL News on the federal funding of Planned Parenthood. From Abby's piece,

And while Planned Parenthood says abortions make up just 3 percent of its services, I found they used an sleight of hand, unbundling family planning services so each patient shows anywhere from five to 20 "visits" per appointment (12 packs of birth control would show up as 12 individual visits).

A Maryland county has settled a lawsuit with prolifers who were arrested and strip searched after displaying graphic images of abortion. Part of the lawsuit requires Harford County to ensure that those type of searches never happen again to people exercising their freedom of speech.

Scientists have developed a new test where they by testing a pregnant woman's blood, they can determine if the she is carrying a child has Down Syndrome.

The blood test has been developed by the scientists in Cyprus after they identified the key DNA difference that flags up Downs syndrome, a chromosomal condition caused by presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. Infants with Down's syndrome, which is characterised by severe physical and mental impairments, have an extra copy of Chromosome 21. As DNA can cross the placenta from the baby to the mother, the blood test looks for chemical differences and extra chromosomes — a telltale defect in unborn babies.

Leading UK Health Official: Save Money, Let Babies Die

Doesn't socialized medicine sound great?

It's human instinct to want to protect our children. But a leading NHS official has claimed that babies born at 23 weeks or earlier should be left to die.

Dr Daphne Austin claimed that in keeping these babies alive it is only 'prolonging their agony', and it would be better to invest the money in care for cancer sufferers. 'For me the big issue is that we're spending an awful lot of money on treatments that have very marginal benefit. I would prefer to free up that money to spend on providing support to people who have much more lifelong chronic conditions.'

'If it was my child, from all the evidence and information that I know, I would notresuscitate,' she Dr Austin, who works as a consultant for the West Midlands Specialised Commissioning team.

£10 million a year is spent on resuscitating these premature babies, but few of them survive as their bodies are too undeveloped.

Life Links 3/7/11

Fiscal and social conservatives agree on defunding Planned Parenthood. From Grover Norquist and Marjorie Dannenfelser:

As a consequence, what is now at stake in the funding fight over the nation's largest abortion business is not just a dispute over social policy. It's not even just a dispute over an organization that has been a sacred cow for decades. It's about a whole herd of sacred cows. In fact, it's about the whole farm: If a new Congress elected on a pledge to halt skyrocketing spending and deficits can't cut the gold-plated panjandrums at Planned Parenthood, it can't cut anything....

For these reasons and more, Planned Parenthood should be at the head of the cut list. To begin with, as Chuck Donovan at the Heritage Foundation has pointed out, Planned Parenthood is awash in net income. From 2002 to 2007, the national organization and its affiliates took in $388 million more than they spent on programs and services. No doubt the group lost some of that money in the same kinds of investments that disappointed the rest of us, but that has not prevented it from paying its president more than $337,000 in annual salary and tens of thousands more in benefits and allowances.

Nebraska's fetal pain law has prevented at least one abortion. Danielle Deaver has gone public after the law prevented her from aborting her child, Elizabeth Deaver, in the 22nd week of pregnancy. Danielle's water broke early and the child was given only a small chance to survive outside the womb.

There was less than a 10 percent chance their child would have a heartbeat and be able to breathe on its own. There was an even smaller chance - estimated at 2 percent - that the baby would ultimately be able to perform the most basic functions on its own, such as eating.

Robb and Danielle, left alone in an exam room, held each other and discussed what to do. They just couldn't see the logic in exhausting painful, expensive medical procedures after being told they had almost no chance to save their baby's life.

They decided: There are worse things than death.

"So (the perinatologist) came in, and we said we'd just like to put an end to this nightmare and can you help us. She said, no, she can't," Danielle said.

The perinatologist said Nebraska's abortion law, which had been in effect less than two months, would not allow Danielle to terminate her pregnancy because her baby still had a heartbeat and because her own life was not immediately jeopardized.

Delaware's State Department and the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline has suspended the license of Arturo Apolinario, another abortionist who worked with abortionist Kermit Gosnell at Atlantic Women's Services, after AG Beau Biden provided them with more information. Last week the same board suspended the license of abortionist Albert Dworkin.

"The information provided in this subsequent complaint was sufficient in their minds to issue this [order]," said Christopher Portante, a spokesman for the Department of State. "He had oversight of the facility and was responsible for protection of the patients at that facility."

Portante said the fact that Apolinario was medical director at Atlantic's Wilmington clinic played a "major part" in the decision to suspend his license. His position as medical director was not mentioned in the state's earlier complaint.

Tricia Fraser, the mother of the girl featured on the prolife billboard recently taken down in New York City is mad the prolife group Life Always hasn't apologized to her for using the picture of her daughter which she agreed could be used as a stock image and which Life Always purchased.

