Chapter
1: Abortion—American Inquisition
The states are not free, under the guise of protecting
maternal health or potential life, to intimidate women into continuing
pregnancies.—Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Roe v. Wade, January 22, 1973
Incendiary
comments by outspoken Evangelical Christian anti-abortion figureheads portray the procedure as an “evil” perpetrated by
the non-Christian left. In response, The
Center for Reason, a private research group, undertook a study to test the
premise: “Christians have
fewer abortions than non-Christians.” The results
disprove the premise.[i] With nearly 80 percent of the population claiming
Christianity, it should be no surprise the largest population receiving
abortions is Christian.
Of those
receiving abortions in the United States, 65 percent are Christians, 37 percent
are Protestants, and 28 percent are Catholics.[ii] Also, one out of six abortion patients describes herself as a born-again or an evangelical Christian,[iii] making it clear that Christian religionists need
to start preaching to the choir as it appears their robes are dirty. Those
professing no faith make up 22 percent of abortion patients.[iv]
There were 1.21 million abortions in 2008, down from 1.31 million in
2000.[v] Even though rates dropped, abortion splits the
United States at the voting box, but research shows that evangelicals are just
as likely to seek abortion and that many are two and three time visitors. Many
Christians who wind up at an abortion clinic end there precisely because of
religion. Rather than face the religious judgment of family and friends, many
women opt for the abortion clinic. Ironically, almost a quarter (298,569) of all
abortions take place in the states of the old Confederacy—the most religious
portion of the country.[vi], [vii]
Abortion protesters
often try to label women who receive them as afraid of being mothers, but more
than likely they are wrong as 61 percent of women having abortion are already
mothers.[viii] The Guttmacher Institute agrees
saying that women with one or more children account for nearly 60 percent of
abortions in the United States.[ix] In addition, married women obtain 17 percent of
all abortions.[x] A group that religious anti-abortion advocates
should know well is the 46 percent having abortions that did not use
contraception during the month they became pregnant. Large portions are
teenagers that come
from religious backgrounds opposed to teaching contraception.
[xi]
Despite
anti-abortion advocates desire to blame rates of abortion on teenagers, more
than half of the roughly 1.2 million U.S. women having abortions each year are
20 or older with employed women accounting for nearly 70 percent of abortions
in the United States.[xii] In addition, abortion rates are much higher for
women living in poverty, as three quarters of women getting abortions
say they cannot afford a child,[xiii] but it is not a service used solely by the poor,
as women whose household incomes are $50,000 and more obtain 11 percent of
abortions.[xiv] At current rates, about half of American women
will experience an unintended pregnancy, and more than a third will have an abortion by
age 45.[xv]
Obviously, life, financial considerations, or even inconvenience can
trump religion when it comes to abortion. As the
statistics show, despite the shrillness of the debate, one point is clear;
Christians use abortion services more than any other group in the country
making it known that Christianity has little affect in reducing the demand. Not
surprising, more than one third of born-again adults believe that abortion is a morally
acceptable behavior.[xvi]
The lowest abortion rates in the world—less than 10 per 1,000 women of
reproductive age—are in Europe, where abortion
is legal and available.[xvii] The highest rates of abortion occur in countries
that severely restrict abortion like Nigeria, Mexico, and Brazil.[xviii] In the United States where claims of religion
are strong, abortion is highest when compared with other industrialized
countries.
Today, abortion
deaths in the United States dropped to eight a year compared with nearly a
thousand in 1950.[xix] Those unaware of abortion’s history do not
realize that it was a leading cause of maternal mortality in pre-Roe America,
and it remains so today in many developing countries where abortion is illegal. Worldwide,
more than 200,000 women die each year because of illegal abortion related
procedures.[xx]
Population and
resource concerns often override religion when it comes to survival especially
where poverty reigns or when societies become modernized. In Uganda and the
Philippines, the desired family size has fallen sharply since the 1980s.[xxi] In both countries, modern contraceptive use remains
low, leading to high rates of unintended pregnancy. As a result, both countries’ abortion rates
have surpassed that of the United States, despite each having strict abortion
bans combined with strong religious and cultural traditions condemning the
procedure. Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria and
Peru all banned abortion, but illegal and
self-induced abortions in these countries often end depriving living children
of their mothers.[xxii] Just as in the United States, contraception is
often difficult to obtain or blocked because of religious reasons, similarly
unintended pregnancy rates are also high.[xxiii]
The evangelical
stance on abortion is both interesting and confusing. While some understanding
generates from the human concern for life, whatever empathy established finds
itself mitigated by the Evangelical Right’s obvious lack of concern for life
outside the womb. For all the drastic measures taken to prevent abortion,
evangelical concern disappears for those living in the world without
assistance.
