AUL re-files brief in Eighth Circuit demonstrating the risk of suicide following abortion
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011Last week, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals asked AUL to re-file an amicus brief detailing the risk of suicide following abortion. The request came as part of the Circuit’s extremely rare move to rehear arguments on South Dakota’s law requiring that women be informed of the risk of suicide that can follow abortion (“suicide advisory”).
AUL originally filed the brief two years ago on behalf of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), and other medical organizations, detailing to the appellate court the testimony and medical evidence heard in the lower court that demonstrated an increased risk of suicide following abortion.
While two judges on the original Eighth Circuit panel voted to strike South Dakota’s suicide advisory, the third—Judge Gruender—wrote a strong and well-reasoned dissent that included much of the information and arguments cited in AUL’s brief.
For example, AUL argued that Planned Parenthood (the plaintiff challenging the provision) had an excessively high burden to meet in order to prevail on its claim that the suicide advisory is unconstitutional. In examining the evidence presented to the lower court, AUL argued,
In Gonzales v. Carhart, the U.S. Supreme Court explicitly held that state and federal legislatures are given “wide discretion to pass legislation in areas where there is medical and scientific uncertainty”…. In sum, the Plaintiffs have a very high burden. They must demonstrate that there is no medical or scientific uncertainty regarding the increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide following induced abortion. In other words, they must claim and prove that there is zero evidence demonstrating a link between abortion and suicide. This they cannot do.
Similarly, Judge Gruender stated in his dissent, … the Supreme Court “has given state and federal legislatures wide discretion to pass legislation in areas where there is medical and scientific uncertainty,”… In other words, in order to render the suicide advisory unconstitutionally misleading, Planned Parenthood would have to show that abortion has been ruled out, to a degree of scientifically accepted certainty, as a statistically significant causal factor in post-abortion suicides. An examination of Planned Parenthood’s evidence reveals that it cannot meet this burden.
Not only was Judge Gruender’s dissent one of the best judicial opinions to discuss the risks inherent in abortion, but it appears to have sparked the Eighth Circuit’s very rare decision to reconsider the portion of the previous decision striking the suicide advisory. If the Eighth Circuit upholds the advisory, that would allow for every state in the Eighth Circuit—Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and North Dakota—to enact similar requirements. And it could spark a test case before the U.S. Supreme Court that would enable the Court to look at medical data that specifically verifies what it only assumed to be true in 2007 when it decided Gonzales: that women suffer psychological harm after abortion.
Further, if the Eighth Circuit adopts AUL’s and Judge Gruender’s legal argument—that Planned Parenthood must demonstrate there is NO evidence of a risk following abortion—it could have lasting implications for other areas of abortion legislation and litigation. Instead of making blanket assertions that state laws seeking to protect women from the harms of abortion are unconstitutional, plaintiffs like Planned Parenthood will have to show that such laws have absolutely no medical basis—a standard that will be nearly impossible for abortion advocates to meet.
AUL’s brief, filed this week, will now be considered by the entire Eighth Circuit panel as it reconsiders the constitutionality of South Dakota’s suicide advisory. Oral argument in the case will be heard on January 9.
Abortion doctor charged with killing woman, 7 infants By Marie McCullough Jewish World Review | (MCT) PHILADELPHIA -- West Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell routinely delivered live babies in the third trimester of pregnancy, then murdered them by "sticking scissors into the back of the baby's neck and cutting the spinal cord," according to the Philadelphia district attorney. One newborn who weighed almost 6 pounds was so big "the doctor joked ... this baby 'could walk me to the bus stop.'" Those are among the jaw-dropping details — complete with photographs — in a 260-page grand jury report released Wednesday that charges Gosnell, 69, with the murder of a patient and seven infants. The report caps a yearlong investigation of Gosnell and his clinic, which was shut down after a raid last February. But the report is sure to be just the beginning of finger-pointing and soul-searching as city and state health officials, legislators, and those on both sides of the bitter abortion debate seek to understand how the clinic operated for 32 years, apparently with little oversight. "The inaction of public agencies is exposed," District Attorney Seth Williams said Wednesday at a news conference. In addition to Gosnell, his wife, Pearl, and eight employees — none of whom had medical credentials, authorities say — were arrested Wednesday morning. Four of the workers are also facing murder charges. Williams said the prosecution was not about the morality of abortion. "I am aware that abortion is a hot-button topic," he said. "But as district attorney, my job is to carry out the law. A doctor who knowingly and systematically mistreats female patients, to the point that one of them dies in his so-called care, commits murder under the law." Philadelphia lawyer William Brennan, who represented Gosnell before Wednesday's arrest, said he had not read the report and had not been formally retained as Gosnell's attorney. "I would say simply that it's important to