The pervasiveness of abortion

There's a group on Facebook called Pro-lifers Talking About Non-Abortion Related Things.  It was intended as a means to allow pro-lifers the chance to "take a break" from the battle to save the pre-born, but there were a couple of threads dealing with dating and relationships that did evolve into a discussion of abortion. It's a closed group, so unless you're a member you'll have to take my word for this, which only goes to show how unavoidable the issue is. Life News and Live Action have also reported on attempts by the pro-choice side to trivialize abortion for which I in all honesty can't find words to describe.  The reader will have to check out the links. 

 

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Some unwelcome personal developments

In an earlier post on my blog I described how my dad succumbed to a neurological disorder called multiple system atrophy. Now comes news that my mom has had a recurrence of angiosarcoma, a type of cancer that arises in blood and lymph vessels.  They're going to do a scan to see if the recurrence is localized or not, but they described it as a "glimmer of hope".  It comes on top of my having to take time off from work after being diagnosed with shingles, and the restaurant where I've been working being re-located while I was still on sick leave.  I got Mom a Blackmore's Night CD for Christmas because she always listens to a Celtic music program.  The last Christmas present I gave Dad was a reaching device to help pick up objects without having to bend over.  I'd actually gotten that for both of them, but Dad made more use of it in his final months before going to the nursing home.

An update, December 15:

They did the scan and did not find metastases in any vital organs, just in the skin.  They're going to remove the skin and replace it with a graft on Jan. 4.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Some news items

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards is reportedly upset with Kathleen Sibelius's decision to nix making Plan B available to minors.

Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sibelius had nixed an effort by the Food and Drug Administration to make Plan B available to girls of any age, and the Associated Press reports that President Obama has supported his secretary's decision.  Whatever we may think of Sibelius or Obama, this was definitely the right thing to do. If Plan B were available on the shelf, all sexually active teens would have to do to avoid talking to their doctor would be to buy Plan B on a regular basis.  If there's cause for concern on the health risks of prescription birth control, what would routine use of Plan B do? 

Speaking of Planned Parenthood, seven of its former employees have accused the abortion giant of misuse of government funds and failing to act on instances where statutory rape or coercion was suspected. 

In other news, a 19-year-old Houston man who wanted his pregnant girlfriend to have an abortion has been charged in her death. 

A lawsuit filed by some nurses over being forced to assist in abortions is headed back to court earlier than expected.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

on the beginning of life

After coming under fire from established pro-life activists for his stance that life begins at implantation, Newt Gingrich has recanted this and stated that fertilization is the moment when life begins.  At least one pro-life veteran is skeptical of this sudden change.

Traditionally pregnancy has been dated from the first day of the mother's last menstrual period, which typically occurs about two weeks before fertilization.  The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists years ago decided pregnancy started with implantation, in part to avoid some questions being raised about birth control methods, specifically hormonal birth control and intra-uterine devices. (IUDs) These are questions that needed to be addressed a long time ago, and pro-lifers are as guilty of failing to address this as the pro-choice side.  When pro-lifers say that life begins at conception, they need to look at whether a given birth control method is abortive. Pro-life women and men need to know there's speculation that the birth control pill may cause early abortions.  By the same token they also have a right to know there's much room for doubt that this takes place.

The belief that the pill causes early abortions is based on the observation that the endometrium is thinned out while a woman is on oral contraceptives, and this is believed to hinder implantation.  Beginning around the 1990's, however, some pro-life physicians began to challenge this, arguing that implantation can take place in environments far more hostile than an endometrium thinned by oral contraceptives, such as the Fallopian tube in ectopic pregnancy. Moreover, implantation is known to take place directly in the uterine muscle, which leads to a condition called placenta accreta requiring surgery. This suggests the uterine lining's purpose is as much to protect the mother as to nourish the child. Some other physicians have challenged this with their own papers.  This became such a source of division that the American Association of Pro-life Ob-Gyns decided to shelve the debate and concentrate on other pro-life matters. They have a page that links to both papers.

There is also some disagreement over how methods of emergency contraception work, at least within the medical community as a whole.  If, as some studies suggest, levonorgestrel (Plan B) does not disrupt post-fertilization events, it would seem unlikely that the much smaller doses of hormones in ordinary contraceptives would have this effect. 

