Through the Back Door: Doctors Turn Against Abortion

Breakpoint with Chuck Colson ^ | 4 May 07 | Chuck Colson

[Mr. Silverback]

Most of you know that the Supreme Court recently handed the pro-life cause an important victory by upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion. The Court may have banned only one method of abortion, but now we have hope that perhaps there will be additional legal restrictions on abortion in the future.

But we must remember that there are other fronts in the battle for human life besides the law. One front is the hearts and minds of those who would perform abortions: that is, doctors.

As the BBC recently reported, “The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says there has been a big rise in the number of doctors who are ‘conscientious objectors.’” In other words, doctors in the UK just do not want to do abortions any more. In fact, the number of willing abortionists is dropping so rapidly that pro-choicers are complaining of an “abortion crisis.”

Analysts offer various explanations. Katherine Guthrie of the Royal College suggests, “You get no thanks for performing abortions. You get spat on. Who admits to friends at a dinner party that they are an abortionist?” But we have good reason to believe that the reasons go even deeper than that. James Gerrard, a general practitioner in Leeds, says, “Out of the six doctors in our practice, three of us object to abortion. I had made up my mind on abortion before entering the medical profession. I feel the foetus is a person and killing that foetus is wrong.”

So it’s not just about being ostracized. It is an “unprecedented moral revolt,” according to This Is London. Guthrie says, “The Department of Health is really worried.” Ann Furedi of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service explains why: “Within five to seven years, a woman’s ability to get an abortion will be more shaped by the service’s ability to provide them rather than the state of the law.”

Isn’t this remarkable? The very group that has the most to gain from abortions is turning away from them. They know better than anyone else exactly what an abortion is—and they want nothing to do with it. And because they are the ones most directly involved, they are having even more impact than the government could ever dream of having.

As I have said many times on “BreakPoint,” Christians must be engaged in politics and government. But as we labor in the political arena, we have to work in the culture to change hearts and minds and to promote an understanding of the sanctity of life.

Maybe you remember the scene from Amazing Grace, that marvelous movie about William Wilberforce, in which Wilberforce and his friends come up with fresh new strategies for getting rid of the slave trade. Instead of working directly to outlaw it, which was getting them nowhere, they did an end run around their opponents, finding a way to put financial pressure on the owners of the slave ships—and the trade started to dry up. When the front door would not open to them, they sneaked through the back door—and they got results.

It’s as simple now as it was then: If doctors will not do abortions, that trade, also, will dry up. A back door is opening for us, and pro-lifers need to make sure we take advantage of it, by supporting those physicians who make the right choice.

And you can help by talking to your own physician about this. Nothing less than life is on the line. And if the British doctors are changing their minds, certainly it can happen here.

[Mr. Silverback]

Well, since I can't seem to stay off FR, I'm reviving the Breakpoint ping list.

This is where we will win, because American abortionists face the same thing. I remember Mark Crutcher telling the tale of an abortionist who was late for a function some liberal friend had invited him to. When hte abortionist apologized and said he was held up at the office, his friend made a joke about him "killing babies." Nobody but the most hard core freaks will welcome these guys into their fold.

Some of you will recall that Newsweek had a cover mourning the lack of abortion access in 88% of American counties. Not a single county lacked access because of state or local laws. True, state laws and local pro-life activism can have a huge effect (see Mississippi for an example) but what's really messing them up is the abortionists are getting older and nobody wants to replace them. The Rockford, IL abortionist who died a couple of years ago was doing abortions for two different clinics...and he was replaced by a doctor who has to do them at three clinics.

There are links to further information at the source document.

If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[Mr. Silverback]

Every time I try to leave I drag myself back in!

BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[Mr. Silverback]

Ping!

[secret garden]

This is very good news.

[chaos_5]

The Court may have banned only one method of abortion

BS! The legislators banned PBA and the court upheld the law! It never fails to amaze me how many people think the courts make the law.

[P8riot]

Interesting that you should post this today. Here's a letter that was in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Partial-Birth Abortion Never Protects Mother

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Columnist Ellen Goodman uses a broad brush of excuses to argue for partial-birth abor tion for the good of a mother's health.

 

As a practicing physician, I know that there are several serious health problems that women can have in late pregnancy. These include severe high blood pressure, brain edema, and seizures -- and are best treated by delivering the baby as quickly as possible.

There are two ways to deliver the baby quickly: vaginal delivery and Caesarian section.

