My Secret Life On the Pro-Life Front Line

For three years, unbeknownst to even my best friends, I was a protestor at an abortion clinic.  The experience opened my eyes to the reality behind abortion statistics: 61 million babies have been terminated since Roe V. Wade in 1973.  What I learned may surprise some who support abortion.

My crusade began when I volunteered at the San Antonio Coalition for Life, a non-denominational organization dedicated to ending abortion and offering women alternatives to the procedure. Volunteers are required to sign a statement of peace, agreeing to be respectful and nonbelligerent.  

On Saturday mornings, I stood on a sidewalk outside of a Planned Parenthood facility silently praying and holding a sign, "End Abortion." Usually a clump of 12 to 20 people huddled together.  These Pro-Life warriors ranged in age from seniors to college-age women and young parents who brought their children.

Saturday's were the busiest days at the clinics.  The parking lot was jammed with cars.  Some had rosaries or crosses dangling from the rearview mirror inside the vehicle.  Many women were there for pregnancy tests.  Others were scheduled for abortions, Planned Parenthood's main source of income.

Despite the sheen of "women's healthcare" here is data from Planned Parenthood's 2019 annual report.  The organization, partially funded by American taxpayers, performed 213,042 "well women" tests, a euphemism for healthcare.  Abortions totaled 345,672 last year. Abortions cost from $75 to $2,500,   

Notwithstanding what you read in the media, our protests were amicable. No one shouted at the women entering the clinic.  We were coached to be cordial, never condemning the women.  Trained counselors would try to engage the women, often without success. But ever so often, there would be a moment.

Like the time a young woman heeded a counselor's polite invitation. Her boyfriend, stood angrily near the clinic door, his fists clenched. The frightened woman tentatively walked to the sidewalk.  A conversation ensued. In hushed tones, she admitted her boyfriend had coerced her into seeking an abortion.

Halfway through the encounter, the boyfriend rushed toward her and grabbed her arm, jerking her away from the counselor.  As he practically dragged the female to the clinic, he shouted obscenities at the counselor. He then raced to the sidewalk and confronted me and others, threatening to punch us.

The teary eyed girl disappeared into the clinic. She emerged an hour later and approached the counselor as her boyfriend steamed alone in the car.  "After I heard about the process, I couldn't go through with it," she said, dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex.  She thanked the counselor and haltingly walked away. 

Over the three years, I repeatedly witnessed similar scenes.  Young men coaxing, cajoling and bullying their female partners into getting an abortion.  This wasn't about a woman's choice.  Although I am certain, there were women who made their own decision.  They usually arrived accompanied by a female.  

Perhaps, the incident that sticks out most in my mind involved an obviously wealthy client.  A blonde female, who looked no more than 16, alighted from a shiny Cadillac.  An older man opened the door for her and then returned to the comfort of the front seat.  Minutes passed and then he sauntered toward us.

He looked haggard. After some chit-chat, he admitted the teenager was the daughter of his boss.  The father, obviously embarrassed, ordered his employee to drive the teenager to the clinic.  He admitted he personally opposed abortion and was conflicted about his role in the episode.

The employee paced back and forth as he waited more than an hour for the teenager.  She finally appeared, a grimace on her face, her hands covering her abdomen.  He gently helped her in the car.  Once settled, she burst into tears.  It was heart-wrenching.  Women who have abortions endure pain and lifelong guilt.

I never observed a woman departing the clinic, smiling and appearing relieved.  The opposite was true.  Most looked numbed, distressed, barely able to walk.  Often the boyfriends or partners were the ones who appeared satisfied. My observations may be challenged as atypical.  Data backs up my account.

The statistics show that 99.31% of all abortions are for social and economic reasons.  Forget the propaganda about incest and rape. Only .09% of abortions are for those two reasons combined.  Among social reasons, nearly half (48%) abortions are triggered by "relationship problems" with the baby's father.

