Quote of the Day 11-15-10
On the way to the clinic, however, Michelle saw a nearby building with a large sign: “Unintended Pregnancy?” Thinking it was our clinic, she went in. She was surprised that instead of taking her medical history, the staff asked her about her relationship with God. They told her that ending a pregnancy is murder, and if she followed through with her abortion, the baby would feel pain during the procedure. They showed her pictures of fetuses from much later in pregnancy. “I can’t get them out of my head,” she said.
I expected Michelle to say that she had changed her mind and wanted to leave our clinic. Instead, she touched my arm, looked into my eyes, and thanked me for being there. “I’m ready now.”
This young woman had determined on her own that she did not want to be pregnant. She considered all of her options, and she chose abortion. She did not want to be a mother right then. She wanted to continue her education. Despite the propaganda that the crisis pregnancy center forced on Michelle, she chose to end her pregnancy….
… [T]raumatizing women with misinformation doesn’t help anyone. Pregnant women need care and counseling based on medical evidence and compassion, not lies.
~Self-described “family physician” and abortion provider Dr. Lynette Leighton, discussing her support for NYC’s crisis pregnancy center “disclosure” bill, RH Reality Check, November 15
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
She did not want to be a mother right then.
Too late.
She wanted a dead baby and she got one. So why is anyone complaining?
Women should be aware of all stages of fetal development. And men too. Kids should be taught the basics in biology, right alongside the development of other plants and animals on this planet.
Should Taco Bell post signs that they don’t serve sushi? Should my dentist post signs that he’s not going to check your athlete’s foot? Or maybe my local hair salon should post a sign saying that they don’t do smog checks?
Lynette,
Hmmm. Why do I have a hard time believing that this scenario actually happened??
They dared to show her pictures of fetuses at various stages of development? Oh, the horrors! The brainwashing! No, no, no, no – women need to be kept in the dark about fetal development. They ought to choose abortion without knowing what they’re aborting. :P Speaking of lies and deception…
On a side note: I volunteered at a CPC for 2 years and the very first thing we have each client do before we discuss anything, is to sign our disclaimer which states clearly that we are a Christian ministry that does not refer for abortion.
Must be nice to have the imagination to make up “fairy tales” such as this scenario. I’m with Carla…I don’t believe a word of it.
““I’m ready now.”
—————–
Hmmm……haven’t heard that before…..
She did not want to be a mother right then. She wanted to continue her education. Despite the propaganda that the crisis pregnancy center forced on Michelle, she chose to end her pregnancy….
Lynnette – you can’t unmake her a mother – from conception on, she is a mother. Now she’s the mother of a dead child.
Do you think that’s inconsequential?
I say let’s go examine the medical evidence – all of it. Including all the risks involved in abortion.
Did you provide all of those?
November 15th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Must be nice to have the imagination to make up “fairy tales” such as this scenario. I’m with Carla…I don’t believe a word of it.
I believe this story. It’s probably embellished with important details left out, but I would say it’s likely true. No doubt the teen *was* traumatized by seeing pictures of fetuses. I would imagine abortion is easier to justify if you believe the fetus is only a lump of unformed cells. Prochoicers prefer that women choose abortion without ambivalence; that’s why they don’t like them to hear the heartbeat or see the ultrasound or understand fetal development. But of course, this means informed consent is less likely. So, it’s ironic that they accuse CPC’s of deception. PCers are so steeped in deception that they don’t even recognize their own methods of deceiving.
Whether true or not, it’s a pretty lame story, at any rate, because the only supposed “lie” told by the CPC was that abortion is murder. Since when is an opinion a lie? An abortion provider will insist that abortion is not the taking of human life, and that’s their opinion. But science says that a fetus IS a human life. So, saying that abortion is killing couldn’t possibly be a lie. And if the point of the article was to show that CPCs are unscientific, then why use an anecdote in which the CPC in question showed the teen photos of fetal development?! lol Is fetal development unscientific and unmedical? Come on … :P
<em>They showed her pictures of fetuses from much later in pregnancy. “I can’t get them out of my head,” she said.</em>
What, no “doctored photos?” You mean actual photos of fetuses in different stages of fetal development? You mean fetuses slightly larger than the one she was carrying at the time (and probably fetuses the same size and stage as hers as well, but hey, why include that little detail!).
<em>This young woman had determined on her own that she did not want to be pregnant. She considered all of her options, and she chose abortion…. Despite the propaganda that the crisis pregnancy center forced on Michelle, she chose to end her pregnancy….</em>
But, but but… I thought all women who went to CPCs were duped into keeping their babies! I thought women couldn’t think clearly if they went to a CPC!! You mean no one tied her to a chair and blocked the door and refused to let her LEAVE? :O (Oh, and btw, it’s not unusual for women to view the information given them and still choose abortion. But the point is, she GOT the information and wasn’t ill-informed as to EXACTLY what she was choosing.)