remember that Dr. Gosnell is presumed to be innocent," Brennan said. The investigation began last February, after federal and state drug agents and Philadelphia police raided the clinic on suspicion that Gosnell was illegally dispensing narcotic painkillers. (A federal drug-trafficking investigation is continuing.) What they found, according to the report, was "filthy, deplorable, and disgusting": blood on the floor; the stench of urine; cat feces on the stairs; semiconscious women moaning in the waiting or recovery rooms, covered with bloodstained blankets; broken equipment; blocked or locked exits. The investigators also learned that in November 2009 an abortion patient had died. That prompted state authorities to yank Gosnell's medical license and shut down the clinic. Gosnell is now charged with third-degree murder in the death of that woman, Karnamaya Mongar, 41, who had traveled fromWoodbridge, Va., for an abortion. A native of the Asian nation ofBhutan who had arrived in the United States only five months earlier, Mongar was 19 weeks' pregnant. She developed a fatal heart arrhythmia after being overdosed with anesthetics by an unlicensed caregiver, the report says. The grand jury also alleges that Gosnell and his staff delayed calling 911, attempted to deceive paramedics when they arrived, and then couldn't find the key for the emergency exit lock so the patient could be carried out to the ambulance. Responders finally had to cut the lock open. That February raid was the beginning, Williams said, of ever more shocking discoveries that revealed Gosnell had been floutingPennsylvania's abortion law — and medical licensing laws — for many years. Gosnell, a family physician, received Pennsylvania Department of Health approval to do abortions at his clinic in 1979, after an on-site inspection. Although Gosnell was never trained as an obstetrician-gynecologist, he began doing abortions at another clinic in the 1970s. In 1972, he made national headlines — and prompted a federal investigation — for using an experimental abortion-inducing device similar to an IUD on 15 low-income women, nine of whom developed serious complications. Gosnell was never charged in those cases. From the start, he was well-known for being willing to do abortions beyond 12 weeks — the limit set by many clinics — and for treating poor and minority women. Pennsylvania, which has one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws, requires that a woman be counseled about alternatives and wait 24 hours before the procedure. The state also requires that fetal tissue from abortions after 20 weeks be sent to a pathologist for review. Abortions after 24 weeks — when the fetus can usually survive outside the womb — are outlawed unless the doctor determines, and reports to authorities, that the abortion "is necessary to preserve maternal life or health." If the chosen abortion method might enable a live birth, the law says, a second physician must be "in the same room" and provide medical care to the newborn. Gosnell not only ignored these requirements, he also falsified ultrasound and state reports to cover his post-24-week abortions, the report found. "Gosnell's approach, whenever possible, was to force full labor and delivery of premature infants on ill-informed women," the report says. "When you perform late-term 'abortions' by inducing labor, you get babies. Live, breathing, squirming babies. ... Gosnell had a simple solution: he killed them ... by sticking scissors into the back of the baby's neck and cutting the spinal cord." Williams said the grand jury heard testimony that Gosnell performed the procedure, which he called "snipping," hundreds of times, but most cannot be prosecuted because the evidence is gone. Still, investigators found fetal bodies and body parts in garbage bags, plastic boxes, and bottles at the clinic, the report said. One of the seven alleged cases of infanticide that have been documented is "Baby Boy A" — the newborn about whom Gosnell allegedly made the bus-stop joke.
"His 17-year-old mother was almost 30 weeks pregnant — seven and a half months — when labor was induced," the report says.
Gun-Wielding Abortionist Arrested For Threatening Pro-lifers Charleston, SC - Police arrested abortionist Gary Boyle, 62, for pointing a gun at pro-life demonstrators outside the Charleston Women's Medical Center on Saturday, October 2, 2010. He was taken to jail and later released on a $25,000 bond. Boyle was approached by peaceful pro-lifers who were praying and offering help to those entering the abortion clinic when Boyle pulled up and flashed his gun, which police said was loaded with 15 rounds. Boyle is a Tennessee abortionist who flies into Charleston, South Carolina, to do abortions there. His own clinic in Bristol, Tennessee, had operated without the necessary certification for years in the 1990's. The Health Department had tried to shut down his abortion business, but judge inexplicably ruled in 2002 that the certifications somehow violated a woman's right to privacy. This incident follows just a month after a man threatened pro-lifers with a gun outside an abortion mill in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That man was also arrested and charged. "Boyle is another dangerous and arrogant abortionist that has a history of acting as if laws do not apply to him," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We stand behind our fellow pro-life activists by calling for Boyle to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in order to send a clear message that this kind of pro-abortion violence against peaceful protesters will not be tolerated." Octoner 2010
