Pro-choice professor Peter Singer, who supports infanticide:
“If one accepts abortion … killing other human beings, in certain circumstances … is not something to be regarded with horror… . On the contrary … it is the refusal to accept killing that, in some cases, is horrific.”
Quoted in Serrin M Foster “Refusal to Accept Killing” The American Feminist Winter 1999 – 2000
Above: preborn baby at 10 1/2 weeks. Below: picture of 10 week baby afterabortion
Is the killing of this baby horrific? Or is it horrific to refuse to kill a baby like this, as Peter Singer says?
“We either support women’s capacity to decide, or we don’t. You can’t be pro-choice except when you don’t like the choice, because that’s not pro-choice at all.”
Ann Furedi, head of a chain of abortion clinics (BPAS) in England, defending sex selection abortions
Nearly 200,000 abortions in England and Wales are now carried out each year, and abortion ends more than one in five of all pregnancies.
Commenting on testimony about the way parents of disabled preborn babies:
On Monday 11 February we heard evidence at the inquiry from disability rights activists, parents of children born with disabilities and support groups for affected families.
There were several strong themes that emerged.
First, there seemed to be very little support or information available for families who wanted to keep their babies, as opposed to having them aborted.
Second, there was a strong presumption from doctors that parents with disabled children would choose to have them aborted.
Third, there was a huge amount of subtle or direct pressure placed on parents who decided not to abort. They were repeatedly asked to reconsider their decisions and treated like pariahs – in short they were discriminated against.
“Parliamentary Inquiry into Abortion on the Grounds of Disability’ (more background here)
Dr Peter Saunders “Women who keep their disabled babies face coercion, discrimination and disdain” CMF Blogs (Christian Medical Fellowship) February 19, 2013
“One day the medical director announced he had a new doctor who would work part-time. This new doctor arrived and explained he was Catholic and unsure if he wanted to perform abortions. He said he would try it for one shift.
After he completed several abortions, a patient told him, “I never wanted to have an abortion.” He then informed me, “I never want to hear that again. I can’t come back.” …
As experienced abortion clinic workers we knew the patient meant she would have preferred not to have been in the situation to need an abortion. However, what she said pushed the guilt button in the doctor and he never returned
Norma Goldberger Abortion Confidential: Secrets of an Abortion Clinic Owner (CreateSpace , November 23, 2014) Kindle Edition
“Our patients were very anxious and tense every time they had to listen to picketers shouting, “Don’t kill your baby,” and “Jesus loves you.” We advised our patients to ignore the protesters but occasionally one yelled back, “I know Jesus loves me. That’s why am having this abortion.”
Norma Goldberger Abortion Confidential: Secrets of an Abortion Clinic Owner (CreateSpace , November 23, 2014) Kindle Edition
9-10 weeks. Over 40% of all abortions happen at this time or later
Abortion clinic owner recounts the joke that their abortionist made after each abortion:
“He was from India and was unpretentious, friendly and low key. He always whispered to us after each abortion, “Another American who didn’t make it.” Initially we thought was in poor taste. After a while, we just got used to the “joke.”
Norma Goldberger Abortion Confidential: Secrets of an Abortion Clinic Owner (CreateSpace , November 23, 2014) Kindle Edition
An interview with Sir Albert Lilley, a scientist who is often called the “Father of Fetology” on fetal pain:
Question: In the case of an 8- to-10-week fetus, if you apply pressure will it tend to try to get out of the way?
Answer: … as the famous work of Dr. Davenport Hooker shows, in his many thousands of feet of film, babies at this maturity are responsive to touch.
9 week old preborn baby
The fetus also responds violently to painful stimuli-needle puncture and injection of cold or of hypertonic solutions- stimuli which you and I find painful, children will tell you are painful, and the neonate, to judge from his responses, finds painful….
abortions at 9 weeks
I have been told by advocates of abortion that we have no proof that the fetus actually feels pain. Strictly, they are quite correct. Pain is a peculiarly personal and subjective experience and there is no biochemical or physiological test we can do to tell that anyone is in pain – a phenomenon which makes it very easy to bear other people’s pain stoically, which is an important point for obstetricians to remember. By the same token we lack any proof that animals feel pain. However, to judge from their responses, it seems charitable to assume they do. Were this not so there would be no point in having an organization like the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and I for one would be unhappy to think we would withhold from the human fetus a charitable consideration we were prepared to extend to animals.
Question: The question, then, of pain felt by the fetus – it is your personal opinion, I gather from what you say in your paper, that in effect the fetus does feel pain?
Answer: I can only say that the fetus responds violently to stimuli that you and I would find painful. Bertrand Russell once remarked that a fisherman had told him that fish had neither sense or sensation, but how he knew that the fisherman would not tell him.
Pro-choice activist Sarah Ditum arguing in favor of sex selection abortion:
In a world where it’s possible to end a pregnancy safely and legally, it seems like rank brutality to force anyone to carry to term against her will.
And as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter why any woman wants to end her pregnancy. As the conscious and legally competent entity in the conception set-up, it’s the woman’s say that counts, and even the most terrible reason for having an abortion holds more sway than the best imaginable reason for compelling a woman to carry to term.
Since sex cannot be determined on ultrasound until the 18th to 20th week, babies aborted because they are girls are at least 18 to 20 weeks old and often more than that. The baby below is 20 weeks old.
Is passing a law against killing this baby brutality? Or is killing the baby like the one below brutality?
Pro-choice writer Jessica Arons acknowledges the euphemisms used in the abortion debate when she says:
As we approach the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that recognized the constitutional right to abortion, I urge people who care about this issue not to shy away from the word “abortion” itself. We should resist the urge to hide behind allusions to “women’s health,” “choice,” and “Roe” when we’re really talking about abortion only.
