Tonya Reaves' mother sues Planned Parenthood over daughter's death

The mother of Tonya Reaves is suing Planned Parenthood and Northwestern Memorial Hospital for the death of her daughter after an abortion at Planned Parenthood in Chicago.

Dorsey Johns, Reaves' mother, claims staff at the Planned Parenthood clinic "carelessly performed" the elective abortion and failed to properly monitor and assess her daughter's condition after the procedure, according to the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

The suit further claims the clinic did not do enough to stop Reaves' bleeding, and that staff members failed to adequately warn an on-call doctor about the potentially life-threatening condition.

Life Links 8/28/12

Jeff Jacoby notes something that anyone with any political sense knows but is often hidden by the media: Both major parties have positions on abortion which aren't middle of the road.

The 2012 platform, in language recycled from 2008, vows to "oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine" the availability of abortion. While solid majorities of Democrats back some limitations on abortion -- 59 percent would ban partial-birth abortions, for example, and 60 percent endorse a mandatory waiting period -- the official position of their party is that even common-sense restrictions are unthinkable.

In 2000, the Democratic platform said the party's goal was "to make abortion less necessary and more rare." The 2004 platform declared, "Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare." But even calling for abortion to be "rare" is now too much for the Democrats' platform committee, which deleted the word in 2008. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Nancy Keenan, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, is a committee member.

The Telegraph has a piece on international couples coming to the U.S. and paying big bucks for sex-selection IVF. Notice the dehumanization in the article where the author claims "eggs" go through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis.

He said women first attended London clinics which were affiliated with Fertility Institutes, where they were given drugs to stimulate egg production, before flying to the US for the rest of the treatment.

Eggs are then collected, fertilised in the test tube, and then screened for genetic abnormalities and gender using a now well established technique called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). ......

He admitted clients from some countries were almost exclusively interested in boys. Demand from China - currently under pressure to revoke its controversial one child policy - was 98 per cent for boys, he said, while from India it was 97 per cent.

There really must be something in the records of Planned Parenthood in Kansas as they've asked for the records back. We know it's not patient privacy Planned Parenthood is concerned with, it's covering up their willingness to not report statutory rape.


In the New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin is disappointed that the President and the Democratic party have focused so much on the hard cases of abortion and failed to make an argument for why abortion should be generally available.

But as framed by Democrats and the President, the current debate about abortion—centered as it is around rape victims and the health exception—put women in the position of supplicants, seeking permission to end their pregnancies. Most people, fortunately, think there are circumstances where that permission should be granted. But true freedom is not freedom to ask permission—it's freedom to make a decision. That's what pro-choice really means, and it would be healthy for abortion-rights supporters to say so clearly and often.

Life Links 8/24/12

CNN has posted the Republican party plank on the sanctity and dignity of human life.


The Obama campaign really has no shame. They're attacking Mitt Romney for not wanting to waste his time talking about Representative Akin's comments and fulfilling the media's and the Democratic party's dream of it lasting another week in the news. This attack from a campaign which doesn't allow reporters to interview campaign surrogates unless the give them veto power over their quotes.


Rebecca Rosen badly garbles abortions in America pre-Roe at the Atlantic. This paragraph is embarrassing. Where are the editors?

Of course no official statistics were kept, but Reagan cites some late-19th-century doctors as estimating a rate of about two million abortions per year. Studies confirmed their prevalence: One, of some 10,000 working-class women who visited birth-control clinics in the late 1920s, found that 10 to 23 percent had had abortions. A smaller study at a clinic in the Bronx in the early 1930s found that 35 percent of women -- Catholics, Protestants, and Jews alike -- had had at least one abortion. And of course, because abortion occurred mostly on the black market, they were very dangerous: One estimate placed the annual death toll at 5,000 women.

