Two things the Left knows about abortion, If women see what they are “choosing” 95% will run out of the abortion clinic. And, if the American people were to see what abortion is, it would be illegal very quickly. Senators Lee and Cruz want the truth to be seen
Live Action’s undercover “Inhuman” series continues to deliver stunning video that adds to the perception that the murderous allegations against Dr. Kermit Gosnell may be unfolding in other abortion practices across America. The third clip was captured at Family Planning Associates Medical Group, a Phoenix, Arizona-based clinic. In it, pro-life advocates charge that a clinic counselor named Linda can be observed claiming that medical professionals would not resuscitate a baby born alive during an abortion.
When an undercover investigator went into the clinic with a hidden camera, she was given information about the procedure by at least two staff members – both are featured in the video. Linda, the counselor, noted that a digoxin injection into the belly is the best way to stop the baby’s heartbeat and to prevent suffering during the procedure, although she told the pregnant investigator that having the abortion without the drug is also an option. If the expectant mother chose the latter option, Linda said that the “there could be movement” on the part of the baby.
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The undercover mother continued her questioning about babies born alive and there’s no doubt that the counselor’s responses will likely be disturbing to pro-lifers. Of particular note, the medical professional admits that some children do come out alive during the procedure.
“Sometimes they are [alive], yeah. But it doesn’t – it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will come out whole,” Linda explained. “Cause they use suction, plus they use instruments so sometimes the fetuses don’t come out – you know, it’s not complete…”
From there, the investigator asked, “But if it does come out whole… I mean, are – will they resuscitate it? Like, will I have to take care of it?” It was at this point that Linda responded, “Uh-uh… No… They will not resuscitate.”
While some outlets have taken this to mean that the baby would not be cared for if born alive, the term “resuscitate” is multifaceted and somewhat problematic. In a sense, it seems to indicate that the baby would not be brought back from apparent death. If taken from the mother dead, though, then it would appear the clinic is not in violation if it refuses to “resuscitate.” But if born alive with complications and a need for assistance, the requirements would obviously be different.
Perhaps the more problematic dialogue is captured is depicted below, as it seems to indicate that life sometimes persists after birth – and the natural question is: What does the clinic do to try and save the baby’s life at that point? (we don’t get an indication either way based on the dialogue):
Counselor: Well, if they don’t use the digoxin, they’ll just, uh, suction the baby and it’s possible that there may be movement as they’re taking out the fetus.
Investigator: Like, movement after?
Counselor: Mhmm.
Investigator: And then what happens?
Counselor: Well, then usually it stops on its own.
During the woman’s interview with another individual at the clinic, Dr. Laura Mercer, it was made clear that the preferred option and intention is to “induce a demise – an intrauterine demise.” This would mean that the child would be killed before undergoing the removal portion of the procedure.
“We do the injection, which is a quick poke through your belly, um, and that stops the fetal heart, so that makes it so, if you were to deliver, there shouldn’t be movement,” the doctor explained. “There shouldn’t be any of those things.”
Mercer also warned the woman not to go to an emergency room if she goes into labor during the multi-day abortion procedure. Rather than going to a hospital – where they will treat the baby as though it is wanted alive by the mother – she said that the clinic should first be called.
“They would intervene and do all kinds of crazy things that you don’t need to have done to you,” the doctor said of how a hospital would treat the pregnancy.
Watch the shocking video below (warning: graphic content and themes):
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Live Action founder Lila Rose believes that the clinic is in violation of federal law, purportedly the “Born Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002,” which defines a “‘person’, ‘human being’, ‘child’, and ‘individual’” to “include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development.” It mandates the protection of those babies who are born alive. Again, though, the issues mentioned above do leave some questions unanswered.
“The testimony we’ve documented in this abortion facility strongly suggests that staff there are committing infanticide,” said Rose of the most recent clip. “The Family Planning Associates Medical Group needs to be investigated immediately, and delicensed. Women are at risk during these brutal procedures, and this is a matter of life and death for these children.”
