by Hans Johnson

Debating abortion can be very frustrating. Pro-choice supporters can’t seem to see the forest for the trees. It’s almost understandable for older males who haven’t been around babies for many decades, but much less so for those who have. But pro-abortion beliefs in doctors who work hands-on with the youngest humans is inexplicable.

Going one step beyond is Dr. Lisa Harris (pictured right) who confessed a few years ago to feeling her baby move in her womb as she dismembered another in an abortion. She admitted to a little “sadness” but, as LifeNews reported this week, this event did not make her waver one iota from her pro-abortion views.

In this 2011 Life Talk discussion, Mark Crutcher and the panel wonder if this extreme case of cognitive dissonance borders on a form of psychosis:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/t8927qO9qlg[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: LifeNews]

by Carder

Progressives have apologized for being right. But we don’t have to. Abortion saves lives, improves lives, and makes for a stronger society. The facts are decisively on our side.

Most profoundly, Pollitt’s book is a call for us all to reclaim and speak out about the truths we know. Personally, I like abortion. I’ve never needed one. I’m still glad to have the option. I’m glad for the people I’ve known who got pregnant at the wrong time, with the wrong people, and didn’t have their lives ruined by it.

If Pollitt gets her way, more of us might feel free to admit that, hey: We like abortion.

~ Uber-liberal Sady Doyle, singing the praises of Katha Pollitt’s pro-choice book, Pro:Reclaiming Abortion Rights, In These Times, October 3

[HT: Susie Allen]

by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli

• Culture Campaign reports that Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has ruled that Planned Parenthood and other health professionals will no longer be obligated to report statutory rape except when the perpetrator is believed to be the girl’s parent or legal guardian. For those who thought that electing this man along with Clinton crony Terry McAuliffe as VA’s governor was a “pro-woman” idea, you are seeing the fruits of your labor: no one will be expected to help these children. CC quotes the Washington Free Beacon:
  

  “It is my opinion that a Virginia Department of Health (VDH) licensing inspector who is a nurse and who, during the course of a hospital inspection, learns from the review of a medical record that a 14-year-old girl received services related to her pregnancy is not required to make a report of child abuse and neglect pursuant to Virginia Code § 63.2-1509 unless there is reason to suspect that a parent or other person responsible for the child’s care committed, or allowed to be committed, the unlawful sexual act upon the child,” Democrat Mark Herring’s September 12 opinion said.

  “It is also my opinion that the VDH licensing inspector is not required to make a report to law enforcement of the crime of carnal knowledge of a child between the ages of 13 and 15.”

  Herring includes “prenatal or abortion services” among the signs of potential rape that he said do not have to be reported to law enforcement.

  This is really unprecedented and disturbing.

[tweet_box]AG @MarkHerringVA thinks we should err on the side of rapists when it comes to adolescent pregnancy.[/tweet_box]

• At Coming Home, Dr. Gerard Nadal gives his take on the white lesbian couple who is suing for the wrongful birth of their mixed-race daughter, who was born as the result of a mix-up at a sperm bank:
  

  For a mother so ostensibly concerned with her daughter being picked on by racist family, tortured by racist classmates and neighbors, failed culturally by her mother, she has chosen to label the little girl a mistake, a wrongful birth, a human who never should have been. All because of a little extra melanin and some different hair.

  For all their talk of tolerance, and openness, and inclusivity, and compassion, it isn’t unreasonable to expect gays and lesbians to put their money where their collective mouth is. One would expect a lesbian couple, of all people, to abhor the notion of “wrongful birth,” claiming a genetic etiology for their own orientation as they do.

  Pity the child born to such poverty and bigotry.

• Two weeks into the 40 Days for Life campaign, and already babies (and parents) are being spared from abortion. In Tennessee, which currently does not have an informed consent law, a couple walked out of the Memphis Planned Parenthood and took advantage of a mobile ultrasound unit to view their preborn baby. They chose not to abort. Don’t women deserve all the information before making the decision to abort? Currently Planned Parenthood is fighting hard against an amendment that would overturn the state Supreme Court’s 2000 decision and allow women the opportunity to be fully informed once again.
• At Bound4Life, Ellie Saul says she discovered a supposedly “pro-girl” campaign fundraiser for Girls Inc., launched by Jane.com, a shopping website. Girls Inc. is reported to be a supporter of abortion, and according to their web page, those Teavana Oprah Chai drinks from Starbucks are also providing funding for this organization.