2 million abortions a year in the late 19th century? That abortion rate would be astronomical. The census bureau estimates there were only around 76 million people in the U.S. in 1900. So approximately 1/4 as many people were having nearly twice as many abortion as today? Back when abortions were illegal? If Leslie Reagan thinks 2 million annual abortion is a good estimate of late-19th-century United States, then maybe you shouldn't believe a word she says because she's clearly not competent.

Rosen then provides some other numbers for women who said they had abortions but does nothing to show how those unnamed studies would prove anywhere near 2 million annual abortions especially since the percent of women who supposedly admitted to having had abortions in one of the studies is lower than the number (1/3) touted by abortion advocates today.

Lastly, she doesn't mention that the annual death estimate of 5,000 has been debunked for decades.

How do these people find writing jobs?

Life Links 8/22/12

Abortion is a reason for gender gap between Republican and Democratic voters? Not so much.


The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a temporary injunction which temporarily prevented Texas from eliminating Planned Parenthood from the Texas Women's Health Program. From this AP article, the average reader would leave with the impression that Planned Parenthood isn't America's leading abortion provider but is just "linked," "tied," and "affiliated" to some other unnamed abortion provider.


Secular Pro-Life takes apart Marco Rossi's magical-journey-down-the-birth-canal argument. What's truly sad is that Rossi isn't ignorant of secular prolife arguments, as he accurately describes a prolife argument, he just actually thinks the assertion that birth "transforms us" is a fact. He waves away examples of past "personhood" discrimination because Jews, blacks, women and children are "are all autonomous beings" without ever explaining how newborn children and individuals on respirators are autonomous.

Tennesee abortion clinic goes out of business

An abortion clinic in Knoxville, Tennessee has closed. The Volunteer Women's Medical Clinic doesn't have an abortionist with admitting privileges.

The Volunteer Women's Medical Clinic had two physicians providing abortions. One died after suffering a stroke within days of obtaining hospital privileges, said clinic director Deb Walsh. Another retired physician working with the clinic has not obtained privileges.

"I've been able to keep the doors open and the phone staff working up until this week," Walsh wrote in a public letter titled, "End of an Era."

The other abortion clinic in Knoxville also seems to be struggling to find physicians willing to abort full-time.

In May, Dr. Morris Campbell obtained admitting privileges at University of Tennessee Medical Center. He died five days later. He was both a doctor providing services at the Volunteer Women's Medical Clinic and the medical director of the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health.

In addition to losing Campbell, the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health lost another part-time physician who had stepped forward to help after "she felt intimidated by pro-life protestors," Rovetti said.

The clinic is relying now on two part-time doctors with their own private practices who already have admitting privileges locally.

Abortion clinic worker tells story of woman who wanted sex-selection abortion at her clinic

I guess this kind of blows up the claim used by some abortion advocates that sex-selection abortions don't really occur in the U.S.

Are there ever times you feel a little – uncomfortable – with a woman's reason for having an abortion? We're not all Saints of Non-judgment, though some of us may strive to be. (Err…maybe some of us don't…)

Last week, a recent immigrant from an Asian country (I won't say which) came to our clinic for an abortion. I was the abortion counselor that day. She was in her second trimester and wanted to know if we could figure out the sex of the fetus. This isn't a completely strange question, but I don't get asked that often.

Because she was less than 18 weeks and because we don't perform diagnostic ultrasounds, I explained we wouldn't be able to identify the sex. I let her know that usually diagnostic ultrasounds to determine the sex are done between 18-22 weeks and that if she had a physician/midwife, she could schedule an ultrasound with them at that time (as it is standard practice).

She wasn't willing to wait at least another month to have an abortion. You know the drill: she'd have to travel out of state; the cost would be much higher; she'd have to spend time away from home; someone would have to watch her small daughter while she left the area (and explain why she needed a babysitter); and her husband would have to get a lot of time off work.

We don't ask patients why they want to have an abortion. Really, it's none of our business. Still, lots of women offer their reasons when we ask if they're sure of their decision, if they have support, etc.

The woman from last week calmly offered she didn't want to have a girl.

