There has been much ado lately about the label "pro-choice." Planned Parenthood, and other organizations who accept and promote abortion, are nervously backing away from that label, and are encouraging people to stop using the label "pro-life" to describe people who promote alternatives to abortion.
"These labels limit the conversation," purrs the video's narrator. "The next time you talk about abortion, don't let the labels box you in. Have a different conversation, a conversation that doesn't divide you, but is based on mutual respect and empathy."
Don't mind if I do! Here is a fine example of a supportive, respectful, empathetic doctor offering real choice to a pregnant woman in a difficult situation:
RU-486 abortions can be reversed midway: study
The article says that Rhonda, an 18-year-old college student, got pregnant by her boyfriend, Gary, despite using contraception. The last thing she wanted was a baby, and she argued with her parents until they finally gave in, and helped her get an abortion. The girl chose a medical abortion, and took the first dose of the abortion drug mifepristone, a progesterone receptor antagonist.
Her mother begged her to speak with a priest. She resisted, but eventually consented. The priest talked to her and put her in touch with one Dr. Delgado.
He performed an ultrasound to see if the baby was still alive.
“When Rhonda, her mother, and Gary saw the embryo in her uterus with a beating heart, they began to cry,” recounted Delgado. “These were tears of joy that the baby was still alive but also tears of remorse, for each of them, individually, regretted the decisions they had made.”
“They wanted to know what they could do to reverse the mifepristone,” wrote Delgado. “I explained to Rhonda the risks of the situation and offered her progesterone therapy since mifepristone functions as a progesterone antagonist. She agreed to proceed, hoping and praying for the best.”
The treatment worked. Delgado continued to see Rhonda throughout the first trimester of her pregnancy. He described the “transformation” he saw in the family as they “recommitted to their faith” and developed a “beautiful love, joy and peace” about the pregnancy.
By the end of the first trimester, Delgado was able to refer Rhonda to an obstetrician. At the time of his report, she was nearing the midpoint of her pregnancy. Wrote Delgado, “[A]ll of her ultrasounds indicate that all is well with her baby and her. Rhonda feels blessed to have been given a second chance; a second chance she feels was by the grace of God.”
You see there? That's choice. Real choice -- even after a terrible choice has already been made. And Delgado did more than "have a conversation" - - he changed the course of several lives.
The Planned Parenthood video above is right: these labels can be so misleading! After all, Planned Parenthood was still calling itself "pro-choice" when it performed 333,964 abortions in the fiscal year of 2011. That's one abortion every 94 seconds -- 391 abortions for every adoption. Abortion numbers were up, and their much-trumpeted "other services" were down. They offer choice in the same way that McDonald's offers fresh fruits and veggies: you have to look pretty damn hard to even find it on the menu.
While they were busy with all those abortions, NaProTechnology doctors started looking around for a way to give women more actual choices. In December 2012, they published a study in the the Journal of Pharmacotherapy. According to LifeSiteNews:
Doctors George Delgado and Mary Davenport reported that six U.S. doctors trained in NaProTECHNOLOGY protocols at the Pope Paul VI Institute gave progesterone as an antidote to mifepristone to seven patients seeking to halt abortions already in progress. Of the seven women, four carried healthy infants to term, two lost their babies, and one failed to follow up with the doctor, leaving the fate of her infant unknown.
“The 2-day gap between the ingestion of mifepristone and misoprostol in the typical abortion regimen potentially affords an opportunity to intervene and reverse the effects of the mifepristone,” wrote the study authors.
Reverse the effects of the mifepristone. That's what we call "giving women another choice." On Dr. Delgado's website, abortionpillreversal.com, it says:
Even if you are bleeding or cramping, you can still receive the progesterone once you have a sonogram to confirm the baby is alive and in the uterus.
If you have taken the first dose of mifepristone and have changed your mind, call (877) 558 0333 for help.
In other words, you may still have a choice.
Will Planned Parenthood pass this valuable, groundbreaking medical information along to its clients? I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. In the mean time, remember what the video says: Labels are not always useful. And organizations who want to be called "pro-choice" really ought to offer something else besides the same old choice over and over again, every 94 seconds, all year long.
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Thank you for writing this. I’ll be sharing and tweeting it.
