Auth0r William Brennan cites an article that showed that, prior to legalization, most abortions were being done by doctors. In 1936:
“…Washington University obstetrics professor Dr. Frederick J. Taussig characterized anti-abortion statutes as the most universally disregarded laws in history, and medical doctors “the official “bootleggers” of abortion.” (This latter phrase was intended to evoke the days of prohibition when many people were breaking the laws against sale of alcoholic beverages.)”
William Brennan The Abortion Holocaust: Today’s Final Solution (St. Louis, Missouri, 1983) 14
The article cited was: Frederick J Taussig Abortion: Spontaneous and Induced: Medical and Social Aspects (St. Louis: CV Mosby, 1936) 394
Pro-life author Troy Clark tells the following story:
“Dorothy”, age 23, had an abortion at Family Planning Medical Clinic on October 30, 1987. The gestational age was misdiagnosed before the abortion was started. When trouble arose, she was transported to a hospital, where the gestational age was estimated to be 21 weeks. The abortion was completed.
An autopsy on the baby revealed a well-developed human being with no abnormalities other than injuries caused by abortion, including traumatic amputation of left arm at shoulder. The baby bled to death from the wound, with a lacerated area extending over 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. He had been 30 to 31 weeks of gestational age.”
Source: LA County Autopsy Report No. 87 – 10358
Troy Clark, Ph.D. Abortion Every 90 Seconds: The Whole Story (Kindle, 2015)
A woman whose baby survived attempted abortion expressed gratitude for the life of her child. She was still pregnant when she gave the following interview:
“He[Her partner] was away on business and I immediately rang him on his mobile. However, I’d barely told him when he simply put the phone down. It was the worst possible reaction I could have imagined.
Worse was to come – when, a few hours later, he rang me back, he simply told me coldly I should get rid of it and he would pay for the abortion.
I felt totally devastated. It was so unlike him and just beyond explanation……
I hoped he would come round, but every time I spoke to him it was the same – he told me I had to get a termination. He didn’t even come back to the house to get the things he’d left here.
As the weeks went by I realised Jonathan was not the man I thought he was and while I longed for him to walk through the door and say he had changed his mind, he never came back.
When I rang him, his phone became ‘unavailable’. Slowly I realised my perfect gentleman, when faced with the realities of a pregnancy, had bolted…..
I spoke to my GP who referred me to a counsellor. I also rang Life, the anti-abortion organisation …But although the woman from Life tried to point out that my third baby could still have a loving home with its siblings, nothing could convince me not to go ahead with an abortion….
I could see the baby’s heartbeat on the scan,” she says, “and I couldn’t stop crying. Whichever way I turned I felt guilty – guilty if I had a termination, guilty if I brought a baby into the world in such circumstances, and guilty for stupidly getting pregnant in the first place.
I took the first pill in the clinic and was to take a second pill two days later at home. Staff explained I would probably begin to bleed within hours.”
But she threw up the pills and they didn’t work. She was scheduled for a surgical abortion.
“Doctors there said they could suck the foetus out, doing this termination under a general anaesthetic.
Once more I had to steel myself for this ordeal and kept telling myself that it was the right decision. I got ready for the operation, but then went for the scan that they legally must do before going ahead.
14 weeks
This more advanced scan revealed my pregnancy was over the limit of 12 to 13 weeks for the procedure they’d planned. I couldn’t believe it when the doctor broke the news they couldn’t go through with it….
By now I had seen my baby’s arms and legs waving on the scan. My baby was fully formed and even I marvelled at how it had grown so quickly into this perfect little human shape.
The sonographer estimated I may be as much as 14 or 15 weeks pregnant, and it seemed perfectly healthy and looked remarkably happy considering I’d already tried twice to destroy it.
14 weeks
Suddenly it felt as if I would really be killing my baby. …
I went out of the room. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said to the nurse as I walked out of the clinic. ‘I just don’t think I can go through with this.’ It was both the hardest and easiest decision I have ever made in my life.
Overcome with emotion, I came home and wept. I put my hands on my tummy – already I could feel the bump and was overcome with guilt at what I’d tried to do……
I used to think of an unwanted pregnancy as just a bundle of cells that you could get rid of without too much hassle. Now, I feel many women, just like me, do not think deeply enough about what they are doing.
It’s only now, having gone through the process of having a termination, that I realise why you hear all the time about women who – often years later – regret terribly having an abortion.
I just feel incredibly lucky that after everything I’ve done, my baby is still alive and I will not have to live with that regret.”
She refused to have the baby tested for Down syndrome, claiming she would definitely not abort even if the child would be disabled:
“After I took her to the clinic in the morning, I was supposed to leave for a weeklong work trip. I feel horrible about this, but I didn’t want to fuck over my colleagues; so after I made her brunch, I left. She seemed okay, and I tried to convince her it had been a super minimal procedure.
