Abortion clinic director: Fertility treatments and abortion “part of same continuum”
For all the changes 40 years can bring, the stigma associated with abortion has lingered. Terrell said many clients – not all – carry guilt and shame even though they have carefully and thoughtfully made the decision they think is best for themselves and their families….
A mother of twin 15-year-old boys, Terrell and her husband turned to artificial insemination to have children. When faced with four viable embryos, they chose to terminate two.
Terrell sees both of those decisions – intensely private, a matter for her and her husband alone — as part of the same continuum of services.
~ Video/interview with Rebecca Terrell, clinic director of 40-yr-old Choices Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, “the state’s oldest free-standing [abortion] clinic,” promoting their expansion of services, The Tennesseean, May 19
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.
Why didn’t they chose to terminate the two 15 year olds?
After all – it’s part of the same continuum.
15-year-old “twins”? No, lady, you have two survivors out of four. You murdered your other set of “twins”.
I wonder what it was like growing up as one of the “twins”, wondering every time you were badly behaved, or if you had happened to have childhood cancer which can be very expensive for parents, if your parents weren’t wishing they’d thrown you away instead.
A blight on my sweet home of Tennessee.
a “continuum of care” never has, as its goal, the death of children.
This is such a great way to stress the importance of language and how it can be used to manuipulate the truth. We need to take back the words “choice”, “reproductive freedom”, “fetus”, and “terminate”. They all lead, not to liberation as the proaborts would believe, but to the murder of innocent babies.
THAT’S WHY THE PICTURES ARE SO IMPORTANT.
Of course she thinks the decision is “intensely private”. Nobody wants to go around talking about how they killed their own kids. …and yet there she is doing it anyway.
Interesting things happening in TN. The liberal abortion supporting Tennessean devoted a full six page section on a Sunday to Abortion. Then they wrote an editorial with their point of view that surely the pregnancy resource centers and the abortion mills who both want to help women with unplanned pregnancies can find common ground since we both want to help. Since abortion takes the life of a defenseless innocent human being…where is the common ground? Can’t happen. TN is going to be the epic center of the abortion debate in the next two years with this constitutional amendment and money from NARAL etc will pour in to defeat it.
These “twins” are going to need so much therapy.
Praying for the conversion of heart and mind for abortion industry workers and supporters as well as for healing of families suffering post-abortion. May Terrell’s boys grow up to become strong pro-life men in spite of their up-bringing. Lord have mercy.
Just wondering why public dollars should pay for this “intensely private” decision?
So, I wonder what her two living children think about the fact that she aborted two of their siblings. Do they realize it could have just as easily been them?
“So, I wonder what her two living children think about the fact that she aborted two of their siblings. Do they realize it could have just as easily been them? “
I don’t think people actually worry about such things. You or I could have been aborted too, but I don’t think I’ve given that idea a moment of thought in 50 years.
“I wonder what it was like growing up as one of the “twins”, wondering every time you were badly behaved, or if you had happened to have childhood cancer which can be very expensive for parents, if your parents weren’t wishing they’d thrown you away instead.”
It doesn’t work like that. All kids have their moments when they test their parents’ patience, but even in those times I doubt the child things “wow, I bet my mom wishes she had aborted me.”
No, Hal. Every relationship I have would be really different if I had known that my life was at any time negotiable to my mother. Ans as a mother myself, there was never a moment when the 4 I conceived were ever negotiable either.
Moms who get the sanctity of life thing cannot fathom the killing.
Here’s the thing: in a way she’s right. Selective abortion of multiples in IVF is part of the same continuum of death–I won’t call it continuum of care, cuz that’s freakish. If you can kill the child in the womb for health reasons, or convenience reasons, any reason will do. And that’s why pregnancy in a lab, frozen embryos and such, are problematic morally. Children are either a Right–which you can demand at all costs or forego for whatever reason–or they are a Gift, As Is, with due reverence for the manner in which they are given by the Creator.
Hal, I’ve thought about it. I’ve thought that people like you would have defended my mother’s right to kill me. Thats why I have some resentment towards pro-“choice” folks like yourself. You didn’t have any respect for me when I was at my most vulnerable. You would have thought nothing about letting me be ripped limb from limb.
Fortunately, my mom is pro-life and has always been. Me and my 3 siblings were always protected while growing in my mother’s womb because she would never let what nature intended as a sanctuary to be turned into a chamber of death.
I’ve read many articles by people whose siblings were aborted and it affects them greatly that their sibling was slated for death and somehow they made it through alive.