Something hit me while I was watching this. I am currently in my 6th pregnancy. I suffer severe progesterone deficiency and my body does not make enough progesterone on its own to make it through the first trimester. I have supplemented to maintain my pregnancy the last 4 of my 6 pregnancies. What hit me was that people intentionally do something to themselves to induce the state I have naturally. And I am praying, asking my priest for Annointing of the Sick and having my husband inject my bum with progesterone twice a week to save my pregnancies.
it’s just mind-boggling, I think and I wanted to share that observatin
Never heard of anyone leaving PP a parent.
That video made me squirm. The sweet, empathetic voice talking about how a woman should make her own healthcare decisions without politics factoring in. Mammograms are healthcare. Abortion is not. Pap smears don’t end a life. Abortions do. Absolutely, let’s throw away the labels and call a spade a spade.
The video is wrong, politicians interfere in prenatal care and delivery choices (more on state level than federal). Women in some areas do NOT have a choice in how they give birth.
It’s such a difficult thing when you agree with one part of a video, but not the rest.
@Claire, abortion is “healthcare” in that it IS a medical procedure. No, it’s not really “caring” for either patient, but it is a medical procedure and should be treated as such.
I am a former OBGYN RN, and I am well aware that abortion is a medical procedure. But it is still not healthCARE. It has no place in healthcare. Nazis performed all kinds of barbaric medical procedures on their “patients”. That was not healthcare either.
We need more Dr. Delgados. Speak to your children in their early teens about a vocation to the medical profession. What a high calling.
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Our old warrior for life, Dr. Green retired here. He would see a woman in crisis any day, any time. There wasn’t really anybody to take his place, and fill his fatherly shoes. I felt orphaned when I had no choice but to sit in the cold,indifferent waiting room of a cold, indifferent Ob-Gyn clinic, feeling the loss of his paternal care.
Dr. Delgado is a wonderful doctor. Before I started going to his practice, I had never encountered doctors who were so attentive and thorough (with me and my family, sometimes all at once….they need a bigger office ;) ). I am so proud at hearing this news. Culture of Life Family Services! Look ‘em up if you are in San Diego!
That’s totally unfair to McDonald’s.
Posted by Claire on Friday, Feb 1, 2013 12:13 PM (EDT):
I am a former OBGYN RN, and I am well aware that abortion is a medical procedure. But it is still not healthCARE. It has no place in healthcare. Nazis performed all kinds of barbaric medical procedures on their “patients”. That was not healthcare either.”
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Thanks, Claire.
I read the BBC news often & they had 2 articles yesterday online-one highlighted a new documentary which opened at the Sundance Film Festival.The movie’s subject concerned 4 late term abortionists trained by Dr. Tiller.The article explained how these, now elderly, dr.s helped women destroy their viable infants.The whole take was very sympathetic towards abortion & depicted the abortionists as heroic, potential martyrs for the cause.Disability was offered as a legit reason to take a child’s life.
The 2nd article was about cadavers used in German medical schools.It seems right up til the late 1980’s,the bodies/body parts of concentration camp victims, resistance fighters, etc were being utilized for teaching anatomy in German schools.Once students protested, the preserved materials were properly buried.This was all presented in a tone morally superior to the barbaric Nazis who devalued human life, but the BBC was completely blind to the irony of the 2 conflicting articles appearing the same day.
Claire,
I tried to respond to your comment but it got flagged as potential spam.Maybe it was too lengthy.Hopefully the NCR folks will sort it out.If not I’ll try again.
I’m sure the moderators will release it at some point this afternoon. Yes, sometimes the long comments flag as spam. But sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to it. The worst is when it happens over the weekend, because then it doesn’t get released till Monday when the moderators are back at work. When I write a long comment, sometimes I remember to copy it, so if it goes to spam jail I can paste segments of it into individual comments.
Thanks, Claire.
I read the BBC news often & they had 2 articles yesterday online-one highlighted a new documentary which opened at the Sundance Film Festival.The movie’s subject concerned 4 late term abortionists trained by Dr. Tiller.The article explained how these, now elderly, dr.s helped women destroy their viable infants.The whole take was very sympathetic towards abortion & depicted the abortionists as heroic, potential martyrs for the cause.Disability was offered as a legit reason to take a child’s life.
The 2nd article was about cadavers used in German medical schools.It seems right up til the late 1980’s,the bodies/body parts of concentration camp victims, resistance fighters, etc were being utilized for teaching anatomy in German schools.Once students protested, the preserved materials were properly buried.This was all presented in a tone morally superior to the barbaric Nazis who devalued human life, but the BBC was completely blind to the irony of the 2 conflicting articles appearing the same day.
