The Law: Expendable Item for Anti-Lifers
CHAPTER 18 — THE LAW: EXPENDABLE ITEM FOR ANTI-LIFERS
American Life League
The illegal abortionist has played an essential role in the evolution of modern industrial urban living, with its low birth rates, intensive education, and nuclear family system. He or she was classed as a criminal, but without their help, history would have taken a different course.
Malcolm Potts.[1]
Anti-Life Philosophy.
We in the pro-choice movement have only the highest respect for the law. Our opposition, however, disregards it at every opportunity.
Look at all the illegal harassment by Operation Rescue, for example. And even when the radical anti-choice fanatics are not blocking doors, their collaborators are illegally harassing women with their so-called "sidewalk counseling." Meanwhile, the anti-choicers run hundreds of fake reproductive health centers under the name of "crisis pregnancy centers."
And worst of all is the hundreds of clinic bombings! Just look at all of the violence and terrorism and disregard for the law by the far Right!
Introduction.
Nothing is more amusing than observing the uproar from the Lunatic Left over the tactics of Operation Rescue and other pro-life organizations. "Terrorists!" shrieks NOW. "Fanatics!" whines NARAL. "Nazis!" snivel the Communists.
When Operation Rescue first hit the streets, the pro-aborts, as one body, puffed themselves up like toads and blustered about the "blatant lawlessness" of the entire pro-life movement. Pro-life activists were labeled anarchists. Renegades. And far worse.
Even though rescuers make up only about one percent of the entire pro- life Movement, the abortophiles aggressively tried to convince the public that any and all pro-life activism was somehow either illegal or unethical. And they put on their "holier-than-thou" face and stated as a fact that they would never engage in such lawless activity.
A typical statement originated with Molly Yard, former president of the National Organization for Women, as she condemned (gasp!) BINGO benefits for pro-lifers (this is not a joke); "Catholics have to turn their backs on the Church ... The Knights of Columbus in Minnesota run bingo games and turn the money over to the right-to-life crowd a totally illegal procedure. They don't seem to have any feeling about breaking the law."[2]
The remainder of this chapter uses examples of the abortophile's own actions and quotes to prove that they are most certainly being hypocrites when they condemn pro-life lawbreaking.
Pro-Abortion Lawlessness in the United States.
Obey the law! Obey the law! Obey the law!
Popular abortuary escort chant.
Abortionists Advocating Anarchy.
There is a great and fundamental contrast between the respective ethical frameworks of the pro-abortion and pro-life movements.
Abortophiles have rejected all Godly and earthly ethical frameworks as described in Chapter 2, "The Anti-Life Mentality." The only possible replacement for these discarded moral frameworks is the concept of situational ethics, where there are no concrete moral standards, and where each person acts according to only one standard: His or her own self- interest.
The inevitable result of this wholesale rejection of standards is a grudging obedience to the law unless it can be disregarded with impunity.
The contrast between pro-abortion and pro-life groups in this respect is plain. Most of the major pro-life groups do not publicly or privately support lawbreaking. Others support rescuing, but do not participate. Only about one percent of the pro-life movement actually breaks the law to save preborn babies. And this lawbreaking is advocated in only the most extreme possible case to save what pro-lifers believe to be human life.
On the other hand, every one of the 'mainline' pro-abortion spokespersons and groups advocate simply disregarding the law in all instances, even trivial, if it does not precisely conform with their wishes.
In other words, pro-lifers will only break the law to save human life. Pro-aborts will break it whenever they bloody well feel like it to do abortions, to import RU-486, and in any other instance they deem appropriate at the moment.
The 'Mainliners' Speak.
As mentioned above, every 'mainline' pro- abortion group has advocated simply ignoring the law or aggressively and loudly breaking it outright as the simplest method of obtaining their goals without going through the effort of safeguarding the bloody abortion "right" through the political process.
Remember that these are the same people who condemn Operation Rescue and tell pro-lifers "If you don't like the law, you shouldn't break it you should work within the system to change it."
Planned Parenthood.
For example, most Planned Parenthood spokespersons seem to make a career out of complaining about the 'unconstitutionality' of various pro-life actions, and are especially fond of condemning such unlawful acts as rescue missions and the burning of abortion mills.
By implication, such statements would seem to indicate that Planned Parenthood strictly abides by the law.
However, this is certainly not the case. Planned Parenthood, the organization that swallows tens of millions of our tax dollars every year, uses this money to advocate ignoring any laws, customs, or procedures that do not suit them. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is only one of the more than one hundred affiliates of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Every one of them, being a part of the parent organization, willingly breaks the law if the opportunity arises.