She did not want to be a mother right then.
Yeah, as Carla pointed out, too late. Much too late.
<em>She wanted to continue her education. </em>
And as we all know, motherhood means you are damned to never, never, EVER get an education.
<em>Pregnant women need care and counseling based on medical evidence and compassion, not lies.</em>
I completely agree. Which is why CPCs (which do not charge for services or make money off adoptions or off women choosing to carry to term) exist. To counter the “it’s just a clump of cells” tripe from abortion clinics.
Another part of the story didn’t ring absolutely true. Abortion facilities don’t care about your medical history. Many just take your word for it and don’t even conduct a pregnancy test. All I was ever asked was, “Cash or check?” No one asked me a thing about myself or my health.
I was asked, “Visa or Mastercard?”
Hmmmm….what is that fishy smell?
Click on the link and read the first comment after the article: now there’s an unbelievable CPC story. I laughed out loud reading it, it was so far-fetched.
NEWSFLASH: It is possible to continue your education AND be a parent!
Oh, the horrors. This young woman was shown pictures of . . . fetuses!
How come this facility isn’t named? And why don’t any of the women who were so “traumatized” ever testify? It’s always an abortion clinic employee, or someone from NARAL or PP. Kind of biased, aren’t they?
I bet that this bill will pass. NYC is pretty much the abortion capitol not only of the country, but the world.
Remember the piece by Susan Dominus “exposing” the CPC’s? Here’s a letter I wrote to her. Not surprisingly, i never received a reply.
Dear Ms. Dominus:
I read with great interest your piece in the October 11, 2010 issue of The New York Times about crisis pregnancy centers. While I do not live in New York, I have worked as a volunteer at centers in my hometown of Philadelphia, including a hotline sponsored by Catholic Social Services (I am not Catholic). I have never heard anyone involved with one of these centers tell a woman that God would “not forgive her” for having an abortion, not do I know of any center that shows women pictures of aborted fetuses, as we have been accused of doing. We try to be nonjudgmental and compassionate.
You quote reports from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice New York about how these centers “mislead” women. Don’t you think these sources are rather biased? Why not talk to one of the literally thousands of women who have been assisted by one of these centers? In a city as large as New York, I’m sure you could find at least one. Our local prolife group has helped pregnant women with housing, diapers, cribs, formula and much more.
Prochoicers often accuse the prolife movement of not respecting the decision-making abilities of women. No, the CPC’s do not offer or refer for abortions. We offer assistance to women who want to carry their babies to term and need help. Are women really so stupid that they don’t know what “abortion alternatives” means?
I know about the help that pregnancy resource centers give because when I found myself unexpectantly pregnant, I used their services. My bright and beautiful daughter is now 22 years old and a senior at ______ College.
Thank you for listening.
joan Your comment is awaiting moderation.
November 15th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
That’s a wonderful story, a triumph of self-esteem and determination, that this young woman didn’t allow herself to be cowed into taking a permanent course of action that she intellectually knew was not right for her in response to temporary emotional stimuli being peddled by the reproductive health equivalent of used car salesmen. It’s stories like this that remind me just how important reproductive rights are.
Huh. That’s strange. I’m sure there isn’t a moderator here trying to silence me by placing my posts into moderation…
Author: joan
Comment:
That’s a wonderful story, a triumph of self-esteem and determination, that this young woman didn’t allow herself to be cowed into taking a permanent course of action that she intellectually knew was not right for her in response to temporary emotional stimuli being peddled by the reproductive health equivalent of used car salesmen. It’s stories like this that remind me just how important reproductive rights are.
And yet she told the abortion provider that she was disturbed by the fetal pictures which she couldn’t get out of her head. This suggests that she may have become morally uneasy with the thought of killing the fetus she was carrying. In which case, strength is not the word that comes to mind in regards to her decision, but rather denial and/or desperation. A “permanent course of action” was taken, Joan, and I would argue that she “intellectually knew” abortion was not right for her via the very fact that she was so disturbed by the fetal photographs.
Her reaction to the pictures was emotional. Her decision to go through with her pregnancy termination was the intellectual choice she made after setting aside her emotional reaction. Being able to set aside the emotional and concentrate on the rational is the hallmark of a well-developed mind.
Should Taco Bell post signs that they don’t serve sushi? Should my dentist post signs that he’s not going to check your athlete’s foot? Or maybe my local hair salon should post a sign saying that they don’t do smog checks?
Of course they don’t have to. The whole thing is rather ridiculous. I hope the centers take them to court.
