The illegal abortionist has played an essential role in the
evolution of modern industrial urban living, with its low birth rates,
intensive education, and nuclear family system. He or she was classed
as a criminal, but without their help, history would have taken a
different course.
Malcolm Potts.[1]
Anti-Life Philosophy.
We in the pro-choice movement have only the highest respect for the
law. Our opposition, however, disregards it at every opportunity.
Look at all the illegal harassment by Operation Rescue, for example.
And even when the radical anti-choice fanatics are not blocking doors,
their collaborators are illegally harassing women with their so-called
"sidewalk counseling." Meanwhile, the anti-choicers run
hundreds of fake reproductive health centers under the name of
"crisis pregnancy centers."
And worst of all is the hundreds of clinic bombings! Just look
at all of the violence and terrorism and disregard for the law by the
far Right!
Introduction.
Nothing is more amusing than observing the uproar from the Lunatic
Left over the tactics of Operation Rescue and other pro-life
organizations. "Terrorists!" shrieks NOW.
"Fanatics!" whines NARAL. "Nazis!" snivel the
Communists.
When Operation Rescue first hit the streets, the pro-aborts, as one
body, puffed themselves up like toads and blustered about the
"blatant lawlessness" of the entire pro-life movement.
Pro-life activists were labeled anarchists. Renegades. And far worse.
Even though rescuers make up only about one percent of the entire
pro- life Movement, the abortophiles aggressively tried to convince the
public that any and all pro-life activism was somehow either
illegal or unethical. And they put on their "holier-than-thou"
face and stated as a fact that they would never engage in such
lawless activity.
A typical statement originated with Molly Yard, former president of
the National Organization for Women, as she condemned (gasp!) BINGO
benefits for pro-lifers (this is not a joke); "Catholics have to
turn their backs on the Church ... The Knights of Columbus in Minnesota
run bingo games and turn the money over to the right-to-life crowd a
totally illegal procedure. They don't seem to have any feeling about
breaking the law."[2]
The remainder of this chapter uses examples of the abortophile's own
actions and quotes to prove that they are most certainly being
hypocrites when they condemn pro-life lawbreaking.
Pro-Abortion Lawlessness in the United States.
Obey the law! Obey the law! Obey the law!
Popular abortuary escort chant.
Abortionists Advocating Anarchy.
There is a great and fundamental contrast between the respective
ethical frameworks of the pro-abortion and pro-life movements.
Abortophiles have rejected all Godly and earthly ethical
frameworks as described in Chapter 2, "The Anti-Life
Mentality." The only possible replacement for these discarded moral
frameworks is the concept of situational ethics, where there are no
concrete moral standards, and where each person acts according to only
one standard: His or her own self- interest.
The inevitable result of this wholesale rejection of standards is a
grudging obedience to the law unless it can be disregarded with
impunity.
The contrast between pro-abortion and pro-life groups in this respect
is plain. Most of the major pro-life groups do not publicly or privately
support lawbreaking. Others support rescuing, but do not participate.
Only about one percent of the pro-life movement actually breaks the law
to save preborn babies. And this lawbreaking is advocated in only the
most extreme possible case to save what pro-lifers believe to be
human life.
On the other hand, every one of the 'mainline' pro-abortion
spokespersons and groups advocate simply disregarding the law in all
instances, even trivial, if it does not precisely conform with
their wishes.
In other words, pro-lifers will only break the law to save human
life. Pro-aborts will break it whenever they bloody well feel like it to
do abortions, to import RU-486, and in any other instance they deem
appropriate at the moment.
The 'Mainliners' Speak.
As mentioned above, every 'mainline' pro- abortion group has
advocated simply ignoring the law or aggressively and loudly breaking it
outright as the simplest method of obtaining their goals without going
through the effort of safeguarding the bloody abortion "right"
through the political process.
Remember that these are the same people who condemn Operation Rescue
and tell pro-lifers "If you don't like the law, you shouldn't break
it you should work within the system to change it."
Planned Parenthood.
For example, most Planned Parenthood spokespersons seem to make a
career out of complaining about the 'unconstitutionality' of various
pro-life actions, and are especially fond of condemning such unlawful
acts as rescue missions and the burning of abortion mills.
By implication, such statements would seem to indicate that Planned
Parenthood strictly abides by the law.
However, this is certainly not the case. Planned Parenthood, the
organization that swallows tens of millions of our tax dollars every
year, uses this money to advocate ignoring any laws, customs, or
procedures that do not suit them. The Planned Parenthood Federation of
America (PPFA) is only one of the more than one hundred affiliates of
the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Every one of
them, being a part of the parent organization, willingly breaks the law
if the opportunity arises.