The IPPF has held that "[Family Planning] Associations should operate right up to the edge of what is legal and sometimes even beyond where the law is uncertain or out of tune with public opinion. While a government gains short term respect by being respectable, a voluntary body may gain long term respect by being responsibly disreputable."[3]
Malcolm Potts, a former director of the IPPF, explains how his organization drove a wedge for abortion on demand into the cultures of countless developing countries; "Using the name "menstrual regulation" alters the name of the game. It is not practical to write about abortion in a Bangladesh newspaper, but it has proved acceptable to hold a much- publicized conference on menstrual regulation in Dacca ... there will be no proof of pregnancy unless the tissue removed from the uterus is subjected to microscopic examination. The point is of crucial importance in countries where abortion is illegal."[1]
Potts claimed that "There are some laws that can and should be broken ... restrictive abortion laws ... are as obsolete and irrelevant to the contemporary world as the New York State statute which makes it a crime to have a deck of cards in an apartment within a one-mile radius of an armory."[4]
The Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (an IPPF affiliate) brought suction machines into the country and defied a law prohibiting such imports by calling the machines "Medical instruments to obtain tissue samples for examination."[5] IPPF has used this same type of subversion in many other developing countries.
Closer to home, we find that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is just as lawless as its parent organization. Former PPFA President Faye Wattleton signed a 1984 document entitled The Human Right to Family Planning. This document stated that "Family Planning Associates [the 180 United States Planned Parenthood affiliates] and other nongovernmental associations should not use the absence of law or the existence of an unfavorable law as an excuse for inaction; action outside the law, or even in violation of it, is part of the process of stimulating change." Wattleton also defiantly said in 1983 that "We will disobey laws requiring notification to parents of minors receiving contraceptive drugs or devices."
Planned Parenthood not only advocates widespread defiance of the law; its employees aggressively work to bypass and undercut any local ordinance or regulation that they deem unsuitable.
Kathleen A. Kitchen of Indiana is only one of the thousands of unfortunate young women who have found out that the law is designed to protect, while PP is determined to exploit.
In 1986, the 18-year old Kitchen filed a $1 million suit against Planned Parenthood of Central Indiana in the Marion County, Indiana Superior Court, claiming that she was illegally pressured into having an abortion by the organization.
Miss Kitchen's mother knew that her daughter had birth defects which her physician had said would kill or maim her if she underwent an abortion. She also knew that Planned Parenthood had been persistently trying to schedule an abortion for her daughter, and so obtained two separate court orders forbidding PP employees to counsel her for an abortion or to arrange for one.
But PP ignored these court orders and phoned Kitchen several times a day, and finally scheduled an out-of-state abortion on May 17, 1986. On May 27, she was admitted to a hospital emergency room with severe complications which nearly killed her, and which were a direct result of this illegal abortion.[6]
National Organization for Women.
No abortophile group more loudly or obnoxiously shouts about breaking the law than the National Organization for Women (NOW). Every president of NOW has stated quite plainly that she has no use at all for the law and that, if it gets in the way, it will simply be disregarded.
Previous NOW president Ellie Smeal, now with the Fund for a Feminist 'Majority,' was almost incoherent with indignation as she snarled at the 1991 NOW national convention that "Open defiance, by the way, we've got to ask the doctors and the nurses to openly defy. Incidentally, they are saying that doctors are saying, "I openly defy the law." They not only need to stand up and say "I'm going to defy the law," they've got to follow through and we've got to support them."[7]
When former NOW president Molly Yard heard that the Supreme Court would review Roe v. Wade in its Webster case, she said on January 8, 1989 that; "We are now declaring a state of emergency for the women of America. We will not go back to illegal abortions. We aren't going to obey the law."
And current NOW president Jill Ireland beat her narrow chest and boasted in 1992 that "We will break the law to make sure women have the right to safe, legal abortions."[8]
'Menstrual Extraction' Chicanery.
[Women] spoke out for abortion at a time when it wasn't a topic discussed in public, and they were willing to break the law in order to win abortion reforms.
Mary Ann Curtis, Los Angeles Radical Women.[9]
The "Jane" Network. Ever since the mid-1960s, many Neofeminists have not only advocated reforming, repealing, or breaking abortion laws, they have gone into business by transforming themselves into the very same 'back-alley butchers' they so roundly condemn in their propaganda pieces.
During the period 1969 to 1973, Neofeminists conducted an 'underground railroad' entitled "Jane" for women who wanted to obtain illegal abortions. During this time, the "Jane" organizers 'evolved' from merely counseling and referring for abortions to actually performing the abortions themselves.