I drove back to see her that night, but the next morning, I left again. She was crying and said, “Are you serious? What are your fucking priorities?” At the time, I’d deemed her sort of mentally unstable, which is a horrible thing to say. I had no idea how the process would affect her physically and emotionally. That night I partied and did some drugs. It was complete escapism for me.”
One woman described what she asked the clinic worker during her abortion:
“I asked her ‘Is it gonna be a boy or a girl?’ I don’t remember if it was after the procedure or during. I think I was asking for the doctor to tell me, but he didn’t answer me. So she was the one that told me it would be too early to tell.”
Cara J. Marianna Abortion: A Collective Story (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002) 27
Anna Runkle, a former Planned Parenthood abortion counselor, wrote a guidebook for teens who are pregnant. The book was intended to help teens decide whether to carry their children to term or abort. In the book, she says:
“When looking for pregnancy counseling, watch out for anti-abortion clinics that advertise free pregnancy counseling. These groups will pressure you not to have an abortion.… A number of antiabortion organizations use advertising designed to trick you into calling them for abortion services. Once they get you in the door, they will try to pressure you to have a baby. They will give you lectures, show you films of aborted fetuses and stillborn babies, and even lie to you to stop you from having an abortion. Of course, they won’t help you find an abortion provider…
Some will tell you upfront that they are against abortion and wish to support you in carrying the pregnancy to term. But unless you want this type of service, it is best to use facilities that will support you whatever you decide. Remember that abortion providers are pro-choice – they are there to help you choose the option that is best for you, whether it’s abortion, adoption, or raising the baby yourself.”
Anna Runkle In Good Conscience: A Practical, Emotional, and Spiritual Guide to Deciding Whether to Have an Abortion (San Francisco: Jossey–Bass Publishers, 1998) 64, 105 – 106
On the same day that Roe vs. Wade was decided, a lesser-known court ruling, Doe vs. Bolton, was also passed. This case pertained to another woman who lawyer said wanted an abortion. In reality, the woman, Sandra Cano, was never seeking an abortion and was tricked into signing the papers. The case resulted in a decision that said states could never restrict abortion in any way unless there was an exception for the woman’s health. However, Doe vs. Bolton defined “health” very broadly, including emotional health and the women’s age.
It seems that the Chief Justice had doubts about the validity of the case from the beginning, but because he intended to legalize abortion, he ignored them:
“In his notes to [Justice] Blackmun, [Justice] Brennan expressed doubts that “Mary Doe” actually existed and observed that because she was “apparently a resident of Georgia, she seems to lack standing to raise the rights of nonresidents…It may be best to finesse that question.”
David M. Wagner “Roe v. Wade and the Deformation of Constitutional Law” Washington Watch Quoted in:
Troy Clark, Ph.D. Abortion Every 90 Seconds: The Whole Story (Kindle, 2015)
From Jerry, whose wife had an abortion against his will:
“I can’t understand how my wife could do such a thing. We didn’t have money problems. We didn’t have family problems. Our two existing children were at school so there was no reason why we couldn’t have had the baby. Except that she didn’t want it. Something died in me that morning and I can’t see my wife the way I used to see her. I don’t know if we can survive this.”
They later divorced.
Anne R Lastman Redeeming Grief: Abortion and Its Pain (Balwyn, Vic: Australia: Gracewing, 2013) 122
A handbook given out to pregnant teens that was meant to provide resources in the community included Planned Parenthood, but not a local crisis pregnancy center:
“… Let’s look more closely at programs in one midsize southwestern city. The Teenage Parent Council of Austin, Texas, publishes a “Green Book” resource directory for “teens, pregnant teens, and teenage parents.” The book, touted as a directory of services available in Austin and Travis County, includes agencies that provide counseling, medical services, birth control, abortion, adoption, maternity homes, health and education programs, social services, legal aid, shelter, transportation and other miscellaneous helps – but it excludes the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center because it is pro-life and attempts to promote sexual abstinence among the unmarried.”
The Teenage Parent Council hands out a listing of birth control purveyors and abortionists who “are committed to helping teens feel comfortable when they come for services or for information. All of these clinics provide confidential services. That means that no one, not even parents, is informed about your birth control visit.”
Susan Olasky, Marvin Olasky More than Kindness: A Compassionate Approach to Crisis Childbearing (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway books, 1990) 41
The text from the Teenage Parent Council comes from Garfinkel, Sara S McLanahan Single Mothers and Their Children (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 1986) 82
Pro-choice writer Cara J. Marianna compiled a book of women’s stories about abortion. She refers to one woman, Barbara, who had mixed thoughts before her abortion:
“Barbara indicated that she thought abortion was wrong, even though she knew it was right for her. ‘I remember I kept thinking, ‘Am I really killing a baby? Is this really, you know, a full grown [baby]?””
Cara J. Marianna Abortion: A Collective Story (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002) 25
