Why PP Series: #3: PP hurts women
Posted by Corrina Gura on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
I have already covered the issue of PP's cover-up of statutory rape and their assault on youth, but I also want to address the crimes PP commits against all women, not just minors.
At our League office, we have a list of lawsuits against the Chicagoland Planned Parenthood clinics that our sidewalk counselors offer to women seeking abortions there. The list includes case 07L009004, in which Latanya M. sued PP for failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy which caused her to need her fallopian tube removed and caused a permanent disability; case 06L8071, in which Lauren L. sued PP for not requiring a medical history and thus prescribing birth control that caused her to develop a blood clot; and cases 99L4076, 93L1595, 93L6459, and 92L14559, in which women sued because their uterus was perforated during the abortion.
This list is only a list for one particular PP clinic-this isn't the only PP with a list of lawsuits against it, it just happens to be the only list I have at my fingertips.
Also, Planned Parenthood disobeyed the FDA's regulations regarding the administration of the dangerous RU-486 abortion drug. Telling women to take it vaginally at home-rather than orally and in a doctor's office-caused the deaths of several women. Read the NPR story and the LifeNews story.
Although this next paragraph is not specific to PP, it needs to be said nonetheless. Despite its legalization, women continue to be scarred, sterilized, and even killed by botched abortions. According to Life Dynamics' Blackmun Wall, at least 347 women have died from "safe and legal" abortions. The National Abortion Federation (an abortion rights organization) admits that 2.5% of women undergoing first trimester abortions (the "safest" and most common of all abortions) face minor complications and 0.5% face serious complications (later term abortions are even less safe). With 1.29 million women having abortions yearly, this means that minimum of 38,700 women-according to the abortion industry-are injured by abortion every year; 6,450 are injured seriously. These complications (again according to the NAF) include:
blood clots…; infections…; a tear in the cervix…; perforation of the wall of the uterus and/or other organs… this may heal itself or may require surgical repair or, rarely, hysterectomy; missed abortion, which does not end the pregnancy and requires the abortion to be repeated…; incomplete abortion, in which tissue from the pregnancy remains in the uterus, and requires a repeat suction procedure…; excessive bleeding requiring a blood transfusion.
These complications strike me as being more than minor problems! Abort 73 has more information about the safety of abortion on their website. And a terrific book on the "safety" of abortion is Lime 5 by Mark Crutcher.Links for more information:
Johnson and Johnson, manufacturer of the Ortho Evra Patch, has settled numerous cases for millions of dollars because multiple women have died from using the Patch. Yet Planned Parenthood vice president for medical affairs, Dr. Vanessa Cullins says "We make Ortho Evra available without reservation for healthy women who are candidates for combined hormonal contraceptive methods such as the patch, the pill, and vaginal contraceptive rings. … We're not making distinctions among this class of contraceptive methods."-despite the documented fact that women are more likely to die on one than on another!Myth: Abortion is Safer Than Childbirth
PP often uses the myth that abortion is safer than childbirth to justify their procedures. We debunk this myth at our League FAQ page.PP's Webcam Abortions:
PP's new abortions by webcam procedure violates FDA regulations and is very bad for women physically and emotionally. In an effort to provide more abortions, despite the shrinking number of abortionists, they are cutting down on the quality of their care.Reaction of a Medical Student to PP Visit:
This blogger at PuduOverload is a first year medical student. She went on some sort of job shadowing day at her local Planned Parenthood clinic. She wrote that she was "incredibly freaked out" by what she saw that day. And, after seeing a late term abortion performed on a girl "younger than [her] little sister," the nurse took her to the back room where she saw "some things [she] can't get out of [her] head" (presumably the tortured body of the aborted baby). Often we overlook the trauma the abortion providers face (and suppress) each and every day they do their jobs; this is just another way PP hurts women (and men). The post and blog were taken down almost immediately, probably because it's not politically correct for a "pro-choice" med student to question what abortion really is.Fact: Women Regret Abortion
Hundreds of women have stepped forward as part of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign to tell the world that they regret their abortions. They speak out about their personal experiences and their feelings.
Hundreds of women have attended retreats through Rachel's Vineyard to find post-abortion healing as well.This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous, Planned Parenthood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The following is Carndinal Egan's appeal to our consciences. I think it's effective.
http://tinyurl.com/5bf8t9
October 24th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
This is since RvW was made law. Conversely, over 500,00 women die each and every year in childbirth.