Fraser was blindsided by the shocking billboard early last week. The stay-at-home mom said she brought Anissa and her three other children to a modeling agency two years ago.

Fraser signed an agreement allowing the pics to be used as stock images, but said she never imagined her daughter would become the poster child for an anti-abortion campaign centered around African Americans.

Life Links 3/4/11

Golden Gate Community Health, the former Planned Parenthood affiliate which Dian Harrison ran into the ground, has closed four of its clinics and is pleading with supporters for donations. However, it appears their big donors jumped ship back to Planned Parenthood.

With $800,000, board members said GGCH could immediately reopen for several more weeks. With an extra $1.2 million, board members said the organization could reopen for the long term.

But clinic officials are not optimistic.

“I think that chance is extremely slim, because we’ve been in trouble for months,” said Andrea Porter, GGCH’s hired attorney. “We’ve gone out to the community and the money is just not there.” If last-ditch fundraising efforts don’t work, the organization expects to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a matter of weeks, Porter said.....

About 50 employees were laid off on Monday, Porter said, and another 34 will remain at the organization's San Francisco clinic on Eddy Street through the end of the week, when that clinic will also close.

The South Dakota Senate passed a bill requiring women considering an abortion to visit a crisis pregnancy center and wait 72 hours before their abortion.


The Texas House has passed ultrasound legislation.

Flexing their super-majority muscle in the Texas House, Republican lawmakers swatted away a swarm of amendments offered by the Democratic minority on Thursday and gave preliminary approval to a House version of a bill requiring doctors to perform a sonogram on women requesting an abortion. Declared an emergency by Republican Gov. Rick Perry, the measure passed by a vote of 103 to 42.

House Bill 15, sponsored by state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, requires a doctor performing an abortion to conduct the sonogram at least 24 hours before the procedure was to take place. The doctor also is required to show the woman the sonogram image, play the sound of the fetal heartbeat for her and describe in some detail the image that appears on the sonogram. The woman does not have to view the sonogram or hear the heartbeat, although she still would have to hear the doctor's description.

The state of Nebraska has been ordered to pay $136,000 to cover Planned Parenthood's legal expenses on a bill PP challenged and Nebraska's attorney general decided against defending.


Justin Moose was sentenced to 30 months in jail after pleading guilty to giving bomb-making instructions to an undercover FBI agent posing as someone willing to bomb an abortion clinic.

Life Links 3/3/11

The New York City Council has passed legislation requiring crisis pregnancy center to disclose that they don't perform abortions by a vote of 39-9.

Opponents cited a federal judge's ruling in Maryland that struck down a similar bill in Baltimore as proof that this type of legislation violates the centers' constitutional rights. The opponents of the bill pledged to file a lawsuit.

The legislation would require all pregnancy services centers to disclose whether they provide abortions, emergency contraception and prenatal care, or make referrals to organizations that do.

The information would have to be posted in English and Spanish at the centers and in advertisements.

Anthony Bradley wonders why some missional evangelical churches don't consider abortion to be a top issues in light of recent abortion news from New York City.

I’ve been browsing the mercy and justice websites of several of New York’s well-known churches and Christian non-profit groups for discussion of New York’s abortion crisis. Outside of the crisis pregnancy centers themselves, I have not found much of anything. What one will find are very good discussions on subjects like fighting homelessness, improving inner-city education, opening women’s shelters, and dealing with sex trafficking and juvenile delinquency. I raise this issue because I am concerned that perhaps the missional pendulum has swung too far in one direction.

Planned Parenthood isn't as popular as they think. From Politico on a survey which Planned Parenthood is touting as evidence that the public is "overwhelming" opposed to cutting their funding:

The survey, conducted by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling and worded to begin by informing respondents of Planned Parenthood's most popular services, found "overwhelming" opposition to the cuts, pollster Tom Jensen wrote in a memo.

The survey — which doesn't use the word "abortion" — found that 57 percent of voters opposed barring federal funding for Planned Parenthood, while only 36 percent supported the move. Support varied across the states, rising only as high as 43 percent in Missouri and Arkansas and falling as low as 27 percent in Massachusetts

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is covering Operation Rescue's most recent abortion clinic findings. Some of the clinics were members of the National Abortion Federation.

Operation Rescue reported that its members found evidence that a dozen clinics illegally dumped hazardous and infectious waste or violated patient privacy laws and didn't adhere to consent laws......

Much of the evidence was discovered by searching trash receptacles around clinics, he said. The organization has "hundreds of patient records that clinics disposed of illegally."

They also found that abortionist William West fails to follow state law with regards to informed consent. This isn't surprising because West (using the pseudonym Beket) has shared the text of his conference calls with women seeking abortions at Daily Kos.