It's interesting how the Abortioneers don't seem to always grasp that the clinic experiences they often talk openly about often refute the talking points of abortion advocates.

Life Links 8/15/12

At least one local North Carolina media outlet has picked up on the YouTube video of abortionist Ashutosh Virmani telling members of Operation Save America that they should "adopt one of those ugly black babies."


Politico covers the unwillingness of abortion advocates to challenge the majority of fetal pain/late term abortion bans.

Similar fetal pain laws are on the books in seven other states, and a ninth law, in Georgia, takes effect Jan. 1. But unlike the numerous legal challenges to state laws on "partial-birth abortion", there hasn't been a massive national mobilization to challenge the fetal-pain laws, which clash head on with Roe v. Wade, the law of the land since 1973......

Asked if the abortion-rights community would be nervous about the outcome of the case if it were to travel to the Supreme Court, Donna Crane, policy director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, chose her words carefully: "There's no question that this Supreme Court as remade by George Bush is very hostile to reproductive rights."

CBS notes President Obama's continued push to make abortion an election issue and his campaign's apparent belief that all women favor legal abortion.

The Obama campaign has seized on that particular issue. Over the weekend, President Obama sent out a set of messages via Twitter, writing, "Make sure the women in your life know: Paul Ryan supports banning all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest." The Romney campaign says that Ryan does believe some exceptions can be made by families and their doctor when the life of the mother is at risk.

How prolife candidates should answer Planned Parenthood funding questions

Tim Skubick's recent column focused on U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra's unwillingness to answer a question about his position on funding Planned Parenthood.

So after Mr. Hoekstra poised for the unity photo with the former opponents, he stepped off the stage into the glaring lens of a TV camera with this question: "What's your position on federal funding of Planned Parenthood?"

It was a loaded question. For one thing, moderate women demand the funding and Mr. Hoekstra needs some of them to beat incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow. But he also needs to hang onto his conservative GOP base which is loathed to back federal aid for anything, but especially Planned Parenthood.

So what was the poor, newly unified candidate to do?

Punt, of course.

"I mean we're not going to be getting into those specifics at this time," he dove for the high grass.

"We're talking about jobs," he moved from the grass to more comfortable ground.

But the Planned Parenthood issue was still on the table, unanswered, and he conceded the point but added, "We're not going to be caught in those things right now."

To me, it's frustrating when a prolife candidate punts on a question like this instead of providing a thoughtful answer. They're going to accuse you of wanting to defund Planned Parenthood anyway so why not have a good answer for them?

Here's how a prolife candidate could answer that question and educate the public at the same time.

Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. Their latest annual report indicates they perform more than 300,000 abortions a year. That's about a 1/4 of all abortions performed in America. While the number of abortion performed across the U.S. has been decreasing in recent years, the number of abortions provided by Planned Parenthood has risen dramatically over the last decade. Abortion brings in more than $100 million dollars in revenue for them per year. At the same time, they receive a huge amount of federal taxpayer dollars to help women prevent unplanned pregnancies. I see a huge conflict of interest there.

Shouldn't we think twice about sending millions of family planning taxpayer dollars to an organization whose revenue stream requires women to have unplanned pregnancies? Wouldn't it be preferable to send taxpayer dollars for family planning to organizations which don't have a financial incentive for women to have unplanned pregnancies?

Planned Parenthood is also the subject of a Congressional investigation and investigations on the state level, a former employee has brought a whistleblower lawsuit against them, alleging Medicaid fraud and a young woman died in July after receiving an abortion at Planned Parenthood in Chicago. Planned Parenthood employees in various states have also caught on undercover camera being willing to help people get sex-selection abortions, violate mandatory reporter laws and aid sex-traffickers. These are troubling issues that plague this organization and I'm uncomfortable with an organization plagued by so many problems receiving such a large percentage of our federal government's domestic family planning dollars.