At this point I might add that I am not trying to encourage emergency contraception. There are indications that its effectiveness is overstated, and it has not been shown to reduce abortion.  Moreover, both the mini-pill and Plan B have been linked to ectopic pregnancies.

With the IUD there's not as much doubt that it can act abortively.  The progesterone IUD is believed to thicken the cervical mucus to impede sperm transport, while the copper IUD is believed to have a spermicidal effect.  The latter is also used as emergency contraception, however, and in this setting is considered much more effective than pills.  Those who argue the effectiveness of Plan B and even ella can be accounted for by actions that occur before fertilization admit the IUD's very high effectiveness means it must be able to act post-fertilization.  A moment's reflection can help to explain this. Pills alter the growth of endometrial linings, while the IUD acts as a foreign object and an irritant.

Here's the Wikipedia article on emergency contraception.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

A tale of two clinic protesters

LifeNews and LifeSiteNews recently ran stories on two separate clinic protesters and the subtle and not-so-subtle hostilities they were greeted with because of their beliefs.

                

Both sites reprinted a blog entry by Susan Tyrel in Bound4Life, in which a woman describes her own experience with Planned Parenthood.  When Alisha, 23, went there for her pregnancy test a few years ago, the clinic seemed to automatically assume that her husband and family were forcing her to keep the child against her will. She was so outraged by their presumptuousness that she left the place.  The experience led her to do some research on Planned Parenthood's activities, which ultimately led her to take part in vigils outside Planned Parenthood clinics.

 

LifeNews also reports on a woman who was assaulted by the manager of an abortion clinic in Kansas because of her activities.  Kansas, it should be remembered, was where an attempt to investigate wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood was thwarted because crucial documents were destroyed.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Some more thoughts on 26

Steven Ertelt recently ran an editorial on Mississippi's Amendment 26, which went down to a resounding defeat in the November elections.  He mentioned, among other things, the claim by pro-choicers that this amendment would outlaw certain forms of birth control.  The amendment's backers put forth their own arguments to refute these claims, but these arguments might have held more water if so many pro-lifers hadn't been condemning birth control.

Birth control has for far too long been a source of divisiveness in the pro-life movement. Those who oppose birth control tend to view those in favor of it as not being firm enough in their convictions to be pro-life, while those who favor it have at times belittled those, who, for one reason or another, have chosen abstinence. This hasn't been true of all pro-lifers, but it has been true of a lot of them.  One consequence of this has been that the sanctioned killing of pre-born children has gone on unabated for almost 40 years. 

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

40 Days for Life and Amendment 26

I didn't go to the 40 Days for Life Closing vigil, partly for reasons described in previous posts, partly because of the weather.  I wasn't sure I'd make it down there in time, and because of the rain the city streets were a bit slippery. In Syracuse, New York, 40 Days reports that Planned Parenthood would not even give a pregnancy test if the couple wasn't considering abortion.

Much in the news in pro-life circles is Mississippi's Amendment 26, which if passed would state that the pre-born child is a person beginning at conception.  Organizations such as Planned Parenthood and others have fought against this amendment with a number of arguments.  Probably the most pernicious of these is the claim that Amendment 26 would ban the use of contraceptives.  Pro-lifers have fought back against such arguments, but if their efforts fail to sway voters it will be in part because of the long-standing opposition of many pro-lifers to the use of birth control.

In the case of hormonal contraceptives this opposition stems in part from observations that the endometrium, or uterine lining, thins out and becomes less vascular while a woman is on the pill, and this is believed to make it harder for the new being to implant in the uterine lining.  But there are some discrepancies with this premise that some pro-life physicians began to note in the 1990s.

For one thing, these changes to the uterine lining are noted during anovulatory cycles, i.e. when a woman is not ovulating.  More important, implantation is known to take place in environments far more hostile than an endometrium thinned by oral contraceptives, such as in the Fallopian tube in ectopic pregnancy.  Moreover, in cases where the uterine lining is sparse or absent the child has been known to implant directly in the uterine muscle.  This leads to a condition called placenta accreta, where the placenta has to be surgically removed at delivery.

From time to time vigil participants have handed out literature saying the pill causes early abortions, and it's often made me wonder about younger people who would show up in our group for a week or so, and then drop out.

