Women Hurt by Abortion Call on Planned Parenthood and All Texas Abortionists to Show Women Their Sonograms

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Jan. 2, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Texas Women hurt by abortion will be gathering in front of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility, on January 3, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. at 104 Babcock, San Antonio, Texas, to protest the abortionists' failure to show women their sonograms before obtaining their supposedly "informed consent" to abortion. How can you be fully informed when your doctor won't tell you the truth or show you a sonogram?

The women who will be standing outside the abortion facility are women who were not told the true nature of abortion by their abortionists and who were deeply harmed by their abortionists' failure to disclose the true nature of abortion. They were not shown the sonograms, thus did not give fully informed consent, and thus were hurt by abortion.

"I wish I would have had the opportunity to see an ultrasound, or information about fetal development, before my abortion at age 16.  There are no words to describe the amount of pain, guilt, and trauma I experienced when I saw pictures of fetal development two years later.   I was horrified that the "products of conception" and "tissue" I had "removed from my uterus" had had precious little hands and feet, and a beating heart.  I felt like a monster.  And I felt betrayed by the medical professionals I had trusted."  Lisa Skowron from San Antonio

Myra Myers says, "Am I really better off today - for having been uninformed, about the life that was in my womb? Ignorance did not make me innocent of the death of my child. Ignorance does not give us a choice. Only the truth does. It is a given that patients are to be fully informed - not denied their patient rights. In the case of abortion, there are two patients: a woman and a child. The woman has the right to know - she has become a mother. After the abortion, I was still a mother - only now I was the mother of a dead child! Ignorance did not make me innocent but an accomplice in the murder of my child. Without being informed, I made the tragic poor-choice that resulted in the grief of losing my child and his descendants. Without being informed, I experienced the guilt of being responsible for the losses.  Without being informed, I did not have the truth - that could have made me innocent!"

"I had an abortion in Houston. I was not informed by the doctor that I was pregnant with a baby. I was told I just had a blob of tissue by Planned Parenthood after they did my pregnancy test and then referred me to a nearby abortion clinic. I was not given the option of hearing my baby's heartbeat. Had I been given the opportunity of seeing my baby and hearing the heartbeat, I can assure you that I would not have chosen abortion... How can anyone believe that abortion should be legal after seeing a baby living in the womb of its mother on a sonogram and hearing the heartbeat of that baby?" Nona Ellington, of Houston, TX.

"Medical professionals may want to prevent a woman from seeing an ultrasound before her abortion, but they can't prevent her from seeing one in the future.  Many post-abortive women have described the guilt and devastation they felt years after their abortions, when they saw, during an ultrasound, the beating heart of a child the same gestational age as the one they had aborted.  How many women in unplanned pregnancies would feel guilty seeing an ultrasound before abortion and how many would simply have a change of heart?  What a tragedy if we don't allow them the freedom and opportunity to find out." Lisa (Facilitator of Post-Abortion Recovery in San Antonio, TX)

A recent meta-analysis in the British Journal of Psychiatry recently reviewed 22 major studies and found that women who had an abortion had an 81% increased likelihood of adverse mental health consequences, and that ten percent of female mental health problems studied were attributable to abortion. Coleman, British Journal of Psychiatry.

Illinois Abortion Clinic Plagued by Health Code Violations Will Remain Closed

Documentation from Thomas More Society Helps to Keep it Shut, For Now

ROCKFORD, Ill., Nov. 29, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) delivered an early Christmas present for many unborn infants in Northern Illinois, when an Administrative Law Judge ruled that the suspension of the license of Rockford, Illinois' notorious abortion provider, the Northern Illinois Women's Center (NIWC), would be extended until January 4, 2012, when a formal public hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. in the Michael Bilandic State of Illinois Building, at 160 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois, Room N502, on the 5th Floor. 

The Judge announced her ruling during a teleconference yesterday, when IDPH prosecuting attorney, Eva Bylerly, Esq., advised the Judge that "two to three issues remained unresolved" during ongoing settlement negotiations she had been pursuing with Harold Hirshman, Esq., attorney for NIWC, over a series of charges that IDPH had brought against NIWC in the wake of public health inspections, which NIWC failed, triggering the suspension of its license earlier this year.

Last week, attorneys Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, and Jason Craddock, special counsel for the Society, wrote a lengthy letter to Ms. Byerly, expressing grave worries about a possible premature reopening of the NIWC on the part of its clients, concerned citizens residing in the Greater Rockford area, including the Rockford Pro-Life Initiative and also a Registered Nurse who had been instrumental in persuading the public health authorities finally to conduct a series of inspections of the NIWC abortion facility after a protracted period of nearly 14 years -- during which no inspections had taken place. 