Democrats for Life testify regarding Dems pro-abortion platform

Melinda Henneberger writes in the Washington Post about how prolife Democrats were actually allowed to testify on the pro-abortion plank in the party's platform.

This time around, Janet Robert, who founded Minnesota’s progressive talk radio station AM 950, with talkers such as Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann, was given seven minutes to make the case, and she used it to argue that the party simply cannot win back Congress without Democrats who differ from the ’08 platform on this one issue. She cited a slew of stats, including a Gallup poll from last year in which 44 percent of Democrats said abortion should only be legal “in a few circumstances.”

The plank they want to rewrite says the party “unequivocally” supports Roe v. Wade and spells out that “we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”

Robert urged the committee members to prove that Democrats are more tolerant and open-minded than their opponents across the aisle: “Republicans are continually telling people they are unwelcome because of who they are, what they believe or where they were born. We are not that party.”

Good luck proving Democrats are more tolerant of dissenting views on abortion with Nancy Keenan on the committee.

"Vote for me because my mommy loves me"

One way to disqualify yourself from public office in my eyes is to air a commercial (in this case - the campaign's first commercial) where you have your mom do the voice over.

When you're a young and inexperienced candidate, do you really think it's a great idea to have your mommy be the feature of your commercial?

Life Links 8/2/12

A Nigeria doctor has been arrested for murder after a botched abortion left a 22-year-old woman dead.

Anyanwu disclosed that Edeye's victim was 22-year-old Miss Tolani Adenuga, who was carrying a five-month old pregnancy, which she requested to be terminated.

The prosecutor said that the defendant claimed to have cautioned the deceased about the danger inherent in the procedure, but when she insisted proceeded to administer some undisclosed drugs on her.

In India, a woman has been arrested after allegedly forcing her daughter to have an abortion.

Udayasurya became pregnant and she was living with her husband, when her aunts Jeyarani, Punitha and eight others came to their house and forcibly abducted her on May 21, this year. She was taken to Tiruchuli and later to Ramanathapuram, where she was admitted to a private hospital. Udayasurya was told that she delivered a premature eight-month-old baby on May 27. Her mother had also allegedly told her that she had delivered a dalit boy and that it was a sin to touch it and therefore did not show the baby to the mother

Udayasurya's husband managed to get her back on June 20, after much struggle, but the girl was distraught as she did not know what happened to her baby. She lodged a complaint with the Aruppukottai All-Woman Police station, who conducted an inquiry and found that the girl had actually been forced to undergo an abortion.

The 9th Circuit Court has issued a temporary stay on Arizona's fetal pain law.

The appellate court put the ban on hold until a pending appeal is decided, which will take at least several months. It said in a brief order that it will hold a hearing as soon as possible this fall after receiving legal briefs due in September and October.

Life Link 7/31/12

U.S. District Judge James Teilborg says Arizona's fetal pain/20+ week abortion ban can take effect.

U.S. District Judge James Teilborg said the statute may prompt a few pregnant women who are considering abortion to make the decision earlier. But he said the law is constitutional because it doesn't prohibit any women from making the decision to end their pregnancies.

The judge also wrote that the state provided "substantial and well-documented" evidence that an unborn child has the capacity to feel pain during an abortion by at least 20 weeks.

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the measure into law in April, making Arizona one of 10 states to enact types of 20-week bans.

Here's the latest report on the 248 unborn children found dumped in a Russian forest and the police investigation. This report notes the children were all late-term (approximately between 22-26 weeks).


It's amazing how the editorial board of the Washington Post can write something like this regarding the vote on D.C. Pain Capable Unborn Child Act without ever thinking about the lives of unborn children.

But that won't stop the issue from being demagogued or used as a rallying point or an appeal for money in the upcoming presidential and other national elections.

What gets lost in the gamesmanship are the lives that could be impacted. During Tuesday's limited debate, someone should read the powerful words of Christy Zink, a D.C. woman who knows the pain of terminating a wanted pregnancy because of gross fetal abnormalities.