For instance,
the surety of evangelical jurisprudence shows no concern for life when it comes
to state sanctioned executions. Guilt or innocence barely receives a thought
despite the possibility of innocence forever erased with the death of the
convicted. Evangelicals even seem willing to sacrifice the lives of their
children and others to fight in unsanctioned wars while the well-to-do
sacrifice nothing. Conservative evangelicals can collect enough money to
construct crude anti-abortion signs and paraphernalia, but are both unable and
unwilling to help defray the costs of childbirth, which many see as welfare despite
that it might benefit those mothers deciding to forgo abortion.
Considering that
Christians receive most abortions, it may be of benefit for anti-abortionists
to come up with concrete alternatives that help with unwanted pregnancy other
than denial of abortion, condemnation of contraceptives, abstinence only sex
education and
punitive social conduct. Unplanned and unwanted pregnancy deserve real answers
that solve problems instead of blind support for unsupported propaganda that
not only helps create more problems, but shows a stunning disregard for human
life and a penchant more intent on punishing unwanted pregnancy victims than
helping.
“Evangelicals must
also rethink the priorities for their political engagement. There is too much
truth to the charge that we have been pro-life only from
conception to birth. The sanctity of human life also pertains to people dying from hunger,
AIDS, tobacco smoke,
and capital punishment.”[xxiv]—Ronald J. Sider
A close look at the so-called “pro-life“ movement reveals the faction focuses almost
entirely on preventing abortion. On achievement of that goal, concern for
that child’s well-being disappears more often than not. Issues affecting the
quality of human life after birth like childcare, health insurance, education, poverty aid, and housing fall under welfare, which is not popular among conservative
Christians that make up the majority of the movement.
Social programs
that house, feed, and even clothe the less fortunate fall under the welfare heading;
as such, many evangelicals look on them with contempt despite their alleged concerned
for life. None of these positions remotely represents a pro-life perspective; although war and
abortion may
seem miles apart, when considering the awesome disregard for humanity, the designation pro-life is an obvious
misnomer for a group with such feeble moral underpinnings. The term “pro-birth,” more accurately describes the anti-abortion
group, improperly named for far too long.
Among
Evangelical Christians, war seems an acceptable method of solving problems
despite the high financial and human cost, just as the death penalty appears a
favored method for dealing with some criminals. Pro-lifers, for
example, are often opponents of public programs that would assist children born
in poverty, which is often the social fate of those
whose mothers chose the pro-life option over pro-choice, even though they were
not financially equipped to support other additions to their families.[xxv]
“Pro-lifers are often proponents of the death penalty, they generally
oppose gun control laws like those in Canada, England, Japan,
and other countries where death from gunshot wounds is rare compared to the
number killed in the United States. Pro-lifers generally favor the unprovoked
war against
Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of more than 4,400 American soldiers and
over 100,000 Iraqis. Such positions as these shows a disdain for life after it
has been born . . .”[xxvi]
With more than 120,000 adoptable children in
the United States,[xxvii] an excellent
opportunity exists for the Evangelical Right to
demonstrate their concern for life by adopting some of those hoping to land in
a good Christian home. The shallowness of the anti-abortion, pro-birth stance reveals itself in the failure to adopt
the forced deliveries. Almost 60 percent of waiting children are black or
Hispanic, which plays a major role in the 70,000 children that go unadopted every year.[xxviii]
There is no shortage of religionists against
providing social relief programs to aid poor women, as help of that nature
falls under welfare, which most Conservative Christians oppose. Yet, it will cost a middle-class U.S.
family about $222,360 ($286,050 adjusted for inflation) to raise a child born
in 2009 to the age of 17, according to the report Expenditures on Children by
Families 2009, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).[xxix]
Broken down by family income, parents with an
income between $56,670 and $98,120 can expect to spend $222,360 and a family
earning more than $98,120 can expect to spend $369,360. According to the report,
costs for food, shelter, and other child-raising necessities total from $11,650
to $13,530 per year, depending on the age of the child.[xxx]
According to the 2011 Poverty Guidelines for the
48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia, the poverty levels are set at $10,890 for a single person,
$14,710 for a family of two, $18,530 for a family of three and $22,350 for a
family of four.
In 2010, there were 46.2 million people living in
poverty, up from 43.6 million in 2009 and the fourth consecutive annual
increase. The 2010 report marks highest poverty rates in the 52 years of its
publishing.[xxxi]
Using the lowest figure from the USDA report, a
middle-class family would have an estimated $1,020,060 to spend toward raising
a child. For a family of three, using the federal poverty guidelines, a family
of three would have $333,540 toward raising a child.[xxxii] A disparity that devastates the latter’s
child’s chances for competing in a society where being poor is a sin blamed on
the impoverished.
It is easy to protest abortion and legislate
against it. However, when it comes to dealing with the financial realities of
living, Conservative Christians are
notably absent from the help line. Once a child is born, Conservative
Christians imitate Pontius Pilate and “wash their hands” of the whole affair deeming their job
accomplished.