This investigative video comes after a Washington, D.C.-based abortion doctor said that he, too, would not help a baby born alive and similarly-troubling comments were made at a Bronx, New York, doctor’s office as well. These revelations come as the jury continues to deliberate in the Gosnell abortion case (full coverage of that can be found here).
In the past, TheBlaze has explored the journalistic standards and ethics surrounding undercover videos. The central question is: Is it ever permissible to lie to get the truth? While some would quickly answer affirmatively, it’s a challenging dynamic – and one that deserves scrutiny.
Experts have a variety of opinions, but the general consensus is that, unless deceit is the only option to retrieving information of monumental importance to the public, lying to obtain it is not ethical journalistic practice. There are, of course, differing ideas on how this dynamic unfolds. In 2011, Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard told TheBlaze that these rules do not apply to those outside of media.
“It’s dishonest for anyone in journalism to pretend to be someone they’re not. This rule doesn’t apply to folks outside the profession,” he said at the time.
But not everyone agrees with this assessment. Poynter has developed a list of standards for when it is – and is not – appropriate to use undercover tactics. And read more about TheBlaze’s exploration of undercover journalistic standards here.
In 1997, Obama voted in the Illinois Senate against SB 230, a bill designed to prevent partial-birth abortions. In the US Senate, Obama has consistently voted to expand embryonic stem cell research. He has voted against requiring minors who get out-of-state abortions to notify their parents. The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) gives Obama a 100% score on his pro-choice voting record in the Senate for 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Obama has consistently refused to support legislation that would define an infant who survives a late-term induced-labor abortion as a human being with the right to live. He insists that no restriction must ever be placed on the right of a mother to decide to abort her child.
On March 30, 2001, Obama was the only Illinois senator who rose to speak against a bill that would have protected babies who survived late term labor-induced abortion. Obama rose to object that if the bill passed, and a nine-month-old fetus survived a late-term labor-induced abortion was deemed to be a person who had a right to live, then the law would “forbid abortions to take place.” Obama further explained the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not allow somebody to kill a child, so if the law deemed a child who survived a late-term labor-induced abortion had a right to live, “then this would be an anti-abortion statute.”
Here is audio of Obama talking about late-term abortions
The money quote: as Illinois state senator Barack Obama so touchingly put it, there was “movement or some indication that, in fact, they’re not just coming out limp and dead.”
Live Action has come out with another undercover video that will just leave you in disbelief to hear this staff worker at Dr. Emily Women’s Health Center, an abortion clinic in Bronx, New York, describe the abortion process to this young woman for her baby at 23 weeks, just one week away from abortion being illegal in New York. At one point the staff worker even suggests that if the baby pops out at home, which she says has never happened, to just ‘flush it’ down the toilet.
“If it comes out, then it comes out. Flush it… if anything, you know, put it in a bag or something or somewhere and bring it to us.”
Watch this and please share it. People need to understand what really goes on in these clinics:
President Barack Obama will attend a Planned Parenthood fundraising gala on Thursday – as defense lawyers for abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell defend him from murder charges in court.
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According to the publicly-announced schedule for the week, Obama will hobnob with leaders of the abortion giant on Thursday after attending the opening of the center for pro-life President George W. Bush.
“On Thursday, the president and the first lady will attend the dedication ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Later in the day, they will return to Washington, D.C., and later in the evening, the president will attend the Planned Parenthood Gala,” the White House announced.
In a statement accompanying the new schedule, Obama said he hopes the nation will return to normalcy following the Boston Marathon bombing.
“All in all, this has been a tough week,” Obama said late Friday at the White House. “But we’ve seen the character of our country once more. And as president, I’m confident that we have the courage and the resilience and the spirit to overcome these challenges – and to go forward, as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Justice for all apparently doesn’t include unborn children Planned Parenthood kills in abortions.