As to lawsuits against Planned Parenthood, how many has FAPP alone filed? Anyone can file suit for any reason. Here’s one against Advil. I’m sure you can find a lawsuit filed against almost any product by doing a simple Google search.
October 26th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
"over 500,00 women die each and every year in childbirth."
You're comparing unlike statistics. My statistic is of women who have died in the US since abortion was made legal.
Yours is how many women die around the world because they don't have access to doctors ("More than 99 percent of the estimated 536,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2005 occurred in developing countries"). This doesn't somehow prove that abortion is safe or that it is safer than childbirth!
Moreover, statistics about the safety of childbirth (or lack thereof) in the US are inflated–see the research I posted to the PLAL FAQ page.
Secondly, these lawsuits weren't filed for minor reasons–these women were physically and irreparably injured because of their abortions. They were never warned about the dangers of abortion, either physical or emotional.
The Advil lawsuits are about three children who have been harmed because their parents were not warned about the dangers of this drug. Good for them. I believe people should be warned about such dangers. Abortion is another dangerous procedure that should be added to the list. And unfortunately, more than three girls have died from abortion–Deanna Bell (age 13) died of an abortion at the clinic a mile from the PLAL office in Chicago.
FAPP's lawsuits have concerned whether PP followed zoning regulations when moving into Aurora and whether they slandered Eric Scheidler and the League in their attempt to move into Aurora. I will be addressing these in a different post. Neither FAPP nor PLAL have ever filed a lawsuit on behalf of a woman who was injured by abortion, which is what we're talking about here.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Corrina,
Let's go with the CDC stats then (sorry, but I don't for a moment buy into FAPP's nonsense on the FAQ's page — if you have a credible source, I'm happy to look at it).
"Deaths [from complications] related to legal induced abortions occurred rarely. There were fewer than one death due to complications per 100,000 legal abortions. From 1993 to 1997, the case-fatality rate was 0.6 deaths per 100,000 abortions. This is much lower than the rate of maternal deaths. The overall pregnancy-related mortality ratio was 9.2 deaths per 100,000 live births."
As to FAPP's lawsuits, I never insinuated that one was filed on behalf of a woman. I find most of them to be ridiculous. As to the slander suit, didn't the judge rule against Scheidler recently?
Ok, I'll admit the Advil suit was a bad analogy, however, are you aware of the # of medical malpractice suits filed in this country? Now, if someone was injured, I would absolutely stand behind their right to sue. However, as you know, people can sue for anything. Do you have any verdicts against PP?
October 27th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Let’s review this conversation:
I say that women have died from legal abortions in America. Student gives a gigantic statistic about women dying during childbirth; I point out that this statistic is totally irrelevant. I point Student to the post on the League’s website that I spent multiple hours working on about why maternal mortality statistics are inaccurate. Student calls them “nonsense” and not “credible,” waves her magic wand, and doesn’t have to respond to any of the arguments I made there.
Really Student, before you were keeping me on my toes. Now you’re just being a lazy debater.
We can’t just “go with the CDC stats then”—I explained (in the post that you refuse acknowledge) that you CANNOT compare maternal mortality to abortion-related deaths in the way they are computed now because maternal mortality statistics INCLUDE deaths from abortion. (CDC again: "maternal deaths" include "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy”). There are multiple other reasons listed there—like the fact that abortions are not public record the way births and still births are, so women who die after aborting are usually not listed as such. I stand behind the authorities cited there and the logic used. Unfortunately there seems to be a problem with the links, which I’m going to ask Matt to correct ASAP.
About the lawsuits:
Like I said, this will be in an upcoming post. Yes, the judge ruled against Eric, but she also said that the merits of the case didn’t matter because PP had a right to slander him, just so long as they were trying to get the city council to do what they wanted. I have every confidence that we will win on appeal, since this is not what the SLAPP law was intended to be used for, and higher up judges usually have more qualifications and experience than the lower level ones.
For a law student, you certainly are opposed to lawsuits! I think if a group breaks the law, bringing charges against them is far from “ridiculous.”
The only information I have available on the suits brought by women who were harmed is the case number I provided and a brief description of the case. Like you said, if they were injured, they should be allowed to sue—but people often lose cases on technicalities or because they don’t have 300K to pay their lawyers (this is how much PP spent in the libel suit—that’s 1/3 of our yearly budget!!). I don’t know how the judge/jury decided; I don’t have access to such legal resources here to look it up. Also, I think O.J. Simpson’s murder trial illustrates the fact that just because someone did something wrong, doesn’t mean they are always found guilty.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:29 am
In the United States, the annual maternal mortality ratio remained approximately 7.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births during 1982-1996.
