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Abortion staff ignores baby born alive?
worldnetdaily.com ^ | April 25, 2005 | Ron Strom

Posted on 04/24/2005 11:55:12 PM PDT by tame

Posted: April 25, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Ron Strom
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

A woman who was scheduled to have her 22-week-along pregnancy ended at a Florida abortion clinic instead delivered the baby alive in a restroom and says her pleading for help from medical staff went unheeded, even when an employee saw that the tiny boy was moving.

The mother, Angele, who asked that her last name not be used, is now considering legal action against the facility. She is being represented by Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit pro-life and religious-liberty legal organization.

The woman chose the EPOC Clinic of the Orlando Women's Center in Orlando, Fla., because employees there had convinced her that her unborn baby would feel no pain during the procedure and because the "staff seemed caring," Angele told WND.

WorldNetDaily obtained a narrative Angele wrote that describes the two days, April 1 and 2, she went to the clinic after traveling to Florida from her home state.

"I counseled with a pretty and petite younger black woman who has a small son," Angele wrote of her first visit. "Her name began with an L. I do not remember her full name. She explained the process of laminaria insertion. I asked her other questions such as, will they inject saline or urea into the amniotic sac? I was concerned that it would hurt the baby as it generally (from what I've read) burns the skin and lungs. I expressed my concerns that he not suffer or feel anything."

The purpose of inserting laminaria is to dilate the cervix overnight in preparation for the abortion. Angele explained she chose the "labor and delivery process" for her abortion "as opposed to partial birth or having to dismember the child to retrieve him from the uterus/birth canal."

Angele, who is in her 30s, says she was given Valium "to relax me for the laminaria insertion."

"The injection burned a lot as it went in. I asked something about potassium chloride [digoxin] but couldn't remember what the attendant said because she was answering me while I was receiving a local anesthetic into my cervix. The discomfort was distracting. I still felt the 'lams' as they were being inserted. Dr. Perper told me to relax my muscles and noted that my cervix was slightly soft. I asked him what that meant and he said it was good."

Digoxin is the drug injected into an unborn baby to cause his or her heart to stop in preparation for what amounts to a stillborn birth. Angele says despite having asked for it, she did not receive the digoxin injection, which she surmises caused the baby to be born alive.

Referring to the digoxin injection, Angele told WND: "They didn't do it."

She says she overheard staff talking about "dig-ing" her – injecting the digoxin – but, after taking a sonogram initially and then quickly taking the machine to another room, the staff, she says, failed to return it to her room. A sonogram machine is used to guide the needle into the unborn baby's heart.

Part of Angele's concern prior to going to Florida was that the baby would be born alive, and she asked clinic personnel beforehand how that is handled.

"I wanted it to be as humane and painless as possible for my son," she said, choking back tears. "They told me they would guide a needle directly into his heart and it would put him to sleep, and he wouldn't feel anything."

Harry Perper, M.D., is the doctor who inserted the laminaria, a man Angele described as "a very fast-moving, hyperactive type of person."

Angele says the staff then gave her some medication to take early the next morning and told her to return the following day.

Wrote Angele: "My friend and I took a taxi back to our hotel. We rested up a bit, changed and walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner. That night, all night off and on I could feel the baby still moving. I told my friend this worried me. I remember thinking it must take time to slow down and stop his heart. I was still a little 'out of it' from the medicine and just figured I must have been mistaken about how the digoxin was supposed to work. He was still moving when I went to sleep. I was concerned and started to call the after-hours line, but again second-guessed myself."

In the 'delivery room'

The next day, Angele says, she took three pills meant to induce labor at 5 a.m. and another at 8 a.m. before arriving at the clinic shortly before 9.

"I waited outside, cramping and crying, for the clinic to open," Angele explained. "My contractions were close. I had been having them for hours. I knocked repeatedly at the door. There was a burgundy truck in the parking lot. Ten to 15 minutes later, Debbie opened the door and let me in.