More than eight in ten (85%) of women who seek abortions are unmarried.  Although many cite poverty as the rationale for abortion, the data shows it is perverse logic.  Aborting a baby does not lift a woman out of her economic circumstances.  The overwhelming majority continue to exist below poverty level.

Some of those statistics are from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank that supports abortion rights.  Their data also shows most abortions (90%) occur at 10 weeks into the pregnancy.  At that time, the fully formed baby has a heartbeat, a brain, fingernails, eyes and developing ears. 

Planned Parenthood cynically targets communities of color.  Studies show 79% of their facilities are located within walking distance of neighborhoods with proportionately higher populations of black and Hispanic women.  Since 1973, an estimated 20 million African-American babies have been aborted.

That is why I volunteered to stand for life.  However, my chief motivation was the loss of my twin brother Dean who died after three days of life.  I have often wondered what his life would have been like? How would it had changed my own life?  I will never know.  Life is precious, something to be valued.

In this presidential election, abortion has erupted again on the political scene with the vacancy on the Supreme Court.  Democrats have ratcheted up the rhetoric about the court overturning Roe vs. Wade.  It is a classic Democrat election argument.  Americans should not be fooled by the grandstanding.

State legislatures, Congress and even the Supreme Court will never overturn abortion.  It is entrenched in American law and and the laws of many states. The battle for America's soul will never be decided by laws or courts.  Only a change on our hearts and beliefs will end the practice.  

What's Driving Push For Late Term Abortions?

Democrats are unfurling legislation in states across the country to expand laws allowing abortion up to the point of birth.  An early success in New York state has ignited a wave of similar proposals, fueling a simmering national debate that is roiling an already contentious political climate.

The initial shot was fired last month when the Democratic-controlled New York legislature authorized sweeping new measures to allow so-called late-term abortions.  The bill was promoted under the pretense to save women from traveling out of state for abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy.

The bill doesn't just preserve abortion rights, which are legal in every state, it allows the procedure past the 24th week if the health of the mother is endangered, which can be interpreted as mental or emotional conditions.  Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, championed the legislation.

A similar law was voted down in the Virginia legislature after an advocate, Kathy Tran, described the grisly details of a life-or-death decision occurring even as the baby is being born.  That chilling prospect had opponents labeling the law "infanticide." Virginia's Democrat governor backed the law.

Vermont lawmakers are considering a bill that would go beyond the New York law. The proposal would allow for the procedure to be performed up until the point of birth for any reason.  The proposed law states "a fertilized egg, embryo or fetus shall not have independent rights" in Vermont.

Americans might be bewildered by this blitzkrieg for extending term limits on abortion.  A Marist poll of adults nationwide found that 76 percent of Americans favor limiting abortion to the first three months of pregnancy. That number included 60 percent of adults who self-identified as pro-choice.

No evidence was presented during the New York debate to suggest women are clamoring for the right to abort babies up until the moment of birth.  It begs the question: Why was the Democratic dominated legislature aggressively pushing this agenda?

No factual argument can be made there is limited access to abortions in the United States.  Just since 2000, there have been 11,204,207 legal abortions, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The abortion rate in 2015 was 118 abortions for every 1,000 live births.

In New York, the state's figures were among the highest in the nation.  A CDC report shows New York City preformed 544 abortions for every 1,000 live births. That means about one in three unborn babies were aborted.  Abortion access is a red herring to promote the aggressive expansion.

To justify their campaign, Democrats are spreading fear that the current Supreme Court will limit the right to an abortion.  This smoke screen is one Democrats have used ever since the landmark Roe vs. Wade high court decision in 1973 confirmed a women's right to have an abortion.

After 46 years, the decision remains intact.  To demonstrate the folly of their claims, last week the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to temporarily block a Louisiana law that placed restrictions on abortion clinics, requiring providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

Isn't it time for Democrats to stop using this canard?  The late-term abortion issue has nothing to do with their fabrication of a Roe vs. Wade reversal. The party is eyeing the pivotal 2020 presidential election and planning to once again play identity politics with a "women's right to choose."

