Posted on 02/23/2008 3:16:44 AM PST by bad company
An artist killed herself after aborting her twins when she was eight weeks pregnant, leaving a note saying: "I should never have had an abortion. I see now I would have been a good mum."
Emma Beck was found hanging at her home in Helston, Cornwall, on Feb 1 2007. She was declared dead early the following day - her 31st birthday.
Her suicide note read: "I told everyone I didn't want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died. I want to be with my babies: they need me, no-one else does."
The inquest at Truro City Hall heard that Miss Beck had split up with her boyfriend, referred to as "Ben" after he "reacted badly" to the pregnancy.
She saw her GP before the termination, but missed an appointment at a hospital in Penzance. She then cancelled, but later turned up to an appointment at a clinic at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske. The counsellor was on holiday so a doctor referred Miss Beck to a pregnancy counselling telephone service eight days before carrying out the abortion when she was eight weeks pregnant, the inquest heard.
The coroner, Dr Emma Carlyon, ordered that the identities of the doctor who performed the abortion and her lead consultant be kept secret.
The inquest heard that Sylvia Beck, the victim's mother, wrote to the hospital after her daughter's death, saying: "I want to know why she was not given the opportunity to see a counsellor.
"She was only going ahead with the abortion because her boyfriend did not want the twins.
"I believe this is what led Emma to take her own life - she could not live with what she had done."
The doctor said: "I discussed Emma's situation with her, and wrote on the form, 'Unsupported, lives alone, ex-partner aware'.
"It is normal practice to give a woman the number for telephone counselling when a counsellor is not available.
"I am satisfied that everything was done to make sure that Emma consented to the operation.
She added: "We have since appointed more counsellors so there is more holiday cover."
Katie Gibbs, Miss Beck's GP, told the hearing: "She was extremely distressed by the abortion procedure, and I didn't think she ever came to terms with it.
"She had a long history of anxiety and depression. Despite my best efforts, she was not willing to see a counsellor after the termination."
Her boss at the clinic, said: "The time that can be given to a woman by a counsellor is limited in a busy hospital.
"I am satisfied everything was done to make sure Emma was consenting to surgery. I don't feel there was any gap in the counselling service.
"There were lots of individuals who would be alert to any doubts. The comments made by Emma's mother are not about a doctor I recognise."
Mrs Beck told the court: "Emma was considered a talented artist, and sold a number of paintings.
"She was pleased when she became pregnant, but Ben reacted badly to the news."
Recording a verdict of suicide, Dr Carlyon said: "It is clear that a termination can have a profound effect on a woman's life.
"But I am reassured by the evidence of the doctors here."
The militant feminists and the rest of the Left have portrayed "abortion rights" as a part of the "liberation" of women, but clearly here a mother was forced to kill her children (which goes against all human instinct and natural affection) by a rotten louse of a male.
I wonder how much of this mindset is behind the near psychosis of vast numbers of last two generations of females
Ladies, don't bother getting your panties all in twist over my comment. I've been around long enough to see the change.
Incredibly tragic.
St. Peter is not the one they should be worried about seeing...
Of course, too, repentance toward God is more than just remorse over some wrong. It has to be a remorse in light of God’s judgment over our wrong and not just some sense that we’ve messed up.
We, as a society have come to accept co-habitation as being normal and acceptable. Who needs that piece of paper, anyway?
I’ve also been taught that if you take your own life ya go to purgatory forever.
If true, purgatory with child murderer hanging over your head for ya to think about forever?
I want to be with my babies: they need me, no-one else does."
I am amazed that someone who aborts her children, then takes her own life, somehow thinks she will automatically travel to a "Parent Heaven" where she is with them and raising them in paradise outside of a Christian perspective.
I’m glad you’ve got it all figured out. I’ll post a memo to God. I’ll bet He’s more merciful than you give Him credit for.
Or maybe He’s more holy and just than you realize. Search the scriptures. His mercy is extended to all that believe in His Son. It’s not just the realization of a set of moral absolutes that brings the mercy, but the acknowledgment of the Author of those absolutes.
I just don't know - that is a big question, but I disagree with you that taking your life is the most sincere form of remorse and repentance.
My mother took her own life, but she was severely mentally ill. I don't know how God judged her for that.
In most suicides, people are completely lucid and are not clinically insane.
I read a story once about a woman who took her own life, but was revived and survived. She had a "near death" experience of being in a terrible place, and her a voice saying that killing herself was the "worst thing she could have done." Murder itself is evil because it is an assault on God's image (us), and it is spitting the face of the Almighty who gives us life itself.
Feeling sorry for one' sins is the only right starting point, but for true forgiveness, one needs true repentance, it has to be in light of God's standard of right vs. wrong.
It's not enough to simply be sorry because you missed up, it needs to progress to an understanding of "I've wronged God."
How can you be released from a debt, even an eternal debt, if you don't believe that you owe it?
British penchant for understatement notwithstanding, this statement encapsulates the insensitivity and moral bankruptcy afoot in the culture of death: Assiduously avoiding the "a" word, allowing that it only "can have" a profound effect on a woman and, oh, by the way, no mention of the dead babies.
I pray that he is more merciful - no one fully knows the extent of God’s Grace. Problem is, if she did not have a personal relationship with Jesus, her changes are not real good.
I pray for her and the babies...
Amen to that.
And to Calvary John: I apologize to you if my words appeared to be anything resembling a slap at you. That was not my intention.
“There were lots of individuals who would be alert to any doubts.”
Yes, and how are they trained to address those doubts?
THEY DISMISS THEM AND ASSURE THEM THE ABORTION IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!!!!!!
The very fact we sinners are breathing air right this minute is witness to His mercy! I do not presume to understand the depths of it. That was not the point. I do not have God all figured out by any means. I just go by what His word says. It tells us He is merciful (the very definition of mercy—as we shall all one day realize), but it tells that He is other things, as well. He is holy and just and righteous, etc.
As to this particular woman, there is nothing in the reporting of her story that indicates anywhere that she embraced God’s provision of ultimate mercy, His Son. And there is nothing that says she didn’t. The hope is that, while not recording it on paper, she believed it in her heart, gave earnest heed to it as she entered into this sad, desperate act. If I were a family member who had placed his faith and trust in God and God alone for my salvation, this is what I would have to hold on to. Else, according to scripture, this woman’s tragic end leads to an endless separation from God.
The mispelt words are mine, everything else is God's truth.
How very sad.
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