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it
to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says
the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning
coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.[xxxiii]
In an all-out
attack on women’s rights, religion inspired state legislatures and the
United States Congress have introduced amendments and laws that would block
abortion, torture women
seeking abortion and invite murder.[xxxiv] As a whole, the proposals introduced in 2011 and
early 2012 are more hostile to abortion rights than in the past.[xxxv] The new proposals are not only hostile to
abortion rights; some clearly stand as punitive measures designed to punish
women for having sex.
So far, religion
fueled hatefulness has surfaced in a proposed law that would allow hospitals to
let women die instead of providing a life-saving abortion.[xxxvi] A proposed law in South Dakota would make it
legal to kill abortion providers. In addition, South Dakota requires that
counseling include information related to abortion complications, even if the
data are scientifically flawed.[xxxvii] Nebraska introduced a bill that allows a
pregnant woman, her husband, her parents, or her children to commit justifiable
homicide in
defense of her fetus.[xxxviii]
Kansas adopted a
bill that would allow family members to sue healthcare providers over late term
abortions, meaning that ex-husbands, parents, and even “kissing cousins” could
block an abortion because they do not like it.[xxxix] Georgia considered a bill that would
potentially demand the death penalty for miscarriages.[xl] Oklahoma passed a law that requires placing
the names of women receiving abortions in a public database.[xli] A Texas law requires doctors to describe
sonogram images
to their abortion patients and requires women to hear the descriptions.[xlii], [xliii]
Mississippi
considered an amendment to the state’s constitution to make a fertilized egg a “person.”[xliv] A
revised Mississippi sex
education law requires all school
districts to provide abstinence-only sex education.[xlv] Virginia passed a bill that allows forced
ultrasound.[xlvi] Virginia also stripped funding to low-income
women for abortions in pregnancies involving fetal anomalies.[xlvii]
These rules are
perhaps the most prehistoric and vindictive pushed by religious agendas out of
touch with reality and seeking to punish women by taking away their rights and
make it exceedingly difficult to obtain an abortion, which has been legal since
1973. However, the above is just the beginning. Anti-abortionists want to
revise abortion refusal clauses to allow any hospital employee to refuse to “participate in any way” in an abortion as well as limit abortion
coverage in all private health plans.[xlviii]
Since, 2012 is
an election year a certain amount of anti-abortion rhetoric comes with the
American elective process, but the focus on abortion and contraception while
the country struggles economically seems highly misplaced. Nevertheless, these
brutal and vengeful proposals and laws if left on the books, pushes abortion
back into the alleys with less than professional operators, unsanitary
conditions and an enormous jump in maternal deaths because of bungled
abortions. Nevertheless, abortions will not go away because of legislation or
religion.
Few are aware of abortion’s sordid history in the United States or
how social strata often made the difference in who lived and who died. The
illegality of abortion disproportionately affected poor American women and
their families forcing them to seek illegal abortions while the rich had unidentified
medical procedures. Abortion came under no law in the United States[xlix] until modern
times when the procedure became illegal, but making abortion outside the law
did not end the practice. Instead, criminalizing abortion put many women at
risk when in desperation they sought out the services of illegal abortionists
and died as a result. This side of abortion stays hidden, as does the high
number of deaths that fueled formulation of the bill.
In the 1950s and 1960s, an estimated 200,000 to
1.2 million women a year had illegal abortions under unsafe conditions.[l] Today, the
number of illegal abortions performed each year in the United States varies,
but the large death toll from these procedures is unacceptably high and
unnecessary. Despite improvements in the safety of abortion, as recently as 1965, illegal abortion still accounted for an estimated 201 deaths—17
percent of all officially reported pregnancy-related deaths that year.
Epidemiologists believe the number was likely much higher, but to protect women
and their families the deaths officially listed to other causes.[li],
[lii]
Before Roe vs. Wade, a woman could obtain a legal abortion by
getting the approval of a hospital committee established to review abortion
requests, but it was an option available only to the rich and well connected.
Less affluent women had few alternatives except dangerous and illegal abortion.[liii] According to a
study of abortions performed at a large New York City hospital
from 1950 to 1960, the incidence of abortion was much higher among patients
with private physicians than among women without their own doctor.[liv] Low-income
women found themselves admitted to the hospital for post-abortion care following an illegal abortion.[lv]
The toll of illegal abortion on
the lives of women and their families finally made decriminalization a moral
imperative. Few of today’s activists for either side of the debate are familiar
with the role the American clergy played in helping to bring together a program
covered with controversy. Before Roe vs. Wade ever received consideration, advice from
theologians, doctors, scientists, jurists and philosophers came into
consideration to find an answer to the horrendous carnage of botched abortions
in the United States that resulted in crippling injury, life threatening
complications and
death.