Family Sues Abortionist Brigham For Daughter's Suicide Death Voorhees, NJ - It has been learned that the notorious abortionist Steven Chase Brigham faces a lawsuit from an aggrieved family, whose youngest daughter committed suicide after having an abortion by Brigham. George Zallie Sr. claims that neither Brigham nor his staff warned his daughter, Stacy, of facts about abortion that could have helped her make a better decision, including information that her fetus was "a complete, separate living human being" and "a second family member." Zallie says that his daughter tried to commit suicide four times after her abortion by Brigham in July, 2001, before finally killing herself in October, 2002. "We lost our youngest child and our first grandchild," Zallie told reporters. Zallie is being represented in his suit by New Jersey pro-life attorney Harold Cassidy. This suit only adds to Brigham's legal woes. His New Jersey medical license was suspended in September, 2010, after it was discovered that he was illegally starting late-term abortions in New Jersey, then transporting the women to a secret Eklton, Maryland clinic for the completion of the abortions. Brigham is not licensed in Maryland. A late-term patient suffered serious complications from a perforated uterus and injured bowel last in August, which helped uncover the illegal abortion operation. Two other associates of Brigham's, Nicola Riley and George Shepard, Jr. have also had their Maryland medical licenses suspended. Operation Rescue has filed a complaint with the Elkton State Attorney asking for criminal charges, and is also calling for criminal charges in New Jersey where open investigations continue. October 2010
Disciplinary Case Against Tiller Associate Neuhaus Is Progressing Topeka, KS - Operation Rescue has received a letter from the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts (KSBHA) with an update on the disciplinary case of Ann Kristin Neuhaus, who is accused of making illegal abortion referrals to the now deceased late-term abortionist George Tiller. The letter informed OR Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger that Neuhaus has retained counsel and that the "parties are engaged in the discovery process." "It looks like Neuhaus is going to fight the charges against her, but the law is very clear. We stand behind our complaint and the KSBHA charges that she acted illegally and improperly in her dealings with Tiller's late-term abortion patients, which undoubtedly led to the death of viable children that the laws were enacted to protect," said Sullenger. A pretrial conference has been set for December 20, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. A formal disciplinary hearing has been scheduled for Neuhaus to be held on January 11, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. October 2010
Two More Abortionists Suspended In Illegal Abortion Scandal Spanning Four States PRO-LIFE Operation Rescue demands that Maryland prosecutors file criminal chargesPhiladelphia, PA - A news story that appeared in today Philadelphia Inquirer reveals new and shocking details of an illegal abortion ring operated by troubled abortionist Stephen Chase Brigham that spans four states and now includes at least two other abortionists. The Maryland medical licenses of George Shepard, Jr., of Delaware and Nicola I. Riley of Utah, were suspended) on Tuesday, August 31, 2010, for helping Brigham skirt the law. It was Riley who was involved in the botched abortion in Elkton, Maryland, that led to the discovery of Brigham's scheme to circumvent late-term abortion laws by beginning the abortion in one state, then transporting the women to Maryland for completion of the abortion. Authorities who raided Brigham's Elkton, MD abortion mill discovered the remains of 35 late-term aborted babies. Brigham is not licensed to practice medicine in Maryland and never has been. The state issued a cease and desist order to Brigham on August 25. On September 1, Operation Rescue sent letters asking that the Maryland Attorney General's office as well as state and county prosecutors file criminal charges against Brigham and that he be held to full accountability under the law. "There is a largely unspoken crisis in this country brought on by abortionists who insist that they are above the law," said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger. "We can no longer turn a blind eye to these abortion abuses and pretend that things like this can't happen in a nation where abortion is legally permissible. Brigham is just one example in an industry where this kind of behavior is the norm and not the exception. We have yet to find an abortionist who does not violate the law. "Shame on the women's organizations that know this kind of abuse is occurring, yet continue to cover up for abortionists. If groups like NARAL and the NAF really cared about women, they would work night and day to close these abortion chop shops and offer real solutions to pregnant women that does not include submitting them to abortionist quacks." September 6 2010
Doctor's four-state abortion business under investigation By Marie McCullough, Inquirer Staff Writer Three weeks ago, physician Steven Brigham led a car caravan of patients from his Voorhees abortion clinic to his facility in Elkton, Md. After one of the patients was critically injured during her surgery there, Brigham put the semiconscious, bleeding woman into the back of a rented Chevrolet Malibu and drove her to a nearby hospital emergency room rather than call an ambulance. Those details are contained in documents issued over the last 10 days by the Maryland Board of Physicians and Elkton police. The two agencies have launched a wide-ranging investigation into Brigham's long-troubled abortion business, which he conducts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. On Aug. 25, the Maryland Board of Physicians ordered Brigham, 54, to stop performing abortions in that state, where he has never been licensed to practice medicine. By then police had raided Brigham's Elkton facility - from which they said they removed 35 "late-term fetuses and fetal parts" - as well as the Voorhees headquarters of his chain of 15 clinics, which does business as American Women's Services.
