Category: Abortion Counseling

The medical textbook Obstetrical Decision-Making makes a similar recommendation:

“It is essential for the gravida [pregnant woman] to be fully informed about alternative resources and options and about the safety and risks of the procedure. Psychosocial assessment and counseling are done at the very first visit [see section on psychosocial assessment]. In addition to the medical history, an in-depth social history, including relationships with others, attitudes about abortion, and support systems must be obtained at this time… No decision should be made by the gravida in haste, under duress, or without adequate time and information. Special attention should be given to feelings of ambivalence, guilt, anger, shame, sadness, and sense of loss…. Patients requesting abortion must also be screened to uncover any serious medical or psychiatric conditions.”

E Friedman, et all.eds. Obstetrical Decision-Making, second edition (Philadelphia: BC Decker Inc., 1987) 30

The vast majority of abortion clinics fail to meet this basic standard.

Read the other quotes in this section to see how counseling is really put into practice at abortion clinics.

Share on Facebook

Uta Landy, former executive director of National Abortion Federation, acknowledges that women can be deeply ambivalent about having an abortion even when they come to the clinic. She emphasizes that proper counseling is necessary.she states:

“Some women’s feelings about their pregnancy are not simply ambivalent but deeply confused. This confusion is not necessarily expressed in a straightforward manner, but can hide behind such outward behavior as: (1) being uncommunicative, (2) being extremely self-assured, (3) being impatient (how long is this going to take, I have other important things to do), or (4) being hostile (this is an awful place, you are an awful doctor, counselor, nurse; I hate being here).”

Despite Landy’s recommendation, few clinics offer the extensive counseling that even abortion providers say is necessary

Landy, “Abortion Counseling – A New Component of Medical Care” Clinics in Obs/Gyn, 13 (1): 33 – 41 (1986)

Share on Facebook

A director of the National Abortion Federation, Sylvia Stengle, reveals how common ambivalence and doubt are in aborting women. She says that one in five women having abortions is doing so “in violation of her own moral conscience.” “These woman are “very worrisome subset of our patients. Sometimes, ethically, a provider has to say, “If you think you are doing something wrong, I don’t want to help you do that.”

Junda Woo, “Abortion Doctors’ Patients Broaden Suits” the Wall Street Journal, October 28, 1994, B 12

This was from an article in the Wall Street Journal.

Share on Facebook

An article in the Chicago Sun-Times quoted a receptionist at an abortion clinic saying the following to a woman was undecided about having an abortion:

“Having a baby is a $410,000 question. Do you have that kind of money to raise a kid?”

Pamela Zeckman, Pamela Warrick et al., “the Abortion Racketeers” Chicago Sun-Times, 13, 17, 19, 12, 29, November 18, 1978

The clinic was later cited for performing abortions on women who weren’t even pregnant.

Share on Facebook

“Vital signs should be observed regularly, and a Doppler [for listening to the fetal heartbeat] inaudible to the patient should be used at intervals to determine the presence or absence of fetal heart tones… This [informed consent] is a controversial area, but most professionals in the field feel that it is not advisable for patients to view the products of conception, to be told the sex of the fetus, or to be informed of a multiple pregnancy.”

Abortionist Dr. Warren Hern

Dr. Warren Hern Abortion Practice (J.B. Lippencott Company, 1984) pgs 145 and 305

Share on Facebook

“I have never yet counseled anybody to have the baby. I’m also doing women’s counseling on campus at Albany State, and there I am expected to present alternatives. Whereas at the abortion clinic you aren’t really expected to.”

–abortion counselor

James Tunstead Burtchaell, editor Rachel Weeping and Other Essays About Abortion (New York: Universal Press 1982) p 42 From The Ambivalence of Abortion Linda Bird Francke

Share on Facebook

Louisiana, requires abortion clinics to post sign, see picture and gives the web address of a site that gives more information on abortion.

Here is a picture of the sign that clinics were required to post:

 

Planned Parenthood of Louisiana opposed the bill, claiming that the signs were “offensive.”

Why does Planned Parenthood feel that a sign telling women of their right not to be coerced and offering support offensive? Is Planned Parenthood pro-choice or pro-abortion? Do they want women to be coerced into having abortions, or be ignorant of programs in the community that can help them?

Steven Ertelt . “Innovative Pro-Life Law UsesPhones, Computers to Help Women” LifeNews  July 4, 2011
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/14/innovative-pro-life-law-uses-phones-computers-to-help-women/

Share on Facebook

“… Mandated counseling requirements have the net effect of burdening the physician’s schedule, delaying the abortion for the patient, and making it even less likely that you will receive authentic counseling.”

Carole Joffe. Doctors of Conscience: the Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe Versus Wade (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon press, 1995) 185

Does this pro-choice activist seriously believe that allowing women the chance to learn about facts on fetal development and alternative to abortion will interfere with a woman’s rights? Look at other quotes in this section (Abortion Counseling) to learn why these laws are desperately needed.

Share on Facebook