Former police officer Noah Pestak has been charged with statutory rape. He allegedly also tried to get the girl to have an abortion.

But last week, Pestak was charged with statutory rape. He is also charged with tampering with evidence. The Sierra County Sheriff's Office says that is because he tried to get the girl to have an abortion.

The criminal complaint indicates Pestak gave her $425 to pay for the abortion, but she missed the appointment and then decide not to have the procedure. The complaint indicates Pestak then asked for his money back and got it. The girl and her father then reported the incident, concerned that Pestak would not provide for the baby.

A Japanese company has developed a way of taking a MRI image of an unborn child and turning it into a 3-D statute.

A Japanese firm Fasotec has sensed the need and has thus in collaboration with Parkside Hiroo Ladies Clinic in Mintao-ku, Tokyo devised ‘Shape of the Angle', a miniature 3D replica of the fetus that you can actually keep as a memorabilia for the rest of your life. The process requires the fetus to be photographed using MRI, the photo is then processed with a custom built 3D software. A 3D printer is then used to create the resin for the mother's body and the white resin for the fetus.

Life Links 7/27/12

Here's a classic B-word slip in a Slate article discussing how the placenta works entitled, "Your fetus is an alien":

Erlebacher's not the only one studying this stuff. Kliman, the Yale researcher, also investigated human placentas, and his findings suggest an entirely different mechanism in play. Kliman suspects that a specific protein in pregnant women, called PP13, acts as a decoy of sorts to trick the mom's immune system to stay away from the baby.

Another day and another lame Obama attack on Mitt Romney position on abortion (they really couldn't find a better actor?). The most irritating thing to me is how the Obama campaign team seems to think that all women are scared about prolife laws.



A Michigan Senate committee has passed a bill to regulate abortion clinics in Michigan. Abortion clinic executive director Renee Chelian classed up the place by calling the committee chairman a liar.

"You, sir, are a liar," Chilean replied, audibly shocked by his response. "You (should) have picked up the phone and called me, instead of relying on some right-to-life flunky with an agenda."

The New York Times editorial board is dismayed the Arizona fetal-pain bill case may not be going their way.

Then he lectured her for what he suggested, wrongly, was a lack of compassion for the unborn. He said he had read the plaintiffs' affidavits and had found that they "reflect profound compassion and concern for their patients, the women, and presumably the fathers." However, he added, "I didn't find anywhere in those affidavits any expression of concern by the plaintiffs' positions for the unborn child — or even a hint of concern on their part.

"Given that silence on that part," the judge said, "and given the silence in your own presentation, doesn't that underscore the legitimacy of the state's regulatory action out of concern for the unborn child?"

Don't let Martha Kempner babysit your kids

RH Reality Check blogger Martha Kempner has one of the most head scratching pieces I've ever read on that site (which is saying quite a bit). In her post, she shows how completely irresponsible she was while watching her niece and nephew last year.

I was excited to watch something that didn't feature animation or talking dogs and they were excited to see something that they wouldn't necessarily see at home. We decided on the clearly inappropriate Hot Tub Time Machine. It seemed like the kind of thing an aunt and uncle should say yes too (though I did quickly text my sister to make sure I wouldn't get in too much trouble for this choice). It wasn't a particularly good movie and though there was a lot of sexual innuendo, I don't remember all that many actual depictions of sexual behavior but I could be wrong—I have remarkably poor recollection of what I see in movies and a tendency to fall asleep five minutes after the opening credits. I do remember that they laughed uncomfortably and covered their eyes dramatically at a kissing scene.

Seriously? I can't fathom how someone would let their (presumably teenage or younger) niece and nephew watch a "clearly inappropriate" movie without knowing much about the movie and then fall asleep during the movie and then publicly share that as if they did nothing wrong. Martha didn't even take the time to research the movie after the fact. IMBD's web page of the movie notes that it is rated R for "strong crude and sexual content, nudity, drug use and pervasive language." Not that many depictions of sexual behavior? Hey, I could be wrong I fell asleep.