"I was directed to 'the room.' I had been there for a moment the day before and thought it to be a waiting room for family or driving companions. It had a leather sofa and a fabric sofa, both with a white blanket stretched across the seat cushions, a small television and a few magazines."

However, noted Angele, "It was not a waiting area – it was the 'delivery room.' It was, of course, very cold."

Baby Rowan

After being given a wet blanket and a heating pad, Angele says, she was told the doctor wouldn't be in until 2 p.m. – "and that even if I had delivered by then I would need to stay until I could be examined."

Wrote Angele: "My contractions became stronger and more frequent very rapidly. I called for [staff member] Violene, thinking it was time to be moved into another room and wanting to know if I could have anything for pain. She said that medication would stop the contractions and for me to stay right there and again, she would be back. I told her it was almost time; I could just tell, and she told me I was not at all ready. She left. I began to bleed."

After going to the bathroom, Angele says, "I came back to the sofa, (they both really smelled awful), wrapped up in the wet and sour-smelling blanket, then decided it was better without it. I rocked back and forth on my hands and knees, trying to hold the heating pad to my stomach to both relieve the pain and try to stay warm. I was looking down and saw little smears and spots of dried blood on the floor and an old cotton ball with blood on it by the fabric-covered sofa across from me. Noticing how dirty it was and how no one was in the room or even nearby in the hallway began to make me nervous and uncomfortable. I went right back to the powder room and began to try to push a lot. I thought it might help since I was told I was not nearly ready to deliver."

Crying out in pain, Angele says she could feel a contraction coming: "In one agonizing push, I felt and heard something come out. Then immediately another push. I was weak. I just held my head in my hands for a moment. Then I decided to stand up. I looked. There was my baby, the whitish cord and what I thought surely must be the placenta.

"I started sobbing and lay down in the floor. I stared and stared at my son. I was horrified that I had just had him in a commode."

Born alive

Angele explained what happened next to her and her boy, whom she named Rowan:

His right leg moved. He curled up a bit like he was cold; I screamed for Violene! No one came. I managed to get to the doorway, pants down, blood everywhere and yelled again. I went back to my baby. I heard her say she'd be right there. I showed her Rowan, told her he was alive and moving and to call 911! She took a quick look, said he's not moving now and she'd be back to take care of things while walking out. I called her again. I was touching Rowan softly and he moved again. I called her back. Rowan jumped, I think startled by the loud sound of my calling for help. I showed her that he was moving and alive. I begged her to hurry and call 911, now!

She said for me to lie down and she would get her supervisor. No one came.

I continued to try to caress and comfort my son by rubbing his back, tummy and chest. I stroked his precious little head and kept telling him I loved him and we would be OK. I was afraid to move him because I did not want to do anything that might end up hurting him. I pushed my pinky into his little hand and his fingers curled around me. Still no one was coming. I was terrified but trying not to let him know I was scared. I kept telling him what a beautiful son he was and that we were going to be safe soon.

Angele says she then figured out a way to call for help.

"I left Rowan for two seconds, grabbed the phone, jumped back into the bathroom to be with him, calling my girlfriend 'Sharon' at the same time," she wrote. "I told her Rowan was alive and no one was helping us to please call an ambulance to the clinic immediately and hung up.

"I stayed beside Rowan talking to him, telling him how strong he was being and how proud I was of him. I told him God must really want us to be together for him to make it through everything he had just been through and that Mommy was so sorry but so happy to have a chance to love him. I told him he was a strong little miracle and that I couldn't wait for him to meet his brother and sister. I just kept touching him, trying to warm him with my hands and talking to him so he would not feel any more afraid than he already must.

"Then Rowan stopped moving."

At that point, Angele says, she "rocked him and prayed" before bathing the baby and cutting the umbilical cord.

Wrote Angele: "He was perfect, slightly pale and a little translucent. His eyebrows were pale but wide and well-defined. You could see little hairs on his face and head. He had the tiniest little fingernails and toenails. I noticed they already had a little bit of growth. His mouth was lovely. He was this perfectly formed one pound, one ounce human being. He was beautiful. He had been so strong.