The Society's letter pointed out that IDPH's long overdue inspections had uncovered a laundry list of "egregious health and safety violations," which the letter then detailed. A copy of that letter, with several of its attachments, may be viewed here.

Among these cited violations, of which "many members of the public remain unaware," were the following:

• 3 of 3 operating rooms inspected failed to ensure a sanitary environment;
   
• Failure to prevent contamination of clean surgical equipment;
   
• Gynecological cannulas (surgical instruments inserted during abortion procedures) were stained with a "brown substance";
   
• Shoes were stored inside an open box of surgical gloves;
   
• Operating room #1 contained a box of opened surgical gloves stained with a dried "brown substance";
   
• Autoclave equipment used to sterilize medical instruments failed biological testing on at least two occasions; such equipment should have been tested weekly but was untested for four months and then failed, leaving an undetermined number of patients exposed to unsterile surgical instruments;
   
• Failure to meet legal requirement for a qualified Registered Nurse to be present in the operating room during procedures, leaving unqualified and unlicensed personnel to do tasks reserved by law for licensed, qualified professional personnel;
   
• Failure to keep records as to persons accompanying patients, suggesting that women were left to care for themselves after surgery;
   
• Repeated deficiencies in record keeping; and
   
• Failure of abortionists to have local admitting privileges, putting patients in life-threatening situations at risk of serious injury or death.

These and other deficiencies had been brushed off by NIWC in its written filings in the administrative proceeding. NIWC's lawyers (who also represent Planned Parenthood in other cases in which the Thomas More Society is participating) even made the surprising claim that its patients are "safe" despite its failure to abide by legal requirements.

The IDPH will not discuss the details of its negotiations with "outsiders," but Tom Brejcha comments, "On behalf of the good people of Rockford and its environs, including folks from Wisconsin and Iowa who may patronize NIWC, we will continue to monitor these proceedings as closely as possible and to do all we can to assure that NIWC is held fully accountable for compliance with Illinois law before it is permitted, if ever, to reopen and continue its grisly business of the mass slaughter of human beings. We pray that this Christmas season may mark NIWC's permanent closure."

About the Thomas More Society
Founded in 1997, the Thomas More Society is a national public interest law firm that exists to restore respect for life in law. Based in Chicago, the Thomas More Society defends the sanctity of human life, the family and religious liberty in courtrooms across the country. The Society is a nonprofit organization wholly supported by private donations. For more information or to support the work of Thomas More Society, please visitwww.thomasmoresociety.org.

Armenian Study: Induced Abortion Nearly Triples Breast Cancer Risk

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Nov. 28, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer notes that an Armenian study-whose authors examined diabetes mellitus type 2, reproductive factors, and breast cancer-found a statistically significant association showing a 2.86-fold increased breast cancer risk from one induced abortion. [1] The study, led by Lilit Khachatryan, included researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Khachatryan's team reported a statistically significant 13% increased breast cancer risk for every one year delay of a first full term pregnancy (FFTP), with delayed FFTPs until ages 21-30 or after age 30 resulting in 2.21-fold and 4.95-fold increased risks respectively, as opposed to women with FFTPs before age 20. (Abortion is often used to delay FFTPs.) Giving birth resulted in a 64% reduced risk.

 

Due to political correctness, the authors also inaccurately claimed, "Most evidence (of an abortion-breast cancer link)...points to no effect." Professor Joel Brind (Baruch College, City University of New York) said that is "plainly false." [2]

 

Fifty-one of 68 epidemiological studies since 1957 report an abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link (not counting biological and experimental evidence).

 

Khachatryan's team cited only one (severely criticized) study, Melbye et al. 1997, to support their false claim of "no effect." [3,4,5] Although Melbye's team found no overall increased risk, they reported a statistically significant 89% increased risk for those having abortions after 18 weeks gestation. More...

NJ nurses say suit hasn't halted abortion duties

U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., left, talks to Jacqueline
 Deseo, a registered nurse at the University of Medicine and
 Dentistry of New Jersey, Monday, Nov. 14, 2011, in Newark, N.J.
 Twelve nurses have filed a lawsuit and are opposing a new
 UMDNJ policy requiring them to participate in abortions,
 an abrupt change from long-time policy.

A group of nurses who objected to helping abortion patients on religious grounds said Monday they were still being compelled to assist with the procedures, despite having filed a federal lawsuit against the New Jersey hospital where they work.

The suit was filed by 12 nurses at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey hospital in Newark. Several said despite the lawsuit, they were still being trained and scheduled to assist.