Continuum of SERVICES = children are property/products = WWWhat? Didn’t Abraham Lincoln write some kind of proclamation about that kind of thing?
Sydney, I would also defend the right of my mother to kill me. She had that right, she didn’t abort me. Fine. Whether she aborted some other pregnancy before or after my birth is frankly not my business nor my concern.
Well, it’s “refreshing” to see abortion proponents actually admit that they defend the right to *kill* children. And with no more passion than saying, “I’ll take two of those danishes.” Meh. Killing kids. Not my concern. *sips coffee, chomps danish*
‘Whether it’s life or not, it has to come through my body’
Whether it’s life or not?
Just say it. It’s LIFE. Can’t stand pro-choice vagueness.
She gets emotional around 1:40. Interesting. She believes that only by controlling our reproduction can we women be equal. This – from a supposed feminist.
A true feminist wouldn’t kill her children to try to be treated equally in society. A true feminist would force society to change. That’s what suffrage was about. Not about us stuffing our biology and about self-loathing to the point where we kill our offspring. These people are so backwards it’s sickening.
“She believes that only by controlling our reproduction can we women be equal”
Bingo, Kel. Without the ability to control your reproduction, naturally, in our natural state, women are inferior to men by virtue of what they are. What it means to be a woman means, at least in part, that you are not equal to a man. Add to your natural womanness the additional ability to be able to control your reproduction and then, okay, now we can talk. But without that, you are not my equal.
Such a high view of women…
Oh, Hal, I’m torn between my deep seated hatred for everything you believe in and my love for your honesty.
Sydney, I would also defend the right of my mother to kill me. She had that right, she didn’t abort me. Fine. Whether she aborted some other pregnancy before or after my birth is frankly not my business nor my concern.
And you guys wonder how we can make such (in your accusation) “extreme” assumptions as to the amount of care you Pro-Legal-Abortionists have towards children-both your own and those of others–in light of saying crap like this that REEKS of flagrant disregard and lack of care for all human life.
Seriously, it must just warm the little cockles of your daughters’ hearts to know that they could have been just as easily thrown into the old incinerator as their siblings and you wouldn’t have batted an eye. Because that can’t possibly be psychologically damaging to anyone-oh no.
Frankly, I think she’s right. Abortion and IVF type fertility treatments *are* part of the same ‘continuum’, it’s just not a continuum of care. It’s the continuum of the mindset that see children as an adult’s right to an accessory for their life rather than a gift and responsibility that an adult needs to care for. IVF is the fruition of the mindset of being willing to destroy any number of children, either before implantation or after, to get the specific child an adult *wants*. Abortion is the fruition of the mindset of being willing to destroy any number of children to get the specific child an adult *wants* if and only if the adult currently wants a child. IVF just assumes the last part (because no one get’s ‘accidently’ pregnant via IVF).
xalisae, I have lots of regard for lots of human life. There is certainly no limit to the love I have for my daughters. You have a hard time squaring that with the fact I’m not troubled by legal abortion. The fact that I don’t support criminalizing abortion does NOT mean I wouldn’t sacrifice anything for the well being of my children (the ones you would call my “born children”). They would not be discarded if they became ill, or ill-behaved. I love them completely and unconditionally. They are my world.
Nice attempt at saving face, Hal, but in no way does everything you just said square with what you said earlier about defending the rights of mothers to kill their children and feeling ambivalent about their decision to do so. No amount of pontification about how much you love your daughters NOW will square these two sentiments.
Yes, Hal. Try to be consistent, at least. If you support abortion, you by definition subscribe to conditional love.
Own it.
You guys don’t make the distinction between born children and “children” who were never born.
You guys don’t make the distinction between born children and “children” who were never born.
Well, thanks for that newsflash. Story at 11.
But seriously…
That’s because there IS no difference, Hal, aside from the fact that two of your children made it out alive by your choice and two did not – by your choice.
They were ALL biologically your children.
I love them completely and unconditionally. They are my world.
I certainly don’t doubt that’s true for the daughters you allowed to be born, Hal. But you have admitted on this board that you and your wife chose to end the lives of two other children via abortion. Those were the ones whom you decided against loving unconditionally. Your “love for them” (if there was any) was conditional – that they were not convenient/not desired. They were living human entities at the time you chose their demise.
Putting “children” in quotes doesn’t change the fact that abortion kills humans, and that abortion eliminated two human lives who were biologically half yours and half your wife’s, and the siblings of your two born daughters. I don’t often address you, Hal, because I feel like sometimes it’s a waste of time, but I really, truly hope one day that you will come to the realization of what you chose and that you will acknowledge the loss of your children’s lives. I just feel sad for what you’ve lost. You don’t, and that’s fine, but some of us grieve FOR you and your family.