"I wrapped him in [a] blue pad instead of one of the wet blankets. I just kept kissing him and telling him I loved him so much. I told him I was sorry I couldn't get anyone to help us and I was so sorry for ever coming here."

At that point, Angele says, staff member Debbie came in a demanded to have the baby. Angele refused.

"Oddly, she came back within two or three minutes," Angele wrote. "She was more irritated and insistent than before. I was irritated that she was rushing me and that she did not seem to be in such a hurry when Rowan was alive. Where was she when Violene was supposedly going to get her and we needed her help? She asked again to take him. I flatly refused her. I could tell she was angry. I did not care. I told her that I expected her to leave me alone so I could finish praying with Rowan and that we needed privacy."

Angele says she then went back in the bathroom and blocked the door firmly with her back so no one could bother her.

Wrote Angele: "I was staring at my son, crying softly and noticing the dried blood on the walls. I felt so bad. I felt so helpless. I had been so wrong to come here and yet I felt so lucky to have my son born alive. I wanted to fix and change everything once I saw his precious little face and body. All we needed was someone to get us to safety. I felt so awful that the only thing I could do was tell him we were going to be OK and that would be together forever, that we were strong and a good team.

"I wondered if babies went immediately to heaven. Are they immediately given wisdom, perspective and understanding? Could Rowan see that I loved him? Could he see that I wanted him with me and that I tried to help him stay with me? Could he see everything that happened while he was here?"

Angele's friend "Sharon" arrived and reportedly agreed that Rowan "was a gorgeous little baby."

Surprisingly, Angele said, the police came to the clinic instead of an ambulance.

"The police asked if I would like them to take Rowan to the funeral home," she wrote. "I told them that I had made previous arrangements for him to be picked up by the funeral director."

Angele says her friend overheard a staff member saying she did not see the baby move, a contention that angered the distressed mother.

"I saw Violene one more time, and I was furious after what 'Sharon' told me," Angele wrote. "I spoke to her telling her how little I appreciated them telling the police my child was not alive. I stared hard at her and said, 'Violene you saw him moving. That is when you were supposedly going to get your manager and "take care of it." You stayed away until Rowan died. I don't care what you say, you and I both know he was very much alive. We know the truth.' She said nothing and turned away.

"They gave 'Sharon' a bag with my medicine and we left. Oddly enough, they no longer needed me to be seen by the doctor at 2 p.m.," Angele wrote, saying the staff just wanted her "to leave as quickly as possible."

'I didn't see any other way out'

Angele, who is divorced, is the mother of a son and daughter.

She described the pregnancy as the result of "forcible, non-consensual sex." It took weeks of counseling before she made the decision to have an abortion, she explained.

"I didn't see any other way out," Angele told WND.

Angele explained that she researched the various second-trimester abortion methods to determine which would be best in her situation.

"Although 'labor and delivery' is most difficult on the mother," she explained, "it seemed to be the best choice for my son. And it would allow the opportunity for my son to be born whole, stillborn, and I could hold him and grieve him and have him cremated."

Angele says she named her baby ahead of time and made a lot of plans because, she said, "I wanted him to go from my tummy to heaven in the most dignified way possible."

A Christian, Angele told WND: "I chose Bible verses for his service and everything."

Angele says she wants the government to do an autopsy on Rowan's body, but that the local coroner refuses to do so. She says she doesn't have the $3,500 it would cost for her to pay for an autopsy.

"It's important to my cause to prove that Rowan was alive in order to stop this from happening again," she said, noting an autopsy could provide such evidence.

In the meantime, Rowan's body is at a funeral home in cold storage.

Angele says she is going public with her story and considering legal action "so this doesn't happen to anybody else."

Remembering her experience after Rowan's birth, Angele said: "The first two times I told Violene to call 911, I thought she would. It hadn't crossed my mind that she wouldn't. … It finally dawned on me: They're not going to help me save my son." That's when Angele called her friend and asked her to call 911.

Speaking of her Christian faith, Angele said, "I know you're thinking, 'How can a Christian possible make that decision?' – but I think it happens a lot more often than you think."

