Posted on 09/24/2005 2:08:34 PM PDT by wagglebee
I have written only a handful of columns that required fighting back the tears. This is one of them.
I got a call last Thursday from a colleague-in-arms asking me for help. He wanted me to write the story I am about to tell because it has been buried by a conspiratorial level of silence rooted in political and media bias.
This is the story about an incredibly loving young girl named Christin. A very active high-school graduate and a beloved member of her softball team and community, she was sweet beyond the norm as so often is the case for children with her diagnosis. She had Down syndrome. (I have heard it said, anecdotally, the extra chromosome which characterizes Trisomy 21, encodes for love. For those of you blessed enough to know anyone with Down syndrome, you will likely agree.)
There is simply something about these gifted children that reminds us all about what really matters in life no matter how busy and how complicated our lives appear. Sen. Brownback, R-Kan., made just that point last week on the third day of hearings on the nomination of Judge Roberts.
He spoke on the effects of Roe vs. Wade and on children diagnosed with a disability while still in the womb. Specifically, the records show that 80-90 percent of all children diagnosed with DS are killed. One tragedy to this statistic beyond the obvious taking of life is that waiting lists of people exist to adopt these children. These deaths are a great loss not only to the mother and family, but society as a whole. By way of example, Sen. Brownback spoke of a young man named Jimmy diagnosed with DS who operates an elevator in the Senate building.
His warm smile welcomes us every day. We're a better body for him. He told me the other day – he frequently gives me a hug in the elevator afterwards. I know he does Sen. Hatch often, too, who kindly gives him ties, some of which I question the taste of, Orrin ...(LAUGHTER)
... but he kindly gives ties.
HATCH: It doesn't have to get personal ...
(LAUGHTER)
BROWNBACK: And Jimmy said to me the other day after he hugged me; he said Shhh, don't tell my supervisor. They're telling me I'm hugging too many people.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWNBACK: And, yet, we're ennobled by him and what he does and how he lifts up our humanity and 80 to 90 percent of the kids in this country like Jimmy never get here.
What does that do to us? What does that say about us?
That means Jimmy and Christin were lucky exceptions to the general rule and trend to kill the unborn diagnosed with a disability. Sadly, Chrisitin's luck unexpectedly ran out this past year when she was not only sexually assaulted in January of this year, but remarkably became pregnant. No one seems sure of the occurrence that young women diagnosed with DS become pregnant. According to the experts I consulted, the numbers are likely too rare for an official count. One thing is sure, of those becoming pregnant, complications are likely to exist.
In Christin's case, she was taken by her family at 28 weeks pregnant to Wichita, Kan., to the infamous abortion clinic of Dr. George Tiller. At that time, a drug was administered to kill the baby and another drug to open the cervix for delivery or removal of the dead baby. After starting the procedure, which normally takes 3-4 days, Christin was sent to a local hotel to begin her labor.
Somewhat surprisingly, she returned to the clinic the next day, the abortion procedure was completed and she was once again told to return to her hotel room. Immediately her condition began to deteriorate. When she returned to the clinic, her symptoms were misdiagnosed as dehydration. She was given an IV and again sent back to her hotel where she began having episodes of vomiting and unconsciousness. She was advised to return to the clinic where she became unresponsive. By this time Christin was in serious trouble. According to one doctor who reviewed her autopsy report, she was "bleeding and oozing from every orifice of her body."
A clinic employee called 911. More worried abut the clinics image than Christin, she begged the dispatcher to turn off the lights or sirens of the ambulance. The ambulance arrived and took Christin to the emergency room at Wesley Medical Center, but it was too late. Christin died. According to the medical examiner's report, her horrifying and painful death was a direct result of the abortion. What's worse, it could have been prevented if not for the misdiagnosis and slow response of clinic staff.
I really must wonder how much she understood of what was happening to her during those painful and frightening hours and days leading to her death and the death of her baby. But without any coverage from the news, no outcry from her parents or the public, Christin is now dead. This sweet and precious little girl was sexually assaulted, her baby was killed (likely without her consent) then she herself suffered and died a brutal and painful end.