Evangelical Christians lay ignorant that such
procedures were a concern and offered no resistance to a cause the Catholic
Church fought for years. With the awakening of the Moral Majority, a gross contradiction in terms, the
Evangelical Right found a place to hang its moral hat and hide
its disgraceful nation-leading divorce rate, which 40 years later still holds dubious
distinction of being number one.
Rather than finding solutions for unplanned pregnancy, other than an
aspirin between the knees as one politician suggested, the Evangelical Right successfully
intimidated poll sensitive politicians into doing their dirty work. Today,
states try to negate the 1973 Supreme Court decision by implementing punitive,
cruel, and sometimes degrading laws designed to limit abortion or make it
distasteful by passing laws requiring that women listen to ultrasound of the
fetal heartbeat.
"I've never seen anybody who said they were
coming in to an abortion, wanted to
see the ultrasound, reacted to it, and then changed their mind on the basis of
that," said Ellen Wiebe, an abortion provider and director of the Willow
Women's Clinic in British Columbia, Canada.[lvi]
Wiebe is one of the few researchers
that conducted studies worldwide in an attempt to gage women's reactions to
viewing an ultrasound pre-abortion.[lvii] The study, published in 2009 in the
European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Healthcare, found that,
when given the option, 72 percent of women chose to view the sonogram image.
Of those, 86 percent said it was a
positive experience and none changed their mind about the abortion.[lviii] Another study by Wiebe published in
2009 in the journal Contraception,
analyzed how many women chose to look at the embryonic or fetal tissue removed
during an abortion. Only about 28 percent of women showed interest—”they're curious,” Wiebe said—but of those, 83 percent
said that viewing the embryo or fetus did not make the process more emotionally
difficult.[lix]
Fetal sonograms are not new as 18
states have laws on the books either requiring a woman to receive information
on ultrasound services or requiring they undergo an ultrasound before an
abortion with the assumption that it will encourage women to keep the pregnancy
after viewing the image.[lx]
A little research by pro-birthers would reveal that women who get abortions know it terminates the pregnancy and are
determined to do it long before they ever set foot in the doctor’s office.[lxi] Nevertheless, the war against women continues unabated.
Abortion’s Reality
The 1973 approval of abortion by
the Supreme Court was in part recognition of this reality. Abortions will
continue as they have throughout history. The only question is whether it will
return to musty motel rooms or clandestine locations with unqualified
providers. Meanwhile, the rich will do as they did in the past—make
arrangements, meaning that money can buy a safe abortion in a hospital.
Conversely, poor women have little choice other than seeking a life-risking
illegal procedure or self-induced abortion.
Lost in the cacophony of religious rhetoric, misinformation and
propaganda is the reality of unwanted children. There are a multitude of
reasons women seek abortion including, interruption and possible ending of life
pursuits, affordability of another child, adulterous pregnancy, incest or rape
and even inconvenience. Despite conservative ideas about abortion, it is legal
in the United States and has been for nearly four decades.
The zeal of Christian Conservatives blinds them to the fact that 65
percent of the problem rests under the umbrella of Christianity. With 76 percent of American claiming Christianity, the figures
are nearly predictable. What is surprising is the finger pointing engaged in by
Conservative Christians when it is clear the problem lies within their
own ranks.
Additionally,
new research about rising adolescent abortion rates shows a positive correlation with increasing
belief and worship of a creator, and a negative correlation with increasing
non-theism and acceptance of evolution; rates are uniquely high in the U.S.
contradicting claims that secular cultures aggravate abortion rates.[lxii]
Despite
the South's religiosity or because of it, it is among the leaders in abortion
rates. Since evangelicals are just as likely to
seek abortions as anyone, perhaps a twist on Oklahoma’s idea
about those seeking abortion needs an adjustment to include the religion of the
abortion recipient in its scarlet letter database. Publishing the
faith of those receiving abortion might help make the hypocrisy clear, but if
one point is plain in all of furor over abortion, those in-favor of the
punitive and vengeful legislation are blind when it comes to the obvious and
that is they have met the enemy and it is them.
The attempt to end all abortion and thwart access to contraception is
just the beginning of a war on women, as I will explain further in the Chapter
14: Abuse: Second Class Citizens,
where I will briefly write about quiver–full theology and its implication for
women. I will also address the reality of abortion in Chapter 29: Rethinking the South and the reader will
see that those creating the most stir are also the ones generating the need.
Violence
Turning up the anti-abortion
volume by the Evangelical Right on the abortion issue has had disastrous
results, especially for the families of murdered abortion providers. The
stirring of the already blistering contention surrounding abortion by the
Evangelical Right is at least incitement if not aiding and abetting murder.
