[VA} Republican sends Senate members plastic fetus doll [infuriating Democrats]

http://home.hamptonroads.com/supersearch/articles/print.cfm?id=49727 ^ | 2.5.03 | Justi Bergman

[victim soul]

RICHMOND -- A Republican lawmaker infuriated Democrats Wednesday by sending members of the Senate pink plastic fetus dolls with a letter asking, ``Would you kill this child?''

Del. Richard Black of Loudoun County said the doll, which he described as a ``little Barbie doll baby'' in its first trimester, was intended to remind senators of the human side of abortion. It was accompanied by a message on official state letterhead in which Black graphically describes what happens to a fetus during an abortion.

``This is the size and shape of an actual first-trimester baby,'' the letter reads. ``Abortionists kill most babies at this stage of development.''

Both the Senate and House are considering several important abortion bills in the closing weeks of the session, with conservative legislators confident many will get through with veto-proof margins. The tide of conservatism in both chambers has so alarmed Democrats that more than a dozen lawmakers attended a news conference Wednesday where they railed against measures they say will set abortion rights in Virginia back to the days before Roe v. Wade.

But Democratic legislators saved their harshest comments for Black's letter, which Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw of Fairfax County said was one of the most inappropriate things he has seen in his 23 years in the Senate.

``Quite frankly, the people who saw this were pretty repulsed by it,'' he said.

Added Sen. Leslie Byrne, D-Fairfax County, ``It shocked me and, as a matter of fact, my secretary was frightened. She saw this thing in the envelope and didn't know what it was.''

``It hurts the decorum of the General Assembly,'' she said.

House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, also called it a bad idea. He said too much attention is being paid to hot-button issues like abortion this session.

``It does take the focus off the bigger, broader issues that we're doing, and I think that's regrettable,'' Howell said.

Saslaw pointed the blame for the ratcheted-up rhetoric at Republicans. He and other Democrats attributed it to Republicans trying to curry favor with constituents during an election year.

``I've never seen such an avalanche of this,'' he said. ``I think it's only a matter of time, hopefully sooner than later, that the women of Virginia wake up and realize what's happening.''

Black has said he believes this will be the year to pass legislation banning a late-term procedure abortion opponents call ``partial-birth abortion'' and requiring minors seeking an abortion to receive permission from a parent. But despite his strong lobbying efforts on these issues, Black maintains the fetus dolls were in good taste.

``We have these babies all around our office,'' he said. ``We're always handing them out to people.''

His message to legislators was clear: ``I want each one of them to know what they're talking about when we talk about killing children. ... It's my belief that abortion is going to end in America within 10 years.''

© 2003 HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com

[victim soul]

I wonder what would have happened if he sent a 4-D sonogram picture of a first trimester child?

[Sgt_Schultze]

...``Quite frankly, the people who saw this were pretty repulsed by it,'' he said.

She meant that she was repulsed by having to be shown the reality that abortion is murder.

[thinktwice]

The one thing that infuriates democrats is the truth. To them the truth is whatever they want it to be. It's an offshoot of religious philosophies, where things like "the truth" is supposedly found in religious books.

[MHGinTN]

House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, also called it a bad idea. He said too much attention is being paid to hot-button issues like abortion this session.

``It does take the focus off the bigger, broader issues that we're doing, and I think that's regrettable,'' Howell said.

And there is the truly disgusting reality poor representative Howell is unable to fathom; our society has degenerated to the point that killing individuals in the womb is so blase that there are 'bigger, broader issues'.

blase \bla-za\ adj [F] : apathetic to pleasure or excitement as a result of excessive indulgence; also : sophisticated (C) 1995 Zane Publishing, Inc. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (C) 1994 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

[GrandmaPatriot]

Maybe we should organize and swamp congress with these dolls.

[Irish Eyes]

I wonder if they would also be repulsed by pictures of "late term abortion" ?

[MHGinTN]

Send it to them in an e-mail attachment: img src=http://www.gemedicalsystems.com/rad/us/4d/images/thennow/picture.gif

[Wolverine]

Maybe their outrage could be further enhanced by showing them these facts:

PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN VIRGINIA
	Live births:63% Abortions: 23% Miscarriages:15%
TEEN PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN VIRGINIA
	Live births:52% Abortions: 34% Miscarriages:14% References for information contained above are available at

In Virginia, 147,310 of the 1,580,350 women of childbearing age become pregnant each year. 63% of these pregnancies result in live births and 23% in abortions.

Virginia's teenage pregnancy rate ranks 26th nationally. Of the 19,040 teen pregnancies each year in Virginia, 52% result in live births and 34% result in abortions.

[kayak]

``It does take the focus off the bigger, broader issues that we're doing, and I think that's regrettable,'' Howell said.

Legislators deal with very few true life or death issues ..... abortion is one of them ...... and there is no decision ever more important than one that has life or death consequences. This man's priorities are severely skewed.

[Brimack34]

Why are state republican speakers always little wimps. Here in Mn. ours is just as bad. Truth hurts deal with it.

[TigersEye]

Maybe we should organize and swamp congress with these dolls.

My thoughts exactly.

If there's nothing wrong with abortion then why were they so upset I wonder? Hmmm? Hypocrites.

[Happy2BMe]

"I wonder what would have happened if he sent a 4-D sonogram picture of a first trimester child?"

There should be three mandatory places every congressman and senator should be required to visit and be briefed on the events that transpire at them (and the consequences of those events) - it should be a law - a requirement to serve in these offices:

#1: An abortion clinic to see an acutal abortion and view the aborted fetus.

#2: An aids clinic to see dying AIDS patients and the results of the homosexual lifestyle.

#3: A morgue in a large city that collects homeless unclaimed bodies so they can see the pitiful condition of a society that no longer cares about the value of life or the concept of loving one's neighbor as they would love themself.

[.30Carbine]

``Quite frankly, the people who saw this were pretty repulsed by it,'' he said.

Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw of Fairfax County said this about a plastic model of a first-trimester baby, not about pictures such as you posted. The proponents of abortion are repulsed by pink plastic models of babies only because their minds can extrapolate the results of an abortion on such a perfectly formed human being. We are making progress, and I agree with the writer of the article above, that abortion will be a black mark on our history in 10 years or less, just as slavery and Nazi Germany now are.

We just need to keep speaking the truth in love, as Richard Black of Loudoun County is doing. God bless him and many more like him.

[Quix]

Great project.

Too bad the ones to the pro infanticide pols weren't soaked in cow's blood and wrapped in papers of legislation supporting such.

[Quix]

They should have included several photos of near birth infanticides! . . . in vivid color.

[Gopher Broke]

Send Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw an email by clicking here

I recommend that you only include your name...no address unless you live in his district.

I just sent him this message:

Dear Senator Saslaw,

I understand from the news reports today that you were "repulsed" by the plastic fetus you and the other Senators/Delegates got in the mail from Delegate Black. I have no problem with him sending these.

Quite frankly, as a father of 2 children in Virginia, I am REPULSED by elected representatives in Richmond who continue to allow this pro-death, pro-abortion culture dominate our state and murder our children, the future of Virginia.

The people of Virginia are demanding that we STOP Virginia's policy of unlimited abortion on demand.

Just as the right to life dominated the previous November elections, Virginia families will be watching the abortion bills very carefully as we decide who to support and oppose in November.

Which side will you be on?

Sincerely,

[victim soul]

Sounds like an excellent idea.

We can start with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Anyone with copies of their children's sonograms could do the same.

[AppyPappy]

She was repulsed by a baby?