Pew Forum survey on abortion finds Pew can't accurately describe Roe v. Wade and millennials are incredibly ignorant

I've always thought that surveys looking for public opinion on Roe v. Wade were next to useless because the vast majority of people don't actually know what Roe did and the survey is unlikely to provide an accurate description. The latest Pew Forum survey confirms my belief.

Here's how they describe Roe:

"In 1973 the Roe versus Wade decision established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy. Would you like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe versus Wade decision, or not?"

Why do media outlets continue to lie about Roe only allowing abortions for the first 3 months? Have they ever had to defend this absurd description?

What might be even more depressing is that large swaths of the public (especially the under 30 crowd) have no clue what Roe v. Wade is.

Among those younger than 30, just 44% know that the case was about abortion; 16% say it dealt with school desegregation, and 41% either say it dealt with another issue (the death penalty or the environment), or do not know.

Planned Parenthood has new slogan, same message

In their never-ending struggle to make legal abortion throughout pregnancy (including tax-funded abortion) something the majority of public agrees with, Planned Parenthood has abandoned the "pro-choice" slogan and is now pushing "Not in Her Shoes" as a new slogan with a web site and a promotional video.

Of course, they don't really have anything new to say.  Just the same, tired old arguments they've been using for decades.


The reasoning of the promotional video makes no sense. We're told abortion is "not simple," "can be complicated" and it's not a "black-and-white issue" but then we're given a slew of black-and-white conclusions/assertions including:

"Politicians don't belong in a woman's personal medical decisions about her pregnancy."
"We just don't know a woman's specific situation."
"Ultimately, decisions about whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy or raise a child must be left to a woman, her family, and her faith with the consul of her doctor or health care provider."

Life Links 1/15/13

There are some unforeseen effects of having a one-child policy and have a generation of people grow up without siblings.

One particular game focused on trust. The first player was given a sum of money, and had the option to either keep it or give a portion to a second player. Whatever sum the player chose to give away would be doubled, and the second player would then have the opportunity to give some back to the first player. In both player positions, the post-policy group chose to give away less money, demonstrating that they were generally less trusting of other players and likewise less trustworthy. In other games they shied away from risk and competition, tending instead toward pessimism and in some cases even neuroticism.

 
The Washington Post has an article on Allegheny Reproductive Health Center abortion clinic and abortion history in Pennsylvania.  Interestingly, writer Sarah Kliff fails to mention why the state of Pennsylvania passed a law in 2011 which "requires surgical abortion clinics to become certified as ambulatory surgical centers and meet other rules." Wouldn't want to bring up Kermit Gosnell, eh? 


NARAL has selected a new president named Ilyse Hogue.  From what I can tell, she hasn't written much on the issue of abortion and is more of a liberal movement insider as opposed to an abortion movement insider. 




In Alabama, a 70-year-old woman was arrested for spraying holy water after an abortion supporter claimed she was sprayed in the face.

In a Monday interview, Fecteau said the "unknown substance" was holy water that she keeps in a squirt bottle. She said she sprayed it because someone from the pro-choice group was walking close to her while burning a "noxious material."

Jeremiah McCloud, abortion survivor

Records:failed abortions at Musk clinic

A Muskegon woman said she paid Dr. Robert Alexander $320 for an abortion in 2009 and left his clinic believing he had ended her pregnancy.

Three years later, her son, Jeremiah, likes to ride his bicycle in his mom's living room and play on a toy computer.

The story goes on to note Jeremiah's mother filed a report with Michigan's Bureau of Health Professions which decided not to investigate. 

In that complaint, which Target 8 obtained, a doctor who treated McCloud after the failed abortion wrote his opinion: “that Dr. Alexander was grossly negligent in this case,” and that he could have killed her.
 
But records show the Board of Medicine determined that no investigation was needed.
 
A document titled “Board Review Sheet” explained the reason the state decided not to investigate McCloud’s complaint.
 
According to the document, “Appropriate evaluation of the patient was performed. She was outside the legal limit for voluntary termination of pregnancy and was informed of such by the licensee. Patient was refunded her payment. No breach of standard of care, no fraud, no unethical practice.”