In the early 1990s, anti-abortion
extremists concluded that murdering providers was the only way to stop
abortion. The murder death of Dr. David Gunn in 1993 marked the beginning of a
new phase in anti-abortion tactics. Since then, there have been seven
subsequent murders and numerous attempted murders of clinic staff and
physicians, several of which occurred in their own homes.[lxiii]
In the U.S., violence directed
toward abortion providers has killed four doctors, two clinic employees, a
security guard, and a clinic escort.[lxiv], [lxv]
According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation
(NAF), since 1977 in the United States and Canada, there have been 17 attempted murders,
383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, and 3 kidnappings
committed against abortion providers.[lxvi],
[lxvii],
[lxviii],
[lxix]
Over the years, law enforcement officials recorded more than 400 cases
of terrorist activities by anti-abortionists and the count is rising. Murder,
kidnapping, death threats or assault and battery are not the only dangers faced
by abortion providers and their staffs. More than 200 arsons and bombings have
caused more than $13 million in damages and endangered countless lives. There have been about 100 butyric acid attacks throughout the United States and
Canada, causing in excess of $1 million in damages.[lxx]
Butyric acid
is a clear, colorless liquid with an unpleasant, rancid, vomit-like odor.
Anti-abortion extremists began using butyric acid as a weapon against abortion facilities
in early 1992. The goal of introducing butyric acid into a clinic is to disrupt
services, close the clinic, and harass patients and staff. Depending on the
amount used and the method of dispersement, butyric acid can cause thousands of
dollars of damage, requiring clinics to replace carpeting, furniture, and
conduct extensive cleanup of the facility.[lxxi]
In
efforts to terrorize and disrupt, since 1998 more than 600 letters threatening
anthrax poisoning arrived at reproductive health care clinics. The letters
threatened that clinic personnel exposed to the letters would die.[lxxii]
After 9/11, terrorist attacks, the use of Anthrax threats at abortion clinics
around the country began to escalate.
The
Rap Sheet
Doctor who Performed Abortions Shot to Death—Wichita—Dr. George Tiller, whose
Kansas women's clinic frequently took center stage in the U.S. debate over
abortion, was shot and killed while serving as an usher at his Wichita church
Sunday morning, police said. Wichita police said a 51-year-old man from the
Kansas City, Kansas, area was in custody in connection with the slaying of
Tiller, who was one of the few U.S. physicians who still performed late-term
abortions. The killing, which came about 16 years after Tiller
survived a shooting outside his Wichita clinic, took place shortly at the
Reformation Lutheran Church. Officers found the 67-year-old dead in the foyer,
police said.[lxxiii]
Abortion Doc’s Killer Gets Life Sentence—Wichita,
KS—An anti-abortion zealot
convicted of murdering a prominent Kansas abortion doctor was sentenced to life
in prison and won't be eligible for parole for 50 years—the maximum allowed by
law. Scott Roeder, 52, gunned down Dr. George Tiller in the
back of Tiller's Wichita church. Allowing for possible time off the sentences
for good behavior—Roeder will not be eligible for parole for 51 years and eight
months.[lxxiv]
Abortion Foe Who Killed Doctor Is
Sentenced to 25 Years to Life—Buffalo—An abortion opponent who fatally shot an obstetrician
in the doctor's suburban home was given the maximum sentence of 25 years to
life today, after a rambling 90-minute speech in which he exhorted his
''younger brothers and sisters in the movement'' to carry on his crusade.[lxxv] Dr. Barnett Slepian died after
shot by anti-abortionist sniper James C. Kopp in 1998. Ironically, Dr. Slepian,
the married father of four young sons, had just returned home from a memorial
service for his father.[lxxvi] Police captured James C. Kopp and
charged him with the murder after
he evaded the authorities with the help of friends by fleeing to Europe. It
took the authorities four years to bring him to trial in New York, largely
because his friends kept him one step ahead of the law while he traveled
through Europe.[lxxvii] Kopp was back in court in 2007
charged with violating a 1994 law forbidding the use of force to prevent access
to reproductive health care. Judge Richard Arcara of Federal District Court
sentenced Kopp to life in prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic
Entrances Act.[lxxviii]
Two Who Helped Doctor's Killer
Are Released After 29 Months—New York—A Brooklyn couple who helped an abortion
opponent elude the authorities after he killed an upstate doctor in 1998 were
sentenced yesterday to 29 months in prison, the time they had already served
while awaiting trial. The couple, Dennis J. Malvasi, 53, and his wife, Loretta
C. Marra, 39, pleaded guilty in April to wiring money to the abortion opponent,
James C. Kopp, after he had evaded the authorities by fleeing to Europe. They
also admitted that they had invited Mr. Kopp to live in their East New York
apartment while he was on the run. Kopp received a life sentence after his
conviction of killing Dr. Barnett A. Slepian.[lxxix]
Activist Gets Life for Killing Abortion
Doctor—Pensacola—An
anti-abortion activist was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to
life in prison Saturday for shooting a doctor as he arrived at a clinic to
perform abortions. The jury deliberated less than three hours before convicting
Michael F. Griffin, 32, in the slaying of Dr. David Gunn. Griffin showed no
emotion when the seven women and five men returned the verdict.[lxxx] Dr. Gunn was getting out of his
car in the clinic's parking lot when Griffin shouted, “Don't kill any more babies!” and shot the doctor three times
in the back. Griffin immediately surrendered to a nearby police officer. Griffin
had attended a prayer service and protest organization meeting three days
earlier and was apparently waiting for Dr. Gunn, the father of two, to appear on
the morning of the shooting.[lxxxi]
Clayton Lee Waagner Found Guilty of Making Anthrax and Death Threats—Philadelphia—A federal jury found
Clayton Lee Waagner guilty of making threats to employees of reproductive
clinics after a two-week trial. Waagner was convicted of violating the Freedom
of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, of interstate transmission and mailing of
threatening communications, and of threatening the use of a weapon of mass
destruction.[lxxxii] Waagner sent 554 letters via
U.S. Mail and FedEx in 2001 to Employees of Reproductive Clinics in the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere.[lxxxiii] In early 2002, he was sentenced to 30 years in jail for
the charges he was found guilty of before escaping from prison including
weapons violations and stolen vehicle charges as well as the escape. In of the
same year, Waagner was convicted in Cincinnati, OH, of six charges relating to
weapons violations and stolen vehicles. He represented himself and it took the
federal jury just forty minutes to return the guilty verdict. He was sentenced
to 19 years and seven months in prison for these crimes. The sentence was
ordered to be served after Waagner completes his previous sentence of 30 years.