The IPPF has held that "[Family Planning] Associations should
operate right up to the edge of what is legal and sometimes even beyond
where the law is uncertain or out of tune with public opinion. While a
government gains short term respect by being respectable, a voluntary
body may gain long term respect by being responsibly
disreputable."[3]
Malcolm Potts, a former director of the IPPF, explains how his
organization drove a wedge for abortion on demand into the cultures of
countless developing countries; "Using the name "menstrual
regulation" alters the name of the game. It is not practical to
write about abortion in a Bangladesh newspaper, but it has proved
acceptable to hold a much- publicized conference on menstrual regulation
in Dacca ... there will be no proof of pregnancy unless the tissue
removed from the uterus is subjected to microscopic examination. The
point is of crucial importance in countries where abortion is
illegal."[1]
Potts claimed that "There are some laws that can and should be
broken ... restrictive abortion laws ... are as obsolete and irrelevant
to the contemporary world as the New York State statute which makes it a
crime to have a deck of cards in an apartment within a one-mile radius
of an armory."[4]
The Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (an IPPF
affiliate) brought suction machines into the country and defied a law
prohibiting such imports by calling the machines "Medical
instruments to obtain tissue samples for examination."[5] IPPF has
used this same type of subversion in many other developing countries.
Closer to home, we find that the Planned Parenthood Federation of
America is just as lawless as its parent organization. Former PPFA
President Faye Wattleton signed a 1984 document entitled The Human
Right to Family Planning. This document stated that "Family
Planning Associates [the 180 United States Planned Parenthood
affiliates] and other nongovernmental associations should not use the
absence of law or the existence of an unfavorable law as an excuse for
inaction; action outside the law, or even in violation of it, is part of
the process of stimulating change." Wattleton also defiantly said
in 1983 that "We will disobey laws requiring notification to
parents of minors receiving contraceptive drugs or devices."
Planned Parenthood not only advocates widespread defiance of the law;
its employees aggressively work to bypass and undercut any local
ordinance or regulation that they deem unsuitable.
Kathleen A. Kitchen of Indiana is only one of the thousands of
unfortunate young women who have found out that the law is designed to
protect, while PP is determined to exploit.
In 1986, the 18-year old Kitchen filed a $1 million suit against
Planned Parenthood of Central Indiana in the Marion County, Indiana
Superior Court, claiming that she was illegally pressured into having an
abortion by the organization.
Miss Kitchen's mother knew that her daughter had birth defects which
her physician had said would kill or maim her if she underwent an
abortion. She also knew that Planned Parenthood had been persistently
trying to schedule an abortion for her daughter, and so obtained two
separate court orders forbidding PP employees to counsel her for an
abortion or to arrange for one.
But PP ignored these court orders and phoned Kitchen several times a
day, and finally scheduled an out-of-state abortion on May 17, 1986. On
May 27, she was admitted to a hospital emergency room with severe
complications which nearly killed her, and which were a direct result of
this illegal abortion.[6]
National Organization for Women.
No abortophile group more loudly or obnoxiously shouts about breaking
the law than the National Organization for Women (NOW). Every president
of NOW has stated quite plainly that she has no use at all for the law
and that, if it gets in the way, it will simply be disregarded.
Previous NOW president Ellie Smeal, now with the Fund for a Feminist
'Majority,' was almost incoherent with indignation as she snarled at the
1991 NOW national convention that "Open defiance, by the way, we've
got to ask the doctors and the nurses to openly defy. Incidentally, they
are saying that doctors are saying, "I openly defy the law."
They not only need to stand up and say "I'm going to defy the
law," they've got to follow through and we've got to support
them."[7]
When former NOW president Molly Yard heard that the Supreme Court
would review Roe v. Wade in its Webster case, she said on
January 8, 1989 that; "We are now declaring a state of emergency
for the women of America. We will not go back to illegal abortions. We
aren't going to obey the law."
And current NOW president Jill Ireland beat her narrow chest and
boasted in 1992 that "We will break the law to make sure women have
the right to safe, legal abortions."[8]
'Menstrual Extraction' Chicanery.
[Women] spoke out for abortion at a time when it wasn't a topic
discussed in public, and they were willing to break the law in order
to win abortion reforms.
Mary Ann Curtis, Los Angeles Radical Women.[9]
The "Jane" Network. Ever since the mid-1960s, many
Neofeminists have not only advocated reforming, repealing, or breaking
abortion laws, they have gone into business by transforming themselves
into the very same 'back-alley butchers' they so roundly condemn in
their propaganda pieces.
During the period 1969 to 1973, Neofeminists conducted an
'underground railroad' entitled "Jane" for women who wanted to
obtain illegal abortions. During this time, the "Jane"
organizers 'evolved' from merely counseling and referring for abortions
to actually performing the abortions themselves.