Their activities included stealing or illegally obtaining drugs, including Ergotrate and Xylocaine. Several members of the network toured 23 cities in 1971, showing off their illegal 'do-it-yourself' abortion machine, the "Del-Em." The raw materials for this illegal 'menstrual extraction' kit included two Mason jars, a cork with holes in it, fish tank tubing, and a syringe. This was the precursor of the nearly identical Feminist Women's Health Center home abortion kit sold twenty years later.[10]
When "Jane" disbanded in April 1973, its members boasted of having performed 12,000 illegal abortions under the 'menstrual extraction' banner. ME is also known by the names "endometrial extraction," "menstrual induction," and "early uterine evacuation."[11]
It appeared as if ME was going to make a comeback in 1989 and 1990, when pro-abortionists assumed that Roe v. Wade was on its last legal legs. Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer, in their book A Woman's Book of Choices, demonstrate vividly how a pro-abortionist will twist any law to suit his own purposes; "Women who do menstrual extraction consider it and other home health-care techniques to be completely legal, since an individual woman or a group of women cannot make a medical diagnosis of pregnancy; in fact, they are not attempting to do so. Therefore, they would not have the necessary intent required to constitute a criminal act of abortion."[12]
Using the same logic of "assumed intent," a man who raped a woman on a date could claim that he could not make a diagnosis as to whether or not she really wanted to have violent sexual intercourse on that instance, and therefore he would not be guilty of rape because he did not have the "necessary intent required to constitute a criminal act of rape."
Following a Lower Law.
Other illegal abortion referral services included the Abortion Rights Action League (ARAL) in California, Bill Baird's amusingly-misnamed Parents' Aid Society, and the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS).
The CCS consisted of pro-abortion 'clergy' who banded together beginning in 1965 and helped women obtain illegal abortions, claiming that they were "following a higher law!"[13]
Howard Moody, the Baptist 'minister' who founded the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, recently explained his position and, while he was at it, demonstrated his ingrained closemindedness. Note how pro-abortionists in privileged positions defile their occupations with such dishonesty.
What passed between a pastor and a member of his congregation was supposed to be protected information, and even police and district attorneys might respect that confidence. If the legal authorities declined to poke around in the delicate area of priest-penitent privilege, then the ministers could proceed as they liked; if someone tried to arrest them, or subpoena their records, then newspaper readers all over New York would be treated to the spectacle of a district attorney prosecuting a minister for counseling a woman who had come to him for help.
One New York obstetrician recalls, for example, that if a nurse or a medical student needed an abortion, she might be directed to go home and deliberately cut or scrape herself to produce bleeding on her underwear. In the hospital she would undergo a dilation and emptying of the uterus, then the standard early abortion technique, and the records would indicate that physicians had simply attended to a woman whose miscarriage began before she ever checked in.
On this one, I've never moved from my original position. It doesn't matter how scientifically good we get at pushing things here and there; the fact of the matter is you have conflicting rights, conflicted interests. And the interests of an adult human woman, no matter how far you push back viability or anything else, are never the same as a zygote or an embryo or a fetus. They're not. And if you said those were equal rights, I would deny it,that's all, I can't accept that on any kind of pragmatic grounds.[14]
Note that, for Moody and his contemptible ilk, the question of fetal viability is utterly irrelevant. For Moody, the unborn, no matter how developed or human, will always be disposable. Moody literally says that no amount of evidence will convince him otherwise.
Yet you can bet that he and his friends would be the first to condemn members of the Ku Klux Klan and White Aryan Resistance who hold to the belief that Black people are inferior despite all evidence to the contrary!
Future Plans.
Many abortophiles frankly admit that many Neofeminists will break the law if abortion is criminalized once again, by reorganizing or reviving "Jane" or a system similar to it. Cynthia Pearson of the National Women's Health Network (NWHN) accurately predicts that "Anyone who could get their hands on an electric suction machine would be in business."[15]
Pearson describes how the Neofeminists are already 'gearing up' for their underground abortion networks by falsifying medical records; "Even now, women in this country who are desperate are bringing in doctored sonograms in order to get abortions."[15]
This is a barefaced lie, of course. This statement was made in 1989, when there were only the most trivial limits on abortion. Why would an allegedly "desperate woman" need to get a "doctored sonogram" in the first place? As Chalker and Downer explain, there are many options open for a dishonest woman who wants to kill her child; "In the past, women often got abortions by faking a miscarriage, claiming waves of cramps, fainting episodes (the more dramatic the better), and exhibiting blood on their underwear or clothes. Today, however, due to advances in sonography ... getting an abortion because of a threatened miscarriage isn't as easy as it used to be. Nonetheless, a sympathetic doctor may be won over by convincing signs of a miscarriage, and may be willing to "finish it," especially in rural or isolated areas ..."
Frances Kissling of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice seems almost to be smacking her lips at the prospect of illegal abortion; "I would like to see a huge underground of activist women learning how to do menstrual extractions and vacuum aspiration abortions, mothers teaching their daughters, sub rosa [covert] classes at campus women's centers..."[15]
The FWHC Conspiracy.