• American Life League’s Judie Brown expresses disappointment with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for recommending long-term IUDs for teens:
  

  … [W]hy is the AAP suddenly suggesting that the birth control pill can be bad for adolescents but an implant or an IUD can be better? The answer provided by the lead author of the policy statement is this:

  IUDs and hormonal implants cost more, usually hundreds of dollars, because inserting them involves a medical procedure typically done in doctors’ offices. But they’re less expensive in the long run than over-the-counter condoms or prescription birth control pills, said Dr. Mary Ott, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate pediatrics professor at Indiana University….

  Teens have to remember to use pills and condoms consistently. By contrast, IUDs typically work for three to 10 years after insertion, while implants typically last three years.

  This arrogant cynicism about young people raises that old argument about kids to a new level. You know the one: How can we trust a kid to take the pill regularly when she cannot even clean her room?…

  Sadly the most serious problem with this latest policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics is that it implies that young people cannot learn self-control and therefore should be treated like the family dog.

[Photos via mommynoire.com, all.org]

A Politico article today about new abortion cases that could reach the Supreme Court gave bare mention of its potential review of RU-486 regulation.

But due a circuit court split on laws regulating the administration of RU-486, such a review looks likely - and promising for the pro-life side.

Quick history of RU-486

In an unprecedented move the FDA approved the abortion pill RU-486 (now known as mifepristone/mifeprex) in 2000 to sell in the U.S. using a fast-track process reserved only for drugs to combat life-threatening diseases, like AIDS.

It seemed obvious at the time, and was later confirmed, that ”the Clinton administration pushed the abortion pill through the approval process to appease the abortion lobby,” reported Judicial Watch in 2006 after reviewing newly released documents that showed “the RU-486 approval process was infected by raw politics.”

But pro-lifers have recently begun turning the abortion industry’s political ploy on itself.

Importantly, with the FDA’s fast-track approval came “restricted use,” meaning the agency discourages “off-label” administration of RU-486.

In 14 years the FDA has never deviated from its recommended protocol for RU-486, which requires three doctor visits and specific dosages and routes of administration, all within 49 days from the beginning of a pregnant mother’s last period:

• Day 1: administer three 200 mg tablets (600 mg total) of RU-486 orally to kill the baby
• Day 3: administer two 200 mcg tablets (400 mcg total) of Cytotec (misoprostol) orally to expel the baby
• Day 14: check-up to ensure the abortion was completed

Violating FDA protocol at every step

But abortion clinics violate FDA protocol in every possible way. A survey of National Abortion Federation members showed only 4% follow FDA guidelines, and Planned Parenthood is the biggest culprit. It owns 158 of 175, or 90%, of all known chemical abortion facilities in the U.S.

According to court documents, Planned Parenthood commits RU-486 abortions up to 63 days from the first day of a pregnant mother’s last period.

It gives only one 200 mg tablet orally at the abortion clinic, then instructs the woman to take one 200 mcg Cytotec at home by letting it dissolve under her tongue (getting into the system faster than if swallowed).

Worse, Planned Parenthood has lately been trying to do all this via telemed – dispensing chemical abortion drugs via remote computer, so the abortionist never comes in contact with the patient.

The pro-abortion claim that “off-label” use of drugs is commonplace is disingenuous, because the pathway by which RU-486 was approved placed it in a restricted category.

Abortion industry’s cash cow

RU-486 is the abortion industry’s new cash cow business model, as verified by the surge of Planned Parenthood’s chemical abortion business. A 2014 Guttmacher report indicated that while abortion dropped 13% in 2011, the percentage of chemical abortions increased by 20% from three years earlier, to account for 22.6% of all abortions.

Abortion clinics are obviously trying to cut corners. And safety be damned because, as Americans United for Life attorney Mailee Smith noted:

Eight. That’s the number of women who have died from a severe bacterial infection following use of RU-486. In all eight cases, the women were instructed to use the abortion drugs in a way that has not been approved by the FDA.

Zero. That’s the number of women who have died from a severe bacterial infection after using RU-486 in the way approved by the FDA.