Their new tactic is to force Republicans to try to defeat this legislation so Democrats can smear the party as misogynist, Neanderthals who want to enslave women and deny them the right to control their bodies.  It is right out of the Democrats antiquated playbook to galvanize their female base.

But Democrats may have miscalculated Americans' sentiment on this issue.  As polling suggests, there is little support even among pro-choice advocates for ending the lives of babies seconds before birth. When the procedure's macabre details are explained, most Americans recoil in horror.

The latest CDC data found 91.1 percent of all abortions are performed less than 13 weeks after pregnancy.  Fewer than 1.3 percent are done after 21 weeks.  There are no facts to suggest there is an unmet demand among women for late-term abortions.  Any "evidence" is anecdotal at best.

Democrats and their accomplices in the news media appear to be guilty of overreach on this issue.  They may be surprised by the blowback from voters outside liberal states such as New York.  Virginia is a case in point.  But don't expect that prospect to alter their political skulduggery.

Planned Parenthood: Taxpayers Support Butchery

Planned Parenthood's decades old charade as a women's health provider has been shattered.  A number of covert videos have exposed the agency's macabre practice of offering baby's organs and limbs for sale to the highest bidder after crushing the life out of fetuses.

In chilling detail, four videos released by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress capture high-ranking Planned Parenthood officials and others casually discussing how unborn babies are ripped and sucked apart in a grisly manner in order to harvest their tiny body parts.

Faced with a grave crisis that threatens to cripple the agency, officials of the organization have turned to legal means as a last-ditch measure to stop the exposure of its horrific practices.  A California judge has issued a temporary injunction to halt the release of more damning videos.

This is like the Nazi's condemning the United States for issuing news reels showing images of the Jewish death camps.  Planned Parenthood, which receives more than $500 million annually in taxpayer funds, should be held accountable for what goes on behind its closed doors.

Before the videos, most Americans had no idea that the agency sold baby hearts, arms, livers and kidneys.  Planned Parenthood had certainly never been forthcoming about the practice.  When it came to light, the organization acted as if no one could possibly object to the barbaric business.

In one ghastly video, a technician who worked for a company that partnered with Planned Parenthood, describes how dead fetuses are dissected and their parts sold to researchers.  Images show a technician using tweezers to pick through aborted fetal tissue for intact body parts.

The latest graphic video features a Planned Parenthood vice president discussing how babies who are delivered "before the procedure" can be used to harvest the organs intact.  In other words, babies taken from the womb while they are alive, are not spared the gruesome extermination and harvest.  

This is the tawdry side of abortion that Planned Parenthood concealed from the public for years.  The organization and its supporters portrayed abortion as the removal of a lump of cell tissue.  Their propaganda was designed to dehumanize the life that was being terminated.

Now it turns out people are learning that these so-called aborted "lumps" have brains, legs, hearts, livers and kidneys.  That doesn't sound anything like a lifeless clump of nothing.  The truth has sent Planned Parenthood cowering for cover, hiding behind the shield of women's health care.

For example, supporters of the outfit point to the life-saving mammograms offered by Planned Parenthood.  A recent investigation revealed of 30 branches in 27 states not a single one offered breast-cancer screenings.  Most didn't even have a mammogram machine.

In full-damage control mode, Planned Parenthood has raised the specter of women losing access to other health screenings and birth control. That is pure nonsense.  Under Obamacare, the federal law mandates those things are covered by insurance and are offered by countless physician practices.

Planned Parenthood is more worried about its image because it does not want to spook corporate donors, who pour millions into the agency.  The list includes a who's-who of firms, including Home Depot, Nike, Starbucks, Johnson and Johnson, Disney, Whole Foods, Gap and 71 other companies.

Planned Parenthood exists for only one purpose.  It is a modern day death camp that exterminates the lives of helpless babies and sells the leftovers for as much as it can get.  A society that can justify such cruelty and evil has lost its sense of decency.

If the law allows Planned Parenthood to continue its bloody business, then at least American taxpayers should not be forced to pay a single dime to support such savagery.