The NBC Today show asked Obama: “Have you been watching the Gosnell trial? It’s a Philadelphia abortion doctor accused of gruesome crimes. Are you following it, and do you think it animates a larger debate about abortion in this country?”
“Well, I’m familiar with it. I can’t comment on it because it’s an active trial,” said Obama. “What I can say is this: I think President Clinton said it pretty well when he said abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. If an individual carrying out an abortion, operating a clinic, or doing anything else is violating medical ethics, violating the law, then they should be prosecuted.”
A college professor has been arrested for a profane rant at pro-life students at the University of Buffalo.
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Professor Laura Curry screamed at students, yelling at them: “Where does it say I can’t use the f**k word in public. I can swear because that’s part of my vocabulary. That’s part of my First Amendment rights.”
According to a report by Fox News, Curry, an adjunct instructor of media study, was lashing out at the University’s Students for Life organization. The group had erected a pro-life display featuring images that offended Curry.
“I can swear in public because that is profane,” she said referring to the display. “That image is swearing to me. That is profane to me.”
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An unidentified individual filmed the incident and posted the video on Creative Minority Report.
“That image is profane but f**k is,” she yelled at police officers responding to the disturbance.
A university spokesman told Fox News confirmed Curry’s arrest but declined to provide information about her current employment status.
“Would you let my class know I’m under arrest,” she asked as officers slapped a pair of handcuffs on the profane professor and carted her off to jail.
Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students For Life of America, said pro-life students are typically singled out for attacks on campus.
“As we’ve seen again and again, a pro-abortion supporter couldn’t handle the ugly truth of abortion and lashed out,” Hawkins told Fox News. “She had to resort to yelling and using profane language with police officers.”
Hawkins said Curry’s behavior sets the wrong example for students.
“We stand with UB Students for Life for courageously fighting to bring the truth of abortion to a liberal campus, despite attempts to shout them down, cover the display, and personally attack group leaders like President Christian Andzel,” she said. “UB SFL is the pro-life generation and they are already showing they know how to behave like better adults than the ones opposing them.”
The University of Buffalo did not offer any apology to the students who were subjected to the professor’s public outburst.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who currently is on trial in Philadelphia for the murder of seven babies that were born alive and then killed, would, according to the grand jury report on the case, perform the latest-term abortions – “the really big ones” – on Sundays.
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Gosnell did these very late-term abortions at his clinic in West Philadelphia assisted only by his wife, Pearl Gosnell, on the one day the clinic was closed, Sunday. Other clinic workers were not allowed to assist in these abortions and it is believed that many of the medical records of these procedures may have been destroyed, according to the grand jury report.
The grand jury report was released in January 2011. As it states, “This report documents multiple murders of viable babies. The evidence makes a compelling case that many others were also murdered… It was Gosnell’s standard business practice to slay viable babies.”
“Gosnell made little effort to hide his illegal abortion practice,” reads the report. “But there were some, ‘the really big ones,’ that even he was afraid to perform in front of others. These abortions were scheduled for Sundays, a day when the clinic was closed and none of the regular employees were present. Only one person was allowed to assist with these special cases – Gosnell’s wife.”
“The files for these patients were not kept at the office; Gosnell took them home with him and disposed of them,” reads the report. “We may never know the details of these cases. We do know, however, that, during the rest of the week, Gosnell routinely aborted and killed babies in the sixth and seventh month of pregnancy. The Sunday babies must have been bigger still.” (See Grand Jury Report.pdf)
“According to his staff, the doctor and his wife, Pearl, preformed extremely late-term procedures on Sundays,” reads the grand jury report.
Steve Massof, an unlicensed medical school graduate, worked for Gosnell for nearly 5 years, from July 2003 to June 2008. Massof, and another employee, Latosha Lewis, told the grand jury “that they believed Gosnell dealt with some of the patients with the longest-term pregnancies on Sundays, when his staff was not at the clinic.”