Perhaps pro-lifers really shouldn't be too worried about the number of women who will die of illegal abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned: After all, the Neofeminists are so unconcerned that they are currently trying to turn a fast buck by capitalizing on the "misery" of women with "unwanted pregnancies."
The Feminist Women's Health Centers and others have distributed "how- to" abortion guides for women including When Birth Control Fails: How to Abort Ourselves Safely and the techniques described have led to at least one documented death by self-inflicted abortion, when a woman killed herself with an overdose of Pennyroyal oil.[16]
Additionally, the FWHCs began selling $79.95 'home suction aspiration kits' in mid-1989, immediately after the Supreme Court's Webster decision. These kits consisted of aquarium tubing, Mason jars, and syringes, and the materials cost about 10 dollars. Therefore, the FWHCs were making about a 800 percent profit on what they called "menstrual extraction kits." As Lynne Randall, director of the Atlanta FWHC said, "Since there won't be enough courageous doctors to break the law, this could be the safest illegal abortion possible." And Susan Landau of the Redding Feminist Women's Health Center boasted that "The technology is here you can't take that away. They may make abortion illegal, but they can't control it."[17]
FWHC personnel began touring the country in mid-1990, selling and demonstrating their home abortion kits and showing their 28-minute film, "No Going Back."[18] This was one of the factors encouraging women to have home abortion "parties," where several abortions may be committed in the space of just one hour.
The reason for most of these abortion parties is not that abortions are too expensive, or that they may soon be outlawed, but, as aborter Maria Romero described, "Sometimes I'm kind of lazy about using my cervical cap ... I think it's wonderful to share the [abortion] experience with my friends."[19]
For a detailed description of a typical Neofeminist abortion home "party," see Chapter 16, "Pro-Abortion Slogans."
According to mega-abortionist Warren Hern, the term menstrual extraction "... originated as a euphemism for early abortion prior to legalization of abortion and was perceived by its originators as a useful deception (and is still useful) in a politically repressive setting."[10]
Remember that these are the same people who loudly and indignantly condemn pro-lifers for breaking the law!
The Dangers of 'ME.'
The 'menstrual extraction' procedure is so dangerous that even the National Abortion Federation (NAF), the abortionist's trade union, has labeled it "... dangerous to the health of the women we seek to assist."[19]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognized the danger in untrained personnel performing a medical procedure in an uncontrolled environment, and promptly shut down the FWHC profiteers.[20]
We must ask ourselves (and the Neofeminists) this question: If they are so worried about women butchering themselves, why are they trying to profit from the alleged danger by selling illegal and dangerous home abortion kits at a huge markup?
The Ugly American Strikes Again.
When the FDA shut down the FWHC home abortion business, it led some abortionists to ask questions that most people had not even thought of.
Abortionist Grant Bagley of Salt Lake City pointed out the hypocrisy of the U.S. government when he said that "No one has been particularly alarmed that we're exporting this [ME] technology to Third World countries, but somehow if women in the U.S. are going to be using the same techniques, it's dangerous."[19]
This is just one facet of United States 'contraceptive imperialism.' When a birth control method, abortifacient, or abortion technique is deemed to be too dangerous for American women to use, the offending pharmaceutical firms simply shift production overseas and flood foreign countries with the condemned devices or pills. This has happened with the old high-dose birth control pills and with several IUDs, in addition to the injectable abortifacient Depo-Provera.
More details on United States 'contraceptive imperialism' may be found in Chapter 131 of Volume III, "Overpopulation."
One Million (?) Lawbreakers a Year.
Before Roe.
Virtually all long-time abortionists and female pro- abortion activists either performed abortions or obtained them when they were illegal and boast about such activities!
They often quote a figure of one million illegal abortions annually before 1970, and applaud the 'courage' of these women as they dismembered, burned, and decapitated their own children. It is truly the depth of hypocrisy for the abortophiles to applaud their own lawbreaking while condemning that of pro-lifers. This is yet another example of the pro- abortion double standard.
Before 1970, illegal abortion clinics flourished in most of the larger cities in the United States and were totally ignored by police. Illegal abortionist Ruth Barnett performed more than 40,000 abortions in Portland, Oregon over a 45-year period and was never bothered once by police until an ambitious newspaper reporter made a big fuss over her activities and had her shut down.
In her book They Weep on My Doorstep, Barnett tells it like it was; "The duly elected officers of the law, members of the medical profession and state medical board knew we were in business. Trying to conceal the clinic, or its purpose, would have been as impossible as hiding an elephant in the parlor. The archaic [abortion] statute had never been considered."[21]
The police winked at abortion mills before abortion was legalized. They now viciously assault pro-life rescuers and commonly arrest sidewalk counselors engaged in purely legal activities. It makes one speculate as to what the police will do when abortion is criminalized again.
Violence and Pro-Abortionists.
