Pro-lifers win as clinics dwindle

Rockford Register Star (Rockford, IL) ^ | January 26, 2003 | Richard O'Connor

[toenail]

Pro-lifers win as clinics dwindle

Rockford Register Star (Rockford, IL); January 26, 2003 Sunday

INSIGHT; Pg. 3H; GUEST COLUMN By Richard O'Connor, Staff Special to the Rockford Register Star

Jan. 22 was the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that overturned all state abortion bans. Instead of settling the issue, however, it ignited a firestorm of protest nationwide that shows no sign of abating. So after 30 years of abortion-on-demand, it's time to ask, "Which side is winning?"

ALTHOUGH PRO-LIFERS have made heroic and costly attempts to return legal protection to the unborn, they must admit that no unborn baby in any state is safe from the abortionists' knives yet. More and more pro-life leaders have come to see that victory will not come through politics alone, certainly not at the national level. The Republican Party has betrayed them continually, backing pro-abortion candidates against pro-lifers in the primaries, using contributions from pro-lifers to help elect pro-abortion Republicans over pro-life Democrats, supporting pro-abortion organizations such as Republicans for Choice, awarding influential party leadership positions to hard-core pro-aborts, confirming pro-abortion federal judges, choosing presidential candidates who won't commit to naming even one pro-life judge to the Supreme Court and appropriating tax dollars to fund organizations such as Planned Parenthood.

However, it takes pro-life legislators in each state capital to pass restrictions such as parental involvement, waiting periods, clinic regulations, informed consent, etc., and in those battles, pro-lifers definitely are winning. Such restrictions, plus practitioner burnout, malpractice lawsuits and a dwindling pool of young doctors willing to ruin their careers and reputations, have had a staggering effect on the abortion industry. Listen to their laments.

"ABORTION OPPONENTS will achieve their goal without ever having to overturn Roe v. Wade." (Kate Michelman, director, National Abortion Rights Action League, 1997.)

"We've seen a turn-off of physicians coming into this field." (Ed Boaz, abortionist, ABC World News Tonight.)

"There is clearly, absolutely a physician shortage. The situation is worse now than it was 20 years ago." (Claire Keyes, director, Allegheny Reproductive Health Center, 1999.)

"Providers are continuing to decline. Abortion is less and less accessible." (Pat Brogan, Planned Parenthood, 2000.)

"Without access, Roe v. Wade is just so many words on paper." (Mary Lou Greenburg, pro-abortion activist, U.S. News and World Report, 1998.)

Why are so few young doctors filling the gaps?

"... ABORTION REALLY has never come out of the back alley. What everyone thinks about is these greedy, untrained, kind of seedy characters, and a lot of the talk in the 1990 symposium was about the stigma attached to abortion providers, and how they're sort of lower class and not always thought of well by their colleagues." (Rachel Atkins, abortionist, National Abortion Federation Annual Meeting, 1998.)

"For the most part, the pro-lifers are winning. That's why so many OB/Gyns aren't doing this. It's not worth it." (Wayne Goldner, abortionist, The Concord Monitor, 2000.)

"It's true. Abortion providers are perceived as not very good doctors, that they have no alternative, so they do abortions, that they cannot earn a living any other way." (Richard Hausknecht, abortionist, The New York Times Magazine, 1998.)

The media agree. "The shadow world of abortion makes providing abortion less and less appealing, even to doctors who consider themselves 'pro-choice.' The passage of Roe v. Wade did not erase a medical history in which 'abortionist' was an insult worse than 'quack'." (The New York Times Magazine, 1998.)

As Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics Inc. says, "Abortionists have been dreading the day we figured out that access controls the future of abortion in America, and now the nightmare is coming true." Locally, according to records kept by sidewalk counselors at Dr. Ragsdale's makeshift clinic in Rockford, abortions were down by about 200 in 2001 and turnarounds doubled. The incremental approach is working, then, even if many pro-lifers themselves don't realize it. The sooner more of them do, the sooner they'll see the last clinic go out of business.

---

Richard O'Connor is a resident of Pearl City.

[Guillermo]

Abortionists should be stigmatized and "womens health clinics" should be exposed for what they are.

[TXBubba]

Thank you for the post. This is good news. I agree that abortions will be ended due to the culture more than the legalities.

[xJones]

Oh my, the stigma of being an abortionist. Even though it's a highly lucrative field, there's still the stigma. Let's face it, would you feel comfortable meeting an abortionist in a social setting? It's not like you want to hear about his fascinating work day. And many would have problems shaking hands with one. Undertakers, that's fine. I don't want to hear about their work either, but care of the already dead is a necessary and honorable part of society. Abortionists = murderers of new life and that's something we all know at some level, no matter how hard some try to deny it.