Claire,
I tried again. Oh well, maybe it will show up later (twice).
Kathleen and Claire:
Good to see some people having a respectable conversation in a comment section. Something you can only see on a Simcha Fisher blog, for sure. Like a breath of fresh air!
If the young lady in question simply did not want to care for the baby after giving birth, she (and her parents) could have considered allowing adoptive parents to be fulfilled. Many married couples are on waiting lists in the USA for babies available for adoption.
True, most young women do want to keep their infants, once delivered. Did you know that Steve Jobs was given up by his birth mother for adoption? And that he had opportunities from his adoptive parents that would not have been available otherwise?
Just a thought.
TeaPot562
If two Catholic women took the abortion drug and then repented and took the drug to save the baby, and if the baby of one of them lived and the baby of the other one died, they would both need to go to Confession and both of them would have been guilty of the same sin. That gives me pause for thought.
@Michelle (re: progesterone) - Great observation, although I am sorry for the price you have had to pay to make it. And even more true for all the women struggling with infertility - abortion is incredibly offensive to those who undergoing painful and expensive medical tests and therapies in the hopes of conceiving a child.
@Richard - I’m not a moral theologian, so I’m open to being corrected here. My understanding is that culpability (that is responsibility or guilt for a sin) is based on a person’s intent and freedom in acting, not on the outcome of the event.
There are also temporal consequences of sin. If someone dies, that is a worse thing objectively speaking, but it does not change the level of guilt that someone bears for intending the death. Nor does it nullify the grace and fruit of repentance. What it may do is make reparation more difficult or even impossible. It may also have different kinds of legal, physical, and emotional punishment connected to it.
So, assuming that the two Catholic women in your example knew exactly what they were doing and were not coerced (as so often happens), they would both be guilty of seeking an abortion. Because they are repentant, they can confess their sin and then receive communion. They both would receive the full mercy of God and complete forgiveness of their sins. Whether their child lived or died makes no difference to the gravity of their guilt or the fullness of their forgiveness.
They each would suffer different practical consequences as a result of their actions. One would have a child to raise and the other a child to mourn - and this is the most immediate difference.
But despite any differences, God’s love for each is infinite, and his call is still to full union with him in the joy of heaven.
I beg the prayers of all the readers. My first grandchild is due to be aborted a week from today. Everyone in the family is trying to stop this, including the father of the baby. Please pray that God will intervene.
Thank you.
@Robert King
I am not a moral theologian either, although sometimes I pretend to be one in comment boxes. Anyway, everything you said made sense to me.
Dear Annonymous: Said the prayer to St. Michael & invoked the Holy Innocents & other saints to intercede for your grandchild that she (or he) might live, as well as for the child’s mother, & for you & its father & those fighting to save the child’s life. And will join Mrs. Fisher’s readers to say more.
@anon, I will pray and offer our mass tomorrow for your intention! I’m so sorry.
@Robert King
Although, all of us Catholic are called on to be moral theologians, if only in being able to discern right from wrong in our lives.
Kathleen: yes, it is appalling that the irony escapes so many. And no one seems to find it noteworthy that Menge, the barbaric Nazi doctor, spent his post-Nazi years specializing in abortions.
Anonymous: I am so sorry for your situation. I will pray that your grandchild’s life will be spared.
You write as if Planned Parenthood is the ONLY abortion provider. Other doctors you know nothing about may also provide abortions—everyone has a price.
To Anonymous: If there is a Birthright in your area, encourage the mother to go there. They are an international crisis pregnancy center that will offer her help and support. Their website is: www.birthright.org.
Prayers.
There is also a toll-free number that she can call.
Posted by Sandy Malia on Sunday, Feb 3, 2013 4:08 PM (EDT):
You write as if Planned Parenthood is the ONLY abortion provider. Other doctors you know nothing about may also provide abortions—everyone has a price.”
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That’s true up to a point, abortions are performed privately outside of abortion clinics.But not every doctor “has a price.” There are many steadfast, pro-life doctors, who do not see this as a negotiable issue.Thankfully.
Annonymous,
I’ve said a prayer for your grandbaby.Please let us know what happens.May God protect you all.
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! She changed her mind at about 2:00 Sunday morning. We know that this is completely in response to God Grace and prayer.
Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts!
That’s great news Anonymous! Thanks for the update.
