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?"
http://www.priestsforlife.org/media/deflife2blurbs.html
Defending Life: Series II
Descriptions of Show Contents
The Reality of Partial Birth Abortion: Part 1
Some people think it doesn't happen. Others say it is a standard aspect of "health care." Still others call it barbarism--
What is a "partial-birth abortion?"
This interview with Brenda Pratt Shafer, RN, who witnessed three of these procedures, will show you what it is. With the use of medically accurate diagrams and the instruments that are actually used, Brenda leads us through the steps of this act by which a child is delivered, all but the head, and then killed by the insertion of scissors into the head.
Learn, furthermore, about our nation's current policy on abortion (legal through all nine months) and hear Brenda discuss the question so many have: What happens to the bodies?
...End of Excerpt...
http://www.priestsforlife.org/clippings/2004/04-10-15education.htm
National pro-life education campaign urges Americans to cast votes carefully>
By Mary Ann Wyand
The Criterion Diocese of Indianapolis, IN October 15, 2004
...
Every baby in the womb can be legally aborted at any stage of pregnancy in the United States, he emphasized, but pro-life supporters can and do affect changes for the better in the war against the culture of death in society.
"We can change minds and hearts through pulpits," he said, "and preaching and proclamation of the truth in the Word of God."
In negative ways, Father Pavone said, "Does it not affect the minds and hearts of our children when they learn that abortion is legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy? Doesn't it affect people's minds and hearts when institutions that are so respected in our society like the Supreme Court itself say that this activity is legal and constitutional? Of course it does. Laws and policies and court decisions affect minds and hearts. Who is in the White House, who is in the Congress, who is sitting as justices on the Court, affect minds and hearts, and if they're going in the wrong direction it impedes and confuses and darkens minds and hearts, not only in the United States but throughout the world."
"Some premies are born at 28 weeks and make it."
Well over 90% of 28 weekers make it. My 27 weeker didn't even have to be put on a ventilator. 50% of 24 weekers survive.
When the Louisiana law REQUIRING health inspections was passed in 1999, it was held up in the courts until Spring of 2004 (I believe, though it might have only been held up in the courts until the Spring of 2003 -- only 4 years of unsanitary conditions were legal).
At least two of the three groups, if not all three, fought this law.
There is a good link about this story:
The article talks about how Safe and Legal are only words...
The abortin industry will fight you tooth and nail about this issue. You are talking about imposing restrictions on abortion, i.e., making it safe and legal.
The Louisiana Law of 1999 is not the only example of this...
Most abortions occur between 8 to 10 weeks.
The word fetus means offspring. So if you have a fetus you have an offspring, i.e., child.
At conception, that child has a mother and a father. Science proves that the most unique point in our life is conception, not breathing air in our lungs...
The unborn breathes in oxygen through the mother's umbilical cord... And the baby gets nourishment from that same source...
Just as a born baby needs protection and food, so does an unborn baby.
Many women grieve over a miscarriage. Many women grieve over having had an abortion (delibrate termination of a pregnancy).
Best bet for the parents is for them to quietly engage in seppuku and remove themselves from the company of our society.
The killer doc there in Kansas will eventually be stopped from participating in this ritual demanded by Ba'al.
Show us a reference, and I don't mean Guttmacher propaganda.
This has been exposed as a lie. Pro-aborts are in charge of stats at the CDC.
They get a two-fer (two for one statistic) when a woman who has had an abortion dies because of a pregnancy.
There are woman now dying from breast cancer in their 20s because of the abortion breast cancer link.
There is a proven link between breast cancer and abortion -- especially with very young girls.
http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com
Certain forms of dangerous pregnancies (where the baby starts growing in the fallopian tube).
The two-for-one statistic that is commonly used to hide the damage of abortion is to count a death due to a complication of abortion when a woman gets pregnant after an abortion as a result of pregnancy.
Then the abortion industry claims that it is safer to have had the abortion because the previous abortion made the pregnancy unsafe.
This is well documented (the corruption of the CDC and the dangers of abortion).
In a country with 45 million abortions, many woman have had an abortion previously, and therefore now run the risk of high risk pregnancies because of the previous abortion.
The fruits of abortion are always a dead baby, possible injury to the mother of the baby, and high risk of breast cancer.
For someone whose breasts have not developed, having an abortion is like running a car into a brick wall.
The pregnancy starts a biological process that is abruptly terminated before the breasts are allowed to mature. Hormones are shut off, and apparently this is the abortion-breast cancer link.
Since Roe v. Wade ~ it's been legal to abort a baby at any stage of development ~ you must be confused if you think there's some other point of law involved in this.
If this is a true statement, surely you can find one weblink to support you, otherwise, go away newbie, and read the rules of posting on Freerepublic.
If you make wild, unsubstaniated accusations, you will have people posting factual information versus your opinion.
Do you have at least a college degree? Do you have any background in statistics? Did you learn in English how to quote sources?
Enquiring minds would like to know!!!
What black market? Haven't you read Roe v. Wade? That ruling literally legalized the so-called "back alley abortionist".
You don't really know much about this topic do you?
Abortions result in dead babies and sometimes in dead mothers.
One pro-life bumper sticker sums it up:
Abortion: One Dead and One Wounded
Check out Silent No More Awareness -- http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org for the horrors of abortion.
The women there have testimonies about what abortion did to them.
We are still waiting from a web link of some sort from you...
This is the Silent No More (awareness) website.
When an abortionist rips a female baby from the womb, which woman's right to her body are they protecting?
(If you are killing a male baby, it's okay, don't trouble yourself.)
I strongly suspect that you believe you are successfully harrassing a bunch of RTL folks ~ no doubt it gives you a sexual thrill.
You need to see a qualified physician who can help you get over your problem before you hurt someone.
We are not anti-abortion, we are pro-life.
It is the other side that is anti-life...
Being politically incorrect will not buy you into anything.
Time to start posting references to the LDI sting of Planned Parenthood.
As for the CDC fact, that was exposed on a Gospel of Life TV show. And it is also documented elsewhere by LDI...
All you have done is made wild accusations without facts to back up...
We are still waiting for some reference to something...
Where do you get your information -- the National Enquirer?
Or are you typing using Dan Rather's famous typewriter that wrote the infamous Bush memo about the Texas National Guard?
This baby was at 28 weeks. I have a nephew who was born at 24 weeks, and is now a very healthy 8 year old.
Not to mention the fact that yes, there will always be women who will want an abortion. However, there is no excuse for ANY woman to get pregnant in a day when medical advances have given us every kind of preventative birth control you can imagine. IUD, the pill, condoms, the patch, heck, you can even have some thing implanted in your arm.
If you are looking at abortion from a practical standpoint, and forget about the babies for a moment, it has become a from of birth control for young women. It should not be that way. Not only that, but young women really don't even care if they GET pregnant, because there are no consequences in their mind. They just get an abortion, and go to lunch. And I am not kidding.
This is not 1928. Women have many options, before they choose to have sex, to make sure that they do not get pregnant in the first place.
Obviosly the case of this young woman was different, but I am speaking generally.
As a properly formatted link:
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