“When Massof came in on Monday mornings he would find bloody instruments in the sink even though they had all been cleaned before the facility closed on Saturday night,” reads the report. “When Massof asked Gosnell if he had seen patients on Sunday, the doctor answered, according to Massof: ‘Oh, yes, I took care of it. I had my wife or somebody help me or whatever.’ Gosnell’s wife Pearl confirmed that she assisted her husband with procedures on Sundays.”
The grand jury report also says, “Pearl [Gosnell] testified that she alone assisted on Sundays, and that her role was to ‘help do the instruments’ in the procedure room and to monitor patients in the recovery room. [Latosha] Lewis testified that Pearl assisted with late-term abortions ‘on Sundays or days we were closed [to] do special cases.’”
Under Pennsylvania law, it is illegal to perform an abortion on a baby that is beyond 24 weeks development.
In addition to aborting “the really big ones” on Sundays with just his wife assisting in the actions, Gosnell performed many post-24-week abortions during the week. As the grand jury report states, “Latosha Lewis testified that Gosnell performed procedures over 24 weeks ‘too much to count,’ and ones up to 26 weeks ‘very often.’” (See Grand Jury Report.pdf)
Lewis (and other clinic workers) also testified that labor was induced using drugs and babies would expel – “precipitate” – from their mother’s wombs in the clinic, sometimes on the floor, on chairs, or in the toilets.
The grand jury report states, “Latosha Lewis testified that she saw babies precipitate at 23 to 28 weeks. In those cases, Massof or Gosnell: …would cut the back of the neck and insert a curette, which is a plastic tubing… that is used to do a suction. You would insert it in the back of the neck of the baby, so that the brain would come out.”
Sometimes Gosnell would just snip the neck, said Lewis, adding that she saw babies move before Gosnell cut their necks.
The testimony reads:
“Q. How many times did you see precipitated babies that had been fully expelled from its mother moving before he snipped the neck?
“A. A lot.
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“Q. Can you give us a percentage of the time?
“A. Probably 25 percent of the time.”
“No steps were ever taken to attend to these babies,” reads the report, and quotes Lewis as saying, “we never even checked to see if [there] was a heartbeat.”
“Lewis, who had herself given birth twice, recognized that the larger precipitated babies were viable,” states the report. (Grand Jury Report.pdf)
Kermit Gosnell is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder (seven babies), one count of third-degree murder of a mother, as well as infanticide, conspiracy, abortion at 24 or more weeks, abuse of a corpse, theft, corruption of minors, solicitation and other related offenses.
Pearl Gosnell has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to performing illegal abortions. Seven other former clinic employees have also pleaded guilty to a variety of related charges.
It was called the Mother’s Day Massacre. A young Philadelphia doctor “offered to perform abortions on 15 poor women who were bused to his clinic from Chicago on Mother’s Day 1972, in their second trimester of pregnancy.” The women didn’t know that the doctor “planned to use an experimental device called a ‘super coil’ developed by a California man named Harvey Karman.”
A colleague of Karman’s Philadelphia collaborator described the contraption as “basically plastic razors that were formed into a ball. . . . They were coated into a gel, so that they would remain closed. These would be inserted into the woman’s uterus. And after several hours of body temperature, . . . the gel would melt and these . . . things would spring open, supposedly cutting up the fetus.”
Nine of the 15 Chicago women suffered serious complications. One of them needed a hysterectomy. The following year, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. It would be 37 more years before the Philadelphia doctor who carried out the Mother’s Day Massacre would go out of business. His name is Kermit Gosnell.
According to a Pennsylvania grand jury, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the wealthy Philadelphia abortionist now on trial for seven counts of murdering babies who had survived his late-term abortions, repeatedly sliced the necks of born babies in front of a teenage employee, and once told his long-time assistant (the teenager’s mother) that a writhing born baby whose neck he had just severed was like a “chicken with its head cut off.”
