Pro-life organizations can point to multiplied thousands of babies their efforts have saved. I've financially supported a number of them and volunteered at one pregnancy resource center, and I've seen the testimonies from mothers whose hearts were changed and whose babies were saved.
What's relevant in the real world -- apparently uninhabited by hectoring critics -- is
** the flood tide of pro-life state laws [ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/health/policy/03abortion.html -- "Abortion Foes Advance Cause at State Level" ],
** 2,300+ pregnancy resource centers [ http://www.apassiontoserve.org/ ],
** myriads of formerly abortion-accepting women who've become pro-life [ http://www.CNSNews.com/news/article/moms-who-chose-life-over-abortion-become -- "Moms Who Chose Life Over Abortion Become Activists on Capitol Hill" ] ,
** increasing exposure of abortuaries' rampant illegalities [ http://liveaction.org/monalisa/ ], and
** the legions of pro-life doers [in stark contrast to the empty talkers] like Lila Rose, who in four years has put some big hits on Big Abortion [ http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/09/fighting-for-life -- "Lila Rose: Fighting for Life" ] .
Kathleen Eaton, founder and CEO of Birth Choice Health Clinics in Southern California [ http://www.birthchoiceclinic.org/ ], writes:
" . . . we are so grateful to Focus on the Family for their Option Ultrasound Program grants and training [ http://www.heartlink.org/pdf/DonorOUPUpdate.pdf ]. With their help, we've been able to transform our pregnancy resource centers into fully licensed medical clinics, and the results are astounding. Demand for our services has grown from less than 1,000 visitors to more than 21,000 since we converted to four licensed medical clinics in 2006. We're set to open our sixth clinic in Los Angeles County in January 2010.
"Historically, only 30 percent of our abortion-minded women changed their minds. However, by introducing women to their babies through ultrasound, more than 72 percent choose life."
I made an appointment for the next week for a medical abortion, where I would take the medication/pill regimen known as RU-486. The thought of "surgical abortion" made me queasy, and the clinic staff made the pill sound so simple - like taking a Tylenol for a headache. It seemed like the perfect solution had fallen right in my lap. But what I first thought was the answer to my prayers soon came with its own set of worries. I couldn't shake the nagging thoughts in the back of my mind, those unsettled feelings that I was sure would disappear since I had made the appointment to take the RU-486.
My anxiety worsened as the date for the abortion grew closer. I crept slowly through the days, wishing that I could stall the abortion appointment until I felt 100% confident about my choice. It was the biggest decision of my life, and I needed, I craved some conviction that it was the right decision. One day, as I was riding on the bus I saw a sign that read, "Considering Abortion? Pregnancy Care Centers: Caring, Confidential, Trusted." It gave me a sense of comfort I hadn't felt in weeks. I decided to call the number... I figured at that point, what did I have to lose? Maybe I did have one more chance to talk to someone before the abortion.
When I called the Help Line phone number, I was nervous - I didn't want to be judged or pressured. I just wanted to hear something hopeful. The woman on the other end of the line listened, and didn't judge. She gave me information, and set me up with an appointment. I don't know what prompted me to go. But I knew that I couldn't go in and get the abortion without some sense of affirmation that whatever choice I made, it would be a well-informed decision.
The visit to the pregnancy care center changed my life. For the first time, I saw my situation for what it really was - a blessing, a miracle of life. I saw my baby on the ultrasound as a real person. I could see her as a newborn baby... a little girl... and a grown woman who would do amazing things in this world if I would just give her the opportunity. Seeing Ava opened my eyes to everything I couldn't see before. I was able to see past my fears and my worries, and experience the excitement and joy of a new life. I felt a renewed sense of purpose, and an overwhelming responsibility to myself as a woman, and my capabilities of being a mother. The support and love the center showed me gave me the validation I was searching for all along.
". . . [Nikki] Payne said she was 19 and not in a relationship when she became pregnant. She decided that rather than confide in family and friends, she would just get an abortion on her own. “I was worried about the judgment of family and friends because of the goals I had in mind,” Payne told CNSNews.com. “So I tried to make the decision to terminate my pregnancy alone without anyone knowing.”
She described her visit to Planned Parenthood as an “awful experience.”
“It was very impersonal and very robotic, and I didn’t feel right,” Payne said. In contrast, she said that when she visited the pregnancy resource center in the city where she lived in Virginia, a counselor spent several hours talking to her about alternatives to abortion.
“So it’s just a huge turnaround from going somewhere where I was just a number to actually wanting to inform me so I could make an informed decision and know the repercussions or the rewards of the decision I was going to make,” Payne said.
As she held her wiggly son in her arms, she said she could not imagine having made the decision to go through with an abortion.
“It’s not possible to see him not in my life,” Payne said. “They gave me an ultrasound, which made everything so clear – that Zuri is going to be that blessing in my life.”
“And there is no way I could choose whether he lives or dies,” Payne said. “It’s not my place to choose to take a life away.”
THAT has absolutely nothing to do with the gobbledegook that supposedly passes for intellectual discourse in the ARTICLE that was posted on this thread. Don’t get all holier than thou and try to tell me about saving babies. You don’t know me and you don’t need details about my personal life, nor did I ask for YOURS. The FACT is, you defended this piece of garbage and now you act as if the whole thread is about personally saving babies. THIS ARTICLE is by some leftist, so-called religious fop who advocates allowing SOME babies to die for political reasons...and about letting yourself feel better about it.
Shame on you for trying to change the subject and act as though you did not understand what the man was saying. Unless you DIDN’T understand and now can’t bring yourself to admit you were wrong for defendng the indefensible.