The IUD is also believed to act abortively, and in there is stronger evidence that this is the case, at least when it's used as emergency contraception.  The progestin IUD is believed to thicken cervical mucus the same way contraceptive pills do, and the copper IUD is believed to have a spermicidal effect.  The latter is approved for emergency contraception, and is considered much more effective for this purpose than either levonorgestrel (Plan B) or ulipristal (ellaOne).  This is perhaps quite telling, because people who argue the effectiveness of Plan B and even ella can be accounted for by actions that take place before fertilization admit the IUD's very high effectiveness means it must act post-fertilization.  In fact people are so confident of this that its use as EC has been recommended 7-12 days after unprotected sex, which would make it abortive even by ACOG's definition.  

An update Nov. 8:  The Associated Press reports that 26 failed by a huge margin.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Today's Life-walk, plus a few news items.

I attended the 2011 Life Walk at De Anza Cove earlier today.  Most of the top people from Life Perspectives were there, along with a couple musical bands and a few members of Knights of Columbus.   I would estimate there were a total of two or three hundred people for the 5km walk, or 3 ½ miles.  They gave me some books and other literature which I will probably try to share with the El Cajon Pregnancy Care Clinic the next time I see them; don't know whether they have them already.  Later that day I went to see if there was anyone from 40 Days for Life at the El Cajon and Miramar clinics, but didn't see anyone.

I'm not sure I'l be attending the 40 Days for Life Closing vigil because of what happened here. 

Some news items:

Former clinic director Abby Johnson has written an editorial in Life News supporting efforts by Congress to investigate Planned Parenthood.

Lifesitenews reports on a couple with triplets, who resisted pressure for pregnancy reduction.

40 Days for Life reports something unusual—the wife of an abortionist who commended them for their actions, and the way they carried them out.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Fwd: Simple yet Profound!

I attended the Fatima vigil near St. Ephrem's and Our Lady of Grace today.  Because of some car problems I was late getting down there, but was able to get another pledge for the upcoming life walk. To my surprise there were a few pamphlets encouraging the use of condoms if you didn't practice abstinence.

Here's something Pat Hansen sent me, which I'm guessing Sue Lopez shared with her a few years ago.  I've seen it on Facebook as well.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Patricia Hansen <hansenpat@msn.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Subject: Simple yet Profound!
To:

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Wow!  Thanks Sue!

 

Simple, yet Profound!

Some other news items:

Live Action has run an editorial on why congress is right to investigate Planned Parenthood.

Jon Scharfenberger, who was in the crash that claimed pro-life student Kortney Blythe Gordon, remains in critical condition.

The House has approved the Protect Life Act, but Senate Democrats and President Obama are expected to oppose the bill.   

Ron Paul has released a video where he describes the efforts to save one child born prematurely, but how another child who survived an abortion was denied medical care.


Medical News Today has release a report from the United Kingdom that miscarriage test errors may be leading to the abortion of up to 400 healthy babies each year.  I don't have figures on how often this is occuring in the United States.

Today's Life Chain rally, plus some other items.

There were probably about 80 people at the Life Chain in El Cajon this year, on Fletcher Parkway near Our Lady of Grace and the Vons shopping center.  They were a bit more scattered than they were at the 40 Days for Life kickoff vigil a few days earlier.  Life Chains were also held in Roanoke, Va; Salem, Oregon; Peoria, Illinois; and St. Joseph's, Missouri.

Some other news updates:

*The number of abortions performed in Ohio took another drop, marking 10 straight years of decline.

*Josh Craddock wrote an interesting article in Live Action comparing Planned Parenthood's operations in minority neighborhoods with medical experiments in Guatemalans and Tuskegee.

*The Illinois Department of Public Health has shut down the Northern Illinois Women's Center in Rockford because of numerous safety violations.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

40 Days for Life Kickoff Vigil + LATE BREAKING NEWS

They held the third annual kickoff candlelight vigil near the Miramar Family Planning Associates office tonight.  There was a turnout of around 50 to 60 people.  Speakers included Trippy Seelig, coordinator for San Diego/Miramar, and Roger Lopez, husband of Sue.  40 Days for Life of San Diego County now includes three areas, San Marcos, Miramar, and now the El Cajon clinic where we've had vigils on Fridays and Saturdays.  There were a couple of prayers to end abortion and for the closing of that abortion mill, and a rosary procession.  I was able to get a couple of sponsors for the upcoming Lifewalk October 29 at Mission Bay.  The next pro-life event will be the Life Chain.

