Dateline 9/19/00
The National Abortion Federation's (NAF) press release on a member survey about chemical abortions not only brings us the latest news; it brings us the latest Newspeak.
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The first piece of Newspeak comes in the title of the press release: "2/3 of NAF Members Plan to Offer Early Option Pill." They tried "medical abortion" as a way to soften the reality of what abortion drugs do, but evidently their public relations department didn't think that gave any warm fuzzies, since it used that no-no A-word. So now it's "Early Option Pill." Isn't that special? It's not an abortion; it's just an early option! |
Now let's look at the little nugget that introduces the press release:
Prior to Sept. 30 Action Date for the Early Option Pill (RU-486), Professional Association of Abortion Providers Announces Its Members Are Ready to Begin Offering this Safe Option to American Women After FDA Approval
I could nit-pick here, but I won't. I'll just latch on to the huge, glaring example of Newspeak: "this Safe Option."
Despite the abortion lobby's infatuation with chemical abortions, there have been some prochoice folks who have broken rank and expressed alarm, including feminist researchers Reneta Klein, Janice G. Raymond, and Lynette J. Dumble, authors of RU-486: Misconceptions, Myths and Morals. These are not three antiabortion researchers easily dismissed by abortion advocates as "just making a thinly veiled attempt to block access." Their abortion advocacy credentials are impeccable. But Klein, Raymond, and Dumble take umbrage at the abortion establisment's willingness to use women as ginuea pigs in experiments in population control And Klein, Raymond, and Dumble, as well as the abortion-supporting feminsts at FINNRAGE, are standing firm: chemical abortions are not safe. |
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Some of the problems feminist researchers have noted include:
"[T]he only testing of RU486/prostagiandin prior to 1988 was to determine dosage and did not resolve - or even seriously address - the issue of the drug's safety. As so often happens in cases of drugs aimed at women, marketing of RU486/prostaglandin has preceded determination of the drug's safety."
"FINRRAGE has likened RU-486 to taking a 'drug cocktail': (1) RU486, (2) a prostaglandin injection or suppository to induce uterine contractions, (3) an anti-nausea drug, (4) pain medication (needed by 60 per cent of women, with more than 30 per cent requiring a morphine-type drug) and (5) antibiotics, if an infection develops."
"[S]evere , sometimes violent side effects of Prostaglandins and RU-486: nausea, headache, dizziness, diarrhea and bleeding. Post-abortion bleeding is a major complication of an RU-486 abortion and can last up to 35 or 40 days, with a mean duration of eight to 10 days. Some women have required blood transfusions."
"[T]he drug's mechanism is extremely complicated. Its effect is not localized or short-term. Its long-term impact on the health of women and their future fertility, and on children subsequently born to women who use it, is unknown. At best it is experimental; at its worst, lethal."
"What has been presented as a simple, pill-popping exercise is, in fact, an intensely medicalized and painful procedure which can involve up to four clinic visits and last up to 12 days ... RU486 is dangerous, experimental and - ultimately - misogynistic."
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Despite the validity of these and other reservations, NAF proceeds with unabated enthusiasm. The press release went on to babble about the wondrous new era chemical abortions will launch: |
"With final approval of the early option pill potentially only days away, this is good news for American women," said Vicki Saporta, executive director of the National Abortion Federation (NAF). "Women can be assured that after FDA approval is granted, they will be able to access the early option pill if they decide it is the right option for them."
When one considers the problems experience with chemical abortions in Europe, where abortions are done under intense government supervision that would never be tolerated byb abortion advocates in the United States, the implications for American women are staggering.
Let's look at some of the things US abortion mills have already been caught doing, and imagine these people with access to chemicals to induce abortion:
Diane Sawyer and the Non-Story of Lawson Akpulonu
A filthy mill where the doctor raped at least one patient and sexually abused others.
Historic Feminist Attack on Abortion Clinic
A feminist newpaper exposes a seedy mill.
Back Alley Butchers vs Main Street Maimers
A brief rogues' gallery of legal abortionists.
Unintended Late Abortions
Can these guys be trusted to only administer RU-486 during the recommended early weeks of pregnancy?
Just a cursory glance at US abortion practice should give chills to anybody who really cares about the welfare of women who would be having abortions.
But let's get back to what NAF has to say. The release moves out of Newspeak for a moment and goes into some actual information: that there are over 360 NAF members, that NAF accounts of over half of the abortions sold in the United States, and that "close to 240" of them plan to sell chemical abortions.
Saporta went on to indicate that NAF has trained the staff of assorted NAF facilities in how to perform chemical abortions. Here, I must at least give credit where credit is due: NAF does offer excellent training to its members. Any clinician who attends a NAF Risk Management Seminar (what NAF calls their clinical training gatherings) has no excuse if he or she goes home and hurts or kills somebody. With few exceptions, NAF clinical leadership are folks who know their stuff and try very hard to beat some sense into the rest of the membership. Although now that Michael Burnhill is dead, I'm not sure if the center will hold. |
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Saporta gushed about NAF's hotline:
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"Our national toll-free hotline, the only one of its kind in the country, is staffed by trained operators who will be able to discuss women's options with them and refer women to qualified providers offering this new method." |
Although she couched it in Newspeak, Saporta said in effect that NAF will be bending over backward to launch chemical abortions and to be "the best source of information about the early option pill for women and clinicians." Although NAF might be the best source of information for clinicians, I do not recommend NAF as a source of information for the general public. There's a big difference between what they tell each other and what they tell the press, the public, and the women who call their hotline.
As a final kicker, the release tells us "The National Abortion Federation is the professional association of abortion providers dedicated to ensuring that abortion remains safe, legal and accessible." |
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Legal, yes. Accessible, yes. Safe? Ask the women who've been injured and killed at NAF facilities, such as:
Gloria Aponte
Patricia Chacon
Angela Scott and Deloris Smith
Diane Boyd
Barbaralee Davis
Sophie McCoy
Is NAF working with chemical abortions to benefit women, or their members? Tell us in the Forum.
For more from Pro Life Views:
Stem Cells From Life, Not Death
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