While members of Operation Rescue have accumulated more than 50,000 arrests in five years, pro-abortionists have also engaged in significant violent civil disobedience themselves, with more than 500 arrested for assault, resisting arrest, and unlawful trespass. In a debate, a pro-lifer can put his opponent in an impossible situation by demanding that he condemn his lawbreaking pro-abortion allies. If he does not do so (and he won't), his hypocrisy will be plainly evident.
For more information on pro-abortion violence, and for a map and list of recent incidents of this violence, see Chapter 19.
Conclusion.
The Neofeminist 'movement' in general has a pervasive contempt for the law if it does not conform exactly to its 'progressive' philosophy. This thread of thought runs through all anarchist, Marxist, Socialist, and Communist literature.
Some of the thousands of examples of quotes from such writings that urge civil disobedience and general disregard for the law are shown in Figure 18-1.
FIGURE 18-1
QUOTES BY PRO-ABORTIONISTS URGING CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
If abortion is made illegal, we will defy the law. We will maintain and extend abortion access for poor women. We will keep the clinics open! And if you want a war, you've got one!
"Feminists Tell Off Supreme Court: 'We'll Never Go Back!'" Freedom Socialist ("The Voice of Revolutionary Feminism"), February-April 1990, pages 10-11.
Women are saying they will take on the task of keeping the [abortion] clinics open regardless of the legal status of abortion. Millions of women seem prepared not only to have abortions even if abortion is criminalized but to say publicly that they would do so.
Marlene Fried. "Pro-Choice Agenda After Webster." Against the Current #23, page 19.
The attacks on abortion must be answered with social upheaval. Our stand must be WHATEVER THEY RULE, WHATEVER THEY DO, NOT ONE WOMAN WILL BE DENIED THE RIGHT TO AN ABORTION ... Networks should be formed to assist in keeping abortions safe and available, especially as further restrictions come down [emphasis in original].
"Women Are Not Incubators!: The Assault on Abortion Rights." Revolutionary Communist Party of the United States, Revolutionary Worker, November 6, 1989. Also distributed as a special reprint booklet, pages 18 and 25.
We refuse to comply with any law, regulation, or restriction of any kind on any woman's reproductive freedom to decide when or if to bear a child. We will do whatever is necessary to defy such laws, regulations, and restrictions, to encourage others to do so, and to build mass resistance against such restrictions.
"Plan of Action for the Battle for Reproductive Rights," adopted at the Strategies for Mass Resistance National Conference at MIT on December 2-3, 1989, and printed on page 15 of the December 18, 1989 Revolutionary Worker.
Millions were defying the ban on abortion [before 1970] and were increasingly willing to defy the law ... Abortion providers and medical professionals should have openly declared their intention to defy these [parental consent] laws and they need to do this now.
Mary Lou Greenberg. "Why Elections Won't Ensure the Right to Abortion." Revolutionary Worker, December 9, 1990, page 11.
The first acts of civil disobedience included compiling and dispensing lists of abortionists, along with public announcements that any woman desiring an abortion could receive help from ARAL [Association to Repeal Abortion Laws]. Classes in self-abortion techniques were also given, less to encourage self-abortion than as another means of testing various sections of the law.
Judith Hole and Ellen Levine. Rebirth of Feminism. Quadrangle Books: New York, 1971. Page 295.
Open defiance, by the way, we've got to ask the doctors and the nurses to openly defy [the ban against counseling for abortion in Federal clinics]. Incidentally, they are saying that doctors are saying "I openly defy this law." They not only need to stand up and say "I'm going to defy the law," they've got to follow through and we've got to support them.
Ellie Smeal, President, National Organization for Women National Conference, New York City, July 5, 1991.
Family Planning Associates [the 180 United States Planned Parenthood affiliates] and other nongovernmental associations should not use the absence of law or the existence of an unfavorable law as an excuse for inaction; action outside the law, or even in violation of it, is part of the process of stimulating change.
International Planned Parenthood Federation. The Human Right to Family Planning, 1984. Signed by former Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Faye Wattleton.
We will disobey laws requiring notification to parents of minors receiving contraceptive drugs or devices.
Faye Wattleton, former President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 1983.
Planned Parenthood provides suggestions and assistance for bypassing and disobeying various local and national laws restricting abortion.
Donald P. Warwick, "Bitter Pills: Population Policies and Their Implementation in Eight Developing Countries," Cambridge University Press, London, 1982, page 64.
There are some laws that can and should be broken ... restrictive abortion laws ... are as obsolete and irrelevant to the contemporary world as the New York State statute which makes it a crime to have a deck of cards in an apartment within a one-mile radius of an armory.
Malcolm Potts, M.D., former director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). "Population Growth and Abortion," in Gerald I. Zatuchni, John J. Sciarra, and J. Joseph Speidel (editors). Pregnancy Termination: Procedures, Safety and New Developments. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1979, page 424.