To deliver the baby vaginally, the physician must pull it all the way out head-first. To help the mother, a physician cannot take the added time to twist the baby in the uterus so that it is delivered breech, pull its feet and body out first (while fighting to keep the head still inside the mother), and then stab the back of the baby's head and suck its brains out before pulling the baby out the last five inches.

Such a procedure increases the chances of injuring the mother by not getting the baby out quickly enough.

To help the mother with a Caesarian birth, the physician would take the baby out as quickly as the uterus is opened. One would not delay by keeping the baby in the mother and sucking the baby's brains out of its head while it is still in the mother's womb. This would add a significant amount of time to a procedure when time is of the essence.

There is absolutely no "health of the mother" reason for partial-birth abortion. It is a specious argument to attempt to make excuses to allow the killing a full-term infant for someone else's convenience.

The Supreme Court made a wise decision. A. John Kuta, M.D. richmond.

[Coleus]

.

[billbears]

I may not agree with you on some things but here's something you should find of interest particularly to this issue. It was in the Daily Mail a day or so ago

Why I changed my mind seconds before I had an abortion

Didn't see it posted here but it is a quite moving story and of particular interest is the attitude of the doctors involved

[myprecious]

"Who admits to friends at a dinner party that they are an abortionist?”

The shallowness of this statement is chilling. But if it keeps one medical provider from practicing infanticide, let's hear it for peer pressure. Morality, ethics, compassion, the sacred duty to "do no harm" may fail, but not getting invited to a party finally breaks them down. Good enough for me.

[The Blitherer]

bump to read later.

[Mr. Silverback]

The guy who wrote this used to be White House Consel so I think he knows how it works. Hardly worth stressing over.

[outofstyle]

This is where we will win...

In my anesthesiology practice, I employ seven physicians. Three of us will not give anesthesia for abortion. If one of the others does anesthesia for an abortion, the fee is donated to a local "pregnancy help center." Every little bit helps.

[Mr. Silverback]

Thank you very much for pointing me to that. The attitude of the doctor and nurses is indeed amazing...something for everyone who wants socialized medicine to consider. The difference between them and American clinic personnel couldn't be more stark, and I think it's because their system basically forces people into the baby-killing business.

If no one else has posted that, I'll start a thread and ping you.

[Mr. Silverback]

That’s a great letter, and not to toot my own horn, but I’ve been saying that for years. As long as there’s such a thing as a caesarian, there’s never a justification for that procedure, not even in an emergency.

[OldGuard1]

Now, if only we could get our presidental candidates to commit to a litmus test on judges.

It really hurt, to watch our poll leader (Rudy) up there, *in front of a Republican audience*, talking about how he’d be “okay” with the courts choosing to end to abortion, and then use the anti-life crowd’s own wording when talking about how it’s “a woman’s right to make a different choice”.

Yeah, what about the baby’s right to, oh, I don’t know, let’s just say... *go on living*?

[MEGoody]

No doctor who truly takes the hippocratic oath seriously could ever perform an abortion except where the mother's life is medically at stake. No doctor who has any level of skill would need to perform such a disgusting, controversial procedure as abortion.

Therefore, the only ones performing abortions are doctors with no morals who don't have the skills to earn a living doing something else.

[Mr. Silverback]

Beauty!

[Mr. Silverback]

Yep.

[Mr. Silverback]

The good news is there’s pretty much no chance that Rudy will be the nominee.

[AFPhys]

Superb!

Thanks for the ping to this thread!

[outofstyle]

No doctor who truly takes the hippocratic oath seriously...

The problem is that no doctor actually takes the Hippocratic Oath at all. Doctors stopped taking that oath many years ago. The oath specifically forbids the practice of abortion.

[MEGoody]

Doctors stopped taking that oath many years ago.

Figures.

[Mr. Silverback]

Glad to!

[OldGuard1]

I sure hope you’re right...

[JenB]

I moved recently. When I went to locate an ob/gyn recently, I first called the largest practice in town and asked if they had any pro-life doctors as I won’t be seen by an abortionist when I get pregnant. All 12 physicians at this practice, who are connected with both hospitals in town, refuse to perform abortions.

I didn’t bother calling any other doctors but... I remember how hard my mother had it fifteen years ago when she relocated and needed a new, pro-life ob. I can’t help but think our doctors are headed the same way as Britain’s.

[Mr. Silverback]

It’s true that most schools no longer require their grads to take the oath...but here’s the weird part: I’m not sure it would matter. Most pharmacists still have to take their oath, and it also rules out abortion. Yet here we are in a world where politicians (in particular, the death-loving fascist governor of Illinois) think they have the authority to make a pharmacist violate that oath.