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“Ashley Baldwin also saw Gosnell slice the neck of moving and breathing babies,” said the report of the grand jury that recommended charging Gosnell with multiple counts of murder.
Baldwin’s mother, Tina, worked for nine years as Gosnell’s assistant. The teenager herself went to work for the abortionist when she was a 15-year-old high school sophomore.
“Although Ashley was just a teenager and still in high school, Gosnell had her assisting with procedures, performing ultrasounds, intravenously sedating patients, and assisting patients as they delivered in Gosnell’s absence,” said the report. “Gosnell claimed to her mother that allowing the teen to essentially practice medicine was legal, through a ‘grandfather clause’ which permitted him to train workers and avoid certification requirements. Ashley worked as much as 50 hours a week, into the early morning hours, while a full-time high school student.”
On multiple occassions, this teenage girl saw the abortionist slit the necks of living babies after they had been born.
“When asked how many times Ashley had observed babies being delivered that were moving or breathing or crying and the doctor cut the neck, she answered: ‘Most of the second tris that were over 20 weeks,’” said the report. “She said this happened probably dozens of times, maybe more. She described at least 10 babies as big enough to buy clothes for, to dress, and to take care of.”
In her grand jury testimony, Ashley Badlwin had the following exchange:
Question: “And what happened to those ten babies that came out from their mother, that were big enough that you could put clothes on and take home and take care of, that moved around, what did you see happen to them?”
Ashley Baldwin: “He killed them.”
Question: “Who killed them?
Ashley Baldwin: “Doc.”
Question: “How did he kill them?”
Ashley Baldwin: “He cut the back of the neck.”
The teenager told the grand jury that Gosnell told her this was normal.
Ashley’s mother, Gosnell’s longtime assistant, told the grand jury about a gruesome remark Gosnell made after severing the neck of a baby that had survived one of his abortions.
“Tina Baldwin,” said the report, “told the jurors that Gosnell once joked about a baby that was writhing as he cut its neck: ‘That’s what you call a chicken with its head cut off.’”
The grand jury charged both Tina Baldwin and Gosnell with corrupting the morals of a minor for their treatment of Ashley.
“We charge Gosnell and Tina Baldwin, his employee, with corrupting the morals of a minor,” said the report. “Gosnell hired Tina’s 15-year-old daughter as a staff member. She was required to work 50-hour weeks, starting after school until past midnight, during which she was exposed to the full horrors of Gosnell’s practice. Bad enough that he expected grown-ups to do it.”
It would be hard to imagine a more striking story than the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell. Yet the establishment press puts its devotion to leftist ideology even above cashing in on this lurid tale. Via Human Events:
A Delaware woman who worked for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell recalled hearing one child “screaming” after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure at Gosnell’s West Philadelphia clinic.
Sherry West, of Bear, said she was loyal to Gosnell – who is now facing multiple counts of murder for allegedly killing children after they were delivered alive at his clinic – but said the incident “really freaked me out.”
When Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore pressed the 53-year-old West for specifics about the incident, West struggled to answer, clearly uncomfortable with the memory.
“I can’t describe it. It sounded like a little alien,” West testified, telling a judge and Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury that the body of the child was about 18 to 24 inches long and was one of the largest babies she had seen delivered during abortion procedures at Gosnell’s clinic.
West said she saw the child, whose face and features were not yet completely formed, lying on a glass tray on a shelf and she told a co-worker to call Gosnell about it and fled the room.
It’s a horror movie, yet real. The public would certainly be interested. Yet the reserved media seating at the trial has been empty:
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Could it be because liberals’ god, Barack Hussein Obama, is infamous for his fanatical advocacy of denying medical treatment to infants who survive attempted abortions as an Illinois state senator? Or is it because his close allies at lavishly federally Planned Parenthood are involved in a similar case:
A series of emergency calls made from the Planned Parenthood of Delaware this year are raising concerns about what’s happening behind the closed doors.