"My spiritual conviction tells me, I would not want to kill innocent babies, and not in my wildest dream, as a nurse, as a person, as a Christian, did I ever think that I would be trained to assist with this kind of procedure," Fe Esperanza Racpan-Vinoya, said at a news conference in front of the hospital.

Racpan-Vinoya and other nurses who attended the news conference — all but four in their unit have signed on to the lawsuit — said they had made their objections known to their supervisor and to hospital officials, and claim their concerns were dismissed or ignored. Hospital officials said previously they would temporarily stop requiring nurses to assist, and a federal judge issued a restraining order to that effect, but the nurses claim it's still going on.

The hospital issued a statement Monday saying no nurse is compelled to participate, or even be in the room, during a procedure to which they object on cultural, religious or ethical grounds.

"The university is in full compliance with all applicable state and federal laws, and is confident its position will be vindicated when the court gives this matter a full hearing," the statement read.

Two hospital spokespeople who attended the news conference declined to answer any questions beyond the release, saying it was an ongoing legal matter.

The hospital performs first- and second-trimester abortions, usually by giving a patient a labor-inducing drug, according to Racpan-Vinoya. She added that nurses are required to care for a patient until they go to an operating room, but said the majority of patients usually remain — and go through the full process — in the unit where the nurses work.

Matt Bowman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a coalition of Christian lawyers and organizations that is representing the nurses, said the hospital had previously hired per-diem nurses or those who volunteered to assist with abortions to help perform them.

Bowman said the hospital notified nurses in writing in September that its new policy would require same-day surgery unit nurses to assist in abortions. The nurses filed suit on Oct. 31, claiming the hospital was compelling them to undergo training that involved assisting in abortions, and indicated they could be subject to termination if they didn't comply.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, who attended the press conference in support of the nurses, said the women had "an air-tight legal case" against the hospital, which he said was violating the terms of its federal funding.

"UMDNJ's coercive anti-conscience policy is not only highly unethical but blatantly illegal," Smith said. "Federal and state law couldn't be clearer on this matter."

The matter is scheduled to be heard in federal court in Newark on Dec. 5.

___

Follow Samantha Henry at http://www.twitter.com/SamanthaHenry.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/11/nj-nurses-say-suit-hasnt-halted-abortion-duties#ixzz1eL9c8x5P

Lawyers and Legislators for Initiative 26 Answer Questions Raised by Medical Community -- Press Conference Monday, November 7 at 1:30 PM

JACKSON, Miss., Nov. 7, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Mississippi lawyers and legislators will be hosting a press conference to address questions raised by the medical community about the Personhood Amendment or Initiative 26. Also, elected officials and candidates who have endorsed Initiative 26 will be briefly highlighted. The press conference will take place on Monday, November 7, 1:30pm at the Mississippi State Capitol in the Old Supreme Court Chamber (2nd floor, Room 216).

Press Conference Details---

 

When: Monday, November 7, 1:30pm

 

Where: Mississippi State Capitol in the Old Supreme Court Chamber (2nd floor, Room 216)

 

Medical professionals have brought up several legitimate and legal questions about the initiative that the legal community and legislative body need to address and explain to the electorate.

 

Among the legal and legislative issues to be considered, both prior to and after the passage of Initiative 26 are: the exceptions to save the mother if her life is at risk (e.g. ectopic), the criminal liability of a doctor in the event of accidental homicide, the availability of birth control, the effects on In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), and the possibility of a woman who has a miscarriage be subject to criminal prosecution.

 

Among those present to answer these questions will be Stephen M. Crampton, Esq., Primary Drafter of Initiative 26 from Tupelo, and Senator Joey Fillingane, Esq., Chairman of Senate Judiciary A Committee.

 

There will be material made available to the press, including "Personhood Amendment Will Not Change Legal Safeguards for Physicians" by Mississippi Center for Public Policy, and Answers to "Unintended Consequences" of Personhood Amendment by Russell Latino, Esq.

 

Brief statements will address Gov. Haley Barbour's comment that a "pro-abortion group has called people's homes and deceived voters into thinking I'm opposed to Initiative 26, the Personhood Amendment. As I've previously stated, I voted for the Personhood Amendment. These misleading calls were made without my knowledge, without my permission and against my wishes. I have demanded this deception be stopped, and those responsible have assured me that no more calls will be made."

 

Comments will also be made about the large number of elected officials, including Gov. Haley Barbour, as well as statewide and local candidates for office who have endorsed Initiative 26.