Their activities included stealing or illegally obtaining drugs,
including Ergotrate and Xylocaine. Several members of the network toured
23 cities in 1971, showing off their illegal 'do-it-yourself' abortion
machine, the "Del-Em." The raw materials for this illegal
'menstrual extraction' kit included two Mason jars, a cork with holes in
it, fish tank tubing, and a syringe. This was the precursor of the
nearly identical Feminist Women's Health Center home abortion kit sold
twenty years later.[10]
When "Jane" disbanded in April 1973, its members boasted of
having performed 12,000 illegal abortions under the 'menstrual
extraction' banner. ME is also known by the names "endometrial
extraction," "menstrual induction," and "early
uterine evacuation."[11]
It appeared as if ME was going to make a comeback in 1989 and 1990,
when pro-abortionists assumed that Roe v. Wade was on its last
legal legs. Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer, in their book A Woman's
Book of Choices, demonstrate vividly how a pro-abortionist will
twist any law to suit his own purposes; "Women who do menstrual
extraction consider it and other home health-care techniques to be
completely legal, since an individual woman or a group of women cannot
make a medical diagnosis of pregnancy; in fact, they are not attempting
to do so. Therefore, they would not have the necessary intent required
to constitute a criminal act of abortion."[12]
Using the same logic of "assumed intent," a man who raped a
woman on a date could claim that he could not make a diagnosis as to
whether or not she really wanted to have violent sexual
intercourse on that instance, and therefore he would not be guilty of
rape because he did not have the "necessary intent required to
constitute a criminal act of rape."
Following a Lower Law.
Other illegal abortion referral services included the Abortion Rights
Action League (ARAL) in California, Bill Baird's amusingly-misnamed
Parents' Aid Society, and the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS).
The CCS consisted of pro-abortion 'clergy' who banded together
beginning in 1965 and helped women obtain illegal abortions, claiming
that they were "following a higher law!"[13]
Howard Moody, the Baptist 'minister' who founded the Clergy
Consultation Service on Abortion, recently explained his position and,
while he was at it, demonstrated his ingrained closemindedness. Note how
pro-abortionists in privileged positions defile their occupations with
such dishonesty.
What passed between a pastor and a member of his congregation was
supposed to be protected information, and even police and district
attorneys might respect that confidence. If the legal authorities
declined to poke around in the delicate area of priest-penitent
privilege, then the ministers could proceed as they liked; if someone
tried to arrest them, or subpoena their records, then newspaper
readers all over New York would be treated to the spectacle of a
district attorney prosecuting a minister for counseling a woman who
had come to him for help.
One New York obstetrician recalls, for example, that if a nurse or
a medical student needed an abortion, she might be directed to go home
and deliberately cut or scrape herself to produce bleeding on her
underwear. In the hospital she would undergo a dilation and emptying
of the uterus, then the standard early abortion technique, and the
records would indicate that physicians had simply attended to a woman
whose miscarriage began before she ever checked in.
On this one, I've never moved from my original position. It doesn't
matter how scientifically good we get at pushing things here and
there; the fact of the matter is you have conflicting rights,
conflicted interests. And the interests of an adult human woman, no
matter how far you push back viability or anything else, are never the
same as a zygote or an embryo or a fetus. They're not. And if you said
those were equal rights, I would deny it,that's all, I can't accept
that on any kind of pragmatic grounds.[14]
Note that, for Moody and his contemptible ilk, the question of fetal
viability is utterly irrelevant. For Moody, the unborn, no matter how
developed or human, will always be disposable. Moody literally
says that no amount of evidence will convince him otherwise.
Yet you can bet that he and his friends would be the first to condemn
members of the Ku Klux Klan and White Aryan Resistance who hold to the
belief that Black people are inferior despite all evidence to the
contrary!
Future Plans.
Many abortophiles frankly admit that many Neofeminists will break the
law if abortion is criminalized once again, by reorganizing or reviving
"Jane" or a system similar to it. Cynthia Pearson of the
National Women's Health Network (NWHN) accurately predicts that
"Anyone who could get their hands on an electric suction machine
would be in business."[15]
Pearson describes how the Neofeminists are already 'gearing up' for
their underground abortion networks by falsifying medical records;
"Even now, women in this country who are desperate are bringing in
doctored sonograms in order to get abortions."[15]
This is a barefaced lie, of course. This statement was made in 1989,
when there were only the most trivial limits on abortion. Why would an
allegedly "desperate woman" need to get a
"doctored sonogram" in the first place? As Chalker and Downer
explain, there are many options open for a dishonest woman who wants to
kill her child; "In the past, women often got abortions by faking a
miscarriage, claiming waves of cramps, fainting episodes (the more
dramatic the better), and exhibiting blood on their underwear or
clothes. Today, however, due to advances in sonography ... getting an
abortion because of a threatened miscarriage isn't as easy as it used to
be. Nonetheless, a sympathetic doctor may be won over by convincing
signs of a miscarriage, and may be willing to "finish it,"
especially in rural or isolated areas ..."
Frances Kissling of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice seems almost to be
smacking her lips at the prospect of illegal abortion; "I would
like to see a huge underground of activist women learning how to do
menstrual extractions and vacuum aspiration abortions, mothers teaching
their daughters, sub rosa [covert] classes at campus women's
centers..."[15]
The FWHC Conspiracy.