Really? Who is this person?

Martha goes on to describe how a friend handled a similar situation:

I was recently with a friend when his ten-year-old son asked if he could see the new Batman movie. My friend said that he had to go see it first and then would decide if they could see it together. I think this was a perfect answer. Know what they're watching and whenever possible watch it with them so that you can answer any questions or challenge any depictions of sexual relationships that don't fit with your values or the messages you want to convey.

Notice how this "perfect answer" is the polar opposite of what Martha did with her niece and nephew. She didn't watch the movie first and then she fell asleep so didn't know what they watched and she wasn't awake to answer any questions. But Martha's obviously poor behavior is okay because she's a sex educator.

I'd love to end this article by saying that watching Hot Tub Time Machine with their Aunt the Sex Educator was edifying for my niece and nephew, that I took my own advice and started enlightening conversations about sexual behavior and relationships, and that I answered questions they had had for years but were afraid to ask. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I spent most of the movie snoring next to them on the couch. The good news is that they have an aunt who is a sex educator and parents who would rather answer questions than keep them in the dark, so I'm confident that they came out of our foray into bad and inappropriate movies unscathed.

Such confidence for someone so ignorant. Parents - don't let Martha Kempner watch your kids. This is the kind of behavior most 15-year-old baby sitters would recognize as troubling.

Life Links 7/25/12

Here's more information about the barrels filled with hundreds of unborn children found in Russia with video and a graphic photo of one of the children.


The 8th Circuit Court has upheld South Dakota's informed consent law which requires abortionists to disclose to women that abortion may increase their risk of suicide.

In Tuesday's ruling, the court decided that the suicide disclosure did not amount to an unconstitutional burden on abortion rights. Planned Parenthood had argued that the "increased risk" language in the law necessarily pointed to a causal relationship between abortion and suicide, and that such a disclosure places an undue barrier between a woman and a protected procedure.

They also argued that the disclosure violates a doctor's free-speech rights.

The court noted in its ruling, however, that while there is no causal link between suicide and abortion, there is a well-documented correlation.

That is enough to justify the language "increased risk," the court ruled.

"There appears to be little dispute about the truthfulness of the required disclosure," the opinion states.

An Australian abortionist who published advice on how to commit at home abortions has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct.

Dr Adrienne Freeman will not be banned from practising but will face yet-to-be-determined sanctions for her actions.

The Medical Board of Australia took Dr Freeman to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) earlier this year over her decision to establish a website that advised how women could terminate a pregnancy using a drug regime and without medical supervision.

The board alleged she engaged in misconduct by providing instructions for terminations that were unsafe, failing to warn users of the risks, and advising women on how to obtain an abortion drug without a prescription.

Bodies of more than 200 children found in Russia

Four barrels containing 248 unborn children were found in a forest in Russia.

Police in the Sverdlovsk region said Tuesday the fetuses, preserved in formaldehyde, were kept in barrels with tags containing surnames and numbers.

Police suspects that one of the four local hospitals is responsible for dumping the barrels.

Life Links 7/23/12

Tonya Reaves, a 24-year-old woman from Chicago is dead after having an abortion at Planned Parenthood.

Tonya Reaves died Friday after she began to hemorrhage, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Her death was ruled an accident.

The pregnancy and "cervical dilation and evacuation," which is a technical term for abortion, that she received at the Planned Parenthood clinic, 18 S. Michigan Ave. were listed as contributing factors in her death.

The victim's twin sister told WBBM Newsradio that her family is demanding answers.

"It happened so fast," said Toni Reaves. "She was just fine one day -- and then the next day she was gone. We're just trying to figure out what happened."

Tonya's death leaves her 1-year-old son without a mother. Planned Parenthood couldn't issue a statement of condolences without a note from their PR department.