 

Yes On 26 Celebrates Victory at Mississippi Supreme Court

Our State's High Court Allows Personhood to Remain on the November 8 Ballot

TUPELO, Miss., Sept. 8, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled today that Measure No. 26, the Personhood Amendment, did not violate the state constitutional rules governing citizen initiatives, and so the citizens of Mississippi will have the chance to vote on it in November. The Court thus rejected a challenge by the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights to keep the Personhood Amendment off the ballot, claiming that it was an improper attempt to modify the Bill of Rights.

For over two years, scores of men and women, sons and daughters across our fair state patiently and prayerfully labored to successfully bring forth the Mississippi Personhood Amendment, Measure No. 26, to its rightful place on the November 8, 2011, general election ballot. With over 106,000 certified signatures, the first hurdle to secure a constitutionally defensible means of protecting the unborn from the earliest stages of life was achieved.

Recognizing the grave threat a favorable Mississippi vote in November posed to the interstate abortion trade, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood imposed a second hurdle, by filing suit to strip this initiative off the ballot, and as a result, deny Mississippians their right to declare on November 8 that in Mississippi, under God, the unborn are persons, possessed of those "unalienable rights" to life as our Founders opined in the Declaration of Independence.

Thankfully, the Hinds County Circuit Court and now our Supreme Court rejected the arguments of these bastions of liberal, anti-Christian activism and affirmed the right of Mississippians to cast a vote for life -- to say "yes" on 26 on Election Day. We applaud the Court's common sense and correct ruling.

"With the first two hurdles overcome, only the third hurdle of Election Day remains for us to claim victory in our state's personhood movement. We need Mississippi's prolife public officials, pastors, and patriots to stand up and be counted in the days ahead as we seek to become the first state in the nation to grant civil rights to the unborn," said Brad Prewitt, Executive Director of Yes on 26.

"There have been nationwide attempts to silence the personhood message, so we are very pleased that a high court has ruled against the ACLU and Planned Parenthood yet again. The nation is watching Amendment 26, and it is time now to move forward and pass this crucial prolife amendment to defend human life," said Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA.

"Today we rejoice and celebrate this hard-won victory, but tomorrow we roll up our sleeves and return to work. Our opponents are discouraged, but not yet ultimately defeated. They will be back, spreading fear, confusion, and dire 'sky-is-falling' warnings about this simple Amendment, and we must be ready to rebut their baseless charges and set the record straight," said Stephen Crampton, Liberty Counsel's lead attorney for Personhood Mississippi in the case.

When passed, the Mississippi Personhood Amendment will recognize what science and medicine have long established -- namely that every human being is fully human and fully alive from the moment of fertilization -- and will grant the unborn the full and equal protection of the law as the rest of us possess. In the days ahead, we pray that our work to protect the unborn might be successful and that our State of Mississippi might take that first step nationwide to stop abortion and to choose life over death.

www.yeson26.net

Pregnant South Dakota Women to be Informed of 'Existing Relationship' with Baby

According to Baptist Press, a pregnant woman considering abortion in South Dakota must be informed she "has an existing relationship with that unborn human being," a federal appeals court has ruled. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Mo., overturned a federal judge's decision that had struck down the "relationship advisories" section of South Dakota's 2005 informed consent law. The law's supporters, however, fell short of a complete victory in the opinion by the three-judge panel. In a 2-1 split decision, the judges upheld the lower court's invalidation of a section requiring women to be informed of the risk of suicide from abortion. The dissenting judge said he would have upheld the entire law, including that requirement. The Eighth Circuit's Sept. 2 ruling in support of a state's right to inform a woman she has a relationship with the child living in her womb was a victory for pro-life advocates not only in providing full information for pregnant women but in establishing protection for unborn children. South Dakota pro-life leader Leslee Unruh praised the decision. "I can't remember a day being this happy in the 27 years of doing this work," she said.

Personhood Ohio Seeks to Stop All Abortions Statewide

OHIO, Sept. 3, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Personhood Ohio is a group whose mission is to ensure equal protection for every preborn child's right to life. Their goal is to obey the Lord's command to love "the least of these" through ending the dehumanization and murder of preborn children in this state.

The group is collecting signatures for a petition to get a Personhood Amendment on the ballot so Ohioans can vote to protect ALL preborn human beings by law.

The Ohio Constitution, Article 1, Section 1 currently reads: 

"All PERSONS are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety."

The Personhood Amendment would add this one sentence: 

"The word 'person' or 'persons' applies to every human being at every stage of the biological development of that human being or human organism, including fertilization."

The first step is to get 1,000 signatures and submit the legal language of the amendment to the Ohio Attorney General's office for approval. 