[Family Planning] Associations should operate right up to the edge of what is legal and sometimes even beyond where the law is uncertain or out of tune with public opinion. While a government gains short term respect by being respectable, a voluntary body may gain long term respect by being responsibly disreputable.
International Planned Parenthood Federation. "The Voluntary Sector in Population and Development." London, 1979. Described in Nancy B. Spannaus, Molly Hammett Kronberg, and Linda Everett (Editors). How to Stop the Resurgence of Nazi Euthanasia Today. Transcripts of the International Club of Life Conference, Munich, West Germany, June 11-12, 1988. Executive Intelligence Review Special Report, September 1988. EIR, Post Office Box 17390, Washington, D.C. 20041-0390.
Pro-Abortion Lawlessness All Over the World.
Introduction.
It is an inflexible rule that pro-abortion groups all over the world have absolutely no use for the law, unless it is on their side or can be used as a propaganda tool. In addition to their total contempt for the law in this country, the abortophiles ignore any and all unfavorable laws all over the world. Just a few documented examples of this contempt for legal authority are described in the following paragraphs.
Spain.
More than 3,000 Neofeminists assembled at a Barcelona abortion-rights rally in November of 1985. Two women who had become pregnant especially for this event entered a side room and were aborted. They brought the unborn babies to the assembled pro-aborts, who shrieked insanely with venom, spat on them, and reviled and cursed their sad little bodies, still warm from departed life. Most of the 3,000 women in the assembly then signed a "confession of responsibility" for the illegal abortions. Participants were later offered videotapes of the abortions themselves Visa and Mastercard were accepted.
A Toronto newspaper reported that; "Nearly 3,000 feminists gathered at a national convention in Barcelona ... a group of their leaders announced that they had taken two pregnant young women into an adjoining conference room and that medical technicians had aborted both pregnancies. Two fetuses were presented in bottles. The hall rocked with cheers, and almost all the conventioneers signed confessions of responsibility ..."[22]
Canada.
Abortionist Henry Morgentaler ignored the Canadian laws against abortion for years, performing thousands of the procedures in public defiance of the law. He opened illegal clinics in Quebec and Toronto and, eventually, his illegal clinics were even guarded constantly by the police at taxpayer expense. A very large portion of the "credit" for abortion on demand in Canada must go to Dr. Morgentaler, who proved once again that those with the courage of their convictions, and who are willing to risk imprisonment, can bring about great social change. This is precisely the concept behind Operation Rescue, which Morgentaler loudly and hypocritically condemns.[23]
Australia and New Zealand.
Abortionists set up illegal abortuaries in defiance of existing laws in Brisbane and Auckland, and, in both countries, the police cooperated with them. In 1969, four Victoria policemen were convicted of offering protection for the city's clinics in return for 10 percent of the abortionists' fees.[23]
Italy.
Several women set up an illegal abortion referral service, the Centro Informazione Sterilizzazione e Aborto (CISA), which publicly advertised and introduced suction abortion to the country when it was still illegal.[23]
West Germany.
Twenty-four actresses boasted in the June 1971 Stern Magazine of their illegal abortions and dared the police to arrest them. Three hundred and fifty other women also signed a statement of support, claiming that they also had obtained illegal abortions.[23]
France.
Three hundred and forty-three women signed a statement published in the far-left wing magazine Le Nouvel Observateur stating that they had obtained illegal abortions, and calling for abortion on demand.[23]
Holland.
Neofeminist women opened an abortuary incredibly named the Bloemenhove (Flower Farm), which began committing late-term abortions in 1974, in direct defiance of Dutch law. Police attempted to close the clinic, but hundreds of 'deathscorts' physically battled them and successfully kept the clinic open. Apparently the police only put a half- hearted effort into their attempt, because they gave up after one try.[23]
And yes, the "Flower Farm" is still slaughtering babies.
General Conclusion.
The conclusion that must be drawn from the above is inescapable: Any pro-abortionist who condemns any pro-lifer for breaking any law (particularly in the area of civil disobedience) is a contemptible hypocrite. Pro-aborts are not 'nice people;' they are murderers and liars through and through. They break the law to kill; pro-lifers break the law to save lives. Pro-life activists must never apologize to any pro-abort, relative, friend, or media representative for rescuing, because social revolution most definitely works both ways.
Finally, the same pro-aborts who have urged lawlessness recognize that the same tactics will work just as well with the euthanasia issue. As pro- euthanasia lawyer Raymond Marks reveals, "We now "let go" of some babies, notwithstanding the rules against euthanasia. But we do not announce this to the world. Such practice allows the actors to hide from themselves the fact that they have changed or departed from the rule while announcing their strict adherence to the absolute rule of sanctity of life in all cases."[24]
So whenever indignant abortophiles condemn rescuers or pro-lifers in general for breaking the law, the proper response would be to welcome them as fellow criminals.