BREAKING NEWS ITEM: 

A Congressional committee has taken the first steps in investigating the Planned Parenthood abortion business over abuses ranging from financial disparities to its compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding to concerns that it is covering up cases of sex trafficking.  See also here and here.

In a related vein state lawmakers in Pennsylvania have called for swift approval of two measures designed to increase oversight of abortion providers and limit taxpayer funding for these procedures.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

live births following abortion and experiments

In an earlier email and blog entry I mentioned that the salt poisoning method of abortion was still occasionally used.  This article suggests the method is more common overseas in the United Kingdom, which has about the highest abortion rate in Western Europe.

 

I saw the article on the Facebook page Pro Life Pagans, which I am one of the admins for.  I haven't studied paganism that much, and it's kind of a long story how I got involved with that page.  One of the other admins just put that article up along with a few other articles dealing with live births following abortion, and use of such babies for experimentation.  The articles are pretty horrific.  One even mentions using ova from aborted girls as part of in vitro fertilization.  

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Abortion and Fetal Pain

Lifenews has reported on two measures in Alabama and Idaho that would restrict abortions after 20 weeks on the basis that the unborn can feel pain at this point.  They are long overdue measures.

 

This is an often overlooked aspect of abortion.  Judging from the unborn child's response to stimuli at this point, abortions have often been quite painful, and they have almost certainly been more so in the past.  Years ago the leading method of late abortion involved injecting a caustic salt solution into the amniotic sac.  There's little in the way of a dead layer of skin to protect the baby at this point, so it would be like salt in an open wound.  It would take more than an hour to kill the baby this way, during which time nothing is being given for the pain, and there have even been instances where the baby has survived long enough to be born alive.  This procedure has largely been abandoned because of the risk to the mother's health, but there are still occasional instances of its use.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

This story is close to home

This story is quite close to home.   I lost my dad a couple of years ago to multiple system atrophy, a very severe form of Parkinson's disease that doesn't respond to the medication that Parkinson's disease normally responds to, and I've often had questions about the quality of care he was given near the end.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Another Planned Parenthood worker becomes pro-life

It has just been reported in Live Action and Lifesitenews that another Planned Parenthood worker has crossed the lines into the pro-life movement.  Clinic manager Romona Trevino follows Abby Johnson and Jewels Green--and before them the late Dr. Nathanson--away from the death clinics into a culture of life.  Abby Johnson has stated that this may very well be the Achilles's heel for Planned Parenthood, which performed more than a quarter of all abortions from mid-2008 to mid-2009.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

No good deed goes unpunished.

File this one under "No good deed goes unpunished."

It has just been reported in Live Action that the Department of Justice is prosecuting a 79-year-old man who has saved nearly 350 babies from abortion through sidewalk counseling.  Ironically this could drive pro-life to a more extreme stance, and at this moment I'm wondering if that isn't the objective.

About ten years ago the pro-life pickets near San Diego area clinics involved holding graphic pictures of aborted babies.  A devout Christian named Sue Lopez changed this, insisting that vigils should take the form of quiet prayer, and that harassing the women was counterproductive. While her views on matters other than abortion were at odds with some of the pro-lifers I've come to know on Facebook, she was quite helpful in helping me get back into pro-life after far too long an absence. Whether it's the administration's intention or not, it's the legacy of Sue and others that's being threatened by its actions against Retta.

Life Report links to this entry.

An update--someone from Atheist/Agnostic Pro Life League has provided a link to a court document on this case.  If this is accurate, the man may have been harassing the women who went into the clinic.
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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Today's Mother-of-Life conference

I managed to get to the Mother of Life Conference today.  They had a number of speakers, among them Alveda King, niece of slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King.  I didn't attend any of the lectures, partly because the seats looked uncomfortable, partly because I didn't think I could stay for the whole day anyway.  I did see a number of booths from various pro-life groups there; it was like a giant version of the Del Mar fair booths.   Life Perspectives, the people I do the Life walk with, was there.    I'd gotten a sponsor pledge form the day before and was able to secure a few pledges from people I know there.  One of the people I ran into was Tim Houze, someone I knew from San Diego State's pro-life group more than thirty years ago.  He updated me on how others in the group were doing, and I got him to sign the pledge.  His wife had rheumatoid arthritis more than thirty years ago, and over the years has gotten worse, now apparently in a wheelchair.