[tweet_box]8 women have died using RU486 per off-label abortion clinic protocol. 0 have died using FDA protocol[/tweet_box]

AUL has written model legislation that forces abortion clinics to comply with FDA protocol on RU-486 drug administration.

Four states have thus far passed legislation based on AUL’s language: Arizona, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma.

The abortion industry has sued to block all four laws. To date the federal 5th and 6th Circuit Court of Appeals have both ruled in our favor, and the 9th Circuit has ruled in the other side’s favor.

This gives us a “circuit split,” making it more likely the Supreme Court will weigh in.

Supreme Court precedent satisfied

Smith cited three reasons AUL is “confident” the language AUL has encouraged states to adopt falls well within Supreme Court precedent for both the Casey and Gonzales decisions:

1. The first so-called right at issue is the right of a woman to make the ultimate decision to have an abortion, and the regulation of chemical abortion does not interfere with that.
    

2. The court has said state legislatures are given wide discretion to legislate when there is medical uncertainty over a procedure or regulation. Here we know the unapproved use of RU-486 regimen has been tied to eight deaths. The other side argues that the off-label use did not cause those deaths. What’s important here is the cause is unknown. That is what creates the medical uncertainty.
    

3. In Gonzales the court upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban in part because there were other commonly used methods still available. If the regulation of chemical abortion means a woman cannot have one because she’s past gestational dates, she still has the option of surgical abortion. Surgical abortion is the most common method, and there is peer-reviewed evidence it’s safer than chemical abortion.

Were SCOTUS to uphold chemical abortion regulations, more state legislatures would be encouraged to regulate them, making abortions harder for the industry to commit.

[Screenshot of telemed abortion in Iowa via LifeSiteNews.com]

by Hans Johnson

At a time when about 64% of babies  diagnosed as having spina bifida are aborted, it should be remembered that this condition is often correctible. One notable example is Grammy-winning singer John Mellencamp, who was a pioneer patient more than 60 years ago. He relates his story to Anthony Mason on CBS, after finally meeting the 97-year-old surgeon who saved his life. Click below to watch:

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

[HT: Greta Van Susteren]

by Kelli

On the left, it has become a source of frustration that the swift acceptance of gay rights has not been accompanied by a broader liberalization of sexual attitudes, particularly around reproductive issues. “That’s where the anti-abortion side has succeeded,” says [gay activist Dave] Fleischer. “They’ve made people feel that to speak up and say something positive about abortion is something where you risk disapproval, then you’d be suggested to a certain amount of stigma. This is even truer around abortion than it is same-sex marriage.”

If so, perhaps American society had just never been exposed to the sustained organic contact that… could begin to dismantle a deeply held prejudice. After all, whites with retrograde views on race find themselves working on the same factory floor as blacks; straight people learn a beloved cousin is a lesbian. But how often does anyone, particularly among those who consider themselves pro-life, learn that a friend or relative or co-worker has had an abortion?

~ Sasha Issenberg, discussing pro-LGBT activist Dave Fleischer’s idea on how to change society’s mind about abortion by using the strategies of the pro-gay marriage movement, Bloomberg, October 6

[Image via firedoglake.com]

by Kelli

Athlete Jennifer Bricker was abandoned by her birth parents after she was born without legs. Her adoptive family always told her she could do whatever she set out to do, and that “can’t” wasn’t to be a part of her vocabulary. Jennifer decided she wanted to try tumbling, and became not only successful, but a state champion.

Later, when Jennifer was a teen, she asked her adoptive mother for more information about her birth parents. What she learned was amazing:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/ES5_B-1Golw[/youtube]

Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.

by Carder

What do abortion and Ebola have in common (aside from making [Texas Department of Health Commissioner] David Lakey’s life miserable this week)?

Both the new restrictions on abortion facilities in Texas and the government intervention to manage the Ebola threat are potent reminders of why expectations that our lawmakers and leaders will protect public health and safety should always be matched with a healthy dose of skepticism…. 

At the end of this week, you are still more likely to get an abortion in Texas than you are to get quarantined in Texas. Some people on the left think that the state is dangerous when it limits abortions. Some people on the right think that the state is most dangerous when it seizes power during public health threats. Both sides are a little bit crazy. Yet, both sides are right to question government action. If nothing else emerges from a really bad week in Texas, a healthy shared skepticism may be the best result there is.

~ Tamara Tabo, Above the Law, October 3