Director of Personhood Ohio, Zanesville family physician Dr. Patrick Johnston says, "We've had forty years of legal child-killing in America. Why haven't pro-life forces united to put the issue before the voters? Why do we continue to respect the immoral and unconstitutional Roe v. Wade decision? Ohio has the right and obligation to protect all innocent children within our jurisdiction. There will be no lasting mercy and blessing for us until there is justice for the preborn." 

Personhood Ohio solicits volunteers through their websitewww.PersonhoodOhio.com. 

They are aiming to get the amendment on the 2012 ballot.

Texas Sonogram Law Blocked by U.S. Judge

A federal district judge has blocked enforcement of a Texas law passed in May requiring women seeking abortions to undergo a sonogram at least 24 hours prior to the procedure and to hear the baby's heartbeat and a description from the abortion provider of the baby's physical features. Baptist Press reports that U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin, in an Aug. 30 injunction, said the law, which was to go into effect Sept. 1, "compels physicians to advance an ideological agenda with which they may not agree, regardless of any medical necessity, and irrespective of whether the pregnant women wish to listen." Elaborating on his ruling, Sparks wrote that the law's requirements expand beyond medically necessary information and "are unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment right to be free from compelled speech." Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a notice of appeal in the case shortly after the decision was announced. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who signed the bill into law on May 19, lamented the ruling. "Every life lost to abortion is a tragedy and today's ruling is a great disappointment to all Texans who stand in defense of life," Perry said in a statement.

Anti-Abortion Picket Targets Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and Planned Parenthood

DANA POINT, Calif., Aug. 25, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) and it's project partner, Life Decisions International (LDI), announce an abortion-related boycott and picket of the St. Regis Monarch Beach Hotel, located at the intersection of One Monarch Beach Resort and Niguel Road in Dana Point, CA, 92629, beginning Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 26-28, 2011, from 2:00PM until 7:00PM each day.

The picketing of this property will continue until Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., the corporation responsible for the general management of this hotel, enforces its franchise agreements to bar Starwood licensees from providing philanthropic support to Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion provider.

This particular St. Regis property is owned by Washington Real Estate Holdings LLC, whose investors we urge to enforce their management contract with Starwood in terms which forbid Starwood's corporate sponsorship of Planned Parenthood.

This weekend's picketing will involve the display of handheld abortion photo signs at the entrances to the St. Regis property. Billboard trucks displaying larger versions of related abortion photo signs will circle the hotel each day. Aircraft will tow 50'X100' aerial billboards displaying still larger abortion photos in tight orbits directly above the St. Regis Hotel and golf course.

In the coming months, CBR will begin concentrated picketing of St. Regis special events, such as wedding receptions, using abortion photos which are progressively more graphic. Prior to each of these specially targeted pickets, CBR will issue notice sufficient to permit the St. Regis to provide its clients with adequate opportunities to book alternative arrangements elsewhere.

We believe that Starwood has at least an ethical duty to disclose our picketing intentions to current and prospective customers. Knowingly concealing this information could arguably obligate the St. Regis to refund fees and or expose the hotel to a broad range of civil liabilities.

CBR believes that the targeted hotel is similarly obligated to notify clients with whom it contracts to provide off-site catering, that their events could be picketed by CBR activists who lawfully follow St. Regis catering trucks to their destinations.

We will videotape all of our St. Regis picketing activities and post serialized video vignettes on popular social networking websites. We have also contracted with a private security firm to deploy armed, uniformed officers for all pickets.

In addition to the St. Regis, Starwood hotel trademarks include the Sheraton, Westin, Four Points, Meridian, W and other hotel brands. CBR picketing of additional St. Regis properties and Starwood brands is currently being planned and organized.

Starwood is only the first of 70 corporations, many of which are Fortune 500 companies, whose retail establishments CBR and LDI will picket with abortion photo signs. This group includes such brands as Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, Levi Strauss clothing, Estee Lauder cosmetics, Microsoft computer products, Nike sports gear, Ralph Lauren clothing, Southwest Airline, Staples office products Walt Disney entertainment and Whole Foods Markets. A select sub-group of these 70 businesses will be targeted for intensified picketing between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in the Fall and Winter of 2011.

News organizations may request access to a CBR FTP website at which they can download picket-related still photos of publishable quality and picket-related video of broadcast quality. For more detailed information on this project, please visit abortionNO.org. For interviews, please email Gregg Cunningham at cbr@cbrinfo.orgor Don Cooper at dcooper@cbrinfo.org. Gregg Cunningham can be reached by phone at 714-240-6976 and Don Cooper at 541-760-6620.