[Tribune7]

As important it is for Roe to go, from a pro-life perspective I would trade keeping it in a minute for CBS or Fox airing Silent Scream right after the Super Bowl .

Of course I'd always oppose Roe out of respect for the Constitution.

[cspackler]

Through the Back Door

Sorry, thought this was a gay rights thred. Moving along...

[tioga]

-who wants to stand before God and account for thousands of abortions?

[tioga]

-it’s still a tiny ripple....but one day this issue will explode and we will have ended the sick killing of our babies, just as we ended slavery.

[Mr. Silverback]

Good for you!

I remember how hard my mother had it fifteen years ago when she relocated and needed a new, pro-life ob. I can’t help but think our doctors are headed the same way as Britain’s.

Their ranks really are graying over here. Most doctors who hung out their abortionist shingle as soon as it was legal had been doing them illegally before that. So let's say that a doctor has been doing abortions for five years by the time they become legal...that means after 4 years of pre-med, 4 years of med school, 1 year of internship, 3 years of residency (it might be more than that, 3 years is usuaually a minimum) and five years of practice, our newly decriminalized abortionist is about 35.

It's been 34 years since Roe vs. Wade. Our theoretical abortionist is now 69 years old, and even if somone started doing abortions right when they passed their boards in '73, they're almost 65. They're retiring and dying, and few are stepping in to replace them. The day is coming when only the most highly urbanized counties in our country have any abortions at all.

[Mr. Silverback]

Trust me...as soon as Thompson gets in (and he will) Rudy is toast. If a meteorite hits Thompson tomorrow, Romney can still beat Rudy senseless. He made Rudy look like a twit in the recent debate.

[Mr. Silverback]

I like that idea!

[gridlock]

Well, as long as you’re hanging around, how about a Caption-A-Rama, for old time’s sake?

[free_life]

so happy for Anna and David.

[Mr. Silverback]

-who wants to stand before God and account for thousands of abortions?

You know who will be in worse trouble? Pastors who enabled them. When Richard Ragsdale died in Rockford a couple of years ago, the local paper noted that he had been a member of his church (they wouldn't reveal which one) and a member of its choir for (IIRC) two decades or more. The fact that they had a choir tells me that it wasn't a Unitarian church, so there's a man or woman who calss him or herself the pastor of that flock, and never said to Dick Ragsdale, "You can't fellowship with the family of Christ while you're killing babies. Let me help you repent."

[Mr. Silverback]

Well, as long as you’re hanging around, how about a Caption-A-Rama, for old time’s sake?

Oh man, that would grind my work to a halt!

[Tribune7]

Betcha it’d get good ratings. Wonder why they wouldn’t think of airing it? < /sarc>

[Mom MD]

WE took it 21 yrs ago - not sure when it stopped.,

[outofstyle]

By 1989 I don’t think anyone was taking the oath. There were some watered down, modern versions that had omitted the prohibition on abortion. However, I do not think any of the schools in the Northeast were even using one of these versions by then.

[secret garden]

It was still be taken in the early 90s.

[myprecious]

-who wants to stand before God and account for thousands of abortions?

Someone who destroys life for a living does not contemplate facing the creator of life.

[secret garden]

It was still being taken, you ninny. Preview is your friend.

[GadareneDemoniac]

There will always be a group of substance-abusing or financially irresponsible Docs who have no alternative to killing babies for a fast, easy buck. Especially in big cities.

The docs who worry me are the respectable ones who will be only too happy to kill off the weak and elderly in order to keep the insurance companies paying for their Lexuses (Lexi?), all backed up by phony “bioethicists” and “ prominent theologians”.

Yeah, I’m cynical.

[cpforlife.org]

Whacking little babies “legally” since 1973.

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[Kaylee Frye]

Yeah, I’ve seen the part of the constitution that guarantees the right to life, but I haven’t seen the one that guarantees the right to murder...

[OldBlondBabe]

“There is absolutely no “health of the mother” reason for partial-birth abortion.”

Thank you for explaining this in greater detail. I could never understand why a partial-birth abortion would EVER be necessary to save the mother’s life. Premature delivery, yes, but why kill the infant?

[Salvation]

I love that headline!

[P8riot]

Thanks

I wish I had written the letter, but the doctor that did certainly has more expertise on the subject than I do.

[Raquel]

We have to be on the watch for groups that will push for Physician’s Assistants or Registered Nurses to complete abortions if Medical Doctors will not. We should be ready. That will be their next move.