A Final Note.
It is obvious that, even if abortion is outlawed, there will be a number of unscrupulous 'doctors' who will continue to break the law. Pro- lifers will probably 'test' questionable practitioners to see whether or not they are committing abortions.
Those abortionists who break the law or who advocate breaking the law should be reported to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in violation of Appendix 4 of ACOG's Standards for Obstetric-Gynecology Services. The last paragraph of this Appendix, entitled "Ethical Considerations in the Practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology," states that "The Fellow should recognize certain obligations to the larger society: 1. To obey its laws, working through appropriate channels to change those which conflict with proper patient care ..."
References: Anti-Life Illegal Activities.
[1] Malcolm Potts, Peter Diggory and John Peel. Abortion. Cambridge University Press, 1970.
[2] "Reproductive Rights: Not a Single-Issue Struggle." People's Daily World, March 29, 1990, page 12.
[3] International Planned Parenthood Federation. "The Voluntary Sector in Population and Development." London, 1979. Described in Nancy B. Spannaus, Molly Hammett Kronberg, and Linda Everett (Editors). How to Stop the Resurgence of Nazi Euthanasia Today. Transcripts of the International Club of Life Conference, Munich, West Germany, June 11-12, 1988. Executive Intelligence Review Special Report, September 1988. EIR, Post Office Box 17390, Washington, D.C. 20041-0390.
[4] Malcolm Potts, M.D., former director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). "Population Growth and Abortion," in Gerald I. Zatuchni, John J. Sciarra, and J. Joseph Speidel (editors). Pregnancy Termination: Procedures, Safety and New Developments. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1979, page 424.
[5] "Planned Parenthood Bootlegging Abortion Into the Third World." International Life Times, July 25, 1980.
[6] Leslie Bond. "Multi-Million Dollar Suits Filed in Indiana After Teen Abortions." National Right to Life News, July 30, 1987, page 5.
[7] Ellie Smeal of the Fund for a Feminist 'Majority,' at a talk entitled "RU-486, NORPLANT, and Title X." Recorded live at the 1991 national conference of the National Organization for Women, July 5-7, 1991 in New York City, New York.
[8] NOW President Jill Ireland, quoted in Karen S. Schneider and Elizabeth Velez. "Too Nice to Be One of 'Those Women?'" People Magazine, January 13, 1992, pages 93 and 94.
[9] Mary Ann Curtis, Los Angeles Radical Women, quoted in the Freedom Socialist, June-August 1989, page 8.
[10] Warren M. Hern. Abortion Services Handbook. Chicago: Interfacia, Inc., 1978, pages 86 and 87.
[11] Rebecca Salstrom. "Menstrual Extraction: Is Self Help Making a Comeback?" WomenWise [a publication of the New Hampshire Federation of Feminist Womens Health Centers], Spring 1992, page 6.
[12] Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. A Woman's Book of Choices: Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486. Four Walls Eight Windows Press, Post Office 548, Village Station, New York, New York 10014. 1992, 271 pages. Pages 37 and 166.
[13] The Appendix of Robin Morgan's Neofeminist anthology Sisterhood is Powerful (New York: Vintage Books, 1970) describes and recommends the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion. This collection of radical Neofeminist essays is sometimes used by Neofeminist politicians in place of the Bible as they swear themselves into office. This gives some idea of just how much the Neofeminist movement owes to this book, which is an excellent collection of essays that illustrate vividly the character of the cold and lonely Neofeminist 'soul.'
[14] Cynthia Gorney. "Abortion, Once Upon a Time in America: Before Roe v. Wade, an Underground Effort by a Group of Ministers to Help Pregnant Women." The Washington Post, April 26, 1989. Also "After Abortion Became Legal: In New York, a Rush to the Clinic." The Washington Post, April 27, 1989.
[15] Cynthia Pearson of the National Women's Health Network and Frances Kissling of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice, quoted in Brett Harvey. "The Morning After." Mother Jones, May 1989, pages 28 to 31 and 43.
[16] J.B. Sullivan, B.H. Rumack, H. Thomas, Jr., R.G. Peterson, and P. Bryson. "Pennyroyal Oil Poisoning and Hepatotoxicity." Journal of the American Medical Association, 242:2873, 1979, and J. Gold and W. Cates, Jr. "Herbal Abortifacients." Journal of the American Medical Association, 243:1365, 1980. The self-abortion techniques are described in S. Gage. When Birth Control Fails: How to Abort Ourselves Safely. Speculum Press, Los Angeles, 1979, and in the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers publication How to Stay Out of the Gynecologist's Office. Women-to-Women Publications, Los Angeles, 1981.