Life Links 3/2/11

Pennsylvania prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell and considering seeking it for some of his former employees. Gosnell's assets, including a 900K home, have also been frozen.

Assistant District Attorneys Joanne Pescatore and Christine Wechsler confirmed that the death penalty is under review for former Gosnell employees Lynda Williams, 42, of Wilmington; Steven Massof, 48, of Pittsburgh; and Adrienne Moton, 33, of Upper Darby.

All three are accused of aiding Gosnell in seven abortions in which infants were born live and viable - and then allegedly killed by the 70-year-old physician.

The prosecutors, however, said they had agreed with the defense attorneys for the three to postpone a final decision on the death penalty for 60 days while both sides continue investigating the case.

Pescatore said the delay was not an indication that prosecutors were trying to negotiate a guilty plea in which they would testify against Gosnell.

"We didn't know enough and they might want to tell us more things," Pescatore said, referring to the 60-day extension.

Not so for Gosnell himself. Prosecutors officially notified defense attorney Jack McMahon that they will seek death by lethal injection if a jury finds Gosnell guilty of first-degree murder in the abortions that took place at his Women's Medical Society clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave.

The Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline had suspended the license of abortionist Albert Dworkin for failing to report the actions of co-worker Kermit Gosnell. Arturo Apolinario gets to keep his license for now.

A request for the emergency suspension of a second doctor, Arturo Apolinario, was turned down, but an expedited hearing to review charges against him is going forward and Apolinario's ability to write prescriptions was suspended Tuesday.

A Utah legislator wants his state to inspect abortion clinics twice a year, one inspection being a surprise inspection.

He testified,

“We have one abortion clinic in Salt Lake City which, according to the Health Department, has not been inspected and has not had a Health Department worker go out in over two years."

Overheard: Abortioneer wants abortion showers

From the Abortioneers blog:

If I ever have an abortion you can damn well guarantee I’m having my friends throw me an abortion shower. In addition, I will register online for a gift registry where my loved ones can support me through buying me stuff. Ok, so this is one-part mockery of the baby-industrial complex and one-part me recognizing that abortion is just as important in terms of family planning. If you are friends with me you have been hearing me talk about this abortion shower idea for years. I almost want to have an abortion JUST to have a shower and registry.

So, I think an abortion shower is a great idea because it will serve to reduce stigma and silence around abortion and instead create a way for a woman to share the experience and be supported.

Life Links 3/1/11

The University of Iowa is being criticized for allowing one of their professors, abortionist Jill Meadows, to quit her job and work for a nearby Planned Parenthood (which violates a non-compete clause in her contract) as long as she continued to train students on how to do abortions.

Ordinarily, university doctors cannot go to work within a 50-mile radius of Iowa City for two years after they leave employment under the school's non-compete agreements, which are common in the medical field. Meadows signed the agreement when she joined the obstetrics reproductive and gynecology faculty in 1999. She told the university last year she was resigning June 30 to become medical director for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which serves patients in Iowa and Nebraska.

Under a legal settlement dated June 22 and released to AP last week, the university said it believed her departure would violate the non-compete agreement. But the school agreed not to seek legal action to block her employment as long as she would take a position as an unpaid adjunct clinical faculty member, and continue to provide training to medical residents and students at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Iowa City.

Delaware abortionists Albert Dworkin and Arturo Apolinario are fighting against the possible suspension of their medical licenses.

Both Dworkin and Apolinario work at Atlantic Women's Medical Services, an abortion provider with clinics in Wilmington and Dover that employed Gosnell one day a week for years.

Two unborn children are going to "testify" before an Ohio committee.

Two in-utero babies will appear live before the committee by an ultrasound projector which is able to not only show that baby’s moving arms and legs, but also display–in color–the baby’s beating heart.

In the New York Times, Clyde Haberman reflects on the recent removal of a prolife billboard in New York City and discusses how tolerance in New York comes and goes based on whether the message conforms to popular opinion.

Was this anti-abortion statement subtle? Hardly. Accurate? Depends on your politics. Offensive? For some people, yes. Out of step with mainstream thought in New York? For sure. And so, a few days ago in this most tolerant of cities, a raft of elected officials wasted no time calling for the billboard’s removal.....

This plain act of censorship was not isolated. Rather, it fit into an established New York pattern of squelching unpopular opinions. Examples over the past decade abound.

Walk for Choice signs

Buzzfeed has 70 photos of signs at various Walk for Choice events. Many of them are unsurprisingly crude. One has the self-evident truth clause from the Declaration of Independence which notes that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "the right to life."

Here's photo album from the Walk for Choice in Grand Rapids.

One sign (I believe) reads "Because I would suck as a mother, I stand with Planned Parenthood."