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"Love can be seen as the answer, but nobody bleeds for the dancer"--Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Abortion as birth control

In an earlier post I spoke of Russia's huge abortion rate, and how it tends to be used as a substitute for contraception when it's legalized.  Now there comes a report out of Minnesota that sixteen women there had their tenth or more abortion just last year.  That same report also shows that the number of abortions per live birth in black Americans is almost four times that in whites. It also showed that most of the women had used contraceptives in the past, but were not using them at the time of conception, and that the method most often used was the condom, followed by the Pill. 

The report also showed that the vast majority of abortions were done because women "don't want children at this time," followed by economic reasons.  Other studies have shown that women living below the poverty level are four times more likely to have abortions than those whose income is three times the poverty level. 

See also Wikipedia article on teenage pregnancy

Remembering a couple of pro-life leaders from many years ago.

Pro-life just lost a great supporter a few days ago, but many younger people may not remember him.  He was Mark Hatfield, a Republican senator from Oregon, who, unlike many pro-lifers and many Republicans, was a liberal on social issues such as war and programs to fight poverty.  Another liberal pro-lifer from his time period was Democratic senator Tom Eagleton, whom presidential candidate George McGovern dumped as his running mate in 1972.  Interestingly, while Hatfield was senator his state’s other senator was a conservative pro-choicer named Rob Packwood.

A couple of upcoming events

I drove down to Life Perspectives in La Mesa today to get some information on the Lifewalk kickoff brunch, which they serve while teaching us about LP's activities and the upcoming Lifewalk, scheduled at Point Loma for around the end of October.  I also drove down to USD,  where they will be having the Mother-of-Life Conference Aug. 13.

missed opportunity tonight

I just found out they were having a prayer vigil outside one of Planned Parenthood's "cocktails for choice" fundraisers tonight.  I didn't find out about it earlier partly because our computer was down on its internet ability, partly becasue I wasn't checking my yahoo mail as often as I should have.  They have huge turnouts at those events.

The upcoming Mother of Life Conference

They will be holding the second annual Mother-of-Life Conference this year at the Jenny Craig Pavillion at USD.  I just made arrangements to buy a ticket for $35, which I may pick up when they hold vigil at the Planned Parenthood clinic next Saturday.  I had hoped to go last year, but work precluded that.  Lila Rose was at that one, and I would like to have met her.

Update, Aug 3:  I was able to get the ticket from Pat Hansen.

More on the Del Mar Fair

I went down to the fair Thursday to help with the pro-life table there.  They had a bunch of literature, including some from Life Perspectives which operates the Lifewalk I take place in once a year.  I wasn’t able to stay as long as I would have liked, partly because I was tired and the chairs weren’t comfortable, and I needed something to eat. 


I also went today and it was a bit more productive.  We had a lady come by who wanted to post a list of adoption agencies and we gave them to her.  I also learned a bit more about Sue Lopez, the lady who helped me get back into the swing of things after too long an absence.  What I learned was that during said absence pro-lifers were protesting abortion at the clinics by holding up the gruesome pictures of aborted babies, and it was Sue who helped steer pro-life in San Diego away from this and toward prayer vigils and a more conciliatory approach to the women who come in. Unfortunately my return proved bittersweet.

I recently became an admin for Pro Life Pagans at Facebook.  I’d first joined that page a few weeks ago, out of curiosity at first.  Some posts argued that abortion was inconsistent with the wiccan rede, which states “Live you must, and let to live” and “[if] it harm none, do what ye will.”

Pill articles I've mentioned

From time to time I’ve mentioned a series of links to pill articles that I’ve given away as CDs or floppys or emailed to people.  Here is a list of many of the links, plus a few on other matters.  My return to pro-life has been at best bittersweet.