Perhaps pro-lifers really shouldn't be too worried about the
number of women who will die of illegal abortions if Roe v. Wade
is overturned: After all, the Neofeminists are so unconcerned that they
are currently trying to turn a fast buck by capitalizing on the
"misery" of women with "unwanted pregnancies."
The Feminist Women's Health Centers and others have distributed
"how- to" abortion guides for women including When Birth
Control Fails: How to Abort Ourselves Safely and the techniques
described have led to at least one documented death by self-inflicted
abortion, when a woman killed herself with an overdose of Pennyroyal
oil.[16]
Additionally, the FWHCs began selling $79.95 'home suction aspiration
kits' in mid-1989, immediately after the Supreme Court's Webster
decision. These kits consisted of aquarium tubing, Mason jars, and
syringes, and the materials cost about 10 dollars. Therefore, the FWHCs
were making about a 800 percent profit on what they called
"menstrual extraction kits." As Lynne Randall, director of the
Atlanta FWHC said, "Since there won't be enough courageous doctors
to break the law, this could be the safest illegal abortion
possible." And Susan Landau of the Redding Feminist Women's Health
Center boasted that "The technology is here you can't take that
away. They may make abortion illegal, but they can't control
it."[17]
FWHC personnel began touring the country in mid-1990, selling and
demonstrating their home abortion kits and showing their 28-minute film,
"No Going Back."[18] This was one of the factors encouraging
women to have home abortion "parties," where several abortions
may be committed in the space of just one hour.
The reason for most of these abortion parties is not that abortions
are too expensive, or that they may soon be outlawed, but, as aborter
Maria Romero described, "Sometimes I'm kind of lazy about using my
cervical cap ... I think it's wonderful to share the [abortion]
experience with my friends."[19]
For a detailed description of a typical Neofeminist abortion home
"party," see Chapter 16, "Pro-Abortion Slogans."
According to mega-abortionist Warren Hern, the term menstrual
extraction "... originated as a euphemism for early abortion prior
to legalization of abortion and was perceived by its originators as a
useful deception (and is still useful) in a politically repressive
setting."[10]
Remember that these are the same people who loudly and indignantly
condemn pro-lifers for breaking the law!
The Dangers of 'ME.'
The 'menstrual extraction' procedure is so dangerous that even the
National Abortion Federation (NAF), the abortionist's trade union, has
labeled it "... dangerous to the health of the women we seek to
assist."[19]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognized the danger in
untrained personnel performing a medical procedure in an uncontrolled
environment, and promptly shut down the FWHC profiteers.[20]
We must ask ourselves (and the Neofeminists) this question: If they
are so worried about women butchering themselves, why are they trying to
profit from the alleged danger by selling illegal and dangerous home
abortion kits at a huge markup?
The Ugly American Strikes Again.
When the FDA shut down the FWHC home abortion business, it led some
abortionists to ask questions that most people had not even thought of.
Abortionist Grant Bagley of Salt Lake City pointed out the hypocrisy
of the U.S. government when he said that "No one has been
particularly alarmed that we're exporting this [ME] technology to Third
World countries, but somehow if women in the U.S. are going to be using
the same techniques, it's dangerous."[19]
This is just one facet of United States 'contraceptive imperialism.'
When a birth control method, abortifacient, or abortion technique is
deemed to be too dangerous for American women to use, the offending
pharmaceutical firms simply shift production overseas and flood foreign
countries with the condemned devices or pills. This has happened with
the old high-dose birth control pills and with several IUDs, in addition
to the injectable abortifacient Depo-Provera.
More details on United States 'contraceptive imperialism' may be
found in Chapter 131 of Volume III, "Overpopulation."
One Million (?)
Lawbreakers a Year.
Before Roe.
Virtually all long-time abortionists and female pro- abortion
activists either performed abortions or obtained them when they were
illegal and boast about such activities!
They often quote a figure of one million illegal abortions annually
before 1970, and applaud the 'courage' of these women as they
dismembered, burned, and decapitated their own children. It is truly the
depth of hypocrisy for the abortophiles to applaud their own
lawbreaking while condemning that of pro-lifers. This is yet another
example of the pro- abortion double standard.
Before 1970, illegal abortion clinics flourished in most of the
larger cities in the United States and were totally ignored by police.
Illegal abortionist Ruth Barnett performed more than 40,000 abortions in
Portland, Oregon over a 45-year period and was never bothered once by
police until an ambitious newspaper reporter made a big fuss over her
activities and had her shut down.
In her book They Weep on My Doorstep, Barnett tells it like it
was; "The duly elected officers of the law, members of the medical
profession and state medical board knew we were in business. Trying to
conceal the clinic, or its purpose, would have been as impossible as
hiding an elephant in the parlor. The archaic [abortion] statute had
never been considered."[21]
The police winked at abortion mills before abortion was legalized.
They now viciously assault pro-life rescuers and commonly arrest
sidewalk counselors engaged in purely legal activities. It makes one
speculate as to what the police will do when abortion is criminalized
again.
Violence and Pro-Abortionists.