[17] Susan Landau of the Redding Feminist Women's Health Center, quoted in Lisa M. Krieger. "Clinics Teaching Women to Do Home Abortions." San Francisco Examiner, July 21, 1989.
[18] Katherine Pyne Addelson. "Moral Revolution." Radical America, September/October 1988, pages 37 to 43.
[19] Janice Perrone. "Controversial Abortion Approach." American Medical News, January 12, 1990, pages 9, 18, and 19. Article on illegal home abortion techniques.
[20] Todd Ackerman. "'Pro-Choicers' Pushing Home Abortion Kits." National Catholic Register, September 3, 1989, page 1.
[21] Ruth Barnett. They Weep On My Doorstep. Beaverton, Oregon: Halo Publishers, 1969. Page 55.
[22] "Feminists Challenge Abortion Law." The Toronto Globe and Mail, November 11, 1985, page A-1. This incident is also described in Dave Andrusko. ""Decisively Courageous Act" Leaves Two Babies Dead." National Right to Life News, December 5, 1985, page 5.
[23] Colin Francome. Abortion Freedom: A Worldwide Movement. London: George Allen & Unwin. 1984, 241 pages. Although written from the pro- abortion viewpoint, this book contains much valuable information regarding the basic philosophy and strategy of the worldwide pro-abortion movement.
[24] Attorney F. Raymond Marks, euthanasia conference participant, quoted in Victor G. Rosenblum and Michael L. Budde. "Historical and Cultural Considerations of Infanticide." National Right to Life News, April 11, 1985, page 11.
Further Reading: Anti-Life Illegal Activities.
Ruth Barnett. They Weep on My Doorstep.
Halo Publishers, Portland, Oregon. May be ordered from Post Office Box 1383, Silver Springs, Florida 32688-1383. 223 pages. This is a fascinating account of a naturopath who committed illegal abortions in Portland, Oregon, with the full knowledge of the authorities, for more than 40 years. This book tells the real story of what illegal abortions were like before Roe v. Wade: Barnett describes how immaculate her clinic was, how few complications she had (no deaths in 40,000 abortions), how phony the "back-alley" abortion stories are, and how she accumulated millions of dollars and lives a lavish lifestyle. This book is a "must-read" for any pro-life activist who wants the real scoop on the days of illegal abortions, and not some weepy propaganda piece by fictionalized "brutalized" women.
Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. A Woman's Book of Choices: Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486.
New York: Four Walls Eight Windows Press. 1992. It is an ominous sign of the times that illegal abortion manuals were printed by the Neofeminists 25 years ago in secrecy and passed hand to hand, and now they are sold in mainline bookstores and sit innocently on library shelves. This book was written by the Neofeminists in anticipation of tougher days, and is a totally unselfconscious description and endorsement of all of the 'self-help' methods of abortion.
Suzanne Gage. When Birth Control Fails: How to Abort Ourselves Safely.
Speculum Press/Self-Health Circle, Inc., Post Office Box 1063, Hollywood, California 90028. 1979, 54 pages. A very interesting short book on the equipment that has been used in the past by women's illegal abortion circles, and which will be used in the future when women set up "Jane" networks once again. This book (and others like it) will then be of interest to pro-life activists who are working to derail the abortion movement's "underground railroads." This book shows how to self-examine, how to construct the Del-Em home suction abortion machine, and also gives information on herbal abortions.
Lawrence Lader. Abortion II, Making the Revolution.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1973. The definitive work on early (1960-1970) pro-abortion strategy by the king of the abortion propagandists. Lader was a close friend of the 'leading lights' of the early pro-abortion movement, including Betty Friedan, Margaret Sanger, and Dr. Bernard Nathanson. Pages 36 to 40 describe the early history of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Ellen Messer and Kathryn E. May. Back Rooms: Voices From the Illegal Abortion Era.
St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010. 1988, 230 pages. This interesting book tells the stories of about 25 women who had abortions before it was legal in this country. Several obvious features give it away as a pro-abortion propaganda piece; all of the women are anonymous; pro-lifers and anyone who stood in the way of "progressive" abortion law repeal or reform are painted as demons; the abortionists are depicted as heroes; and there are special chapters canonizing Lawrence Lader, Bill Baird, and the "reverend" Robert Hare. Spend a rainy day counting the literally hundreds of inconsistencies and physical impossibilities.
Anne Packer. A Matter of Conscience.
177 pages. Order from Our Lady's Book Service, Nazareth Homestead, R.D. 1, Box 258, Constable, New York 12926, telephone: 1-800-263-8160. The story of David Packer, a Toronto police officer who refused orders to guard Henry Morgentaler's illegal abortion clinic, and was fired for his courageous stand for life and the law.
© American Life League BBS - 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia, published by American Life League.