Pro-life Physicians


Hormonal contraceptives as Birth Control
Hormone contraceptives:Controversies and clarifications
Birth Control, Abortifacient and Contraceptive  note the reference to a 3.5 cm size for the baby.  This is well after implantation has taken place.
Focus on the Family's position

Emergency contraception
NPR blog post on Plan B
Progesterone-only emergency contraception and ectopic pregnancy
The Mini-Pill or Progesterone-only pill
Effectiveness of levonorgestrel emergency contraception given before or after ovulation--a pilot study.
Postcoital treatment with levonorgestrel does not disrupt postfertilization events in the rat.

Ulipristal. Postcoital contraception: no better than levonorgestrel.
Emergency Contraception: a Last Chance to Prevent Unintended Pregnancy





Other links
How Pro-lifers should talk about Birth Control

Does birth control cause cancer?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1353209/Pill-fails-to-curb-teen-pregnancies.html  

article suggesting a link between multiple abortions and cervical cancer

carcinogenic risks of hormonal contraception and postmenopausal hormonal therapy
Early age at first sexual intercourse and early pregnancy are risk factors for cervical cancer in developing countries.

Wikipedia articles

Wikipedia IUD article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beginning_of_pregnancy_controversy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progesterone_only_pill
Wikipedia article on emergency contraception
Wikipedia article on "ella" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RU-486

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion-breast_cancer_hypothesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germain_Grisez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_T._Noonan,_Jr.

Revisting the San Diego County Fair

I went to the Del Mar fair today for the first time in too long.  They didn’t have the pro-life table there yet, but I went down anyway just to become familiar with the place once again.  The table will be in the San Diego Pavillion in the infield of the racetrack, and I have slots for June 30 and July 2.  If I get a chance, I’ll try to drop by there next Monday to see if there’s anyone familiar.

Be careful what you wish for

The Chicago Tribune has recently been reporting a number of incidents where abortion records were not being kept properly, including records of their complications.  Unfortunately this falls under the category of “Be careful what you wish for…”

Years ago Jack Willke and his wife wrote a book “Handbook on Abortion” that covered a number of issues relating to abortion.  In response to claims that we needed to legalize abortion to reduce illegal abortions, the Willkes argued that it would not reduce this, because of the privacy factor.  Even if abortion were legal, they argued that a wife pregnant by another man would still have it done illegally because of the possibility that the husband could find out from medical records that his wife had a legal abortion.  In the same way, a minor would go to an illegal abortionist for fear her parents might find out if she had it done legally.   By being so lax on record-keeping, they may have gotten rid of reasons for seeking illegal abortions, but the legal ones aren’t much safer, and there are more of them.

Ultrasound Equipment and Abortion-The Good News and the Bad News

Two news stories have recently revealed that the use of ultrasound can reduce the incidence of abortion.  Focus on the Family has recently claimed that its Option Ultrasound Program has saved 100,000 babies from abortion since its inception in 2004, and a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that ultrasound images reduce support for abortion.

The bad news is that keepsake ultrasound machines are apparently being used in Asian-American communities to determine the sex of the baby—and if the sex is female—it’s aborted.

San Diego County Fair

I just got an email on our upcoming activities at the San Diego County Fair.  I forwarded it to a few friends I know. I was able to secure two slots at the Del Mar Fair, Thursday, June 30 from 1-4 and Saturday, July 2 from 5-7.  I may try to hang around some other days, and I should probably practice driving to the Fair before this.  The Fair opens tomorrow, when I’ve been asked to cover another driver at the restaurant.  Between Saturday, June 11 and Monday, June 27 I should be able to drive down.  My car isn’t in the best of shape, so I may have to look for another car.  Ironically it’s in better shape than before I gave it a rest.

Today at the Planned Parenthood clinic

I joined the others in the group outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in El Cajon Saturday.  It didn’t really go over very well.  We said the rosary as we usually do, and in the middle of this an older couple asked us about birth control.  The lady in charge of leaflet distribution said simply, “It’s a sin.”   I started to say “I disagree” but was clearly out of place.  If they had responded by saying the Pill causes early abortion I would have been able to argue that the evidence isn’t as convincing as is often believed.  As it was I simply gave them the rosary pamphlet and left.  I didn’t really want to do that.  I’ve often had to leave early because of difficulty standing for long periods, and the people there have been understanding.  But is it any wonder we lose the younger people? 