James S. Pendergraft, M.D., is the founder of the Orlando Women's Center and is known in pro-life communities as the "Tiller of Florida" because he performs late-term abortions. George Tiller, a well-known late-term abortion doctor in Witchita, Kan., is referred by some activists as "Tiller the Killer."

Pendergraft was convicted of extortion in February 2001 and he served seven months behind bars. The conviction later was overturned, but last year, as part of the same legal battle, Pendergraft conceded in federal court that he impeded justice by supporting a business associate he knew was lying.

Bogus claim?

Mathew Staver is president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel.

"We're representing the mother and are working with the state of Florida," Staver told WND. "We're looking at various legal avenues."

Staver mentioned that in Florida, the Legislature is considering bills to regulate abortion clinics in the state – "and we're going to be providing some of this information to some legislators."

Liberty Counsel's ultimate goal, he said is to "shut this clinic down."

Staver says he took several photos of Rowan's body in the funeral home, commenting that he "looked like a perfectly healthy little boy."

Added Staver: "It's an amazing thing that this is what happens."

A receptionist at the EPOC Clinic referred WND to Marti McKenzie, who says she handles public relations for the facility. McKenzie discounted the complaint without hearing any of the details or the nature of the incident.

After being told Liberty Counsel was representing Angele, McKenzie advised WND: "I wouldn't pay too much attention to that if I were you. [Liberty Counsel is] always ready to jump all over anybody if they can come up with a reason if they're in the abortion business. I mean, that's really bogus."

McKenzie was not interested in receiving any information about the complaint and said she would contact WorldNetDaily if and when she had a response to any legal action taken against the clinic.

Federal enforcement

On Friday, the Bush administration said it would begin enforcing the 3-year-old Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which requires doctors to attempt to keep alive a baby that survives an abortion.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a statement: "Congress had received testimony that some infants who had been born alive after unsuccessful abortions were left to die. ... The Act reaffirms the legal principle that all infants born alive are entitled to the full protection of the law. That is a principle I will vigorously uphold as secretary. ... We took the first of these educational steps today by notifying relevant entities that we aggressively enforce federal laws that protect born-alive infants. We issued clear guidance that withholding medical care from an infant born alive may constitute a violation of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act and the Medicare Conditions of Participation."

The 2002 act established that in all federal laws and regulations, the words "person," "human being," "child" and "individual" include "every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development." The law also defines "born alive" as meaning "the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother of that member, at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section or induced abortion."

Erik Stanley, chief counsel at Liberty Counsel told WND: "We are looking at the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act as an option for enforcement" in the baby Rowan case.

Ron Strom is a news editor for WorldNetDaily.com.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: abortion; abortionsurvivors; worldnetdailycom
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To: tame
This is not easy to post these types of pictures, and to think this horror is 'legally' allowed in today's America---then again so was slavery & 'legal' segregation.

Nazi war criminals were convicted for these types of crimes. G-d help us!

"I wrapped him in [a] blue pad instead of one of the wet blankets. I just kept kissing him and telling him I loved him so much. I told him I was sorry I couldn't get anyone to help us and I was so sorry for ever coming here."

Angele says she wants the government to do an autopsy on Rowan's body, but that the local coroner refuses to do so. She says she doesn't have the $3,500 it would cost for her to pay for an autopsy. "It's important to my cause to prove that Rowan was alive in order to stop this from happening again," she said, noting an autopsy could provide such evidence.

The Orlando Florida abortion factory listed in the WND article

ABORTIONISTS: names of baby butchers


21 posted on 04/25/2005 1:30:15 AM PDT by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: M. Espinola

How in God's name do you make arrangements, and give a name
to a baby you are going to kill??? Haunted, yes, forever.

I am a health care provider. I will never understand how they get past. "First, do no harm."

Another legal, Florida, murder. I am sure Felos
will put another notch in his bedpost.

As a mom, the greatest gifts from God, were my children.