The problem with that analogy is that nobody would ever go into one of those establishments with the reasonable expectation that they could receive those services there. The same is not true of a “crisis pregnancy center”. Someone without the prior knowledge of what a “crisis pregnancy center” is could easily be misled into believing that such an organization provides abortions. Which, of course, is the whole purpose behind the intentionally vague name to begin with: these centers want to mislead women into approaching them and then using that opportunity to guilt trip them into keeping their unwanted pregnancies. If these organizations called themselves something more honest like “abortion prevention centers” instead, this present controversy wouldn’t even exist.
I guess nobody at the abortion mill congratulated Michelle on just becoming the mother of a dead baby.
Hallmark hasn’t gotten on that one yet.
Phillymiss,
I agree with you, it is just a little bit strange this CPC is never named. In all of these anecdotes I read, the big bad CPC is always very elusive and generic. I highly doubt pro-choicers care about protecting the privacy of these centers, considering they view them as manipulative and evil.
@Adair — or it could be that they are afraid of lawsuits.
@Joan – Someone without the prior knowledge of what a “crisis pregnancy center” is could easily be misled into believing that such an organization provides abortions
And if they find out that the CPC does not provide abortions, who or what is stopping them from walking out?
Phillymiss, my mom used to do this wierd thing. She’d open these thick things, called “books” and read them. Then she took this stuff called “paper” and she’d make notes on it with these long sticks that made marks appear on the paper. I think they called them pencils. This odd activity apparently is called “doing homework.” Now, most abortionists think you as a woman have to kill children before you can manage this strange and wondrous activity. I even know of a local college that has a place for all the students’ kids. They can stay in there, play and ride bikes, and some of them even do that wierd thing I just described called homework. It’s called, wait, I’ll remember, oh yeah, “daycare.”
Can you imagine? What kind of crazy people read and write term papers with living children breathing all over the place?!?
“Being able to set aside the emotional and concentrate on the rational….” -Joan
Is it rational to intentionally kill an innocent human being?
If these organizations called themselves something more honest like “abortion prevention centers” instead, this present controversy wouldn’t even exist.
Huh. But I thought the clinics that dispensed birth control were supposed to be “preventing abortion.” Interesting.
And CPCs, for the most part, see women who are either undecided about abortion and seeking more information (as proven by the fact that most do not walk in off the street, but instead make appointments by phone), or women who are not even considering abortion and know they can use the help and emotional support during an unplanned pregnancy. And our standard procedure was that if a woman called and asked “Do you do abortions?” our answer was unequivocally “no. We offer free pregnancy tests, information on abortion risks, procedures, and fetal development. Would you care to make an appointment?” In my years of working there and answering the phone (in a high minority, high poverty area, no less), the women usually made appointments to come in anyway. I can only recall one… ONE… in my years of working there who was dead-set on having an abortion and left and went on to have the abortion. She was of a higher income and college age, going into the military. But a year or two later, she brought in two young teenage girls and asked me to give them information on abstinence and STDs because “you were honest and gave me all the information, regardless of my decision. I knew this was the place I needed to bring them to give them the big picture.” She didn’t want those girls to find themselves in her situation in 5 years.
And if they find out that the CPC does not provide abortions, who or what is stopping them from walking out?
Phillymiss, don’t you know? Don’t you know they have special brainwashing powers and they even tie the women to chairs and put huge, intimidating bodyguards at the front doors who refuse to let women leave?
But when they go into the abortion clinics, they have full control over their faculties. I think the CPCs must just be magical, causing unsuspecting women to lose control over their brain functions once they enter. Y’know?
@Kel – And CPCs, for the most part, see women who are either undecided about abortion and seeking more information (as proven by the fact that most do not walk in off the street, but instead make appointments by phone), or women who are not even considering abortion and know they can use the help and emotional support during an unplanned pregnancy.
@Joan – If these organizations called themselves something more honest like “abortion prevention centers” instead, this present controversy wouldn’t even exist.
Meh, if they called themselves “abortion prevention centers” you pro-aborts would STILL find something to b**ch and moan about. Why don’t you admit it – you just don’t want them around at ALL!
Kel,
9 months is a long time to be tied in a chair but how else are we going to help these girls??!!
Phillymiss,
Proaborts only care for one choice. Abortion.
Kel, I even heard one person say that CPC’s “force” women to have natural childbirth — the pain is punishment for having sex without being married.
Okay, whatever.
I think abortion clinics should be required to list ALL of the services THEY DO NOT provide. Does an abortionist want a young woman to abort her child because she was never told what is growing inside her is a human being?
They want everyone to use the A word so they can get free advertising.