Trial Begins Next Month for Practitioner Who Killed Woman in Failed Abortion Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Hyannis, MA - The trial begins next month in the case of abortion practitioner Rapin Osathanondh, who has been charged with manslaughter after killing one of his patients in a botched legal abortion. Osathanondh did the abortion on 22-year-old Laura Smith, who died in September 2007 at his Women's Health Center abortion business.Now, almost three years to the date after Smith's abortion death, Osathanondh will finally go on trial for manslaughter." This is a landmark case in Massachusetts - the first trial of an abortionist in the death of a mother," Anne Fox, the president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, told LifeNews.com today. "People need to know about this." The trial will start on September 7 with jury selection and it will continue for two to three weeks at the Barnstable County Court House." We can expect that the media will downplay this important trial as much as possible," Fox said, urging pro-life advocates to "make very effort to write letters to the editor, call radio shows, and do whatever else you can to generate public awareness." "Not only is it almost exactly three years since Laura died, but the trial will be going on at the time of the primary elections here in Massachusetts. Let us hope it will remind people of the scourge of abortion when they vote," she added. Osathanondh was indicted in July 2008 by a grand jury after an investigation by local police, state police and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. Laura, who was adopted at the age of four from Honduras by her parents, was 13 weeks into the pregnancy when she had the abortion. Osathanondh reportedly sedated her and did not have another other staff members on site who had appropriate medical training to monitor Smith's vital signs during the abortion. Smith died shortly after the abortion, on September 13, 2007. Officials say Laura died from "cardiac pulmonary arrest during anesthesia during a voluntary termination of pregnancy" -- known as an abortion.The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine revoked Osathanondh's license after investigating the abortion death and Osathanondh gave up his medical license permanently following the decision.Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe released information about the charges in 2008 and called Smith's death a “terrible tragedy.” “I've been in constant communication with Laura’s mother and other family members and I know how this has affected them and it’s a terrible thing," he said. He said that Osathanondh's medical negligence and deficient actions led to her death. "The evidence made out a case of willful, wanton and reckless conduct with respect to how this medical procedure was carried out,” O’Keefe said at the time. Laura's mother, Eileen Smith, has pursued legal action against Osathanondh in a civil lawsuit. "Our family wants justice," Eileen Smith wrote in an affidavit accompanying the lawsuit. "They want to see the man who took her life pay for what he has done to Laura and our family." "Today I am picking out her tombstone when I should be picking out my mother of the bride dress," Eileen Smith added. "Rapin Osathanondh has caused great harm and there is no end in sight." Operation Rescue previously said Eileen had been dealing with some local officials who won't acknowledge that the abortion caused her daughter's death. Smith said a Sheriff's Deputy in another county provided Osathanondh and his abortion center staff with CPR training, then backdated the session to a date prior to Laura's death. The official apparently did so with the full knowledge that someone had recently died at the abortion center.Osathanondh and his staff had been uncertified in CPR until that time, Smith said."I'm appalled that an officer of the law would be involved in that," Eileen Smith said. "Thank God this has been exposed." The pro-life group indicated Smith has filed a complaint in Bristol County against the deputy Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) 8/16/10Nancy Pelosi further ditched her Catholic credentials again as she was unable to answer a reporter's question about whether Jesus Christ should have had his right to life protected from conception.Earlier this year, Pelosi said she has an obligation to pursue public policy “in keeping with the values” of Jesus. Yet, asked by a CNS News reporter late last week whether Jesus has the right to life, Pelosi couldn't agree. At her July 29 press briefing, CNS News asked: “You said at a recent Catholic Community Conference that your favorite word was ‘The Word, as in the word made flesh,’ and that we need to quote, ‘give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the Word.’" The reporter continued: "So, when was the Word made flesh? Was it at the Annunciation, when Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Sprit, as the Creed says, or was it at the Nativity when he was born of the Virgin Mary? And when did the Word get the right to life?” “Whenever it was, we bow our heads when we talk about it in church, and that’s where I'd like to talk about that," Pelosi said in response. The conservative news web site then sent an email to Pelosi's press secretary Nadeam Elshami seeking clarification. Elshami responded in an email with the words, “The speaker answered the question. Thanks. 8/5/10
Will AG's Conflict of Interest Prevent Charges Against Planned Parenthood? Des Moines, IAConnections between the office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and a Planned Parenthood abortionist raise questions about whether a complaint filed against the abortion giant will get fair consideration.Operation Rescue's Cheryl Sullenger was contacted last week by Jane Ambrozic, a representative of the Iowa Attorney General's office, who indicated that the AG's office was unable to locate the complaint concerning the remote controlled distribution of dangerous abortion pills, known as telemed abortions. Sullenger provided Ambrozic a copy of the delivery confirmation letter that showed the complaint was received at the State House on June 24, 2010, along with the signature of the staffer who received the complaint. She also sent Ambrozic a digital copy of the complaint. Ambrozic acknowledged receipt of the files and that she was able to open them."There really is no excuse for the Attorney General's dismissive attitude toward this complaint, now that we know that it has been received by his representative," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "While we hope that the Attorney General's office will properly look into this complaint, connections between Tom Miller's administration and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland that have recently surfaced are troubling. It certainly would not be the first time we have had to deal with corruption in a State Attorney General's office."According to Attorney General Miller's official web site, Dr. Linda Railsback, an 13 year employee of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland (formerly Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa), sits on his Crime Victim Assistance Board. In addition, the 2005 Iowa Attorney General's Annual Report lists on page 37 a $7,000 disbursement of funds to Planned Parenthood. That money was funneled through the Iowa Attorney General's office from the Federal Stop Violence Against Women program (VAWA)."We find it ironic that a Planned Parenthood abortionist would be involved in a 'violence against women' board considering the violent means by which pre-born babies are aborted and the negative impact that abortion has on women, including increasing their risks for suicide and substance abuse. And that's not to mention the frequent incidents of coerced and forced abortions that sidewalk counselors across the nation witness every day, which makes Planned Parenthood America's chief exploiter of women. Railsback's involvement with the A.G,'s office really shows a lack of good judgment on the part of Attorney General Miller," said Newman."The connections between Miller's office and Planned Parenthood represent a conflict of interest. Not only is Miller affiliated with a long-time Planned Parenthood abortionist, but he also has distributed thousands of tax dollars directly to Planned Parenthood's coffers. Can Miller set aside his pro-abortion ideology and his professional and personal relationships with Planned Parenthood long enough to enforce Iowa laws without prejudice or bias? That remains to be seen." July 5 2010
Pro-Life Pastor Arrested at Washington, DC Planned Parenthood Abortion Center Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) For years, pro-life advocates have been able to pray and counsel women heading to the Planned Parenthood abortion center in the nation's capital. That changed when the abortion business built a fence around the center and posted signs saying those who went beyond the fence were trespassing. Patrick Mahoney, a pastor who heads the Christian Defense Coalition, challenged those signs on Tuesday. He said Planned Parenthood wrongly obtained a permit allowing it to prevent pro-life people from going to areas that he believes are public property protected by First Amendment free speech rights. "The city of Washington, D.C., is threatening to arrest citizens for praying on a public sidewalk," Mahoney said as he walked past the fence and began kneeling and praying on what had formerly been a public sidewalk leading to the front door of the abortion facility. “Men and women who have prayed here for years have been threatened with arrest," Mahoney told the crowd as he kneeled. "We're going to pray here today! And if it means going to jail, then we're going to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against D.C. in order to keep praying!” Full story at LifeNews.com
New pre-abortion requirements passed in Nebraska NATE JENKINS Associated Press Writer LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Nebraska could become the first state to require doctors to screen women for possible mental and physical problems before performing abortions under a bill that received final approval from the nonpartisan Legislature on Monday. Republican Gov. Dave Heineman's office said Monday he will sign the bill Tuesday, along with another groundbreaking abortion measure lawmakers are expected to pass then. That bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks based on the assertion that fetuses feel pain.Both bills are likely to be challenged in court. Abortion rights activists describe the measure passed Monday as a drastic shift in abortion policy that would block abortions by scaring doctors who might perform them. They say the second bill is aimed at blocking late-term abortions in one of the few states where there's a doctor willing to perform them. Abortion foes defend both bills. They say the one passed Monday could help prevent post-abortion medical problems and brings pre-abortion screenings in line with what is done before other types of medical procedures. The bill requires a doctor or other health professional to screen women to determine whether they were pressured into having abortions. Doctors also must assess whether women have risk factors that could lead to mental or physical problems after an abortion. The bill is unusual, however, in spelling out what doctors must look for. They include any risk factors cited in peer-reviewed journals indexed by two major medical and scientific listing services during the year before a planned abortion. The risks could be "physical, psychological, emotional, demographic, or situational," according to the bill. "It's very difficult to know for certain if you're complying with this bill," said Kyle Carlson, an attorney for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. "There's an undetermined amount of documentation you have to go through to know all the...risk factors." Also, the information could change daily as articles in peer-reviewed journals are released. The lawmaker who introduced the bill, Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing, has said the reviews are manageable because there have only been a couple hundred published studies on the topic over the last decade or so. Abortion opponents also say the requirement is important because otherwise doctors would follow accepted medical standards - which are likely to be set by fellow abortion providers. "We're dealing with destruction of early, unborn life, so we ought to take extra care," said Greg Schleppenbach of the National Catholic Conference. Doctors would have to tell patients whether they had any of the risk factors cited in the journals, but they could perform abortions even if risk factors existed. If a screening was not done, a woman could file a civil suit. Doctors would not face criminal charges, nor would they lose their medical licenses.Abortion opponents acknowledge that it could reduce the number of abortions in the state, which numbered 2,551 last year. Planned Parenthood of Heartland will "figure out a way to make this work" and continue providing abortions, spokeswoman Julie Stauch said. But doctors at some hospitals might stop, she said. Women already undergo an extensive screening for medical problems that might be complicated by an abortion and the procedure isn't performed if the risks are too great, Planned Parenthood officials said. With the new requirements, women could be overwhelmed by a flood of possibly irrelevant information, Stauch said. She likened it to being handed an enormous list of options by a doctor after being told you might have cancer. "Does it make your decision easier or harder? And does it make it harder for valid reasons?" she said. In In his recent encyclical, Pope Benedict wrote: “If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology.” By The Arkansas Democrat-GazetteFriday, April 9, 2010 Fears are unfoundedRick Burry’s pro-abortion letters are disturbing. He trivializes life and promotes mockery and ridicule to silence opposing viewpoints.Months ago, his “logic” of abortion was published. His reasoning was that abortions