God help us for not protecting the most precious and vulnerable among us. I can only repeat the questions asked by Sen. Brownback: "What does that do to us? What does that say about us?"
Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely in support of abortions. I support the woman's right to choose in something like a ratio of 51% to 49%. All things considered, it's the woman's body, and her choice (as long as she makes that decision for the operation, let's say, in the first month of the term). I realize the negative aspects of the issue.
Essentally, I support abortion on the legal basis. Morally, as a last resort.
~Scott~
Here's the deal, some of us still reject the idea that all human problems are readily resolved by killing somebody.
She later came to the conclusion that all abortions are wrong, but then she was surrounded by Operation Save America folks.
But key to what happened McCorvey was Emily and Chelsea -- two sweet little girls that stole her heart, and she became Won by Love.
The book, Won by Love, is now out of print, but it is truly a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde type book.
When one reads of what went on inside the abortion clinics, one cringes.
Then when Norma writes about the pro-life movement, it is a joyful book to read. Sort of like day and night; or maybe good and evil is the better analogy.
The book explains how the workers in the abortion clinics had to take drugs to work in such an environment. They also gave the girls/women drugs -- as the girls/women did not want to have the abortion.
It is quite common for a girl/woman to say that they had an abortion because they had no other choice. Sometimes there are physical threats from the boyfriend if the girl/woman does not have the abortion. Forced abortions are much more common than might think.
I,and millions more,totally reject the idea that it is a woman's right to kill the unborn baby.
Abortion is a selfish act of evil.
Bin Laden said his people love death and Americans love life ; he was apparently wrong because his followers murder those who aren't of their beliefs,while Americans murder their own children. So who is insane?
You have a morally insupportable argument.
It is never morally correct to kill an innocent person for the convenience of another person. If you logically are to support abortion, you must logically support post-birth infanticide, as well. The arguments are exactly the same.
So, Jscottdavis for 48th district, I have to ask. Have you ever SEEN an abortion? Have you ever watched Silent Scream?
Not really. No one dares to sue the baby-killers. The plaintiffs would be instantly excoriated by NARAL, NoW and the Democratic party.
I get cold chills when I read stuff like this. I was born premature over sixty years ago, at less than 28 weeks gestation. But I survived through the loving care of a caring medical staff, loving parents and the Grace of God.
This is murder, plain and simple. Let's call a spade a spade.
The "health" exception is ludicrous.
ps: The DVD version will be available for $24.95 in about two weeks.
...which accounts for less than 1% of abortions. Besides, the baby didn't commit rape, but the baby is the one subject to capital punishment. That makes sense to you?
the birth might harm her physically or mentally...
The birth might harm her or the pregnancy might harm her? Either way, it doesn't hold. Virtually all women suffer physical harm of some sort during pregnancy and birth, only most of us moms don't think about it as "harm," just the normal side effects of pregnancy. As for a mother's mental health...until you have had an abortion, you simply cannot understand the agonizing hell that a woman goes through afterward. Not just a few women--the majority of post abortive women suffer mentally, often for years after the abortion. It has been just in the last few years that post-abortive women have stepped up and described what they have gone through, and the more women that speak out about how their lives have been shattered, the more women find the courage to relate their horrific experiences. For the most part, abortionists ARE NOT required to tell their patients about the mental harm they will face after an abortion.
What it comes down to? Abortion isn't just anti-baby, it's anti-woman.
Me too! My birth certificate shows my weight as 2 lb. 2 oz..
Where are the suicides and drug overdoses in the CDC data?
Maternal death following abortion would actually be the most desirable outcome for those who advocate prenatal termination. If you search long enough, or dig deep enough, it becomes evident that their true motives are genocidal. They fear overpopulation in general, and overpopulation by minorities in particular.
It's nothing to do with the "woman's right to choose"; It's more about population control (like with cats and dogs).
Awesome quote.
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