An odd thing happened today

I got a reply from Elena di Ventra of 40 Days for Life at San Marcos.  It was a reply to a collection of Pill and spermicide articles that I sent that group as a link quite a few months ago, if not at least a year ago.  The irony is that since then I’ve deleted the spermicide articles from the google document that letter linked to.  It was from some studies suggesting a connection between spermicides and birth defects.  Some pro-life sites have posted literature suggesting a connection, but the American Life League has since removed that information. Familyplanning.net and CCLI.org still have this, but don’t link to any medical articles suggesting a relationship (I wrote to both those organizations about that, but didn’t get a response and still haven’t seen any such links put up.). Medical articles aren’t really clear on this.  It was for these reasons that I deleted the spermicide links.  I’d given Elena a CD on this when we took part in the vigil at San Marcos a few weeks ago that still contained the spermicide links, and I’m guessing this is what prompted the response at this late date.

I sent the pill links about a week ago to both Timmerie Millington, formerly of 40 Days for Life Miramar, and Kelsey Hazzard of Secular pro-life.  I may take part in a vigil at the local Planned Parenthood clinic, and may be on a pro-life booth at the San Diego County Fair if one is set up and I learn of it. 

Today's mail

Today my mom got some mail from Planned Parenthood, even though she has never believed in abortion.  She is a democrat, which is probably one reason she's been on their mailing list.  The stamp on the envelope said "Nonprofit org".  Yeah, right.

Rosary@San Marcos

We did a rosary at Dr. Kung's office in San Marcos, near San Marcos State University.   It's not a coincidence that they would have an abortion mill right next to a college.   Elena di Ventra was there, along with a total of about 30 people.  I gave her some information on the pill, which I discussed in an earlier post on this blog.  There were a couple of younger women there who were in tears when they were praying the rosary, and it's not hard to guess why.  I left early, partly because it's difficult to stand for long periods of time, and partly just in case Elena wanted to talk to them after the rosary.  I may try to go to the El Cajon clinic tomorrow.

On the eve of Mother's Day

 We had a pro-life vigil today near the bay, where we usually have the Jan. 22 vigil.  Turnout wasn't as huge as the Jan. 22, but we had about 20 people.  We held signs saying "Aren't you glad your mom chose life?" and "Thanks mom for my life." We were there for a couple of hours.  Roger and Luis were there, among others.

an update, plus some things a few years ago

No luck in going to the vigil tomorrow at the hotel.  The other driver had agreed to work, but didn't realize his school project was due Wednesday, not Friday, so he had to back out this morning.

They’re thinking of reestablishing a booth at the San Diego County fair in the summer.  This is something that pro-life did many years ago which I always looked forward to, and I always hated it when work kept me from going.  I embarked on a walking program beginning in the spring of 2006 so I would be able to do that kind of stuff again.   It consisted of driving around to a number of supermarkets and drugstores and walking the circumference of those stores.   I would stop at one pair of stores, walk the circumference of them, then drive to another set of stores, and do the same.  I got up to around 10 or 12 such stores before making the jump to walking the mall at Parkway Plaza in the fall and winter of 2008 and 2009.  I was on cloud nine when I got to this point, but events would soon bring a big damper on this. 

My dad often suffered falls, which they thought was benign positional vertigo.  In February 2009 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  They gave him some medicines and assigned a couple of physical therapists to help him try to walk better, but he continued to fall.  In March 2009 they told us to take him to the hospital, which we did.  He never came home.  He was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy, which is a very severe form of Parkinson’s disease that doesn’t respond to the medication Parkinson’s normally responds to.  He was shuttled back and forth between the hospital and the nursing home about every two weeks.  The chairs at the nursing home were quite uncomfortable for both me and my mom when we visited Dad.  I tried to hide it as best I could, but he sensed something was off.  My dad died on May 3 of that year, after he died I learned I had an old compression fracture of one of the vertebrae.





Dad's_Caringbridge_Page


my_dad's_obit


Could_Shy-Drager_be_a_type_of_Alzheimer's?

Russia's efforts to combat abortion

I just saw an article by liveaction.org, which describes a bill in Russia to disqualify abortion as a medical service and thus allow doctors to refuse to perform one. I remembered an article by another publication a couple years ago that Russia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, with about 70% of pregnancies being aborted, and that a city in Russia was to observe a week without abortion. 

Russia has such a high abortion rate because it legalized abortion in the 1920’s, even before the Scandinavian countries.  This was also long before the Pill or even some of the barrier methods had become widely available.