Two former nurses who both quit are speaking exclusively with Action News about what they saw inside.
Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich, former employee said, “It was just unsafe. I couldn’t tell you how ridiculously unsafe it was.”
Werbrich alleges conditions inside the facility were unsanitary…
“Planned Parenthood needs to close its doors, it needs to be cleaned up, the staff needs to be trained, said Werbrich.”
In Delaware, abortion clinics are not subject to routine inspections. The state only steps in when they have a patient complaint. Planned Parenthood is essentially in charge of inspecting itself.
Good thing local media isn’t always on the same page as the big boys with a seat at Obama’s table, or the public might never know.
Kirsten Powers, a liberal who shows encouraging signs of converting to sanity, is justifiably outraged:
It’s not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell’s former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.
NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that, Stephen Massof, a former Gosnell worker, “described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body.” One former worker, Adrienne Moton, testified that Gosnell taught her his “snipping” technique to use on infants born alive.
The implications for the ultimate moonbat sacrament (abortion) and by extension its most aggressive champion (Obama) are clear:
Planned Parenthood recently claimed that the possibility of infants surviving late-term abortions was “highly unusual.” The Gosnell case suggests otherwise.
Thus the national media is blacking it out:
A Lexis-Nexis search shows none of the news shows on the three major national television networks has mentioned the Gosnell trial in the last three months. The exception is when Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan hijacked a segment on Meet the Press meant to foment outrage over an anti-abortion rights law in some backward red state.
The Washington Post has not published original reporting on this during the trial and The New York Times saw fit to run one original story on A-17 on the trial’s first day. They’ve been silent ever since, despite headline-worthy testimony.
It isn’t just that the liberal media refuses to accurately depict what is going on in the world, effectively lying by omission. What is truly unnerving is its motives for lying. The people who program our televisions and print our newspapers don’t want the horror exposed because they don’t want it to stop.
The media will tell you they are all about news, sensationalism, “if it bleeds it leads,” ratings, money, fulfilling demand, and clicks – but that is all a lie.
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Over at Politico, the number-one “most searched” term is “kermit gosnell,” the abortion doctor currently on trial in Philadelphia for the murder of seven babies.
That search yields zero matches.
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The doctor’s last name, “gosnell,” is Politico’s third most searched term and also yields zero matches having to do with Kermit Gosnell.
Judging by the number of search inquiries, there is a demand for this story Politico is willfully choosing not to fill – and doing so for obvious political reasons. And it is not because Politico shies away from abortion issues.
A search for “Susan Komen,” yields 166 matches, but that is because Politico was part of the media lynch-mob that browbeat the private breast cancer charity into continuing their funding of Planned Parenthood.
A search for “Todd Akin” results in 865 matches, because Politico was part of the media lynch-mob that used a stupid abortion/rape comment made by a nobody Senate candidate to aid and abet Democrats during the 2012 elections.
The news blackout of this horrific abortion trial isn’t just occurring at Politico. This is a full-blown, coordinated blackout throughout the entire national media.
ADDED: There is a second abortion clinic horror story in Delaware the media are also ignoring.
But, for a regressive to call for the death of people that are born addicted to a drug that their parent ingested, or just because they are poor? Well, that’s OK. Remember this?
Yes, the young lady in the first video has taken the regressive blood-lust, and made it a bit more sophisticated, and a hell of a lot cheaper. You see, you don’t need camps with a “humane gas,” you just kill the “undesirables” before they are born.
And just to remind all of you, the vast majority of Planned Parenthood facilities are located in minority neighborhoods. But let’s not let the genocidal agenda get out, mmkay?
Never forget that the Left has NO tolerance for any individual rights. ONLY government can grant rights in Leftist ideology, and those rights that are permitted must be secondary to the “common good”.