He has also been convicted and sentenced to more than 50 years in prison for
numerous other crimes committed while on the run, including escape, bank
robbery, explosives and weapons charges.[lxxxiv]
Seventy-seven percent of anti-abortion leaders are men. 100%
of them will never be pregnant.—Planned Parenthood advertisement
[i] The Landscape of Abortion, March 12, 2006, http://www.CenterForReason.com/reports.htm
[ii] The Landscape of Abortion, http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=2
[iii]
RK Jones, JE Darroch and SK Henshaw, Patterns in the
socioeconomic characteristics of women obtaining abortions in 2000-2001, Perspectives
on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2002; 34: 226-235
[iv] Women Who Have Abortions, The Alan Guttmacher Institute &
National Abortion Federation,2008
[v] Lawrence Finer LB and M.R. Zolna, Unintended pregnancy in the United States: incidence and disparities,
2006, Contraception, 2011, doi:
10.1016/j.contraception.2011.07.013
[vi] Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States, In Brief: Fact
Sheet, Guttmacher Institute, August 2011,
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
[vii] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008
[viii] Amanda Marcotte, 10 Things I'd Say to the Anti-Choice Fanatics
Trying to End Access to Abortion, AlterNet, July 27, 2011,
http://www.alternet.org/story/151800/10_things_i%27d_say_to_the_antichoice_fanatics_trying_to_end_access_to_abortion
[ix] Women Who Have
Abortions, The Alan Guttmacher Institute & National Abortion
Federation,2008
[x] Abortion Facts - United States, Abortion Recovery International,
March 31, 2005
[xi]
An Overview of Abortion in the United States, Physicians for Reproductive
Choice and Health (PRCH) and the Guttmacher Institute, January 2008
[xii] Who has abortions? Not just desperate teens, Associated Press,
David Crary, January 20, 2008
[xiii] Amanda Marcotte, 10 Things I'd Say to the Anti-Choice Fanatics
Trying to End Access to Abortion, AlterNet, July 27, 2011,
http://www.alternet.org/story/151800/10_things_i%27d_say_to_the_antichoice_fanatics_trying_to_end_access_to_abortion
[xiv] Abortion in the U.S., Guttmacher, 1993.
[xv] Abortion Facts - United States, AbortionRecovery.org, 2007
[xvi] Morality Continues to
Decay, The Barna Group, November 3, 2003,
http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/129-morality-continues-to-decay
[xvii] An Overview of Abortion in the United States,
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) and the Guttmacher
Institute, January 2008
[xvii]
ibid
[xviii] Heather Boonstra et al, Abortion in Women’s Lives, Guttmacher
Institute, 2006[xviii]
[xix] Bartlett et al., 2004 (1988–1997 data)
[xx] S. Singh et al., 2006; WHO 2007; Grimes 2006
[xxi] Guttmacher Institute, Improving reproductive health in the
Philippines, Research In Brief, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2003, Number 1;
Singh S et al., The incidence of abortion in Uganda, International Family
Planning Perspectives, 2005, 31(4):183–191; and S. Singh et al., Estimating the
level of abortion in the Philippines and Bangladesh, International Family
Planning Perspectives, 1997, 23(3):100–107
[xxii] T. David, Sacred Work: Planned Parenthood and Its Clergy Alliances,
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005, Page 129–130 and L.T.