When a country legalizes abortion, we tend to see a new demographic of women seeking abortions.  Before legalization most women who have abortions did so because their birth control methods failed, and after legalization abortion is more likely to be used as a substitute for birth control.  There has been discussion within the pro-life community on whether contraceptives are a solution, but in Russia’s case by the time these methods were available abortion had already become ingrained as a solution to unwanted pregnancy.

An update 7/03/2011:

Lifesitenews reports Russia is expected to enact a law requiring warning labels on abortion ads describing risks to health from abortion, including permanent infertility.

Pro-life Stations of the Cross

I went to the Good Friday Stations of the Cross ceremony in San Diego today to protest abortion.  We started at St. Joseph’s cathedral and walked over to Horton Plaza and said the mass, then walked back to the church.  I saw Pat, Molly and Debbie there, along with Roger and a few other familiar faces.

The next event is a vigil at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel on Tuesday, April 26, when Planned Parenthood hosts a fund-raising dinner.  I’ll have to ask to have that day off, as I normally work on Tuesdays.  I would have posted about this here, but we got a notice saying not to post it on a public website.  40 Days for Life has since posted it on Facebook, so I’m guessing it’s ok to post here.  I attended such an event last year, but there weren’t that may protesters, less than I’ve often seen at the local PP clinic on Fridays and Saturdays.  It was in contrast to a huge turnout five or six months earlier when Planned Parenthood hosted a “cocktails for choice” event at a bar in San Diego.  There were about 40 or 50 protesters then.  There were a few teenage girls who were screaming, “It’s a child, not a choice!”  There was nothing of this at the Hotel a few months later, at least in the time I was there.

Upcoming pro-life events

I went to the closing ceremony for the 40 Days for Life Campaign in Poway today.  I didn’t stay that long, because the folding metal chairs were quite uncomfortable.  They were similar to those in the nursing home where my dad was at a couple of years ago.  Those chairs were quite uncomfortable for both me and my mom when we visited Dad.  I tried to hide it as best I could, but he sensed something was off.  After he died I learned I had an old compression fracture of one of the vertebrae.

I did pick up some flyers about some upcoming events.  I had a CD containing articles on the Pill, but decided not to share it at this time. I’ve already given a number of people copies of this.  Apparently beginning in 1998, some pro-life doctors began to challenge pro-life’s position that the pill causes very early abortions, arguing that the child can implant in environments far more hostile than endometrial linings thinned by oral contraceptives, such as ectopic pregnancies.  I privately wondered about this discrepancy back in 1979, and when I first saw this work I began thinking I may have been on to something after all. Stuff I've been reading since then suggests most contraceptives, including IUDs and emergency contraception, seem to work at least primarily by preventing fertilization.  A notable exception may be when IUDs are used as emergency contraception. When I’ve taken part in vigils at the local Planned Parenthood clinic, they’d sometimes hand out literature saying the Pill causes early abortions, and it makes me wonder about younger people who would join our group for about a week or two, and then drop out.

These were things I didn't feel I could talk to my parents about when I was younger, even though they were pro-life, partly because I knew they had relied on the Pill after we kids were born.  I wish very much I'd been able to talk to them.  This knowledge compromised my ability to form a relationship, and it was compounded a few years later when I saw an article linking spermicides to birth defects. (A few years after that I saw another article saying that study had been flawed.)   I felt the best approach was to throw myself as wholeheartedly into pro-life activities as I could, while my parents were more concerned with my ability to find everyday work.  Efforts to do both proved unsuccessful.  When I was younger my dad and I were close, but over the years some things went horribly wrong, stemming in part from how I didn't feel I could talk to him about those issues.  At the end, his last words to me were to tell me to go to hell. 
And then there's the next day.

The next post dealing with my own activities is here.

Earth Day

They're having Earth Day at Balboa Park, and Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust are having a booth set up there.  See here.  I was hoping to go today, but have to work.  In theory I might be able to squeeze in a short time there and head on over to work, but a lot of things could go wrong.  Tomorrow evening they're having the closing program for 40 Days for Life at 7pm at St. Michael's Parish Center in Poway, and Friday they're having the pro-life Stations of the Cross at Horton Plaza at 1:15 pm.