While members of Operation Rescue have accumulated more than 50,000
arrests in five years, pro-abortionists have also engaged in significant
violent civil disobedience themselves, with more than 500 arrested for
assault, resisting arrest, and unlawful trespass. In a debate, a
pro-lifer can put his opponent in an impossible situation by demanding
that he condemn his lawbreaking pro-abortion allies. If he does not do
so (and he won't), his hypocrisy will be plainly evident.
For more information on pro-abortion violence, and for a map and list
of recent incidents of this violence, see Chapter 19.
Conclusion.
The Neofeminist 'movement' in general has a pervasive contempt for
the law if it does not conform exactly to its 'progressive' philosophy.
This thread of thought runs through all anarchist, Marxist, Socialist,
and Communist literature.
Some of the thousands of examples of quotes from such writings that
urge civil disobedience and general disregard for the law are shown in
Figure 18-1.
FIGURE 18-1
QUOTES BY PRO-ABORTIONISTS URGING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
If abortion is made illegal, we will defy the law. We will maintain
and extend abortion access for poor women. We will keep the clinics
open! And if you want a war, you've got one!
"Feminists Tell Off Supreme Court:
'We'll Never Go Back!'" Freedom Socialist ("The Voice
of Revolutionary Feminism"), February-April 1990, pages 10-11.
Women are saying they will take on the task of keeping the
[abortion] clinics open regardless of the legal status of abortion.
Millions of women seem prepared not only to have abortions even if
abortion is criminalized but to say publicly that they would do so.
Marlene Fried. "Pro-Choice Agenda After
Webster." Against the Current #23, page 19.
The attacks on abortion must be answered with social upheaval. Our
stand must be WHATEVER THEY RULE, WHATEVER THEY DO, NOT ONE WOMAN WILL
BE DENIED THE RIGHT TO AN ABORTION ... Networks should be formed to
assist in keeping abortions safe and available, especially as further
restrictions come down [emphasis in original].
"Women Are Not Incubators!: The Assault
on Abortion Rights." Revolutionary Communist Party of the United
States, Revolutionary Worker, November 6, 1989. Also distributed
as a special reprint booklet, pages 18 and 25.
We refuse to comply with any law, regulation, or restriction of any
kind on any woman's reproductive freedom to decide when or if to bear
a child. We will do whatever is necessary to defy such laws,
regulations, and restrictions, to encourage others to do so, and to
build mass resistance against such restrictions.
"Plan of Action for the Battle for
Reproductive Rights," adopted at the Strategies for Mass Resistance
National Conference at MIT on December 2-3, 1989, and printed on page 15
of the December 18, 1989 Revolutionary Worker.
Millions were defying the ban on abortion [before 1970] and were
increasingly willing to defy the law ... Abortion providers and
medical professionals should have openly declared their intention to
defy these [parental consent] laws and they need to do this now.
Mary Lou Greenberg. "Why Elections
Won't Ensure the Right to Abortion." Revolutionary Worker,
December 9, 1990, page 11.
The first acts of civil disobedience included compiling and
dispensing lists of abortionists, along with public announcements that
any woman desiring an abortion could receive help from ARAL
[Association to Repeal Abortion Laws]. Classes in self-abortion
techniques were also given, less to encourage self-abortion than as
another means of testing various sections of the law.
Judith Hole and Ellen Levine. Rebirth of
Feminism. Quadrangle Books: New York, 1971. Page 295.
Open defiance, by the way, we've got to ask the doctors and the
nurses to openly defy [the ban against counseling for abortion in
Federal clinics]. Incidentally, they are saying that doctors are
saying "I openly defy this law." They not only need to stand
up and say "I'm going to defy the law," they've got to
follow through and we've got to support them.
Ellie Smeal, President, National
Organization for Women National Conference, New York City, July 5, 1991.
Family Planning Associates [the 180 United States Planned
Parenthood affiliates] and other nongovernmental associations should
not use the absence of law or the existence of an unfavorable law as
an excuse for inaction; action outside the law, or even in violation
of it, is part of the process of stimulating change.
International Planned Parenthood Federation.
The Human Right to Family Planning, 1984. Signed by former
Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Faye Wattleton.
We will disobey laws requiring notification to parents of minors
receiving contraceptive drugs or devices.
Faye Wattleton, former President, Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, 1983.
Planned Parenthood provides suggestions and assistance for
bypassing and disobeying various local and national laws restricting
abortion.
Donald P. Warwick, "Bitter Pills:
Population Policies and Their Implementation in Eight Developing
Countries," Cambridge University Press, London, 1982, page 64.
There are some laws that can and should be broken ... restrictive
abortion laws ... are as obsolete and irrelevant to the contemporary
world as the New York State statute which makes it a crime to have a
deck of cards in an apartment within a one-mile radius of an armory.
Malcolm Potts, M.D., former director of the
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). "Population
Growth and Abortion," in Gerald I. Zatuchni, John J. Sciarra, and
J. Joseph Speidel (editors). Pregnancy Termination: Procedures,
Safety and New Developments. New York: Harper & Row Publishers,
1979, page 424.