save space for trees and the more deserving people who are already here and prevent the “wanton slaughter” of animals that die to feed all the “unwanted children.”Most recently he stated, “The living should never have their rights usurped by the non-living.” Nonliving means dead, and dead things are incapable of moving, much less usurping, so his fears are unfounded. Unfortunately, his rationale is crystal clear. By declaring unborn children already dead, they cannot be killed, thus eliminating guilt or remorse. I get a creepy feeling that he’s used his brand of logic on a frightened woman or two. Countless women experience severe depression and remorse postabortion and regret having made this “choice.”Apparently Burry is unaware of organizations like Compassion International, Samaritan’s Purse, The Call and Hope 4 Haiti that feed, clothe and shelter millions of children every day. His hatred for the unborn is matched only by his hatred for God. Sir, children are not born as the result of “narrowminded, religiously motivated rules” imposed on women. They are born as the result of uninterrupted pregnancies. Virginia Cowling Little Rock
HOUSE BILL 2681 By Hill AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 9,Chapter 4; Title 37, Chapter 10, Part 3; Title 39,Chapter 15, Part 2; Title 56; Title 68 and Title 71, relative to health insurance coverage available in this state under federal health care reform plans. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 56, is amended by adding the followinglanguage as a new, appropriately designated section: No health care plan required to be established in this state through an exchangepursuant to federal health care reform legislation enacted by the 111th Congress shalloffer coverage for abortion services. For purposes of this section, "abortion" has the same meaning as defined in § 39-15-201.SECTION 2. A Strategy for the Next Supreme Court Abortion Battle? Activists on both sides of the abortion debate are carefully eyeing a Nebraskabill that's wending its way through the legislature this week. They wonder if a proposed ban might end up as the subject of the next Supreme Court abortion battle. The road to every major Supreme Court decision on a divisive social issue is littered with hundreds of hours of strategy sessions by lawyers, politicians and activists probing pending legislation to see if it has the potential to become a court challenge. The Nebraska bill -- which seeks to make abortions illegal after the 20th week of pregnancy -- is no different. The bright-line rule is necessary because of some medical evidence that a fetus can feel pain at that stage of gestation, sponsors of the legislation say. The legislation has drawn national attention from groups such as the Center for Reproductive Rights, which sees it as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion. If the legislation passes, Nebraska will be the first state to ban abortions based on the controversial notion that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. State law now has a post-viability ban on abortion but defines viability on a case-by-case basis." This bill is about recognizing that the state has an interest in an unborn child who is capable of feeling pain," Mary Spaulding Balch of the National Right to Life Committeesaid. While some medical experts testified at the Nebraska hearings that a fetus is able to feel pain at 20 weeks, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologistsreleased a statement saying it knows of "no legitimate scientific information that supports the statement that a fetus experiences pain." Since the Roe decision, states have attempted to pass a variety of laws meant to limit abortion focusing on medical procedures and parental and spousal notification. The Nebraska bill is more worrisome because of its direct attack on Roe, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. The bill contains a health exception for the mother if "in reasonable medical judgment, she has a condition which so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or to avert serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function." "This particular Nebraska bill is not subtle at all," Nancy Northup, the group's president, said. "It would require turning over two pillars of Roe in that states cannot establish a line of viability and the bill too narrowly defines an exception for women's health."Abortion Rights Advocates Alarmed State Sen. Danielle Conrad, a Democrat, has been fighting the bill. "The issue of fetal pain is a misnomer" she said. "The medical evidence is inconclusive. The real problem with this legislation is it eviscerates what the courts have told us from Roe v. Wade forward: that the standard cannot be a bright line. Instead, it must be an individual assessment of viability." Anti-abortion supporters have been emboldened in their challenges to aspects of Roe since the Supreme Court upheld in 2007 a ban on an abortion procedure known by its critics as "partial-birth abortion," or a form of late-term abortion. The case -- Gonzales v. Carhart -- alarmed the abortion rights community because the court had struck down a similar ban seven years before. The difference was the composition of the court. Chief Justice William Rehnquistwas replaced by Chief Justice John Robertsand Justice Sandra Day O'Connorwas replaced by Justice Samuel Alito. Alito's vote gave the majority the five votes needed to uphold the ban. Kathryn Kolbert of Barnard University, who is a veteran of the abortion wars, argued and won in 1992 the case Pennsylvaniav. Casey, which upheld the core holding of Roe. She, too, is watching the progress of the Nebraskabill. "I spent my career following these types of bills, thinking about legislative strategy that would impact … making all kinds of strategic decisions," she said. "I was probably in 44 states in the years leading up to Casey." Kolbert looks at the Supreme Court today and is worried about the strong conservative block. She is particularly worried that Justice Anthony Kennedy, who voted to uphold Roe, might be slipping to the conservative side of the issue." Kennedy was with us on Casey, but O'Connor's presence on the court was central to Kennedy, Kolbert said. "He has shifted since O'Connor left the bench." She pointed to language Kennedy wrote in the Gonzales decision that she believes suggests that women are somehow incapable of understanding the magnitude of the decision: "Whether to have an abortion requires a difficult and painful moral decision," Kennedy wrote, "which some women come to regret." Some Conservatives Are OptimisticKolbert said, " I don't think O'Connor would have let him get away with that. It feeds into a stereotype that women are too emotional, they don't know what they are doing." But some conservatives believe that science is evolving, suggesting that the court may revisit precedent. "Since 1973, there has been a lot of development in what we know about the developing, unknown child," Balch of the National Right to Life Committeesaid. "This new information should make it to the Supreme Court."
