For Dr. LeRoy Carhart, going to work reminds him of the kitchen. What type of work does Dr. Carhart do? He performs late-term abortions. You can listen to him describe that process in the video below.
First, he pushes a needle into the fetus and delivers a lethal injection. To render “the baby” (that’s the term Carhart uses at 3:41) pliable and easy to dismember, his or her corpse is left sitting inside mom for several days. The effect, Dr. Carhart explains, is “like putting meat in a crock pot.”
While comparing dead infants to pot roast isn’t exactly appetizing, a crock-pot analogy does sum up how the abortion industry treats its clients. “Choice providers” draw in women facing difficult circumstances, turn up the heat by downplaying or hiding alternatives to abortion, and then water down reluctance by dehumanizing their offspring. The result is a pliable figure who can be manipulated counseled into a preferred decision. Granted, she might horribly regret that decision, engage in self-destructive behavior, and ultimately commit suicide, but by then it’s not really a problem: they already have her money.
Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion practitioner, ending almost three hundred thirty thousand young lives annually. The group seems eager to keep that title: In 2013, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains presented its Aurora, CO office with an award for having increased the number of abortions over the previous year.
Safe, legal, and… Well, it’s legal, anyway.
How does Planned Parenthood keep those numbers up? Former employee Catherine Adair has provided some insight.
In July, pro-life activist Sarah Terzo interviewed Adair about her work with Planned Parenthood. She recalled that, “The counseling was not meant to be an opportunity to discuss the woman’s decision to abort.” Rather, this exercise “was merely a pre-operative screening.” As for abortion alternatives, “We did have to ask her if she was aware she could continue her pregnancy and give the baby up for adoption, but we didn’t get into any options counseling.”
For an organization that derives a nine figure income from abortion, discussing other options isn’t too helpful. Neither is offering details about fetal development, like the fact that a heartbeat starts around the third week following conception. Research by Dr. Kawaljeet Anand suggesting that a pre-born child is capable of feeling pain by week twenty isn’t likely to get mentioned either.
“On the rare occasion a woman asked about the size of the baby, I would tell her it was about the size of the tip of my pencil, regardless of how many weeks into her pregnancy she was.” That may have been the line given to patients, but Ms. Adair knew that the reality was quite different. “When I saw a second trimester abortion, I saw dismembered arms and legs, with perfect feet and hands.”
Once the abortion was over, support wasn’t on the agenda. “There was absolutely no talk of any kind of mental health help or counseling, because that would have been tantamount to admitting that women suffer emotionally after abortion and Planned Parenthood is always going to deny that.”
While Planned Parenthood might want to deny that many women suffer from abortion, the evidence says otherwise. A study published in the British Journal of Medicine indicates that post-abortive women are at a higher risk of suicide. That’s also consistent with anecdotes published at the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, a group that helps women share their abortion-related pain. Stories involving depression, suicidal thoughts, drug use, and duress are common.
Duress is common in the abortion industry. By some accounts, more than half of all women who abort only do so under pressure. Catherine Adair told the National Catholic Register that it wasn’t unusual to see young women who had been brought to the clinic by their abusers. That’s not surprising, as abusive men who want to avoid responsibility and child support have a strong incentive to book a clinic appointment. Women can face gunshots, stab wounds, arson attacks, bombings, and fatal beatings when they’re reluctant to go.
While Planned Parenthood likes to brag about offering “choice,” the group apparently isn’t too enthused about women making an informed one. When it came to ultrasounds, Adair explained in her interview that although they were sometimes done at her clinic, “Women were not given the option of viewing the ultrasound.”
This is an issue on which pro-lifers can help bring empowerment: Legislation has been passed in a number of states mandating that women seeking abortions be given the option to look at ultrasound images and judge for themselves whether those claims about “a blob of cells” the size of a pencil tip really match up with reality.
We can also push for laws ensuring that a pregnant woman is allowed to use whatever force is required to defend her pre-born child from criminal violence. The need for this can be seen in the frequency with which women and the children they carry are victims of homicide.
Finally, we need to let moms in difficult situations known where they can turn to for support. That could be a local pregnancy care center or online sites like StandUpGirl, a place where women can share stories and learn from one another. Finally, we can point out that there is a shortage of adoptable infants in America and that many couples would be grateful to provide a loving home. Some, like Angela and Matt Bernier have profiles you can view at Adoptimist and ParentProfiles,
The abortion industry is happy to treat women like meat to be softened up. As pro-lifers, it’s our goal to remind them of what they really are: human beings deserving who deserve better. And as the recent abortion statistics show, it’s a message that’s spreading.