[Family Planning] Associations should operate right up to the edge
of what is legal and sometimes even beyond where the law is uncertain
or out of tune with public opinion. While a government gains short
term respect by being respectable, a voluntary body may gain long term
respect by being responsibly disreputable.
International Planned Parenthood Federation.
"The Voluntary Sector in Population and Development." London,
1979. Described in Nancy B. Spannaus, Molly Hammett Kronberg, and Linda
Everett (Editors). How to Stop the Resurgence of Nazi Euthanasia
Today. Transcripts of the International Club of Life Conference,
Munich, West Germany, June 11-12, 1988. Executive Intelligence Review
Special Report, September 1988. EIR, Post Office Box 17390, Washington,
D.C. 20041-0390.
Pro-Abortion Lawlessness
All Over the World.
Introduction.
It is an inflexible rule that pro-abortion groups all over the world
have absolutely no use for the law, unless it is on their side or
can be used as a propaganda tool. In addition to their total contempt
for the law in this country, the abortophiles ignore any and all
unfavorable laws all over the world. Just a few documented examples of
this contempt for legal authority are described in the following
paragraphs.
Spain.
More than 3,000 Neofeminists assembled at a Barcelona abortion-rights
rally in November of 1985. Two women who had become pregnant especially
for this event entered a side room and were aborted. They brought the
unborn babies to the assembled pro-aborts, who shrieked insanely with
venom, spat on them, and reviled and cursed their sad little bodies,
still warm from departed life. Most of the 3,000 women in the assembly
then signed a "confession of responsibility" for the illegal
abortions. Participants were later offered videotapes of the abortions
themselves Visa and Mastercard were accepted.
A Toronto newspaper reported that; "Nearly 3,000 feminists
gathered at a national convention in Barcelona ... a group of their
leaders announced that they had taken two pregnant young women into an
adjoining conference room and that medical technicians had aborted both
pregnancies. Two fetuses were presented in bottles. The hall rocked with
cheers, and almost all the conventioneers signed confessions of
responsibility ..."[22]
Canada.
Abortionist Henry Morgentaler ignored the Canadian laws against
abortion for years, performing thousands of the procedures in public
defiance of the law. He opened illegal clinics in Quebec and Toronto
and, eventually, his illegal clinics were even guarded constantly by the
police at taxpayer expense. A very large portion of the
"credit" for abortion on demand in Canada must go to Dr.
Morgentaler, who proved once again that those with the courage of their
convictions, and who are willing to risk imprisonment, can bring about
great social change. This is precisely the concept behind Operation
Rescue, which Morgentaler loudly and hypocritically condemns.[23]
Australia and New Zealand.
Abortionists set up illegal abortuaries in defiance of existing laws
in Brisbane and Auckland, and, in both countries, the police cooperated
with them. In 1969, four Victoria policemen were convicted of offering
protection for the city's clinics in return for 10 percent of the
abortionists' fees.[23]
Italy.
Several women set up an illegal abortion referral service, the Centro
Informazione Sterilizzazione e Aborto (CISA), which publicly
advertised and introduced suction abortion to the country when it was
still illegal.[23]
West Germany.
Twenty-four actresses boasted in the June 1971 Stern Magazine
of their illegal abortions and dared the police to arrest them. Three
hundred and fifty other women also signed a statement of support,
claiming that they also had obtained illegal abortions.[23]
France.
Three hundred and forty-three women signed a statement published in
the far-left wing magazine Le Nouvel Observateur stating that
they had obtained illegal abortions, and calling for abortion on
demand.[23]
Holland.
Neofeminist women opened an abortuary incredibly named the Bloemenhove
(Flower Farm), which began committing late-term abortions in 1974, in
direct defiance of Dutch law. Police attempted to close the clinic, but
hundreds of 'deathscorts' physically battled them and successfully kept
the clinic open. Apparently the police only put a half- hearted effort
into their attempt, because they gave up after one try.[23]
And yes, the "Flower Farm" is still slaughtering babies.
General Conclusion.
The conclusion that must be drawn from the above is inescapable: Any
pro-abortionist who condemns any pro-lifer for breaking any
law (particularly in the area of civil disobedience) is a contemptible
hypocrite. Pro-aborts are not 'nice people;' they are murderers
and liars through and through. They break the law to kill; pro-lifers
break the law to save lives. Pro-life activists must never
apologize to any pro-abort, relative, friend, or media representative
for rescuing, because social revolution most definitely works both ways.
Finally, the same pro-aborts who have urged lawlessness recognize
that the same tactics will work just as well with the euthanasia issue.
As pro- euthanasia lawyer Raymond Marks reveals, "We now "let
go" of some babies, notwithstanding the rules against euthanasia.
But we do not announce this to the world. Such practice allows the
actors to hide from themselves the fact that they have changed or
departed from the rule while announcing their strict adherence to the
absolute rule of sanctity of life in all cases."[24]
So whenever indignant abortophiles condemn rescuers or pro-lifers in
general for breaking the law, the proper response would be to welcome
them as fellow criminals.