Easter Monday (5 Apr 2010)fvbcdm The great feast of Our Lord’s resurrection has come and gone, and we are now able to bask in the happy afterglow that is called "the Easter Octave" and then "the Easter season." Today I would like to ask you to think and pray with me about the meeting between Our Lord Jesus and his Blessed Mother when he rose from the dead. The four gospel accounts of the resurrection, each giving its own details but all affirming the return of Jesus to life after his death on the cross, speak of the various persons who saw Our Lord on that first day of the Jewish week, which we call Sunday. Our risen lord appeared to several women who came to complete what they considered the proper preparation of the body of their Lord for death; then he appeared to Saints Peter and John, two of the disciples that afternoon on the road to Emmaus, and then that night, to the apostles assembled in the upper room in Jerusalem. But you notice: nothing is said about our Lord’s appearance to his Mother to share with her the tremendous joy of his resurrection. Why? Because that was a private moment, one which was not witnessed by anyone else, and which is therefore not recounted in any of the gospels. But from the earliest days of Christian mysticism, our saints have been quite sure that the first one to know that Jesus had risen was the same one who was first in her knowledge of the moment of his becoming a human being, the only one to feel the stirring of that divine child in her womb, the only one to feed that literally adorable infant nursing at her breast, the only one whom he called "mother" when he was a child and whom he obeyed as any virtuous child obeys his or her mother. What was the moment like when the risen Jesus appeared to Our Lady early on that first Easter Sunday? I would not even venture to imagine. It is too private, too personal, too joyous for us even to guess at. Were there words? Or was it simply a time of unspoken happiness now that all the horror of Calvary was over and the happiness of new life was without measure. I leave it to your meditations, your prayers, to unite yourself with the risen Christ and his mother, Our Lady of Joy. Thank you for seeking God’s truth. God bless you. Father Victor Brown, O.P
Feast of Saint Seraphina (12 Mar 2010)I am composing this message on Friday morning, March 12. Last night, I was the guest of pro-life friends to the Right-to-Life banquet here in Houston at which we heard two excellent speakers, one a priest who is president of Human Life International, and the other a lady who for two years was head of the abortion mill called Planned Parenthood just three blocks away from our Holy Rosary church and priory here in mid-city Houston. She had a conversion experience while watching a sonogram showing a baby in the womb trying to dodge the abortion machine that would kill him. Now she is a very active pro-life worker and is experiencing the joy of persuading many women not to kill their unborn children, but to respect their right to the life that God has given them, regardless of the conditions of their conception. Every time we say the Hail Mary, we say, “Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.” Those words apply to Jesus in the prayer, and the womb to the immaculate body of Our Blessed Mother. However those words can also be applied to every not-yet-born baby. That child has been given human life by the creative touch of our Almighty God, the author of all life. Therefore that child is blessed and, if allowed to do so, can in time grow into an adult human being with all the marvelous faculties and potentialities that we humans possess, for we are made in the image and likeness of God. This morning, as we celebrated Mass in our chapel just three blocks away from the place where, according to statistics, some 30 to 40 babies will be killed today, we read the gospel in which Jesus gives us the two great principles of Christian morality: Love God, and love your neighbor. Those who procure or perform abortions love neither God nor neighbor, and therefore the babies who fall into their hands, their instruments, and ther machinery die because they are not wanted, not loved. During this holy season of Lent, let us pray for victory in this war that Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta called “the war against the child.” She used to point out that we can never have real peace in our hearts, homes, and nation as long as we make war against innocent babies whose only crime is to be alive. Thank you for seeking God’s truth. God bless you. Father Victor Brown, O.P.
Miami abortion clinic owner threw live baby away, prosecutors say The Associated Press, March 4, 2009 MIAMI An abortion clinic owner is accused of delivering a live baby during a botched procedure and then throwing the infant away. Belkis Gonzalez, 42, was arrested Tuesday and charged with practicing medicine without a license and tampering with evidence, both felonies, said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office. If found guilty, Gonzalez would face at least a year in prison and up to 15 years. The teenage mother, Sycloria Williams, has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gonzalez knocked the infant off the chair where she had given birth, and then scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag, and threw it out. The clinic's doctor, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, had been scheduled to perform the procedure, but Williams went into labor after being given drugs to dilate her cervix and waiting for hours for Renelique to arrive, the suit said. The doctor has said he had been on his way to the Hialeah clinic when he was called to treat another patient who was bleeding. Last month, the Board of Medicine revoked Renelique's license for committing medical malpractice, delegating responsibility to unlicensed personnel and failing to keep an accurate medical record. Williams was 23 weeks pregnant when the incident happened in 2006. Authorities were unable to definitively determine the cause of death -- and Gonzalez's role in it -- because the baby's body had decomposed by the time it was found eight days later, said Griffith, the attorney's office spokesman. Gonzalez was being held on $50,000 bond. A hearing was scheduled for this morning. It was unclear if she had an attorney. "Defense by Delay" Thwarting Justice For Baby Shanice Criminal charges against Belkis Gonzalez related to the 2006 death of baby born alive after failed abortion has yet to see a courtroomMiami, Florida - It is a case so bizarre that the most creative Hollywood screenwriter would be hard put to make it up. A baby born alive at an abortion clinic was dumped in a biohazard bag and tossed on the clinic roof to decompose in the hot Florida sun. The woman most responsible for the baby's death faces criminal charges, but is attempting to evade justice through a tactic known as "defense by delay." It began on July 19, 2006, when 18-year old Sycloria Williams sought out the services of abortionist Pierre Renelique at his North Miami abortion clinic. She