Strauss et al., Abortion surveillance—United States, 2001, Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report Surveillance Summaries, 2004, 53(SS09): 1–32
[xxiii] S. Singh, 2006; WHO 2007; Grimes 2006
[xxiv] Ronald J. Sider, Evangelical Voters, Practice What You
Preach, beliefnet, March 2005,
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2005/03/Evangelical-Voters-Practice-What-You-Preach.aspx
[xxv]
Farrell Till, Smoke Screens and Straw Men, The Skeptical Review Online,
http://www.theskepticalreview.com/JFTPoliticsConception2.html
[xxvii]
The AFCARS Report, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and
Families, June 2011, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report18.htm
[xxviii]
Foster Care Facts, The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute,
http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/FactOverview/foster.html
[xxix] Robert Longley, Cost to Raise a Child in US
Tops-$220,000, About.com, June 16, 2010,
http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2010/06/16/cost-to-raise-a-child-in-us-tops-220000.htm
[xxxi]
Carmen DeNavas, Bernadette D. Proctor and Jessica C. Smith, Income, Poverty,
and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010, U.S. Census Bureau,
September, 2011
[xxxii]
2011 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
Columbia, Federal Register/Volume 76, Number 13/Thursday, January 20,
2011/Notices, Page 3638
[xxxiii]
Romans 12:19–21, King James Bible
[xxxiv]
Scott Bidstrup, Why The "Fundamentalist" Approach To Religion Must Be
Wrong, http://www.bidstrup.com/religion.htm
[xxxv] State
Legislative Trends: Hostility to Abortion Rights Increases, Guttmacher
Institute, April 12, 2011, http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/updates/2011/statetrends12011.html
[xxxvi]
Jodi Jacobson, House Passes H.R. 358, the "Let Women Die" Act of
2011, rhReality Check.Org, October 13, 2011,
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2011/10/13/house-passes-hr-358-the-let-women-die-act-of-2011
[xxxvii] State Legislative Trends:
Hostility to Abortion Rights Increases, Guttmacher Institute, April 12, 2011,
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2011/04/12/index.html
[xxxviii] Nick Baumann and Daniel Schulman, Nebraska Resurrects "Justifiable
Homicide" Abortion Bill, , Mother Jones, February 24, 2011, http://motherjones.com/politics
[xxxix]
An Overview of Abortion Laws, State Policies in Brief, Guttmacher
Institute. July 1, 2011
[xl]
Jen Quraishi, Ga. Law Could Give Death Penalty for Miscarriages,
Mother Jones, February 23, 2011, http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/02/miscarriage-death-penalty-georgia
[xli] Elyse Siegel, Oklahoma Abortion Law: Details To Be Publicly
Posted Online, The Huffington Post, October 8, 2009,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/08/oklahoma-abortion-law-det_n_313779.html
[xlii]
Jim Vertuno, Texas Sonogram Law: Judge Strikes Down Key Provisions of Abortion
Bill, August 30, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/texas-sonogram-law-judge-abortion_n_942628.html
[xliii]
Andrea
Grimes, Forced Ultrasound, "Informed Consent," and Women's Health in
Texas: The Sad State of the State, RH Reality
Check, March 7, 2012, http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/03/01/womens-health-in-texas-state-state
[xliv]
Holly L. Derr, Mississippi Blues, Ms. Magazine Blog, October 26, 2011,
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/10/26/mississippi-blues/
[xlv] State Legislative Trends:
Hostility to Abortion Rights Increases, Guttmacher Institute, April 12, 2011,
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2011/04/12/index.html
[xlvi]
Jodi Jacobson, Virginia Board of Health Passes Nation's Most Restrictive
and Medically-Unnecessary Regulations for Abortion Care, RH Reality Check,
September 15, 2011,
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2011/09/15/virginia-boardhealth-passes-most-restrictive-medically-unnecessary-restrictions-abortioncare?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%2
8RHRealityCheck.org%29
[xlvii] Jodi Jacobson, Governor Bob
McDonnell Signs Forced Ultrasound Bill, Raising Costs and Time Involved in
Abortion Care, RH Reality Check, March 7, 2012,
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/03/07/governor-bob-mcdonnell-signs-forced-ultrasound-bill
[xlviii] State
Legislative Trends: Hostility to Abortion Rights Increases, Guttmacher
Institute, April 12, 2011,
http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/updates/2011/statetrends12011.html
[xlix]
U.S. Abortion History, The 200-year history of abortion in America goes back way
beyond 1973, Abort73.Com, September 03, 2009,
http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_history/
[l] C. Tietze and S. Lewit, 1969,
op. cit. (see reference 11)
[li] AGI, 1990, op. cit. (see reference
18), p. 3.