[MHGinTN]

I would offer that as long as late term (16the week or later) is legal, a too significant number of abortion centers will continue because they're well connected to the fetal tissue industry. If a suit were brought to force the abortionists to certify the death of the prenatal, prior to tissue harvesting (such is not found in the chain of abortion then fetal tissue harvesting), the reality would eventually sink in that these are individual humans being willfully slaughtered and chopped up for body parts.

[holden]

Roe v. Wade did not erase a medical history in which 'abortionist' was an insult worse than 'quack'

The stigma against unethical doctors should not be lifted so long as such a person chooses to terminate life without due process and at the whim and convenience of a beneficiary.

HF

[Iris7]

Thank God for those struggling to save the lives of tiny babies. Be fearful, for God is just. Amen.

[MHGinTN]

Think about it: such a suit would be picked up by the media, for the sensationalism of it, and those who want the slaughter to continue would inadvertinently reveal to the American people the humanity of those they want slaughtered in order to argue against the death certificate!

[Skooz]

Maybe someday those who commit abortions will be stigmatized as badly as those who, say, smoke cigarettes.

[Let's Roll]

Yes. I drive by a Planned ParentHood Clinic every day on my way to work. More than half the time there is a single person picketing. Not the same person every time. They are on the public sidwalk - maybe a hundred feet from where the clinic's "patients" park and go into what seems like the back door. There is no attempt to keep the cars from entering the parking lot. No calling out to the occupants of the cars etc.

I have seen a Franciscan complete with robe, tonsure and sandals walking back and forth on the sidewalk. Sometimes it's a person dressed in street clothes and carrying a poster. Most of the time, it's someone dressed in street clothes and holding their arm out with a rosary hanging from their fist. This silent witness repeated over and over is very effective and moving.

It is working.

[toenail]

And speaking of Ragsdale....

[xzins]

This is one field in which we need a whole truck load of pro-life, malpractice lawyers chasing these guys for every damage done.

Physical, psychological, emotional, paternal...etc. Tie them up in court until they quit.

[Lil'freeper]

I taught until recently at a Catholic high school, a boys school serving a rather wealthy community. For the most part they were good, generous Catholic families and raised their boys to respect life. One young man, however, was outspokenly (comically) liberal and made himself quite the target of ridicule by his somewhat conservative peers- especially during the 2000 election when he proudly plastered his notebooks and locker with Gore/Lieberman stickers. Needless to say, the drama of the election was rather hard on him.

One day, his peers discovered his dad was a doctor and, much to their amusement, an OB/GYN to boot. They were all about 14 at the time, so you can just imagine. One of the boys in homeroom asked, "So he delivers babies?" "Sort of," the young liberal said. Even though there are many other things OB/GYNs do beside that, a strange look came over the first boys face. And with a voice that brought the room to a standstill with all eyes facing the young liberal he said, "Oh my God, your dad does abortions." "Well, yeah," said the liberal in a 'doesn't everybody?' voice.

"Your dad kills babies," said another boy. The levity was gone. No more Gore jokes. No more anatomy jokes. This was serious. His peers passed a horrible judgement on him: son of a baby-killer.

My partner in the study hall, a wonderful pro-life Biology teacher, stepped in and forced a change in conversation. The rescue was temporary, however, because the "babykiller" label stuck. I felt a little sorry for the boy at first and spoke quietly with each of the boys shortly thereafter, but my tough-love mentality said this was a valuable lesson for the young lib to learn. Baby-killers deserve no respect, nor do their defenders. Sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing. No "teacher" could have accomplished as much.

[Lil'freeper]

I'd love for a class-action lawyer to take up the breast cancer issue. I don't normally approve of class actions, but maybe just this once...

[alisasny]

It is so sad to me that a trained doctor would ever go into this field of practice.

[AppyPappy]

It's really convoluted. If abortion is legal, we want the clinics to have the best doctors and the best facilities. But the liberals want abortion to be affordable. So they ended up with the worst doctors and the worst facilities.

[alisasny]

your thoughts on this"

I have a 37 year old girlfriend. Never married, no kids. Very lonely yet successful. She keeps choosing the wrong men and none of her relationships last. Except her first lastest a while when we were late teens early 20's. Then suddenly the relationship was over and I sense she has never gotten over it. I wonder if she had an abortion. How do you think it would go over if I asked her. If she confirms then maybe I can lead her towards help.

[alisasny]

The entire abortion industry has a huge stinky stigma. How else can you explain no one telling the world how great their abortion was and how it totally saved their lives...etc...etc...etc....

Why the silence if its so great? I have never heard of anyone bragging about the abortion they just had nor ever heard anyone bring it up more than once after they had one. And that is provided it is a spouse or close friend. The silence is deafening.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[madprof98]

Fascinating. Wonder why this guy would send his kid to a Catholic school? A while back, Newsweek ran a "My Turn" column by a girl whose mother was the only abortionist in Alaska to do late-term baby-killings. The girl whined about how badly everyone treated her, how "intolerant" they were, and so on. I thought that was good evidence that society has not completely eliminated all stigmas for deviant behavior.