Category: Abortion Counseling

One author who observed in an abortion clinic gives more evidence that many women who come in for an abortion are ambivalent and need counseling:

“Some patients rescheduled four, five, even six times, often leaving the clinic with pamphlets on adoption and referrals for professional counseling.”

Cynthia Gorney Articles of Faith: A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars (Simon & Shuster: New York) 1998

While this clinic may have provided information on adoption, most clinics do not do so.

For example, in 2000 Planned Parenthood of Blue Ridge, an abortion provider in Southwest Virginia, decided to provide adoption counseling. Only four other Planned Parenthood clinics, out of 900 nationwide, have even expressed interest in followed suit.

“Adoption Advice Draws Scant Interest at Clinic.” Julia Duin. The Washington Times. Publication Date: April 16, 2000. P 5

Share on Facebook

In an article in “Obstetrics & Gynecology” which discussed qualifications of abortion clinic counselors, it was said that

“Professional background is considered less important than such personal attributes as warmth, caring, empathy and a commitment to the pro-choice cause.”

Landy, U. (1986), “Abortion Counseling – A New Component of Medical Care,” Clinics in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 33, page 37.

Share on Facebook

One nurse discussed how her clinic used cash incentives to get women in to have abortions:

‘Everything is geared to getting as many people in for terminations as possible. When I started in July 2004, the branch was performing between 20 and 30 surgical abortions a day. But we were told Essex was doing 50 a day and that we were under-performing. So they called a meeting last November at which we were told our bonuses were being withheld until we caught up.

‘We had two wards upstairs and it was like a car production plant.

When I started, people would be given a few hours to recover, but by the end they were waking them up within half an hour and getting them out.

‘The bonuses acted as a sales incentive, as if you were working on a perfume counter in a department store. The more people you got booked in for terminations, the better your bonus would be.”

The director of the clinic, when interviewed, admitted that clinic employees received “performance-related awards” and were regularly told to increase their “efficiency and capacity’ if they wanted to receive the full amount.

“Dennis Rice, Rachel Ellis “Abortion Nurses ‘Are Paid Incentive Bonuses’; Marie Stopes Clinics Stand Accused of Offering Commercial-Style ‘Perfomance Cash’ to Staff.” The Mail on Sunday, September 4, 20052005

Share on Facebook

“Sometimes even counseling was done in groups to save time, ten or fifteen women sitting in a circle…At other times I was strictly limited to a five-minute counseling session for each patient.”

Jenny Higgins, pro-choice clinic counselor

Jenny Higgins “Sex, Unintended Pregnancy, and Poverty” Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges Facing Choice by Krista Jacob (ed) Seal Press: California 2006, p 48

Share on Facebook

“…and I’m not joking, I believed that because it was new, we used to let the boyfriend or husband come to the room where we were doing the abortion…we were very modern, we let boyfriends come in, and they all passed out, and more, one sued me because when he fall [sic] he broke his tooth, he sued me…and so what do I do now if somebody comes? ‘The state says no.’

The state doesn’t say no but I blame the state. They don’t bother to check with the state…

my wife says we doctors have a license to lie and it’s true. It’s absolutely true. Sometimes you need to lie to a patient about things that they want to do or know, much less now than in the past because they’re more educated between CNN and the internet, the patients are more educated about what we do.”

Doctor Alberto Hodari, abortionist

Speech by Dr. Alberto Hodari at Wayne State University, November 9, 2007. It can be heard in its entirety at www.studentsforlife.org

Share on Facebook

Dr. Christensen performs around 3,000 abortions a year in his clinic. An article describes how he responds to an informed consent law:

He said he decided to put it [the state mandated information] on videotape so he could see patients while others viewed his lecture. And, he made a few of what he said he felt were corrections. While the state form says ”unborn child,” he says ”the developing pregnancy.’…’This is all basically harassment,” he said.

Dr. Christensen does say that one out of every ten women leaves after hearing the taped information.

Kate Zernike “An Abortion Doctor’s View” New York Times, January 20, 2003

Share on Facebook

“I was totally uninformed of available alternatives to abortion. I never recommended adoption or keeping the child. Furthermore, I was completely unaware of the medical facts, including the development of the fetus. I received no training in factual matters- my job was just to keep women happy and make sure they went along with an abortion.”

Abortion Clinic Worker

Interview by Randy Alcorn Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments (Eternal Perspectives Ministries: Grand Rapids, Michigan 1992) p 100

However:

In many states, there are no laws governing what clinics must tell patients about abortion medical risks, leaving the clinics free to withhold this information from prospective patients. A bill was proposed to mandate that information about the physical and mental complications of abortion be given to women. Nearly all pro-choice organizations opposed this legislation, as did abortionists.

Here is a quote by Joyce Tarnow, owner of an abortion clinic in Florida:

”We have always had informed consent, that is that they understand what an abortion is: that it’s a termination of pregnancy, This (pamphlet mandating clinics tell patients the risks of abortion) is just an anti-abortion campaign that’s gone too far.”

“Pamphlet Throws Clinics for a Loop” Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel July 2, 1997

See mere quotes in this section about why informed consent laws are needed.

Share on Facebook

Abortionist Dave Turok feels that women are too fragile and delicate to know the facts about whether the fetus feels pain. Obviously, women are too emotional to make an informed choice.

“Telling those women their fetuses feel pain is heaping torment upon torment. These women have real pain. They did not come to this decision easily. Creating another barrier for them to get the medical care they need is really unfair.”

“Fetal pain advice bill sent back for rewrite; Doctors’ orders: They object to giving painkillers to fetuses before abortion” The Salt Lake Tribune February 4, 2006

Is it more traumatic for a woman to know her baby feels pain before she chooses to undergo an abortion? Or is it better for her to find out this fact somewhere else after the abortion is done and it’s too late?

Share on Facebook

In one article, abortionist William Harrison states:

“I am destroying life.”

This is all he tells the patient:

“You may feel some cramping while we suction everything out.”

“Offering Abortion” LA Times November 29, 2005

Share on Facebook

Are women to emotional and fragile to be told the truth about an elective medical procedure? Or does a woman have the right to know exactly what is going on in her body?

“We were hiding” some pieces of the truth about abortion that were threatening. Abortion is a kind of killing and most women seeking abortion know that.”

“Abortion Rights Activist Resigns as Clinic Director: Taft Cites Differences with Route Street Clinic” February 2, 1995. Quoted in Achieving Peace in the Abortion War by Rachel McNair

Former Clinic Administrator Charlotte Taft

Share on Facebook