Former President Bill Clinton made famous the clever, but deceptive, mantra that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare." To the casual observer, this mantra may sound compelling. In reality, it is a euphemistic smoke screen since the legalization of abortion has done little or nothing to make it safer for the mother.
The proposition that making abortion legal would make it safe was put forward in the 1960s by the late Dr. Bernard Nathanson and his cohort Lawrence Lader. These two men co-founded the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) which originally was called the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws.
Dr. Nathanson, who performed thousands of abortions during his lifetime, ultimately had a change of heart and became a pro-life activist (and Catholic!). In his post-conversion writings, Dr. Nathanson admitted that one of the tactics he and Lader used to sell Americans on legalizing abortion was to lie about the number of illegal abortions and abortion-related deaths.
"The actual figure [of illegal abortions prior to Roe] was approaching 100,000 but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly was 1,000,000. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public.
"The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200-250 annually. The figure we constantly fed to the media was 10,000. These false figures took root in the consciousness of Americans convincing many that we needed to crack the abortion law," Nathanson admitted.
The evidence that legalizing abortion did little to make it safer for women is abundant. One of the latest examples comes at the hands of Nebraska’s infamous late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart. Carhart performs earlier-term abortions in Bellevue, Nebr. and late-term abortions in Germantown, Md.
As reported by LifeNews.com Feb. 20, "the chief medical examiner’s office in Baltimore confirmed that a botched late-term abortion claimed the life of a young New York woman who died recently at a Maryland abortion clinic. Jennifer McKenna Morbelli a 29-year-old woman from New Rochelle, New York died from a botched 33-week abortion on February 7."
According to the medical examiner, there were two causes to Morbelli’s death. The first was "amniotic fluid embolism following termination of pregnancy" (i.e. amniotic fluid seeped into her bloodstream). The second cause is "disseminated intravascular coagulation," a condition during which small blood clots form in blood vessels.
Another recent case, featured in LifeSiteNews.com, was of a forced and botched abortion at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, Colo. A Feb. 21 LifeSiteNews article said that Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of 40-year-old Ayanna Byer. Ms. Byer "changed her mind about the abortion after Planned Parenthood could not provide her with the agreed-upon intravenous anesthesia for pain, but the abortionist proceeded with the abortion anyway.
"Once the abortion was complete, Byer was sent home but ended up in an emergency room two days later because the abortionist had botched the procedure." Dr. Stephen Foley, the emergency room doctor who treated Ms. Byer encouraged her to file a lawsuit.
"No practicing physician can maintain privileges to practice and perform surgery if they do not provide specific coverage for their patients in case of a complication. It is considered ‘abandonment’ of your patient. It is not acceptable to refer your patients to the Emergency Department and assume the on-call doctor will take care of any complications and assume all the risk associated with the complications."
Sadly, few if any abortionists have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Consequently, this scenario of women with botched abortions being "abandoned" to emergency rooms by abortion mills is tragically common. It has happened in Nebraska at least three times in recent memory.
These recent cases from around the country are merely the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of botched abortions that resulted in injury or death to the mother. Many more examples are documented on the websites of Operation Rescue (operationrescue.org) and Life Dynamics (lifedynamics.com).
You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
-
Youth Protection +
-
Evangelization & Catechesis +
-
Catholic Schools +
-
Youth Ministry +
-
Family Life & Discipleship +
-
News & Media +
-
Directory, Maps & Mass Times +
-
Diocese Home +