Very true, Kathleen. I mentioned earlier that I am a former OBGYN nurse. I worked with many doctors who refused to perform abortions. Some of them were 100% pro-life, some of them favored legal abortion under restricted circumstances, but none of them had any desire to perform abortions. And they were good enough doctors that financially, they didn’t have to. They were able to earn enough money doing legitimate medical procedures.
Well put, TeaPot562!
As a pro-choice supporter, I am pleased to learn of this new option.
Kathleen: Maybe not all doctors have a price about abortions, but you miss my point. Enough doctors will do it, and the patient-doctor relationship protects them.
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Catholics, et al. have an agenda to destroy Planned Parenthood—it is a shallow “victory” if they “win.” Abortions will just be done more privately within “general” clinics and hospitals. No big deal, except that poor populations will be denied affordable women’s health care (aside from abortions). Talk about eugenics….
I’ve been trying to find more information about Dr. Delgado, Culture of Life Family Services, and the effectiveness of the “reversal” treatment. So far only pro-life/Catholic and/or articles written by Dr. Delgado are listed. Is there any independent proof that it works? Or is it a very new procedure?
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@Sandy Malia, au contraire. While Planned Parenthood used to provide actual healthcare, and was quite helpful to an acquaintance those many years ago, they make tons of money off abortion and use our tax dollars. Margaret Sanger’s genocide is still being perpetrated; the pp near me is in a new facility, with great access to public transport, in a minority area so as more easily to reach their target market. The off brand place of which I’m aware is also v accessible by public transport.
PP will go by the wayside as more and more young people are pro life.
Sandy Malia ,
I have no doubt that abortions will continue privately, just as they did pre Roe vs Wade.Beyond that, we now have access to abortifacient drugs through the internet.
The issue is not whether abortions will continue but will they continue as they have for the last 40 years? We hope not.
It may vary by state, but our local health dept has no end of “family planning” devices & drugs available to low income women, plus STD screenings.Last time I checked, Georgia’s health services even offered sterilizations.
It’s a bit odd to pose eugenics as an outcome of defunding Planned Parenthood.Eugenics was one of its founder’s core beliefs.
Can anyone answer my question above about independent study? Or am I supposed to believe this as I’m supposed to believe there are tiny dead babies lining the uteruses of women who use contraceptives?
Noah,
Did you google this online? :
December 2012 issue of the Journal of Pharmacotherapy
It does not appear to be a religious based publication.
@Noah Cannon: Here is a link to the study in the journal I cited:
http://www.theannals.com/content/46/12/e36.full.pdf+html
As a retired physician, some observations: the unborn is a genetically distinct individual. Not a bit of mother’s tissue. This being is alive and viable no matter how a court chooses to interpret science. Abortion is offensive to men whose rights to their child are violated: I have had men crying in my office over this. I have watched most “couples” destroyed by abortions. Abortion is a murderous outrage, now we have a President who glories in mass murder. We deserve him. “Women’s rights”: what about women who threaten fathers that if they don’t take them on expensive vacations she will abort their child? Anytime courts approve wrong behavior, people suffer. Look at this week’s WSJ journal article on our birth rate decline and ask yourself if Gloria Steinem, Nancy Pelosi, et al are worth it. And no, “Anonymous” BCPs don’t leave bits of babies around the womb - though you can get pregnant on BCPs even taken correctly.
Yes abortion is legally considered a medical procedure. ObamaCare contains a brilliant one-liner buried in the middle of its great length that simply states that ALL medical procedures will be available to all served by ObamaCare. This means that if your family doctor does NOT counsel abortion as an alternative to pregnancy, for say a militant feminist, he has violated “good medical care” and is subject to lawsuit. It is time to consider whether a vote for political extremists is a vote that would please The Lord, is consistent with your religion, and would allow your soul eternal peace.
Finally, I have personally made contact with the American Medical Association when I could find no US studies reviewing the long term health effects of abortion on women. Overseas studies suggest many untoward effects. I have talked with the Chairman of the AMA’s Ethics Committee [Bette Crigger] in 2009 and have been point blank told that the AMA has never reviewed the issue. This is amazing in a world where all other surgical procedures undergo such review. So if you are banking on the AMA’s pro-abortion stance for safety, give them a call.
Great story! I love this. So heart-touching. Thanks for sharing!
Great story! I love this. So heart-touching. Thanks for sharing!
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