So they believed the abortionist without doing an investigation or taking the time to seriously evaluate the claims of the doctor who treated McCloud after the abortion.

Shady abortionist botches abortion.  Complaints filed.  State health group does nothing. It's like Kermit Gosnell 2.0.

Abortion group leader interviewed by Salon

At Salon, Nancy Keennan, the outgoing leader of NARAL, is interviewed.  Some interesting quotes below.  

In regards to Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock and rape exceptions:

Let's keep in mind who's talking about it: They are. They want abortion banned even in the case of rape and incest. That's how extreme and out of touch they are with the American public.

This is so hilarious.  As if Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin called press conferences and made their lack of rape exceptions the foundation of their campaigns as opposed to be grilled about it by the media. 

The other side, I almost find it humorous when they say they could portray him (President Obama) as extreme when they are the extreme group here. They are the ones trying to outlaw birth control in this county. That is so out of the mainstream.

Do the leaders of the pro-choice movement actually think prolife groups are trying to outlaw birth control?  Or is this just to rile up the troops? 

As I've said to many elected officials, women hear their gods. They don't need to be listening to the gods of politicians.

Regarding how younger pro-choicers take offense when the older pro-choicers mention young people are less pro-choice or somehow less dedicated to the cause. 

I was not speaking about the young women who have committed their lives and dedicated enormous energy to this movement, men and women. I'm talking about that group of millennials out there under 30 who have not connected the personal to the political on this issue. They are a very large generation, there are about 76 million of them. They are pro-choice, but they don't put the issue of protecting this decision at the top of their list. So there is an intensity gap. If you put five pro-choice millennials in a room, probably one of them would vote their pro-choice values as a very critical factor for them, but if you put five anti-choice millennials in a room, almost two of them would vote their anti-choice values [based on our research].

RH Reality Check blogger Robin Marty laments closure of dirty, unsafe abortion clinic

Almost unbelievably Robin Marty at the RH Reality Check blog is lamenting the closure of the dirty, unsafe, and unsanitary abortion clinic in Muskegon.

Notably absent from her post is the story which features photos from inside the clinic and notes the various horrible things the police found.  I can't fathom how anyone (regardless of how pro-abortion they are) could think this clinic should stay open.

Life Links 1/8/13

NY Times article on pregnancy centers ends with this:

Amanda Hall met Care Net's definition of "abortion-vulnerable." Twenty-five, pregnant with her second child, her husband in jail, she was facing eviction.

Although uncomfortable about abortion, she checked "undecided," saying, "I can't support two kids."

Care Net let her stay in a house Ms. McGregor owns, found her a job, negotiated debt payment plans, offered Bible study and other classes. She gave birth in March.

"Everybody here," she said, was "like a different family."

A Tennessee woman has been arrested for a DUI-child endangerment.  The child being endangered was her unborn child.

Maria Guerra was driving in a car by herself when she crashed on I-240 Sunday morning just south of Walnut Grove. Her blood alcohol content was only half the legal limit, yet, she is charged with DUI-child endangerment with a child under 18 because she told an officer she is four months pregnant.

Memphis police say Guerra smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on her feet, and had bloodshot eyes.

In the UK, the Daily Mail reports that doctors are asking a judge to allow them to abort the child of a mentally impaired women.  They claim the woman's pregnancy combined with her sickle-cell disease is threatening her life. 

Photos show horrible conditions at Muskegon abortion clinic

Safe, legal and rare, huh?  I certainly hope some reporter shows these pictures to Lisa Brown and asks why she thinks abortion clinics shouldn't be regulated and inspected.

Photos show abortion clinic violations

And you wonder why the pro-choice movement has been losing?

The cover of this week's Time Magazine reads "40 years ago, abortion-rights activists won an epic victory with Roe v. Wade.  They've been losing ever since."

Below is a video of former state legislator (and current Oakland County clerk) Lisa Brown speaking in December against the same legislation which lead to the original "vaginagate" controversy over the summer in Michigan. 

I submit this as a reason why they've been losing.  They seem unable or unwilling to make arguments or even attempt to persuade people who don't agree with them.   