22 posted on 04/25/2005 2:47:29 AM PDT by Tessarie
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To: tame

Let's see if this woman will now march for the party of death. I can't help but feel, when the word "lawsuit" appears--that she is now in it for the money.


23 posted on 04/25/2005 2:53:30 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
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To: Tessarie
"Another legal, Florida, murder. I am sure Felos will put another notch in his bedpost. As a mom, the greatest gifts from God, were my children."

I fully agree with all your comments. Florida may be in for unprecedented powerful hurricane season this year. Last year may have been sample.

24 posted on 04/25/2005 2:55:36 AM PDT by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free)
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To: tame

Often I have sympathy for these women because I truly feel they are deceived about the nature of the baby. I've seen clinics lie their faces off about what the "products of conception" are.

This story makes me sick. It's very, very clear she knew she was murdering someone, masked in her concern that the baby didn't suffer.

Note the following statements:

"I told them that I had made previous arrangements for him to be picked up by the funeral director."

"I could feel the baby still moving. I told my friend this worried me. I remember thinking it must take time to slow down and stop his heart."

"I wanted it to be as humane and painless as possible for my son," she said, choking back tears. "They told me they would guide a needle directly into his heart and it would put him to sleep, and he wouldn't feel anything."

"I was concerned that it would hurt the baby as it generally (from what I've read) burns the skin and lungs. I expressed my concerns that he not suffer or feel anything."

"Although 'labor and delivery' is most difficult on the mother," she explained, "it seemed to be the best choice for my son. And it would allow the opportunity for my son to be born whole, stillborn, and I could hold him and grieve him and have him cremated."

"I chose Bible verses for his service and everything."


My God, did she she think she was at the vet thinking she was having a dog put to sleep? She absolutely knew she was killing her own son. She is a true murderess. I don't care what her rationale was.





25 posted on 04/25/2005 3:11:09 AM PDT by I still care (America is not the problem - it is the solution..)
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To: tame

This was so difficult to read. Jesus cries every time this woman says that she is a "Christian." With "followers" like that, did He really need the Romans? God can forgive her and will if she is sincere, but, boy, it is hard even to think about her in a sympathetic way, since she so cold-bloodedly plotted the murder of her own child. I guess that is what millions of women do every year, it's just very, very hard to see it written out in black and white. I feel so sick right now, and I just thank God that He is the Lord of Life and is now holding this sweet, innocent baby in His arms of love.


26 posted on 04/25/2005 3:11:51 AM PDT by sadiebugsmom (God is not safe, but He is good. (thanks, Clive!))
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To: I still care

That's exactly how people "justify" this in their depraved minds. It's how so many could see their way to having a disabled woman put down too. Apparently, it is now true in our country that certain humans (those who can't speak for themselves) are on par with sick or unwanted animals.


27 posted on 04/25/2005 4:13:12 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: tame

this lady sickens me. She tries to appear compassionate and concerned for the unborn childs pain but is outraged that it was not properly killed and extracted from her body. And then she has the nerves to be upset because of the neglect she received. Talk about a hypocrite.


28 posted on 04/25/2005 4:36:05 AM PDT by bewitched
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To: I still care

This is insane. She calls him "my son" and sits there calmly discussing the best way to kill him. Unbelievable.


29 posted on 04/25/2005 4:38:08 AM PDT by livius
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To: tame

Notably, responses to this post mostly show very little human compassion.

The woman in the story was raped. She was counseled and she chose a second trimester abortion. Wrong, yes. Very wrong.

But the live birth of her son, and the subsequent death of her child made her realize how wrong she was to make the choice she made.

In this instance I will leave the passing of condemnation to God, and advise that all of you do the same.

Use the time it would take to express your disgust at her choice, to pray for the soul of the child, and to seek the wisdom of God in regards to how best end similar occurrences. We have the advantage of understanding that abortion is wrong. She now has that understanding, and while her penance and her sin will haunt her for the rest of her life, adding our own condemnations accomplishes nothing to help, or to bring her to a closer understanding with God.


30 posted on 04/25/2005 4:44:18 AM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: tame

LEgal action - as in charges of murder - yes.

