Abortion: Switching Sides

JEWISH WORLD REVIEW, Jan. 25 — Writing for the Jewish World Review, Lori Borgman described her change of position from pro-choice to pro-life after the miscarriage of her 14-week- old baby.

She said she was getting ready to leave the obstetrician's office, “stifling sobs and avoiding eye contact, when a young woman planted herself beside me and demanded to know whether insurance would cover her abortion.

“I didn't know whether insurance would cover an abortion, but I did know that the feminists had lied through their teeth. I hadn't lost a tissue blob or a blood clot or a product of conception, I had lost a teeny, tiny baby with an itty bitty body, arms and legs, a head and a heart, and even toenails. Pierced by the utter absurdity of human life possessing less self-protection than a possum scuttling across a four-lane highway, I switched sides.”

Bishop Faults N.Y. Probe

THE BUFFALO NEWS, Jan. 23 — Bishop Henry Mansell criticized New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for his investigation of crisis pregnancy centers as a campaign to harass and intimidate.

Attorneys from Spitzer's office have subpoenaed two dozen counseling centers that offer alternatives to abortion across the state, seeking documents, volunteer lists and other information.

Bishop Mansell suggested the probe may be part of a national campaign by pro-abortion forces. The bishop made his comments about Spitzer in a homily at a Mass preceding the 29th annual March for Life in Washington. “We want to be sure that similar examination is being made of the abortion clinics,” he said.

Planned Parenthood Malpractice?

AGAPE PRESS, Jan. 22 — A major class action lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis against the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood of St. Louis.

The suit alleges medical malpractice, wrongful death, civil rights violations, mass fraud, and genocide by specifically targeting minority women for abortions.

The suit contends that Planned Parenthood has systematically committed fraud by failing to inform women or outright lying to them about the risks, both physical and emotional, associated with having an abortion.

N.C. Abortion Rates Drop

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 20 — The number of abortions performed in North Carolina has dropped 23% in a decade, according to the State Center for Health Statistics.

The number of abortions in 1990 was 34,565 compared to 26,612 in 2000, the last year for which statistics are available. Part of the drop can be attributed to a law that decreased funding for the State Abortion Fund from $1.2 million to $50,000 in 1995.

Lawmakers have also limited access to state-funded abortions, including those for pregnancies resulting from a rape or incest.