'We had abortions': 5,000 on Ms. [magazine] petition

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | October 4, 2006 | DAVID CRARY

[theDentist]

I hear lots of Death Camp guards had great pride in their work too...

[DungeonMaster]

What an infinitely better response than the one you responded to.

[nosofar]

How much bigger can you get than to be a mom? It's the highest order on this earth I think.

Without a succeeding generation, without children, nothing else we do matters. Bearing and raising children is the single most important activity there is.

[plainspeaker]

All this abortion talk just makes me sick. We all know what causes pregnacy, and this is the age of enlightenment, so most school kids know about condoms and female condoms, but humans have to reproduce in order to stick around to spoil the world and kill off compteting species. Besides, sex is a most enjoyable pastime, and the risk of getting a disease is kind of exciting! As to not wanting children after you have 'done the deed', well, there are tens of thousands of 'fathers' out there ducking their child support obligations, and we are all paying to raise their kids. Infanticide is a crime, and why the law doesn't apply to it is one of life's great mysteries. I would like to see every participant, doctor and patient alike, serve life sentences in hospitals,helping people birth children and care for them. I would put it in their face for the rest of their days.

[MotleyGirl70]

Another signatory, Debbie Findling of San Francisco, described her difficult decision last year to have an abortion after tests showed that she would bear a son with Down syndrome.

I was disgusted after reading this last night, then I read about this in the paper today and found it on the internet to share with some of you.

The Springs Makes a Splash for Kids with Down Syndrome and Other Special Needs"

Water Park Welcomes Children’s Groups
Mondays, 4-6 p.m. Beginning Oct. 2

Beginning October 2, The Springs Water Park at the Country Springs Hotel invites groups of special needs children to experience the developmental advantages of its many water play areas Mondays from 4-6 p.m. Just in time for October’s Down Syndrome Awareness Month, The Springs has teamed with Down Syndrome of Wisconsin, Inc. to provide discounts for children and their families or therapists.

"Water parks like The Springs are great for disabled children, especially those with Down syndrome and autism," said Robbin Thomas Lyons of Down Syndrome of Wisconsin, Inc. "Children can strengthen muscles all year in the indoor pool and play areas, and the variety of shapes, colors and stimuli can create cognitive, physical and social development opportunities."

Lyons and her daughter Kelly, who has Down syndrome and is batting cancer, began visiting The Springs and the water park extended a special rate for them to invite fellow members of Down Syndrome of Wisconsin to visit every week during the summer. Now, the offer is extended all year, shifting to afternoons to accommodate school-aged children.

The Springs hopes other groups, such as the Milwaukee Center for Independence and the Autism Society of Wisconsin, will participate in the weekly "play dates." Special needs families are invited to experience the water park during an official kick-off party October 2, 4-6 p.m.

"Kelly has found her time at The Springs to be very special," said Lyons. "It’s a time when her siblings are off doing other activities and she gets my undivided attention. And it’s an enjoyable way for her to get physical therapy."

Lyons also noted that The Springs provides opportunities for parents to socialize and discuss raising children with developmental issues.

"Our lifeguards look forward to these days all week," said Nancy Richards, general manager of The Country Springs Hotel. "Our water park is already full of excitement, but you can feel the joy of these children when they arrive every week."

The Country Springs Hotel has a commitment to children’s charities in the Waukesha County area, and conducts a variety of activities throughout the year to give back to those organizations.

I'm currently writing (not emailing) The Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha county (just west of Milwaukee) and thanking them for having this wonderful event for kids with special needs.

[Doc Savage]

How about this: " We killed 25 Million Future Liberals and Now We Realize That Was Stupid!!"

[Tax-chick]

How sweet! Several children with Down Syndrome take gymnastics at the same gym my daughters attend, and they have a wonderful time and do very well, although they learn more slowly than the other children.

The idea that a person with Down Syndrome is miserable is just totally wrong.

[Kimmers]

The angels are crying in heaven with this current celebration of sin.

[mockingbyrd]

God bless them.....

[Dionysius]

One of the libs more infamous mantras is their desire to keep abortion "safe and rare", but yet treat having an abortion as a badge of honor and fight all alternatives. So much for "rare". I think they wear hypocricy as a badge of honor. And I truly believe there is a special place in hell for anyone whom aborts a baby with Down Syndrome.

[TAdams8591]

It is quite touching that the Hotel holds this event. Thank you for the post, Motley girl.

[TAdams8591]

There is a significant number of women who become pregnant at that age without invitro fertilization.

[teenyelliott]

Thank you so much for posting that. Look at that beautiful little face. I just can't understand how someone could look at her and see her as something that should never live.

I was disgusted to learn that in England, a pregnant woman can have a late term abortion based on things like club feet or a cleft palate. What the hell is wrong with people???????

[teenyelliott]

Your value system may be very different, but I don't think it's fair to assume that everyone who chooses not to continue a Down Syndrome pregnancy is just a selfish jerk who's insisting on a "perfect" child as some sort of status accessory.

I am by no means a saint. But how can anyone look at the child pictured above and think that she is anything but beautiful? How does a mother just suck the brain out of her child, just because of Downs?

The people I have met who have Downs Syndrome are such peaceful souls. I would consider it a blessing to be given a child who has so much to teach all of us "normals".

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

“Population control is too important to be stopped by some right wing pro-life types. Take the new influx of Hispanic immigrants. Their lack of respect for democracy and social order is frightening. I hope I can do something to stem that tide; I'd set up a clinic in Mexico for free if I could ... When a sullen black woman of 17 or 18 can decide to have a baby and get welfare and food stamps and become a burden to all of us, it's time to stop.”