You guys don’t make the distinction between born children and “children” who were never born.
That’s because there are no ” “children” who were never born”, Hal. They were all born, just that some of them were/are born dead, because their parent(s) pay a doctor to kill them.
You just have to imagine a distinction to make yourself feel better. How sad for you.
Thanks Kel, for the thoughtful reply. I look at it differently, of course. But, I also don’t really have any desire to change your mind. One thing to consider, however, is that my two fantastic daughters would never have been conceived or born if I had two earlier children.
Right, and the earlier ones would have sucked.
I mean, you don’t want to believe you sacrificed kids that might have even been more awesome than the ones you have, right? And the way I said that is probably offensive because it implies the existence of kids more awesome than the two you have, and since the ones that don’t exist aren’t your kids, I’m implying that kids other than your own might have been better than kids that are your own, and no parent can tolerate that thought.
But the kids you aborted WERE your own. They’re not Kids That Suck.
They’re just kids to whom you ascribed no value whatsoever — not because you figured they’d suck or be worse than another pair of kids you’d have one day, but merely because it would suck for you to have them at the time. In other words, your situation would have sucked. Or so you supposed.
I wonder why so few pro-choicers apply the passion they have for their kids now, to abortions they once had, and infer more rationally that however tough the times might have been, that passion might well have made it a wonderful adventure they’d now be thankful for.
But that can’t be admitted. A-freakin’-priori.
Hal: we have have a saying in the South. “Bless your heart” which means many things, but here, for you, it means “I can’t believe you just said that.”
Some of your kids meant the world to you. Two didn’t. I challenge you to realize that they were just as special and worthy and entirely EQUAL as the ones you allowed to be born.
Hi Hal.
Praying for you.
Hi Carla, thank you. If someone is going to pray for me, I’m glad it’s you.
One thing to consider, however, is that my two fantastic daughters would never have been conceived or born if I had two earlier children.
I never understood statements like this. There is no way to determine this for certain, not to mention it totally disregards the killing of two previous children. I don’t see how having two subsequent children legitimizes the killing of the children you had prior. I also don’t understand how you can say as a certainty that you wouldn’t have your two living children had you let your other children live.
xalisae, Just as I am certain I won’t have any more children now. A vasectomy.
I was certain I wouldn’t be having any more children after my first two with my ex too, Hal. There’s now a tubal reversal in my future along with two more children.
You can’t possibly know for certain. That also doesn’t legitimize the death of the two you had killed. Those children were every bit the children your daughters are now. Are they really that interchangeable to you? “I couldn’t let those other children live because I wouldn’t have had the children I have now.”
If you like the daughters you have now, you could’ve just…had the children you have now and also not killed the others you fathered. What a novel idea.
I mean, I didn’t realize you had some sort of mechanism installed in you that automatically snipped your vas deferens the instant a second living child passed out of your wife’s body.
Hal, suppose you find out tomorrow that your wife was conceived in rape. If it weren’t for the violence of rape, she very likely wouldn’t exist. Would you:
– Stop loving her?
– Become pro-rape?
If you answered “no” to both questions, then you could reject the violence of abortion while still loving your two living children just as much.
I truly admire the patience and wisdom displayed here by the people engaged in the
dialogue with “Hal.” I am not Christian enough to be so patient and kind. I think he’s a
sick, evil, cold-hearted beast. I feel truly sorry for his surviving children. I would not
waste my time on him or his ilk. The wall of denial they erect around themselves is
totally impenetrable. He will NEVER see what he did for the brutal, selfish & ignorant
act it was because if he did he’d not be able to live with himself.
I disagree, though I appreciate your honesty. I’ve only read a few of his posts, but he doesn’t seem like such a bad guy. He at least has remained civil. And at any rate, he’s a human being and ought to be treated with respect.
Other people who were at least as supportive of legal abortion (Bernard Nathanson, Abby Johnson) later became pro-life, despite having committed terrible deeds and having wrong beliefs. I’m sure you’ve been wrong about some things before and changed your mind. Maybe not on the same scale, but you’ve had wrong beliefs (and probably still have some now, you just don’t know what they are). Does that make you a bad person? Reducing someone to a “sick, evil, cold-hearted beast” isn’t your place.
And if interacting with abortion proponents is a waste of time, how are we supposed to change culture and end abortion? We still have millions of people to win over.