Abortion news
For the year 2009
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Background information on many aspects of abortion is found in individual essays, e.g.
public opinion,
clinic protests,
clinic violence,
parental notification,
abortion methods, and
post abortion syndrome. Information about the use of
stem cells is elsewhere.
News items:
 | 2009-MAR-05: Brazil: Family and doctor involved in abortion
excommunicated: A nine-year-old who had been sexually molested since
the age of three by her father became pregnant with twins. Because the
pregnancy resulted from rape, she was given an abortion at a Brazilian
hospital. The Roman Catholic Church has excommunicated the doctor and those
family members involved with the abortion, but not the girl herself. Jos. Cardoso Sobrinho, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, was preparing to file a
motion to block the abortion, when he was told that the procedure had already
been carried out. He said: "To be subject to this penalty it is necessary to
be of age. The Church is very benevolent, especially with minors. Now the
adults, those who approved, who carried out this abortion, are excommunicated.
... [Abortion is] homicide against innocent life. We are talking about a
silent holocaust, that kills a one million innocents in Brazil and fifty
million in the world every year, a holocaust worse than the six million Jews,
which we lament every year." Earlier in March, he condemned the distribution
of millions of condoms during the Carnival festival.
1
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| 2009-APR-18: USA: Misrepresentation of James
Dobson's "defeat" speech:" The Telegraph newspaper in London,
UK, used some selective editing to reverse the meaning of a speech by James
Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family. When he gave a farewell speech to his
employees in February, he said, in part:
"We tried to defend the unborn child, the dignity of the family, but it
was a holding action. We are awash in evil and the battle is still to be
waged. We are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict.
Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles, but God is in
control and we are not going to give up now, right?"
The reference to the "unborn child" appears to refer to Focus' efforts to
restrict abortion access. The reference to "dignity of the family" seems to
refer to their effort to prevent loving, committed same-sex couples and their
families to attain marriage equality.
The Telegraph allegedly published the above quotation but left off the final
phrase: "but God is in control and we are not going to give up now, right?"
This, of course, reversed the entire meaning of the excerpt.
2
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| 2009-MAY-31: KS: Dr George Tiller
assassinated: Dr. George Tiller, an advocate for abortion rights and a
specialist in late-term abortions was fatally shot dead in Lutheran church in
Wichita, KS. A 51-year-old suspect was arrested three hours later near Kansas
City. He was the eighth abortion provider to be murdered in the U.S. since
1977. There have been 14 instances of attempted murder. Since President Obama
took office, there has been a precipitous rise in
threats and actions against abortion clinics in the U.S. 3
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| 2009-JUN-23: USA: President Nixon believed
abortion necessary in some cases: The Nixon Presidential Library
released over 154 hours of audio tape recordings of activity at the White
House during 1973-JAN/FEB. On 1973-JAN-23, Nixon and an unknown aide discussed
the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. Nixon expressed concern that
greater access to abortions would foster "permissiveness." He said that "it
breaks the family." But he also said that abortions are necessary in some
cases, like terminating interracial pregnancies. Nixon said:
"I know that there are times when abortions are necessary. I know that [like]
when you have a black and a white."
The aide interrupted: "or for rape. "Nixon agreed: "or rape."
4
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| 2009-JUL-14: DC: Judge Sotomayor confirms validity of Roe v. Wade:
At her confirmation hearings, Judge Sonia Sotomayor said that she regarded the
U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision to recognize all women's access to early
abortions to be settled law, that has been settled on the basis of a personal
right to privacy. However, LifeSiteNews,com reported that when she was
asked about the court's decision to uphold the D&X ban (a.k.a. partial birth
abortion ban), she:
"indicated that she did not consider the unequivocal nature of the
ban part of the 'precedent' set by the ruling. 'The health and welfare of a
woman must be a compelling consideration,' Sotomayor admitted."
5
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| 2009-JUL-28: NY: Catholic nurse forced to
assist in abortion: Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, 35, is a nurse at Mount
Sinai Hospital in New York City. On MAY-24, she was told to assist in an
late-term abortion in order to save the live of a patient. The patient was 22
weeks into her pregnancy and was suffering from preeclampsia.