[lii] Tietze C, The effect of
legalization of abortion on population growth and public health, Family
Planning Perspectives, 1975, 7(3):123–127
[liv] R. E. Hall, Therapeutic
abortion, sterilization and contraception, American Journal of Obstetrics and
Gynecology, 1965, 31(4):518–532
[lv] M.S. Burnhill, Estimating the
number of patients hospitalized after an induced abortion by demographic
analysis of hospitalized abortion patients, in: Hasegawa T et al., eds.,
Fertility and Sterility, Proceedings of the Seventh World Congress, Tokyo and
Kyoto, October 17–25, 1971, Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, 1973, Page 389–392
[lx]
Stephanie Pappas, Abortion Debate: Little Evidence Sonograms Change
Minds, Doctors Say, LiveScience, February 16, 2011,
http://www.livescience.com/12886-abortion-sonogram-research.html
[lxi]
Amanda Marcotte, 10 Things I'd Say to the Anti-Choice Fanatics Trying to End
Access to Abortion, AlterNet, July 27, 2011,
http://www.alternet.org/story/151800/10_things_i%27d_say_to_the_antichoice_fanatics_trying_to_end_access_to_abortion
[lxii]
Gregory S. Paul, Cross-national Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health
with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First
Look, Journal of Religion &
Society, Vol. 7 (2005), pp. 1-17
[lxiii]
Clinic Violence, History of Violence, National Abortion
Federation,http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/history_violence.html
[lxiv]
Clinic
violence and intimidation, NARAL
Pro-Choice America Foundation 2009,
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/Abortion-Access-to-Abortion-Violence.pdf
[lxv]
Man Arrested in Killing of Mobile Abortion Doctor, The New York Times.
September 5, 1993, http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/05/us/man-arrested-in-killing-of-mobile-abortion-doctor.html
; H. Kushner, Encyclopedia
of Terrorism, Sage Publications, 2003, p.39
[lxvi]
Incidence of Violence & Disruption Against Abortion Providers in the U.S.
& Canada, National Abortion
Federation, 2009
[lxvii]
Clinic
violence and intimidation, NARAL
Pro-Choice America Foundation, 2009,
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/Abortion-Access-to-Abortion-Violence.pdf
[lxviii]
B.A. Robinson, Violence & Harassment at U.S. Abortion Clinics, Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance, November 9, 2004
[lxix]
Clinic Violence: History of Violence, National Abortion Federation, 2006
[lxx]
Clinic Violence, History Of Violence/Anthrax
Attacks, National Abortion Federation,
http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/butyric_acid.asp
[lxxi]
Clinic Violence, History Of Violence/Anthrax
Attacks, National Abortion Federation,
http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/butyric_acid.asp
[lxxiii] Doctor who performed abortions shot to
death, CNN, May 31, 2009,
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-31/justice/kansas.doctor.killed_1_dr-george-tiller-wichita-police-wichita-clinic?_s=PM:CRIME
[lxxiv] Roxana Hegeman, Abortion doc’s killer gets life sentence, Scott Roeder will have to spend at least 50
years in prison, Wichita Eagle, Associated Press, April 1,2010, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36123454/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/abortion-docs-killer-gets-life-sentence/
[lxxv] David Staba, Abortion Foe Who Killed Doctor Is Sentenced to 25
Years to Life, New York Times, May 10, 2003,
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/nyregion/abortion-foe-who-killed-doctor-is-sentenced-to-25-years-to-life.html?ref=jamesckopp
[lxxvi]
David Staba, Doctor’s Killer Tries to
Make Abortion the Issue, New York Times, January 13, 2007,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/nyregion/13abort.html
[lxxvii]
Susan Saulny, Two Who Helped Doctor's
Killer Are Released After 29 Months, New York Times, August 22, 2003,
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/22/nyregion/two-who-helped-doctor-s-killer-are-released-after-29-months.html?ref=jamesckopp
[lxxviii]
David Staba, Life Term for Killer of
Buffalo-Area Abortion Provider, New York Times, June 20, 2007,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/nyregion/13abort.html
[lxxix]
Susan Saulny, Two Who Helped Doctor's
Killer Are Released After 29 Months, New York Times, August 22, 2003, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/22/nyregion/two-who-helped-doctor-s-killer-are-released-after-29-months.html?ref=jamesckopp
[lxxx] Activist Gets Life for Killing Abortion Doctor, Los
Angeles Times, March 06, 1994,
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-03-06/news/mn-30794_1_abortion-clinic
[lxxxi] Dr. David Gunn is murdered by anti-abortion activist, This Day in History, March 10, 1993,
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dr-david-gunn-is-murdered-by-anti-abortion-activist
[lxxxii]
Waagner Convicted Regarding Threats To Employees Of Reproductive Clinics In
Eastern District Of Pennsylvania And Elsewhere, U.S. Department of Justice,
December 3, 2003, http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2003/December/03_crt_661.htm
Recently, I watched a movie named “God Is Not Dead 2” fully intending to remain neutral although I’d already seen “God’s Not Dead.” The first movie sucked and this one is even worse. It is more propaganda than a movie and the proselytizing is obnoxious. Once again, those poor Christians are getting beat up by secular values liberals and atheists.