A woman in England plead guilty to administering poison with intent to procure a miscarriage after buying misoprostol (the second drug used in RU486 abortions) online and allegedly taking it within a week of her due date.


In Indiana, a woman has been arrested for helping to kill her grandchild and cover up her son's crimes. Kacy Heath allegedly helped transport a 15-year-old girl to Granite City, Illinois for an abortion after her 21-year-old son impregnated the teen.

Heath, who is King's mother, is accused of paying for the abortion and furnishing identification for the girl so she could have the abortion.

Police said King was arrested in April for sexual misconduct with the girl and is held on bond in the Gibson County Jail.

Participant of prolife Crossroads walk killed after being hit by car

Andrew Moore, a 20-year-old man participating in the Crossroads walk was killed after being hit by a car. Crossroads is a ministry where young people walk across the country during the summer to raise awareness about abortion.

The Indianapolis Star has published Moore's testimony on why he joined Crosswalk.

Our illogical President

As some with a full-time job who has started a small business and typically works on that small business nearly every weekend, President Obama's ridiculous statement that I "didn't build that" business hits me on a personal level. I know for a fact that my hard work and long hours did "build that" business in spite of the ineptness of government bureaucrats who instead of making building my business easier, have at numerous times made it more difficult and costly.

But instead of going into depth about that, I'd like to look at the paragraph preceding President Obama's statement and show how completely illogical the thought process of the man leading our country is.

ABC News has the context of the quote.

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me, because they want to give something back. They know they didn't -look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

Besides the obvious strawman which acts like successful people think they obtained their success completely on their own, President Obama is arguing that because some smart people and some hardworking people don't succeed that means the success of other smart people and hardworking people isn't caused by their smarts and/or hard work. That's a hasty generalization.

Sometimes people who are hardworking do fail but that in no way means that hard work doesn't often lead to success or wasn't the primary factor in the success of someone else. Many factors can lead to being successful and they vary in importance on a case by case basis but how illogical is it to assume that the success of all successful people isn't caused by their hard work because "there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there" and some of them aren't successful?

Life Links 7/18/12

The Daily Beast has a puff piece on abortion clinic owner Diane Derzis.

After nearly four decades working in, running, and owning abortion clinics, both her champions and her opponents call her the "abortion queen." That Diane Derzis, the owner of the state's last abortion clinic, embraces that moniker is one of the myriad reasons Mississippi's prolife absolutists want to put her out of business.

Meanwhile Derzis' Mississippi clinic was inspected on Monday. We'll see if it has a number of violations like her now-closed Alabama clinic did.


The Windy City Times has this to say about recent prolife and pro-choice demonstrations at Daley Plaza in Chicago.

Pro-life groups Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Action League spent the day demonstrating against abortion with graphic images and large placards along Washington Street, while a truck with an anti-abortion image circled the plaza.

Advocates from NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) Pro-Choice America and the Chicago Abortion Fund countered the demonstrations with pro-choice posters and messages.

Pro-life demonstrators largely outnumbered the pro-choice groups.

"I know we are smaller in numbers, but we are big in spirit," said Benita Ulisano of NARAL.

Tantrum throwers State Representatives Barb Byrum and Lisa Brown gave the office of the Michigan Speaker 115,000 petitions with signers from pro-abortion activists from around the country (knowing the percentage that actually came from Michigan would be interesting) demanding Speaker Jase Bolger apologize for preventing them from speaking on the House floor for one day. Byrum and Brown continue to lie about why they were banned from speaking.

House Republicans say they disciplined Byrum and Brown, a West Bloomfield Democrat, on the final day of an emotional debate regarding proposed abortion bills, saying the pair engaged in undecorous conduct on the floor. Brown said she was banned later from speaking because she uttered the word " vagina," and Byrum said she was banned for shouting the word "vasectomy."

I find it amusing that pro-abortion lawmakers like Brown and Byrum who describe themselves as strong women but can't take a simple punishment for violating House decorum rules and have to carry this show on for like a month.