A Final Note.
It is obvious that, even if abortion is outlawed, there will be a
number of unscrupulous 'doctors' who will continue to break the law.
Pro- lifers will probably 'test' questionable practitioners to see
whether or not they are committing abortions.
Those abortionists who break the law or who advocate breaking the law
should be reported to the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists (ACOG) in violation of Appendix 4 of ACOG's Standards
for Obstetric-Gynecology Services. The last paragraph of this
Appendix, entitled "Ethical Considerations in the Practice of
Obstetrics and Gynecology," states that "The Fellow should
recognize certain obligations to the larger society: 1. To obey its
laws, working through appropriate channels to change those which
conflict with proper patient care ..."
References: Anti-Life Illegal Activities.
[1] Malcolm Potts, Peter Diggory and John Peel. Abortion.
Cambridge University Press, 1970.
[2] "Reproductive Rights: Not a Single-Issue Struggle." People's
Daily World, March 29, 1990, page 12.
[3] International Planned Parenthood Federation. "The Voluntary
Sector in Population and Development." London, 1979. Described in
Nancy B. Spannaus, Molly Hammett Kronberg, and Linda Everett (Editors). How
to Stop the Resurgence of Nazi Euthanasia Today. Transcripts of the
International Club of Life Conference, Munich, West Germany, June 11-12,
1988. Executive Intelligence Review Special Report, September
1988. EIR, Post Office Box 17390, Washington, D.C. 20041-0390.
[4] Malcolm Potts, M.D., former director of the International Planned
Parenthood Federation (IPPF). "Population Growth and
Abortion," in Gerald I. Zatuchni, John J. Sciarra, and J. Joseph
Speidel (editors). Pregnancy Termination: Procedures, Safety and New
Developments. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1979, page 424.
[5] "Planned Parenthood Bootlegging Abortion Into the Third
World." International Life Times, July 25, 1980.
[6] Leslie Bond. "Multi-Million Dollar Suits Filed in Indiana
After Teen Abortions." National Right to Life News, July 30,
1987, page 5.
[7] Ellie Smeal of the Fund for a Feminist 'Majority,' at a talk
entitled "RU-486, NORPLANT, and Title X." Recorded live at the
1991 national conference of the National Organization for Women, July
5-7, 1991 in New York City, New York.
[8] NOW President Jill Ireland, quoted in Karen S. Schneider and
Elizabeth Velez. "Too Nice to Be One of 'Those Women?'" People
Magazine, January 13, 1992, pages 93 and 94.
[9] Mary Ann Curtis, Los Angeles Radical Women, quoted in the Freedom
Socialist, June-August 1989, page 8.
[10] Warren M. Hern. Abortion Services Handbook. Chicago:
Interfacia, Inc., 1978, pages 86 and 87.
[11] Rebecca Salstrom. "Menstrual Extraction: Is Self Help
Making a Comeback?" WomenWise [a publication of the New
Hampshire Federation of Feminist Womens Health Centers], Spring 1992,
page 6.
[12] Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. A Woman's Book of Choices:
Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486. Four Walls Eight Windows
Press, Post Office 548, Village Station, New York, New York 10014. 1992,
271 pages. Pages 37 and 166.
[13] The Appendix of Robin Morgan's Neofeminist anthology Sisterhood
is Powerful (New York: Vintage Books, 1970) describes and recommends
the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion. This collection of radical
Neofeminist essays is sometimes used by Neofeminist politicians in place
of the Bible as they swear themselves into office. This gives some idea
of just how much the Neofeminist movement owes to this book, which is an
excellent collection of essays that illustrate vividly the character of
the cold and lonely Neofeminist 'soul.'
[14] Cynthia Gorney. "Abortion, Once Upon a Time in America:
Before Roe v. Wade, an Underground Effort by a Group of Ministers
to Help Pregnant Women." The Washington Post, April 26,
1989. Also "After Abortion Became Legal: In New York, a Rush to the
Clinic." The Washington Post, April 27, 1989.
[15] Cynthia Pearson of the National Women's Health Network and
Frances Kissling of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice, quoted in Brett
Harvey. "The Morning After." Mother Jones, May 1989,
pages 28 to 31 and 43.
[16] J.B. Sullivan, B.H. Rumack, H. Thomas, Jr., R.G. Peterson, and
P. Bryson. "Pennyroyal Oil Poisoning and Hepatotoxicity." Journal
of the American Medical Association, 242:2873, 1979, and J. Gold and
W. Cates, Jr. "Herbal Abortifacients." Journal of the
American Medical Association, 243:1365, 1980. The self-abortion
techniques are described in S. Gage. When Birth Control Fails: How to
Abort Ourselves Safely. Speculum Press, Los Angeles, 1979, and in
the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers publication How to
Stay Out of the Gynecologist's Office. Women-to-Women Publications,
Los Angeles, 1981.