Kansas is set to enact one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation which defines life as beginning “at fertilization” and imposes a host of new regulations.
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The Kansas House of Representatives passed the bill 90-30 on Friday night, a few hours after the Senate backed it on a 28-10 vote. Strongly anti-abortion Republican Governor Sam Brownback is expected to sign it into law. Republicans hold strong majorities in both houses.
In addition to the provision specifying when life begins, the bill prevents employees of abortion clinics from providing sex education in schools, bans tax credits for abortion services and requires clinics to give details to women about fetal development and abortion health risks. It also bans abortions based solely on the gender of the fetus.
The Kansas bill comes on the heels of anti-abortion measures passing in states across the country, including one in Arkansas banning abortions in the 12th week of pregnancy and a law in North Dakota that sets the limit at six weeks.
The Kansas language stating that life begins “at fertilization” is modeled on a 1989 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, said Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director of Kansans for Life, anti-abortion group.
Ostrowski said the language protects the rights of the unborn in probate and other legal matters.
If the bill is signed into law, Kansas will become the eighth state declaring that life begins at fertilization, said Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager of the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute, which researches abortion-related laws nationwide.
While it would not supplant Kansas law banning most abortions after the 22nd week of pregnancy, it does set the state up to more swiftly outlaw all abortions should the U.S. Supreme Court revisit its 1973 ruling making abortion legal, Nash said.
“It’s a statement of intent and it’s a pretty strong statement,” Nash said. “Should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade or should the court come to some different conclusion, the state legislature would be ready, willing and able to ban abortions.”
States that already have such language are Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio, Nash said.
The Kansas bill prohibits use of public funds, tax preferences or tax credits for abortion services. It prevents state-provided public health-care services from being used in any manner to carry out abortions, according to a summary.
Taking away tax benefits would amount to 12 tax increases for abortion providers, women and their families, said Elise Higgins, Kansas coordinator for the National Organization for Women. Even abortions to save a mother’s life would not be a deductible cost, she said.
Higgins also criticized the bill’s requirement that women be told of possible connection between abortion and later risk of breast cancer. “It’s an obvious intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship by making them get this inaccurate information,” Higgins said.
Ostrowski said the bill merely requires that patients be referred to online and other material about abortion and breast cancer. It does not steer them to misinformation, she said.
The bill bars school districts from letting abortion providers offer, sponsor or furnish course materials or instruction on human sexuality or on sexually transmitted diseases. Higgins said that creates an unfair stigma for employees of abortion providers.
Another portion of the new law would prevent women from deciding on an abortion solely because of the gender of the fetus. It is unclear how many women terminate pregnancies for that reason.
The North Dakota legislature has passed a pair of bills that, if signed by Republican Governor Jack Dalrymple, will give the state the most restrictive abortion ban in the nation. On March 15 the state senate gave its final approval to a bill that would ban most abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, as well as another measure prohibiting a woman from having an abortion because of indications her pre-born baby has a genetic defect such as Down syndrome. The bill would also ban abortions based on sex selection.
Passage of the measures comes just a week after Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe signed legislation banning abortion in that state after 12 weeks of pregnancy, a law that is slated to go into effect this summer. North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple is expected to announce his intentions on the abortion bills within days.
Proponents of the bills said the goal is to challenge the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that effectively legalized abortion throughout the United States at up to 22-24 weeks of pregnancy. The pro-life North Dakota Family Alliance Action explained that the purpose of the Heartbeat Bill (HB 1456) is to stop abortion if an unborn child has a detectable heartbeat. “We all know the significance of a beating heart,” the group said in a statement. “We may have witnessed the loss of a loved one being cared for in a hospital, one moment hearing the presence of the heartbeat via the heart monitoring machine, the next moment experiencing the deafening silence of a heart beating no more. The heartbeat offers an undeniable truth about life… Just as we protect life, a living being, until that heart stops beating, no matter the age, we must afford that same protection when that heartbeat becomes detectable in the unborn.”
