You can’t always predict what’s going to happen in life. Six years ago, I would have said the odds of me ever wandering the streets of South Korea in a codeine induced haze were precisely zero.
I would have been wrong.
On the other hand, some things are entirely predictable; most pro-abortion arguments fall into this category. Here’s one you see a lot:
That was left on a Facebook page created by Oakland University Students for Life, and it’s the sort of thing you’ve heard plenty of times before. However, the response to it might not be.
A pro-life activist answered by bringing up something called female genital mutilation (FGM). Found in some regions of Africa and the Middle East, FGM involves amputating part or all of a girl’s external genitals – often without anesthetic. It can lead to serious infection and even death.
And yet, the practice continues, as there are strong cultural norms in some countries favoring it. Thus, the commenter stated: “So would you support legalizing Female Genital Mutilation if doing so would make it safer for women forced to undergo it?”
It was a fair reply. After all, this was exactly the “same logic” that the commenter had used to justify abortion, and the commenter’s question implicitly asked him to defend his reasoning. Apparently that was asking too much:
Here’s a debate tip: when someone won’t acknowledge the rationale they’ve just put forward, it’s probably because they don’t want to admit where it leads. Of course, bad rationale isn’t the only problem with this pro-abortion argument – the facts don’t support it either.
Poland and Ireland (two countries that ban most abortions) enjoy some of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world. In Chile, the maternal mortality rate kept dropping even after abortion was criminalized. Meanwhile, Mexican states with permissive abortion laws actually have higher mortality rates than those with restrictive ones.
So how safe are those “proper medical abortion clinics” here in the U.S.? The commenter above could ask Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich and Joyce Vasikonis about the one they worked at, although I’m guessing he won’t like what they have to say.
One of the Planned Parenthood whistleblowers
Mitchell-Werbrich and Vasikonis are two nurses who were employed at Planned Parenthood of Delaware. The pair likened their job environment to a “meat market,” and at a 2013 state legislative hearing they recalled women being exposed to bloody tables and unsterilized instruments. Former clinic director Melody Meanor testified at the hearing as well, and she spoke of drugs being mishandled, records not being updated, and patients not being told of positive STD tests.
Abortions were being done at Planned Parenthood of Delaware by Dr. Timothy F. Liveright, a physician who’s been the subject of multiple complaints. Granted, the complaints weren’t as bad as those leveled against Dr. Steven C. Brigham in neighboring Maryland. In 2010, a patient of his suffered serious injuries during a botched abortion. A subsequent investigation revealed that Brigham had stored aborted fetuses in a freezer and didn’t even have a license to practice medicine in the state.
And of course, there was Philadelphia’s Kermit Gosnell. In addition to operating a filthy, vermin-infested clinic, he was also convicted of killing one patient and multiple newborns.
These cases aren’t the only examples of substandard abortion facilites, and it’s not just pro-lifers who are talking about them. In August, the Center for Medical Progress produced undercover footage of Cate Dyer, CEO of StemExpress.
StemExpress is a company supplying baby body parts to researchers, something that they procure from abortion clinics. And as Dyer admits, the condition of those clinics isn’t always up to par:
SE: We’ll do testing on our side, so we’ll be able to see, you know. And sometimes we’ll find that it can be clinic-specific. I’ve seen really rampant, rampant problems with bacteria in certain clinics. [laughter] Some where you’re kind of in question of should they really, you know, [laughing]
Buyer: Right.
SE: I’ve seen staph come out of clinics.
Buyer: Wow.
SE: So, I mean, I’ve seen all sorts of things come out of clinics, so.
Far from shutting down abortionists “who could be dangerous to the procedure,” the current policy is often to let them operate unhindered. According to the Gosnell grand jury report, nail salons in Pennsylvania were receiving more oversight than abortion clinics got.
But while pro-lifers want to protect women, pro-abortion groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America aren’t making it easy. That’s who’s fighting common sense measures like surprise clinic inspections–something that might have shut down Kermit Gosnell years ago. It’s also something that catches Planned Parenthood clinics breaking the law. Naturally, they oppose the measures, too.
You can support the effort by contacting your elected officials and making it clear you want substandard abortion mills to close. Because despite what some might think, “legal” doesn’t equal “safe.”
Editor’s Note, 11/4/24: This article has been edited since original publication.