Why would the House Democrats post this on YouTube?  There's no argument.  There's nothing persuasive or educational about this.  It's just an angry, conceited individual making an absolute fool of herself. 

Amanda Marcotte proves she has no clue what she's talking about again

The intrepid Amanda Marcotte recently took it upon to comment on a piece of prolife legislation which recently passed in Michigan despite knowing next to nothing about the legislation. Besides, taking information from Al Sharpton's show, Marcotte doesn't have much to say specifically on the legislation except that it's bad. One of her non-Sharpton cribbed complaints is the part of the legislation which governs the disposition of the remains of aborted children. Marcotte writes about the part of the law which prevent the remains of unborn children from being thrown into dumpsters.

Indeed, one of the most surreal aspects of it is the requirement that abortion clinics do all these special things to dispose of quote-unquote fetal remains, even though 79% of abortions do not actually involve a fetus, but are done at the embryonic stage.

If Marcotte had taken the time to read the legislation (or even the first page of the legislation), she would have discovered the legislation defines "quote-unquote" fetal remains (my emphasis).

"Fetal remains" means a dead fetus or part of a dead fetus that has completed at least 10 weeks of gestation or has reached the stage of development that, upon visual inspection of the fetus or part of the fetus, the head, torso, or extremities appear to be supported by skeletal or cartilaginous structures. Fetal remains do not include the umbilical cord or placenta.

So, in other words, abortionists don't have to do "special things" to dispose of the remains of unborn children killed before 10 weeks who don't have visible body parts after being killed.

Marcotte's gripe with the legislation is completely empty. Whoops.

Life Links 1/4/13

A businessman in Portland, Oregon who was mad at prolifers who protest outside a Planned Parenthood next to his business organized pro-abortion protest to counter the prolifers.  The video of the protest/counterprotest includes showing some of the posters of aborted children and a crazy pro-abort who thinks prolifers are violating a woman's constitutional right by protesting. 

The anti-abortion protesters held large full-color signs which they say depict aborted fetuses, while other protesters loudly recited religious admonitions against abortion.

That was largely drowned out by the group gathered in front of Guitar Grave and Mike's Restaurant, Fink's businesses, who chanted slogans like "Abortion is health care and health care is a right." Fink used social media to rally support and offered free sandwiches and coffee to the counter-protesters.

The New York Times has an article on an abortion hotline in Chile which is straddling the law in a country where abortion is illegal.

In a country where abortion is entirely illegal, even in cases of rape or when a woman's life is in danger, the hot line is a risky endeavor. Operating in a legal gray area, volunteers face a daunting prison sentence if a conversation veers too far from a lawyer-approved script. The hot line already has had three lawsuits brought against it, though all were eventually dropped.

Paul Ryan will be the keynote speaker at the SBA List's dinner in April.

West Michigan abortion clinic will stay closed

Kudos to WOOD TV for doing some investigation into this now-closed abortion clinic in Muskegon and the ex-con abortionist who ran it.

Thursday, for the first time, Muskegon Public Safety Director Jeffrey Lewis said there were 11 potential fire and health-related violations.

"There was a leaking roof, poor housekeeping resulting in a large fire load, several containers of hazardous material that was not stored in the proper cabinets and wasn't labeled properly, combustible materials stored near an ignition source," he said.

There was also no key box to allow fire department access to the building, the electrical panel and furnace blocked by stored materials and exit signs not properly lit and not functioning. But he refused to disclose the other four findings.

"We felt these were safety issues that could affect the clientele that visited the clinic," Lewis said. He added that Dr. Robert Alexander, who ran the clinic, told Muskegon city officials he will not reopen the clinic that's been operating in the area for at least 20 years.

"There are certain standards that he has to meet with the state of Michigan and he feels at this time he cannot meet those, and he doesn't want to entertain that and so our information is that he is not going to reopen the clinic."

Life Links 1/3/13

Jon Shields has a piece in First Things which discusses how Roe v. Wade led to a collapse in the pro-choice movement while spurned the prolife movement to affect our culture.