6
"Preeclampsia ... is a rapidly progressive condition ... Globally,
preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause
of maternal and infant illness and death. By conservative estimates, these
disorders are responsible for 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths each
year." 7
Cenzon-CeCarlo is a
Roman Catholic. Her church teaches that abortions are never permitted, even
to save the life of the mother. Catholic medical personnel are required by
the church in such situations to only give comfort care and to allow both the
mother and fetus to die. The New York Post reported:
"Bosses told the
weeping Cenzon-DeCarlo the patient was 22 weeks into her pregnancy and had
preeclampsia, a condition marked by high blood pressure that can lead to
seizures or death if left untreated. The supervisor 'claimed that the mother
could die if [Cenzon-DeCarlo] did not assist in the abortion'."
Faced with a charge of insubordination and patient abandonment, which could
result in the lost of both her job and her license, she reluctantly assisted in the procedure.
With the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, a fundamentalist Christian
legal defense group, she is suing the hospital.
There is an indication that the patient's situation was a rapidly
developing emergency: she was not on magnesium therapy which is given to women
showing first signs of preeclampsia. Later medical records showed that the
procedure was a Category II emergency -- one that is not immediately life
threatening. 8
|
| 2009-AUG-18: OK: Judge halts law requiring
ultrasound: Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson declared
a state law unconstitutional. It required pregnant women to undergo an
ultrasound and to hear a doctor's description of the embryo or fetus. To be
constitutional, a law can deal with only one topic. This law dealt with
several topics. The law had been vetoed by Governor Brad Henry but the
legislature overrode the veto. 9
|
| 2009-SEP-11: MI: Pro-life picketer shot and
killed: Two men were killed by in Owosso, MI. One was Jim Pouillon, 63,
who was standing in front of a high school, reportedly carrying a pro-life
sign showing a picture of a bloody aborted fetus. The man believed responsible
appears to have objected to the image being shown to high school students. He
then drove to a gravel pit and killed Mike Fuoss for unknown reasons. Police
feel that the perpetrator was also planning to murder James Howe, a local real
estate agent, apparently because he felt that Howe had wronged his mother in a
business deal. He was arrested before being able to carry out the plan.
|
| 2009-SEP-15: AZ: Restrictive abortion law
being challenged: A new informed consent bill was signed into law on
2009-JUL-13. It is being challenged in courts in order to prevent its
implementation on SEP-30. Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc. launched a
lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court. It is also being
challenged in U.S. District Court by the Center for Reproductive
Rights.
Provisions of the law that are being challenged include:
 | Prohibiting nurse practitioners from
performing surgical abortions. |
| Requiring abortion providers to supply
information about abortion procedures, risks, and alternatives 24 hours or
more before performing an abortion. This requires a woman to make two trips
to the facility -- a serious inconvenience in some areas of the state. |
| Requiring that physicians provide this
information in person. |
| Prohibiting an abortion provider from
collecting payment from a woman for health services on the same day that she
consults with them about an abortion. |
| Expansion of the state's conscience right for
health care providers so that they can refuse to "facilitate" an abortion or
dispensing of emergency contraception.
10 |
|
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, "Archbishop Announces Excommunication of Doctor
and Family Members for Abortion on Nine-Year-Old Girl. Calls abortion a
"holocaust worse than the six million Jews, which we lament every year,"
LifeSiteNews.com mailing, 2009-MAR-06.
- Tasha Easterling, "Dobson Didn't Waive a White Flag," OneNewsNow,
2009-APR-18, at:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/
- Peter Rothberg, "George Tiller's Assassination," The Nation, 2009-JUN-01,
at:
http://www.thenation.com/
- "Nixon Tapes: Abortion Necessary 'When You Have A Black And A White'," New
York Times, 2009-JUN-23, at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
- Kathleen Gilbert, "Sotomayor Confirms Commitment to Roe v. Wade as "Settled
Law," but not Partial-Birth Abortion Ban," LifeSiteNews.com at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/
- Kathianne Boniello, "Nurse 'forced' to help abort; faith objector sues Mt.
Sinai," New York Post, 2009-JUL-28, at:
http://www.nypost.com/
- "What is Preeclampsia?," Preeclampsia Foundation, 2008-JUL-19, at:
http://www.preeclampsia.org/
- Kathleen Gilbert, "NY Catholic Nurse Sues Hospital after Forced to
Participate in Late- Term Abortion," LifeSiteNews.com, 2009-JUL-23, at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/
- "OK judge halts abortion law requiring ultrasound," OneNewsNow, 2009-AUG-18,
at:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/
- "New Arizona abortion law faces court challenges," Associated Press,
undated, at:
http://www.kvoa.com/
Copyright © 2009 by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Created: 2009-MAR-07
Latest update: 2009-SEP-15
Author: B.A. Robinson
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