A lawsuit by the supposed "mother" - no. She was trying to have an abortion to kill the baby anyway. She got what she wanted- just not quite in the method she expected.


31 posted on 04/25/2005 4:46:02 AM PDT by TheBattman (Islam (and liberals) and gasoline producers and sellers- the cult of Satan)
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To: tame
Doctors Are Warned on Fetus Care - Guidelines Are Issued on Born-Alive Infants Protection Act***The Bush administration issued guidelines yesterday advising physicians and hospitals that under a 2002 law they are obligated to care for fetuses "born alive" naturally or in the process of an abortion, and medical providers could face penalties for withholding treatment.

The law, signed by President Bush nearly three years ago, conferred legal rights on fetuses "at any stage of development." It specifies that a fetus that is breathing, has a beating heart, a pulsating umbilical cord or muscle movement should be considered alive and entitled to protection under federal emergency medical laws and child abuse statutes. ...................***

32 posted on 04/25/2005 4:46:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: frankiep

It sure is. This stuff makes me sick, people that could actually do this.


33 posted on 04/25/2005 4:46:45 AM PDT by daddyOwe ("a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone")
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To: coconutt2000

Is the operative word NUTT?

Campassion for the child, and this choice was given
to her by the state. Time this choice was taken away.
Counseled by killers. Compassion for the child.
Rape does not constitute murder.


34 posted on 04/25/2005 5:01:22 AM PDT by Tessarie
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To: tame
I was concerned that it would hurt the baby as it generally (from what I've read) burns the skin and lungs. I expressed my concerns that he not suffer or feel anything."

Words fail.

35 posted on 04/25/2005 5:09:22 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: Tessarie

Do you normally sound nutty? Because your post didn't make an ounce of sense as a response to mine.

I noted the following:

- that abortion is wrong
- that the child died
- that compassion is due for a grieving mother who repents her decisions that led her to that crossroads

Sympathy for the woman who was raped is not too much to ask. Compassion for a grieving mother is not too much to ask. To pass judgment and condemn a repentant soul, regardless of their sin, is wrong. For those who genuinely repent, it is the duty of those of us who follow Christ to seek to understand and accept.

I don't excuse her for her decisions, but I cannot find it in my heart to condemn her further. If she is truly repentant, than she has already condemned herself with far more conviction than I could ever bring to bear. Instead I choose to condemn and hold in contempt those who do not repent, or who proudly wear the badges of their sins as evidence of their superiority over those of us with the human decency to have a conscience.

Did you even bother to read what I wrote?


36 posted on 04/25/2005 5:11:57 AM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: tame

what a horrific experience that must have been for her.


37 posted on 04/25/2005 5:16:53 AM PDT by television is just wrong
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To: tame
Abortion

Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.72

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.73

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.74

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.75

God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.76

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,"77 "by the very commission of the offense,"78 and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.79 The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."80

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."81

2274 Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.

Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, "if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safe guarding or healing as an individual. . . . It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death sentence."82

2275 "One must hold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed toward its healing the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival."83

"It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material."84

"Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity"85 which are unique and unrepeatable.

Catechism of the Catholic Church


38 posted on 04/25/2005 5:25:02 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: coconutt2000

If this woman was so naive and clueless I would have more compassion for her. She took measures to make sure that the baby feel no pain during the abortion. She obviously understood this was an unborn child with ability to feel pain. THAT is what sickens me. She knew. She did it anyway. The whole ordeal turned out to be gruesome for HER And now she wants to sue. Notice she no longer seems concerned if the baby was actually in pain as he fell in the toilet or lay there dying? If she truly is sorry, she will work hard to win a huge settlement and then donate the entire amount to a cause to educate others. Otherwise, she should take the whole ordeal as a punishment and not look to profit from it.


39 posted on 04/25/2005 5:43:55 AM PDT by bewitched
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To: tame

If this is how we treat the least among us how can we call this a civilized society?


40 posted on 04/25/2005 5:52:45 AM PDT by Liberty Valance (If you must filibuster, let the Constitution do the talkin')
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