While Roe bred apathy and conservatism in pro-choice ranks, it energized many pro-lifers. With the Supreme Court having removed abortion from the political process and deprived pro-lifers of normal avenues of political influence, some decided to blockade abortion clinics instead. Between 1977 and 1993, pro-life radicals orchestrated some six hundred blockades, leading to more than 33,000 arrests.

Most pro-life activists, however, dedicated their lives to changing the hearts and minds of their fellow citizens, rather than simply obstructing them from procuring abortions. The more Americans who opposed abortion on moral grounds or were offered practical alternatives to abortion, such activists reasoned, the fewer abortions, whatever the laws of the land. These pro-life advocates quietly began countless conversations with ordinary citizens and continue to do so in great numbers.

At Public Discourse, Melissa Moschella discusses recent decisions on the HHS Mandate and the attempt of some judges to play theologians.

In the HHS mandate cases brought by Frank O'Brien and the Green family, however, the judges found no reason to doubt either the plaintiffs' sincerity or the religious nature of their beliefs. To remain within the limits of their competence, their investigation into the applicability of RFRA—and therefore of the need for the government to defend the mandate as narrowly tailored to the achievement of a compelling state interest—should have stopped there.

Unfortunately, it did not. Instead, the judges crossed the line by denying the substantive correctness of the plaintiffs' belief that providing insurance coverage for contraceptives and/or abortifacients is morally wrong. As Judge Jackson put it, despite the plaintiffs' sincere claims to the contrary, "the challenged regulations do not … prevent plaintiffs from acting in accordance with their religious beliefs."

In effect, Judges Jackson and Heaton are telling the Greens and Frank O'Brien—and by extension the 108 other plaintiffs challenging the mandate as well—that they, and the religious authorities who support them, simply have their theology wrong.

Christianity Today interviews Russell Moore about adoption.

What's the greatest benefit of being an adoptive parent?

The adopting of our two sons demonstrated to us something of the love of God for us and gave us a relationship that we never would have found on our own. We love our sons and they've brought so much to our family that we never could have planned out ahead of time.

And the greatest challenge?

The greatest challenge is confronting the idea that there's somehow a difference between adopted children and biological children in terms of affection, in terms of the structure of the family, which is not true. There's no such thing as adopted children. There are only children who were adopted. In a biblical understanding, "adopted" is a past-tense verb, not an adjective. So once someone has been adopted into the family, that person is part of the family with everything that that means.

 Christopher Kenyon Simpson has pled not guilty after being accused of killing Ka'Loni Marie Flynn and her unborn child.

Prosecutors allege Simpson shot Flynn after she told him she was pregnant. Lawyers for Simpson don't want prosecutors to be able to use phone records that allegedly place Simpson in the area of the slaying on grounds that authorities obtained them without a warrant.

Georgia abortionist indicted for medicaid fraud

Abortionist Andre Damian Williams has been indicted in Georgia for allegedly taking medicaid funds to perform abortions.

Andre Damian Williams was indicted on Dec. 20 on one count of Medicaid fraud for allegedly accepting $205,003 in Medicaid funds for services not rendered and for services associated with the performance of elective abortions, according to Lauren Kane, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Attorney General's office.

From January 2009 to September 2011, Williams owned two businesses, Legacy Obstetrics and DeKalb Gynecology Associates. The primary business at DeKalb Gynecology Associates was the performance of elective abortions, Kane said in an emailed statment.

Detectives described finding remains of aborted child

The New Republic has a story on The Rise of DIY Abortions which features Jennie Linn McCormack and the story of how she aborted her 5-month-old using abortion pills she ordered online.

The last page includes quotes from the detectives who found the body:

Before I left Pocatello, I met two detectives who participated in the McCormack investigation. They work just a wall away from the evidence locker where the remains of the fetus are still stored; because the legal proceedings are ongoing, they cannot be released. “We see dead bodies, daily, weekly, in all different stages,” Detective Brian McClure told me. “But seeing a recognizable baby in a garbage bag, frozen, outside, in a garbage pile, decomposing ...”

