Category: Rhetoric Vs. Reality

“So, what if abortion IS killing a human being? Evidently it’s one of those millions of human beings who are simply destined to never see the outside of their wombs. And what’s so wrong with that? We have too any people on the planet as it is. Why all the mourning for what amounted to a clump of cells, whether or not it DID have a soul?…So what are we mourning, anyway? If the fetus I chose, at age 19, to abort at 6-12 weeks (I honestly can’t remember how far along I was. I just remember the indescribable RELIEF when I wasn’t, anymore) WAS an actual human being, with a soul, then I imagine that human being with a soul had somewhere ELSE to go…”

Maryscott O’Conner “Abortion, Murder and Moral Relativism” Mon Jan. 23, 2006

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“There are some cells in my uterus at the moment that aren’t usually there. I call these cells “my baby”, and spend much of my time planning the future that they may have, once they’ve finished developing into a human being. Other women, with similar cells, plan how to remove the cells as quickly and painlessly as possible.”

Blog post (Alas, a Blog) “Pro-Choice and Pregnant” July 12, 2005 by Nikki Kiddle

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“While in the womb, you are in a privileged safe place. In fact your Status is rising all the time. As far as the no-choice crowd is concerned, you outrank your host, the woman in whose womb you are the budding guest. Some no-choice pickets even have posters that put you on a cross, giving you a kind of divine dignity. You are so important that for some people there is no other issue on which they vote. They’re called the “single issue” people. They call themselves “pro-life” even though they have a passion for war and capital punishment. These “pro-lifers” particularly love to invade small countries with weak armies, places like Iraq or Grenada. I admit that is a bit weird, but they happen to be in charge right now, so we have to worry about them.

As long as you don’t get born, however, you don’t have a worry in the world…unless, of course, you are in one of the small countries the “pro- lifers” happen to be bombing.”

“Fetus Alert!” by Daniel C. Maguire in The Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health, and Ethics

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Prayer used at a National Abortion Federation (NAF) conference:

“Greetings, little one.
Little sister, little brother,
Great wise ancestor.
You want to come to our house,
Maybe you think we would make
good parents for you
Well, the food is short now
The winter was too long,
and the summer too hot.
We have too many mouths to feed.
My husband works too hard already.
We cannot open our home to you now.
Try again later, little one,
or find a better place.
Go in peace now, go in peace.”

“No Caption Necessary.” Life Activist News [Life Dynamics, Inc.], Spring 1997, page 9

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From abortion clinic worker Dora Greenwald:

“It’s a really interesting thing that is happening. It’s fascinating, when you think about it clinically and not get involved in the babies, or the people. … Several times as a really beautiful things happen, I mean, it’s physically beautiful. Sometimes you can see the vagina opening up and the entire thing coming out at once… it’s a really interesting thing and it got me very excited.”

Quoted by Magda Denes, “Performing abortion” Commentary, October 1976, pages 33 to 37.

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“To bring an unwanted child into the world is the greatest obscenity.”

Robert McClure, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, quoted in Blodwen Piercy. “Who Are the ANTI-CHOICE and Why Do They Do What They Do?” Humanist in Canada, Autumn 1989, pages 3 to 5

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“Personhood begins when the bearer of life, the mother, makes a covenant of love with the developing life within her to bring it to birth. It is in the nature of things that woman creates the ‘soul’ just as much as she nourishes the body of developing human life.”

Abortion advocate Marjorie Reiley Maguire, in the March/April 1984 ‘Catholics’ for a Free Choice (CFFC) newsletter Conscience. Also quoted in Mary Meehan. “The Maguires Bring Abortion Issue to a Turbulent Boil.” National Catholic Register, May 27, 1984, pages 1 and 7

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“I don’t care if you are in high school or the fetus is unhealthy or it’s a boy and you want a girl. If you don’t want your baby, I don’t want your baby.”

Copy Editor Carolyn Hax of the Washington Post, quoted in Stephen Settle. “There’s No Middle Ground.” National Catholic Register, April 25, 1993, page 5

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“What kind of “respect for life” is it that justifies making women into breeders against their will? The real “disrespect for human life” is the harm done to women, to whole families, and to unwanted children by anti-abortion laws.”

Essays by Caroline Lund entitled “Why Abortion is Not Murder” and “Abortion and Respect for Life” in a 24-page booklet entitled “Abortion Rights in Danger!” [New York City: Pathfinder Press], December 1976

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“Abortion is never a single issue. It is a complex tapestry of all the things we believe about race, class, gender, and justice. It is also about sexuality, relationships, and love.”

Pro-Choice activist Frances Kissling, President of Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC), quoted in “The Future of Roe v. Wade: Political.” Ms. Magazine, January/February 1998, page 77

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