The group told LifeNews.com that the “issue of abortion may become complex at times, and obviously has for many years – as we have witnessed the discussion and debate. But the issue becomes very simple, if we go back to a very foundational truth – that we as a people, as a government, are to secure and protect the right of life.”
As for the genetic abnormalities/sex selection bill, Republican State Senator Margaret Sitte, one of the measure’s cosponsors, said it is meant to ban the destruction of life based on “an arbitrary society standard of being good enough.” Pro-life leaders noted that the tests doctors use to reveal fetal abnormalities are often inaccurate, and many babies that medical authorities recommended be aborted have been born normal. Regardless of the results, pro-life leaders emphasize, every baby deserves the God-given gift of life.
Pro-abortion groups have promised a legal battle over the bills should Dalrymple sign them, with ACLU executive director Anthony Romero calling the measures, which would ban almost all abortions in the state, “extreme.” Romero insisted that “in America, no woman, no matter where she lives, should be denied the ability to make this deeply personal decision.”
Jennifer Dalven of the ACLU’s pro-abortion Reproductive Freedom Project said that her group was urging Dalrymple “to veto all of these bills to ensure that this personal and private decision can be made by a woman and her family, not politicians sitting in the Capitol.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights noted that the imposition of a six-week ban would mean that many women would be prohibited from seeking an abortion even before they know they are pregnant. “The passage of this law is nothing short of a frontal assault on the U.S. Constitution, 40 years of Supreme Court precedent, and the health and fundamental rights of women,” said the abortion group’s president Nancy Northrup.
Similarly, Sarah Stoesz of abortion giant Planned Parenthood’s North Dakota franchise said that in passing the restrictive laws “politicians in North Dakota have proven their disregard for a woman’s personal medical decision-making.” She was joined by the national CEO of the abortion business, Cecile Richards, who declared that such abortion restrictions “are outrageous and unconstitutional and they will not stand. The state-by-state race to the bottom on women’s health is not what Americans elected their lawmakers to focus on. A majority of Americans consistently believe that abortion should remain safe and legal in this country.”
Even some pro-life groups oppose such restrictive laws, pointing out that in the present judicial climate they are likely to be overturned, making it increasingly difficult to mount an effective battle to overturn Roe v. Wade. Some state officials also warned that a court challenge would represent a considerable expense to the state, with the likelihood of an eventual loss. Nonetheless, State Representative Bette Grande, who introduced both bills in the House, said that concerns over a legal challenge shouldn’t stop the state from doing everything it its power to protect the unborn at every phase of development. “Whether this is challenged in court is entirely up to the abortion industry,” Grande told lawmakers prior to passage of the Heartbeat bill. “Given the lucrative nature of abortion, it is likely that any statute that reduces the number of customers will be challenged by the industry.”
Among the pro-life leaders commending the North Dakota legislature for protecting the unborn was Dr. Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life, who applauded the legislature’s passage of the genetic defects/sex selection abortion ban. “A civil society does not discriminate against people – born and unborn – for their sex or for disability,” said Yoest in a statement. “We should be celebrating diversity, not destroying it.” Yoest noted that “women in particular have been targeted for death in the womb, and we’ve also seen dramatic abortion rates for children with disabilities which put them at risk for extinction. The legislators in North Dakota have shown courageous humanity in passing this legislation.”
The Christian Post noted that one issue not clarified by the Heartbeat bill “is how doctors will detect fetal heartbeats. Those found guilty of performing an abortion after a fetus develops a heartbeat could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, though mothers would not face charges.”
State data shows that in 2011 North Dakota recorded 1,247 abortions. If Dalrymple signs the bills into law, more than 75 percent of all abortions would disappear, according to a spokesperson for the Planned Parenthood-aligned Guttmacher Institute, which studies abortion trends across the nation.