Abortionist Edward Allred quoted in The San Diego Union, California, USA, who has become a millionaire 12 times over from the abortion industry

---

"It's not that obvious to some black women that abortion is the right decision. It's only later on that poor or black women realize they don't want more children tying them down. They need more pressure to abort."

Abortion advocate Michael Bracken quoted in The Ambivalence of Abortion by Linda Bird Francke

---

"Some think that the legalization of abortion has opened a Pandora's Box of faulty decision making. When abortion was illegal, here was a common enemy in the form of the law. Now that abortion is primarily a matter of choice, the decision rests squarely on the shoulders of the woman, a decision many would rather not have to make. Some blame their husbands or boyfriends for "forcing" them to have an abortion. Others point their anger at parents, who insisted on the abortion, or, who the patients maintain, would be furious if they found out their daughter was pregnant. Often, its the doctor who takes the blame for the abortion. "He did it to me" is a phrase heard often in the clinic or hospital corridor. That's moving the responsibility. Women are very good at that."

Martha Mueller, a Brooklyn Planned Parenthood counselor. Quoted in Rachel Weeping, and Other Essays About Abortion. James Tunstead Burtchaell, editor. New York: Universal Press, 1982. Pg 14

---

From Abortion at Work: Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic by Wendy Simonds, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ., 1996 p 42-43:

"Before coming to work at the Center, Risa lost a job at Pavillion [another abortion clinic] She said, "I know it was because I was very vocal about how I felt about the way they treated the women...They were real quick to make people feel stupid, and real quick to talk down to them, and just really disrespectful. Just like, "I got something you need, thefore you have to kiss my butt to get it."

On page 42, Anne, a supervisor in the abortion clinic, tells about her abortions somewhere else:

"[The] people [at the clinic] really didn't care about your emotional setting. They didn't care what happened a week after that. You know, you read the forms, you have your abortion, you leave. And I mean, there was no personal - there was no one there to listen to me... There was no support before, during, or after the procedure. I thought I was having a possible complication about three days later; there was no one to call. The office was closed. You know, and then me trying to keep it away from certain family members, and then not being able to do that because I thought I was having a medical emergency. I mean, there was no one to tell me, "This is nothing to worry about. This is normal. This is what you need to do." . . It's an alone feeling. Being a woman, and having to make that decision at that particular point in my life, it was already making me feel alone. And then to get to this place where I needed support or where I could possibly talk about it - because you can't talk about it too many places and be accepted - the place that I went to, there was nothing. You couldn't talk about it there either."

Sarina, an abortionist at the clinic, describes her experiences working at Planned Parenthood on page 58:

"Sarina's first job as an abortionist was with Planned Parenthood. She had not learned how to perform abortions in medical school, so she learned how to do first-trimester abortions on the job. The environment at the Planned Parenthood clinic was not much better than her prior experiences. "It was a rude awakening for me to go into a job where I was the only female physician...and to basically be discriminated against....I got disillusioned very quickly with the place."

Planned Parenthood, whose mantra is safe, legal abortion, hires a doctor who does not know how to do abortions? She had to learn "on the job?" I would hate to be one of the women she learned on!

A worker at the "Abortion at Work" clinic was quoted saying:

“They [the administrators] have this pin that says… “The Woman’s Care Center: Working for the Lives of Women,” or something. They do, but not for the lives of the women that work there. They exploit women who work there, and they abuse them…It’s just like working for someone who’s sexist. You have to be ‘in’ to be treated fairly…which I think is not right.”

This was said by clinic worker Ilene on page 146.

Another telling point was the clinics' treatment of pregnant staff. Clinic workers Janice discusses the treatment of pregnant workers (page 152):

"Audrey hasn't been getting the support she needed after she got pregnant, and she felt like people didn't want her to be pregnant by this guy because she was a lesbian before, and that she was totally confused, and just all that kind of stuff....and then Glenda, before she got her job as supervisor, apparently they asked her if she was planning to get pregnant or not, because she was going to have to take leave, and it was going to totally mess up the supervisors...It's just like, please, if somebody wants to have a baby, then we need to be supportive and work around that, you know, but not let it interfere with their career tracks."

On the same page the author states:

"Though the center directors took pride in their acceptance of 'choice' as a central tenant of feminist health care practice, the Center had no policies that demonstrated support for employees who decided to procreate...when it became [an impediment to work] administrators disapproved. Women typically took two or three months of unpaid leave after their babies were born...some women complained that the managers were not willing to accommodate...their responsibilities to their children."

From:
http://www.clinicquotes.com/

[EternalVigilance]

Indifference

The executioner doesn´t scare me,
neither does the hate and torture,
not the groves of deaths riffle,
or the shadows on the wall.
Not the nights when
the last star of pain tumbles dowm
- but the merciless world´s
- blind indifference!

Halfdan Rasmussen
Danish poet

[Dianna]

"It's emotionally devastating," she said in a phone interview. "I don't regret my decision -- but I regret having been put in the position to have to make that choice. It's something I'll live with for the rest of my life."

This response is from the Findling woman, who aborted a child with Down Syndrome. What the heck does the bolded part mean? The only reason she was put in that position is because she decided to get pregnant. And lookie here...she's trying to do it again!

We could ban abortion and make certain she's not able to make that choice again. Would she be happier?

[EternalVigilance]

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.

-- C. S. Lewis

[EternalVigilance]

Brilliant man, apt statement, considering the subject matter.