“I wouldn’t wish anyone to that scene or investigation,” says Detective Val Wadsworth, a father of four. “We unwrapped it and released it to the funeral home, and the next day was the autopsy. The funeral director who was there said it was the worst smell he’d smelled in his thirty-five years of the funeral home. ... I can’t imagine what it did to her, to have that baby right underneath you for so long, trying to sleep with it there. When they had it thawed out and laying on the table, it was just sad. Sad feeling. Sad little pathetic face. It was just terrible.”

Abortion clinic escort has no clue what a 12-week fetus looks like

Everysaturdaymorning is a blog authored by abortion clinic escorts who volunteer at an abortion clinic in Louisville. In a recent post, Servalbear made fun of abortion protestors and sidewalk counselors for using fetal models and shows a complete lack of knowledge regarding fetal development.

The plastic toys are supposed to be 12-week fetuses. They do not resemble a fetus to me. This is a photo I found of them for sale on Etsy so you can judge for yourself.

Servalbear then posts a picture of a plastic fetal model which appears to be identical to the ones sold by Heritage House.

Apparently, out of ignorance Servalbear believes these models don't resemble a fetus when that's nearly exactly what 10 - 12 week human fetuses look like.

Life Links 12/27/12

The Hill reports Nancy Keenan will step down as the leader of NARAL.

She plans to stay on at NARAL through the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade — which happens to fall just a day after Inauguration Day. The organization hasn't picked a successor yet.

Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma lost a WIC contract.

Terry J. Bryce, chief of the WIC program for the Health Department, said he recommended termination because the organization had a large decrease in clients, had a higher per-client cost for services and was unresponsive to repeated requests for information from his agency......

Without a preliminary injunction in place, Planned Parenthood will be forced to stop WIC services on Dec. 31, meaning six full-time staff members will be eliminated and the group may close its west Tulsa health center.

The Akron Beacon Journal has an article on how Planned Parenthood staff and an abortion protestor helped another protestor who was hit by a truck.

"[The other protester] was actually sitting in a canvas chair and this happened so fast … she wasn't able to get out of the way," he said. "A big pickup truck was driving up and the guy was doing his best to stop and she got hit and flung."

She had a broken vertebrae.

"It could have been worse but by the grace of God," Wilson said.

The Planned Parenthood employees sprung into action.

Someone called 911. Nurses came out and helped the woman avoid shock until an ambulance could arrive. One of the Planned Parenthood employees walked down the street to inform the victim's husband who was visiting another business.

For a moment, people with profound disagreements were united.

UK woman paid 62,000 pounds after hospital kills unborn son

From the story:

A mum unaware she was pregnant has been awarded £62,000 compensation by a hospital which aborted her unborn baby son.

Hospital staff failed to realise Suzanne Doherty was 14 weeks’ pregnant when she went in for a hysterectomy and it was too late to save the baby.

Suzanne, who has three daughters, said: “Knowing we could have had a son was devastating.

“I was told the operation had been a success, but a foetus had been discovered and terminated.

“It shouldn’t happen in this day and age. There are so many checks. It shouldn’t get to the point where a pregnancy was missed.”

“The money will never bring my son back.”

Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro admitted liability and a “catalogue of errors”.

Abortion advocates Angi Becker Stevens and Emily Kellogg Magner ignorant about the prolife legislation they so vehemently oppose

It never ceases to amaze how little abortion advocates in Michigan know about prolife legislation.

Here's Angi Becker Stevens at RH Reality Check:

Now, in Michigan, many women are also being denied any possibility of private insurance coverage for abortion.

First, Angi seems to think legislation to deny private insurance coverage for abortion in part of HB5711.  She's wrong on a couple counts.  The abortion insurance opt out legislation isn't part of HB5711.  It was originally SB 612 whose language was added into a bill to allow Blue Cross to be a nonprofit insurer.  Second, the bill doesn't "any possibility" of private insurance coverage.  It allows women to buy a separate rider to cover abortion. 

And HB 5711, when signed into law, will place a multitude of burdens on women who are in precarious economic circumstances. Its ban on the tele-medicine prescription of medical abortion will primarily impact women living in rural areas, many of whom are poor and live a great distance from abortion clinics; for these women to incur travel expenses, as well as the necessary time away from work if they're employed, is a great burden that will make abortion significantly more difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.