Don’t worry, abortionists, it’s all about the economy. That’s right, it’s aaaalll about the economy…you’re getting sleepy, sleepy…your eyes are drooping…all you hear is the sound of my voice…it’s all about the economy….
Kel, I even heard one person say that CPC’s “force” women to have natural childbirth — the pain is punishment for having sex without being married.
Okay, whatever.
LOL! Seriously?? Yes, I’m sure the CPC is in cahoots with the obstetrician and nurses who absolutely REFUSE to let women have epidurals. :D
I’ll say this, though: the ones in my experience who treat unmarried teenage mothers the worst are the hospital staff. They seem to have a real contempt for these girls. (My sister-in-law was one of them, and she was treated terribly.) Wonder if they’d have the same contempt for them if they aborted…
We help our CPC’s – one can pray with their clients, the other – not.
In both cases they provide clothing for momma and baby, diapers, formula, and other help. One of the CPC’s provide a FREE unltrasound for uncomplicated cases and partners with one of the local hospitals for the complicated cases. They offer adoption and post-abortion counseling if a woman wants it.
That dove tails nicely for what we do – help with transportation, material goods like furniture, food, clothing, babysitting, rent/utility payment and yearly bus passes.
No condemnation – just love, just help, just hope.
So no deception. But the local PP charges for their ultrasound if you do not go thru their abortion. They say the RU486 abortion is like having your period – but most periods don’t require anti-biotics and prescription pain medication and being sick for 10-14 days. They card everyone who enters the building and won’t let a family member attend where the woman goes – not for the father, mother, sister, friend. In the last 7 years – we have only seen 1 person allowed back where they do the abortions – and that was an interpreter. And they will physically escort you out of the building, when they want to.
They just escorted the brother-in-law of a woman coming in the clinic. She said she was in for a check-up – and yet had her BIL drive her an hour to the clinic instead to a local doctor, and he had the proper picture ID to be in the waiting room. He was surprised they asked him to leave – and then he came out to talk to me on the sidewalk. He was truly flummoxed.
So back to the core of the issue: Why are we trying to shut down volunteer agencies, not using tax-payer funds, in helping women with material goods and free, properly licensed clinics that do not help women purposely end the life of their pre-born children. Just because the abortion supporters don’t want the competition and loss of business – why do we smear the goodness of hope?
Crisis pregnancy centers are there to help the women when they are facing an unplanned pregnancy. Unplanned pregnancies can bring unplanned joy!
I think this story was slightly embellished and did leave out important facts. For one thing, why would they use the woman’s real name, if the are all about privacy?
It makes me sad when I see the young women enter the abortuary. They don’t understand what they are doing because they have been lied to. How many of them learned simple biology, I wonder, because I’ve never heard of a human female giving birth to anything other than another HUMAN BEING. Humans give birth to humans, just like elephants give birth to baby elephants (and if these pro aborts think 9 months is long, try being an elephant, who is pregnant for 22 months. Compared to that, nine months is a piece of cake!)
phillymiss
November 15th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Great points. Thank you for posting the letter you wrote regarding your own experience.
No condemnation – just love, just help, just hope.
Hi Joy from Illinois,
You hit the nail on the head. That’s basically the mission statement of CPC’s, IMHO.
I meant the part about what “supposedly” went on in the CPC. I don’t believe that part. When I was a volunteer, we did pregnancy tests, gave out diapers, baby and maternity clothes, etc.. No one came in (many were Hispanic and spoke little or no English) NOT knowing what we were there for. One girl came in for a pregnancy test and told us she had had an abortion PREVIOUSLY. She told us she was HOPING to be pregnant again, because abortion was something she would NEVER do again. She wasn’t pregnant. All we did was LOVE her. We gave FACTUAL INFORMATION about pre-born development (to other women). No one was “mislead”.
This message from Christopher Slatery of EMC (posted today) at:
myemail.constantcontact.com
Please keep them in your prayers (if you are so inclined).
THIS MORNING EMC FRONTLINE IS ASSEMBLING A SMALL ARMY OF CURRENT AND FORMER CLIENTS TO DEFEND EMC, AND ALL NYC CPCs from a wicked NY City Council smear campaign and LEGISLATIVE attack..
This afternoon from 1:00PM-6:00PM New York Time, we will engage in the fight for our lives, that is, for our life centers’ very survival, as we battle Planned Parenthood, NARAL-NY, and the nasitiest pro-abort legislators in the U.S. who have called us anti-women, Dark Agers, and even terrorists, in this fight.
So much about so-called pro-choicers believing in choice. They want abortion, period, and they are willing to take away other people’s rights, be it to provide whatever services they CHOSE, other people’s rights not to CHOOSE to pay for their abortions, etc., etc.