The ratio linked to abortion for the same time period is 1.2 deaths per 100,000.
So even if I accept your logic that the CDC figures for maternal deaths are flawed because they include abortion-related deaths, the rate of maternal mortality is till higher. Let’s do the math.
7.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 MINUS 1.2 deaths linked to abortion still leaves us with a ratio of 6.3 (that’s after taking out the potential abortion related deaths). Now, I’m no mathematician (although I live with one), but a ratio of 6.3 seems significantly higher than 1.2. Therefore, I continue to assert that pregnancy is still far more life threatening than abortion.
If memory serves, FAPP had every confidence they were going to win in the first place.
That’s correct. I think this country needs significant tort reform. FYI: most of the country agrees with me on this. People are far too litigious.
I agree. However, drumming up allegations that will get thrown out of court is a waste of the court’s time and tax dollars. FAPP’s attorneys have a bad habit of filing lawsuits that they have no hope of winning. Look into it – you’ll see what I mean.
If they have a legitimate medical malpractice case, MOST attorneys will take it on a contingency basis. Lawyers get very rich doing this. Chances are if they can’t find an attorney to do so, there wasn’t much of a case to begin with.
Sorry, I wish it were more! That’s what happens when people file lawsuits without merit. As to how they came up with that figure, my guess is that it’s based on what PP’s attorneys charged for representation. I have no doubt that they filed a Fee Petition which would be public record. If you’re that interested, you could always go to the courthouse and take a look at the records.
I’m a firm believer in Blackstone’s ratio: better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
S: Now, I’m no mathematician (although I live with one), but a ratio of 6.3 seems significantly higher than 1.2. Therefore, I continue to assert that pregnancy is still far more life threatening than abortion.
**And what about the fact that abortion records are kept private whereas birth records are made public? It’s very easy to tell that a woman has given birth and to link her death record to it. It’s not so easy to tell that a woman has had an abortion and that this has caused her death. Also, there is underreporting of such things “to protect the family.”
S: If memory serves, FAPP had every confidence they were going to win in the first place.
**Yeah, silly us. We thought the judge would look at the MERITS of the case…
Me: For a law student, you certainly are opposed to lawsuits!
Student: That’s correct. I think this country needs significant tort reform. FYI: most of the country agrees with me on this. People are far too litigious. I guess those people filing all those lawsuits don’t agree with you…
S: FAPP’s attorneys have a bad habit of filing lawsuits that they have no hope of winning. Look into it – you’ll see what I mean.
**I interned at the Thomas More Society for two summers. Tom Brejcha, our lead attorney, has more on his plate than he can handle. He is very cautious to only pursue cases that he believes are important and winnable. He also says “If you can’t take a punch, you shouldn’t get in the ring.”
S: If they have a legitimate medical malpractice case, MOST attorneys will take it on a contingency basis. Lawyers get very rich doing this. Chances are if they can’t find an attorney to do so, there wasn’t much of a case to begin with.
**The numbers I gave in the original post are the case numbers. These were all cases that were filed BY AN ATTORNEY in court. I don’t happen to know the names of their attorneys (and frankly, I’ve got better things to do than to look.)
Me: (this is how much PP spent in the libel suit—that’s 1/3 of our yearly budget!!). I don’t know how the judge/jury decided; I don’t have access to such legal resources here to look it up.
S: Sorry, I wish it were more! That’s what happens when people file lawsuits without merit.
**No, this is how we know that “pro-choice” organizations are afraid of us: they try to get rid of us. But we’re in this for the long haul.
S: As to how they came up with that figure, my guess is that it’s based on what PP’s attorneys charged for representation. I have no doubt that they filed a Fee Petition which would be public record. If you’re that interested, you could always go to the courthouse and take a look at the records.
**Our office has seen the fee petition and our attorneys at TMS are handling that. When I said I didn’t have access to “that information” I was referring to the info about the lawsuits the injured women filed against PP. Again, I have more important things to do with my time than take a trip downtown simply so I can continue to argue with you.
Me: Also, I think O.J. Simpson’s murder trial illustrates the fact that just because someone did something wrong, doesn’t mean they are always found guilty.
S: I’m a firm believer in Blackstone’s ratio: better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.