[17] Susan Landau of the Redding Feminist Women's Health Center,
quoted in Lisa M. Krieger. "Clinics Teaching Women to Do Home
Abortions." San Francisco Examiner, July 21, 1989.
[18] Katherine Pyne Addelson. "Moral Revolution." Radical
America, September/October 1988, pages 37 to 43.
[19] Janice Perrone. "Controversial Abortion Approach." American
Medical News, January 12, 1990, pages 9, 18, and 19. Article on
illegal home abortion techniques.
[20] Todd Ackerman. "'Pro-Choicers' Pushing Home Abortion
Kits." National Catholic Register, September 3, 1989, page
1.
[21] Ruth Barnett. They Weep On My Doorstep. Beaverton,
Oregon: Halo Publishers, 1969. Page 55.
[22] "Feminists Challenge Abortion Law." The Toronto
Globe and Mail, November 11, 1985, page A-1. This incident is also
described in Dave Andrusko. ""Decisively Courageous Act"
Leaves Two Babies Dead." National Right to Life News,
December 5, 1985, page 5.
[23] Colin Francome. Abortion Freedom: A Worldwide Movement.
London: George Allen & Unwin. 1984, 241 pages. Although written from
the pro- abortion viewpoint, this book contains much valuable
information regarding the basic philosophy and strategy of the worldwide
pro-abortion movement.
[24] Attorney F. Raymond Marks, euthanasia conference participant,
quoted in Victor G. Rosenblum and Michael L. Budde. "Historical and
Cultural Considerations of Infanticide." National Right to Life
News, April 11, 1985, page 11.
Further Reading: Anti-Life Illegal Activities.
Ruth Barnett. They Weep on My Doorstep.
Halo Publishers, Portland, Oregon. May be ordered from Post Office
Box 1383, Silver Springs, Florida 32688-1383. 223 pages. This is a
fascinating account of a naturopath who committed illegal abortions in
Portland, Oregon, with the full knowledge of the authorities, for more
than 40 years. This book tells the real story of what illegal
abortions were like before Roe v. Wade: Barnett describes how
immaculate her clinic was, how few complications she had (no deaths in
40,000 abortions), how phony the "back-alley" abortion stories
are, and how she accumulated millions of dollars and lives a lavish
lifestyle. This book is a "must-read" for any pro-life
activist who wants the real scoop on the days of illegal abortions, and
not some weepy propaganda piece by fictionalized "brutalized"
women.
Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. A Woman's Book of Choices:
Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486.
New York: Four Walls Eight Windows Press. 1992. It is an ominous
sign of the times that illegal abortion manuals were printed by the
Neofeminists 25 years ago in secrecy and passed hand to hand, and now
they are sold in mainline bookstores and sit innocently on library
shelves. This book was written by the Neofeminists in anticipation of
tougher days, and is a totally unselfconscious description and
endorsement of all of the 'self-help' methods of abortion.
Suzanne Gage. When Birth Control Fails: How to Abort Ourselves
Safely.
Speculum Press/Self-Health Circle, Inc., Post Office Box 1063,
Hollywood, California 90028. 1979, 54 pages. A very interesting short
book on the equipment that has been used in the past by women's illegal
abortion circles, and which will be used in the future when women set up
"Jane" networks once again. This book (and others like it)
will then be of interest to pro-life activists who are working to derail
the abortion movement's "underground railroads." This book
shows how to self-examine, how to construct the Del-Em home suction
abortion machine, and also gives information on herbal abortions.
Lawrence Lader. Abortion II, Making the Revolution.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1973. The definitive work on early (1960-1970)
pro-abortion strategy by the king of the abortion propagandists. Lader
was a close friend of the 'leading lights' of the early pro-abortion
movement, including Betty Friedan, Margaret Sanger, and Dr. Bernard
Nathanson. Pages 36 to 40 describe the early history of the Equal Rights
Amendment.
Ellen Messer and Kathryn E. May. Back Rooms: Voices From the
Illegal Abortion Era.
St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010.
1988, 230 pages. This interesting book tells the stories of about 25
women who had abortions before it was legal in this country. Several
obvious features give it away as a pro-abortion propaganda piece; all of
the women are anonymous; pro-lifers and anyone who stood in the way of
"progressive" abortion law repeal or reform are painted as
demons; the abortionists are depicted as heroes; and there are special
chapters canonizing Lawrence Lader, Bill Baird, and the
"reverend" Robert Hare. Spend a rainy day counting the
literally hundreds of inconsistencies and physical impossibilities.
Anne Packer. A Matter of Conscience.
177 pages. Order from Our Lady's Book Service, Nazareth Homestead,
R.D. 1, Box 258, Constable, New York 12926, telephone: 1-800-263-8160.
The story of David Packer, a Toronto police officer who refused orders
to guard Henry Morgentaler's illegal abortion clinic, and was fired for
his courageous stand for life and the law.
© American Life League BBS - 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia,
published by American Life League.
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