She claims HB5711's ban on telemed abortions will make abortion "significantly more difficult, if not impossible, to obtain."  Except that no abortion provider in Michigan is currently using telemed abortions so it's rather hard to claim abortion will be more difficult to obtain in the future than now because the state is banning something no abortionist is currently doing. 

And because HB 5711 will also impose a number of costly regulations on abortion clinics and providers, it is likely that even women in many suburban and even urban areas will find themselves without an easily accessible clinic to which to turn. At clinics that do manage to keep their doors open under the new guidelines, it can be expected that abortion costs will be driven even higher.

Angi provides no information on what the costly regulations are.  If preparing a clinic for inspection is such a financial burden for the state's numerous abortion clinics then maybe they shouldn't be in operation.


Here's blogger Emily Kellogg Magner's take:

On November 28th a group of social work students and myself woke up at 3:30 am, drove on unplowed and unsalted roads to talk to our representatives about HB 5711.

We studied and analyzed this 60+ page bill and found that it would regulate women's health centers out of existence, limit abortion access for women in rural areas, prevent private insurance companies from covering any abortion services, give a tax credit for fetuses (but not for children), and it would allow  medical providers to deny any health care service they deem objectionable.

After careful analysis we believed this bill to be nothing but harmful to Michigan women, families, and communities.

There's so much wrong here it's tough to know where to start. 

HB 5711 didn't prevent private insurance companies from covering abortions (again that would be SB 612 which was included in the Blues bill) or give a tax credit for fetuses (that would be HB 5684 and HB 5685) or allow medical providers to deny any health care service they deem objectionable (that would SB 975).  That Emily thinks all this was part of HB5711 seems to indicate Emily never read HB 5711 or carefully analyzed it like she claims.  Surprise!

So if Emily hadn't read HB 5711, why would she claim she had?  So she can act indignant over the fact that her state senator hadn't read the legislation.

Howard Walker looked at us blankly. He glanced at his watch. He fussed with his phone.

We went on to talk specifically about how this bill will harm Michigan women, disproportionately women living in rural areas like ours. After we brought up a few of these points he put up his hands and said that he couldn't really speak to those topics … he had not read the bill.

In front of him was a one paragraph synopsis I assume was from the Right to Life special interest organization who drafted the bill.

Howard Walker had not even bothered to read it.

We spoke with him for 20 minutes, the whole time he was dismissive, misinformed, and rude.

Emily also claims HB 5711 will " regulate women's health centers out of existence."  Wrong again (I'll assume she means abortion clinics since the bill doesn't effect centers which don't provide abortions) as 4 clinics in state are already licensed and meet the regulations. 

Here's a tip for abortion advocates who want to be taken seriously about their opinion on prolife legislation: Actually, take the time to know what you're talking about.  This means reading the legislation and not just Planned Parenthood's talking points. 

Unintentionally hilarious pro-choice quote of the week

Goes to RH RealityCheck's Robin Marty for her comment regarding prolife legislation in Michigan which passed the Michigan Senate yesterday by an overwhelming 27-10 vote.

The fact that the final vote was only 27 to 10 is perhaps the best indicator of exactly how overreaching the super bill is.

This is a little like saying: "The fact that the Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday by a score of only 58-0 is perhaps the best indicator of exactly how great a team the Cardinals are right now. "

But Robin at least tries to make an argument. 

A small number of legislators who don't identify as pro-choice rejected the bill, considering it far too extreme.

That small number would be 2 since she claims only 8 Michigan senators openly refer to themselves as pro-choice.  But these 2 legislators aren't prolife legislators.  They're Democrat pro-choice legislators with pro-choice voting records who apparently (Robin provides no evidence except citing "Michigan activists" and doesn't even name the legislators) don't identify themselves as pro-choice.

So a piece of legislation which passes 27-10 is overreaching because two Democrat senators with pro-choice voting records who don't openly refer to themselves as "pro-choice" voted against it.