**That only proves my point. Perhaps of all the lawsuits filed, PP was only found guilty in one case—that doesn’t mean they were innocent of harm in the other cases, it just means others also believed Blackstone’s ratio.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Corrina, thank you for being so patient, but as you can see going around in circles with Student is probably a waste of your precious time. I started reading an excellent book today by Cheryl Chew "Make Me Your Choice", giving more than a dozen true stories of women, men, and grandmothers and who have been hurt by abortion. The author gives her heartbreaking story of how having an abortion destroyed her marriage, her future mental and physical well-being, then she gives solutions for healing and hope for post-abortive women and men. The carnage of abortion is indeed a holocaust of astronomical proportions in the nation and the world. God bless you. Continue to pray prolifers.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
America will not end abortion, until America KNOWS abortion. Frank Pavone
"The carnage of abortion is indeed a holocaust of astronomical proportions in the nation and the world."
October 28th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I’m not buying it. If a woman dies suddenly, the state will perform an autopsy. It isn’t difficult to determine (based on hormones) whether or not she was recently pregnant. You’ve yet to provide accurate information that backs up your position. I have.
After looking at the merits of the case, it appears the judge found your side wanting.
There are many greedy people and unscrupulous lawyers. If you don’t believe the majority of Americans want tort reform, I suggest you pick up a newspaper every now and again.
In what capacity did you intern w/TM?
What does this have to do with your statement that these women couldn’t afford attorneys?
You lose a case in court that costs you 1/3 of your yearly budget and this is how you “know that ‘pro-choice’ organizations are afraid” of you? You took a case to court that had no merit and the judge ruled against you. FAPP was, in fact, penalized (by having to pay PP’s attorney fees) for bringing forth a meritless suit. What does that have to do w/pro-choice organizations being afraid of you.
Sorry for the misunderstanding – I thought you were asking about the fees.
So you have a list of lawsuits (allegations) made against PP but don’t have time to check into whether or not a court has ruled against them. Bottom line: you have unsubstantiated allegations and nothing more.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Corrina, keep up the good work. I would suggest you not waste your time going in circles with Student, however if there are people who want to understand how abortion hurts women, men and babies there is much research and many personal stories like the ones in the book I recommended "Make Me Your Choice" to back up what you are saying and to help them understand this issue. Student seems enamored with Planned Parenthood's death agenda. Fortunately for her, her mother already chose to give her life.
On that topic I have family members who have been devastated by their "choice" to take the life of their unborn babies. The mental anguish, low self-esteem issues and heartbreak have followed them through their lives. Some have received healing, others are still members of the "walking dead" left by the carnage of abortion. I would love to hear from other women, men and family members on this blog who have dealt with this issue.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
OOOh! I wish I had spotted this earlier–it certainly should have been in the original post:
The blogger at Real Choice BlogSpot identifies a number of women who have died from PP abortions. In the comments section she provides a number of other sources to refute the claim that abortion is safer than childbirth.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Friend for life: Thanks for the support. Glad to know people are reading
I've never read "Make me your choice." That's something I'll have to look into getting. I imagine it will take a long time to read, since I'll have to keep stopping to cry…
Student:
Only a couple of these topics are going anywhere and are worth responding to:
1) I interned at TMS while I was considering going to law school (I saw the hours Tom works! I got an MA instead and decided I was done!). I did a lot of filing of papers (they don't have someone full time to keep up), I filed documents with the court on occasion, and I researched Costs for victory in the NOW v. Scheidler case.
2) I never said these women couldn't afford attorneys. I don't know where you think I said it, but you misunderstood.
3) No one in their right mind spends a third of a million dollars fighting against a lawsuit that has no merits. So either our case did have merits (which the judge ignored), PP knew our case had merit and they wanted to be sure the judge only listened to their interpretation, or PP is just dumb. Probably it was some combination of the three.
4) "So you have a list of lawsuits (allegations) made against PP but don’t have time to check into whether or not a court has ruled against them. Bottom line: you have unsubstantiated allegations and nothing more."
No, bottom line: These women were hurt and filed cases. We have seen women driven out of these clinics in ambulances. We know women are injured by abortion.
I am not the one who did the research on this (that person no longer works here) and I know that EVEN IF I wasted a whole day going downtown to "substantiate them" you would still have some random complaint about why I was wrong, so I WOULDN'T PERSUADE YOU ANYWAY. It's about cutting my losses, since my time could be better spent in the office doing work that will save babies and protect women.
I don't need to know that the person won their case to know that they should never have been injured in the first place. Women should be told about the risks of abortion–but abortion providers know that this would harm the bottom line, so they don't do it. That's wrong and I couldn't care less what any judge or jury has to say about it.
October 30th, 2008 at 8:53 am