was 23 weeks pregnant. Renelique inserted laminaria, gave her a drug that would stimulate uterine contractions, and sent her home with instructions to return to A Gyn Diagnostics in Hialeah the following morning when he would complete her abortion. When Williams arrived at the Hialeah clinic at 9 AM the next morning, she was already experiencing cramping, but Renelique was no where to be found. Clinic co-owner Belkis Gonzalez, a woman with no medical training, directed Williams to wait in the clinic's recovery room, where she was given additional medication. As the minutes and hours ticked by, Williams began feeling worse. She suffered the pain severe contractions and nausea. Her complaints were met by stern orders for her to sit down and keep her legs shut, even though Williams instinctively knew that her baby was coming. Williams was told that Renelique would be there by 2:00 PM, but as the hour passed, Renelique still was not responding to pages. At that point, Williams lifted herself out of the recliner and birthed a baby girl. The tiny baby was writhing, her chest rising and falling as she struggled for her first breaths. At that point, pandemonium broke out inside the clinic. Gonzalez grabbed a pair of orange-handled desk scissors and severed the baby's umbilical cord, but did not clamp it. She shoved the baby into a red biohazard bag along with caustic chemicals meant to speed decomposition, and tossed the body onto the roof of the clinic. When Renelique arrived at the clinic at 3:00 PM, he finally attended to Williams. At a hearing of the Florida Medical Board held in February, 2009, Renelique told the Board that he was so confused and unaware of William's condition that he started an abortion procedure on the sedated woman even though she had delivered her baby an hour earlier." That's when one of the employees came to me and said, 'Dr. Renelique, what are you looking for?' I said, 'I'm looking for a fetus.' And she said, 'What fetus?'" Renelique said. Renelique and his associates then falsified the patient's charts to indicate that he had conducted the abortion and discharged her at 12:05 PM even though Williams did not give birth until 2:00 PM and Renelique did not arrive at the clinic until after 3:00 PM. An informant sneaked out to a nearby pay phone and called the police to report the murder of baby Shanice Osbourne, as her mother would later name her. The police arrived and searched the clinic but could not find the baby. On second search, the body of Shanice was found. The abortion clinic was closed by the state.Operation Rescue publicized the incident and demanded criminal charges against Gonzalez and Renelique. In January, 2009, a pro-life legal group, the Thomas More Society, filed suit on behalf of Williams detailing her horrific ordeal and the trauma of witnessing the murder of her daughter. That lawsuit generated additional publicity and public outrage, and prompted a dramatic chain of events.On February 6, 2009, the Florida Medical Board revoked Renelique's Florida medical license. On February 20, 2009, forty-four members of the Florida House of Representatives sent a letter to State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle demanding that action be taken to bring Gonzalez to justice for her part in the death of Baby Shanice. That same day, at the request of Operation Rescue, Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney of the Washington, D.C. based Christian Defense Coalition held a news conference outside Rundle's office demanding action and taking the case to the public. Pro-lifers around the nation began to ring Rundel's phones.Rundle issued a statement later that afternoon that took on a defensive tone and attempted to justify 3 years of foot-dragging. "While we understand the emotional perception that this is an 'easy matter,' nothing could be further from the truth," Rundle wrote.However, public outcry soon prompted action. On March 3, 2009, Gonzalez was finally arrested and charged on two felony counts of unlicensed practice of medicine and evidence tampering. Rundle refused to charge Gonzalez with the murder of Baby Shanice because, at 23 weeks, there was some question as to viability. "It doesn't matter if Shanice would have lived 8 minutes or 80 years," said Newman. "Actions Gonzalez took led to the death of Shanice Osbourne, and no one denies that. Gonzalez should have been charged with murder." But even with the lesser charges, Gonzalez faces up to 20 years in prison because she was on probation at the time of her arrest on an earlier charge of practicing medicine without a license. That is, if she ever gets to trial. Operation Rescue has monitored the Gonzalez case since it was filed and has recorded a disturbing trend." Each of Gonzalez's hearings has been continued by request of the defense for about 30 days or so and this has been going on for months," said Newman. "There is no trial date on the horizon, just endless hearing dates and continuances." For the past 16 months Gonzalez has made no court appearances and every one of her hearings dates, scheduled at the rate of about one per month, have been delayed. Her next scheduled court date is August 25, 2010, but there is no hope that this hearing will ever take place. There is no trial date in sight.This is known as "defense by delay." It is a tactic used by criminal defendants who have little hope of prevailing at the time of trial. As the delays drag on, the chances increase of beating the rap. Witnesses' memories begin to fail or witnesses move and cannot be found. Sometimes witnesses die before a case can be tried. Without the testimony of witnesses, some criminal cases are dropped for lack of evidence, and the perpetrators get off scot-free. This tactic to thwart justice is currently legal and used by more than just abortion industry criminals all over the United States, according to Ed Griffiths, spokesperson for the Florida State Attorney's office which is prosecuting the Gonzalez case." When delay is allowed to kill a case, it is a miscarriage of justice that places society in danger because it teaches the criminals that they will never have to pay for their crimes. In the Gonzalez case, her first conviction with probation for practicing medicine without a license was no deterrent at all, and she went on to kill an innocent baby. Only jail will deter many of these people. Without a stiff sentence, abortion workers tend to re-offend," said Newman. But the defendants need to get to trial, first. For Gonzalez, not only did the State Attorney delay charges for three years, but now Judge John W. Thornton, Jr. is allowing an endless deferral of hearing dates." As long as this judge thinks no one is watching, he will allow this case to be continued into oblivion," said Newman. "Public outcry has proven to be one of the best means available to keep the system honest and accountable. In the interest of justice and for the sake of public safety, we must speak out and demand that this case move forward." Concerned citizens may wish to express their opinions directly to Judge Thornton at (305) 548-5110