Abortion
Clinic Chain Operator Now Pro-Life
and Speaking Out
Eric Harrah was part
owner of one of the nation's largest chains of abortion clinics. He recently
converted to Christianity and walked away from the lucrative business of
killing unborn children. Dr. Willke and Brad Mattes interviewed him regarding
his involvement in the abortion industry.
Dr. W: I am curious about
your function in the clinic. Were you basically a business manager, owner?
Eric: I was an owner. My
first position was Director of Public Relations and then I became an owner and
from there went around opening clinics – that was my biggest function with my
different partners.
Brad: How did you select
areas to open abortion clinics?
Eric: There were a lot of
different factors that went into a decision to open a clinic. Basically, you
looked in an area that didn’t have a clinic in it. You would get demographic
numbers, from areas that had colleges or universities, with the amount of
abortions that had taken place prior to that. If it had a high abortion rate,
that would be a prime area.
Dr. W: How would you hire
the abortionists?
Eric: Well, before you
would even go to a town, you would usually have your doctors lined up. A lot of
times, doctors would contact me. There was always some doctor somewhere in some
town who was already doing abortions. Also, in larger demographic areas
(metropolitan areas) it was easy to tap any number of residency programs.
Dr. W: These were
residents who’d moonlight?
Eric: That was not all I
hired, but that was a very nice pool to be able to select from, because they
were interested. You take a resident, bring him into an abortion clinic and
they work part-time, even just one day a week. They can make $75,000 a year, if
not more, which is very beneficial to pay off their student loans.
Brad: How many states did
you have clinics in?
Eric: About 11 or 12.
Brad: And how many
abortions did your chain of abortion clinics do?
Eric: If I take all the
numbers from the time I started in the abortion industry to the time I got out
(10 years), we probably did about a quarter of a million total.
Brad: Were the abortions
that were done in your clinics limited to first trimester abortions?
Eric: Oh, no. People in
the abortion business don’t want to do first trimester abortions. That’s not
where the money is. The money is in mid-second to early third trimester
abortions.
Dr. W: But you can’t do
those in every clinic – or do you?
Eric: No. Every place has
different laws. In New Jersey, you can only go to 14 weeks in a clinic setting,
but what you do is get approved and open up a surgi-center where you can get
abortions done. Pennsylvania, which prides itself on having some of the
strictest abortion laws, actually has some of the most lenient and is a mecca
for late-term abortions. They go to 24 or 26 weeks – that’s in a clinic
setting. Delaware is 22-24 weeks – that’s in an office setting.
Dr. W: Now these would be
– what – D&E’s mostly?
Eric: D&E’s and
D&X’s. I would never permit saline abortions to be done.
Brad: Did your staff ever
delay women’s abortions so that they were kicked up into the more expensive
category?
Eric: I personally never
did myself. You have to understand that I became (I hope this doesn’t offend
you, but I want to be totally honest) a lover with Dr. Steven Bringham, who I’m
sure you’ve known or have heard of. And he was pretty infamous for that type of
thing. He was also known for re-using syringes and all kinds of other things
that I wouldn’t do.
Brad: And he continues to
perform abortions?
Eric: Yes, he does. But
he gets sentenced on Monday, so he might be in jail. I don’t know what his
situation is going to be.
Brad: Did pro-life
efforts ever stop one of your clinics from opening?
Eric: None of mine.
Brad: Would you have any
advice for pro-lifers on what they might do to effectively stop a clinic now?
Eric: Oh, there are so
many things they could do. You would have to do a whole separate newsletter on
it. I go around speaking now to right-to-life groups clueing them in on what to
do.
Brad: Are there effective
ways the pro-life movement can stop abortion clinics from opening?
Eric: Oh, there are many
peaceful, nonviolent ways that are totally legal that would not be part of the
supposed, alleged RICO conspiracy by now. Yes, look into and act while your
town does not have an abortion clinic in it. Enact laws preventing medical,
surgical centers from being located within the city limits. Most towns don’t
worry about this until it happens, and by the time it happens, it’s too late.
You can pass very legitimate restrictions. There are laws they can pass about
hazardous waste..
Brad: How did you get
into the abortion area to begin with?
Eric: I was with some
friends on our way to the beach, and we saw a right-to-life protest. I didn’t
even know there was an abortion clinic in my hometown. At that time I
considered myself to be pro-choice. I was very liberal, politically. We pulled
into the clinic and asked if there was anything we could do to help. They said
we could join NOW. I joined. I became secretary of my county chapter. A year
later I became vice president of the Delaware state chapter, and a
year-and-a-half after that, I became their first male ever elected president. I
quit my affiliation with NOW years ago. I started to become very disturbed by a
lot of their rhetoric, a lot of their hate, a lot of what I perceived to be
their racism. You have groups such as NOW, the National Abortion Rights Action
League and many other groups who do nothing but live off the blood of aborted
children. Their interest in keeping abortion legal is not so much because they
care about women’s rights – or that they are actually pro-choice. Their true
interest in keeping abortion legal, in my opinion, is so they can keep their
big, fancy offices in Washington, their nice clothing expenses and their
personal expense accounts.
Brad: When you were
involved in this industry, what was your annual income?
Eric: When I walked away
from the clinics, I walked away from everything. I left my ownership and my
money there. I wanted nothing else to do with it. The average doctor who does
abortions one day a week at a clinic averages 25-40 abortions. He will walk
away in his pocket with an average of $100,000-$125,000 a year. An average
clinic that performs roughly around 8,000 abortions will gross approximately $1
million a year.
Dr. W: One doctor can do
that? That’s full time, though.
Eric: No, it’s not. Not
at all. Abortion clinics, Dr. Willke, are set up like cattle slaughtering
centers. You get ‘em in and you get ‘em out. I would say, honestly, about
60%-70% of all abortions takes place on Saturdays.
Brad: How many women do
they usually schedule in a day?
Eric: The maximum I’ve
ever seen get done in a day is probably 50-60 women. Usually, that takes two
abortionists, but I have seen doctors kick out 40-50 patients by themselves.
First trimester cases – if you have a doctor who’s been doing it for a while
and he knows what he’s doing – you can push through 6-7 an hour. And that goes
back to the whole issue too of how little regulation there is. Even within PA,
which prides itself on being the bastion for restrictive abortion laws, there
really are no regulations. There’s nobody to monitor these facilities. There’s
nobody who tracks the money that comes from the birth control companies that
flood through the clinics – the paybacks. There’s nobody who tracks the
insurance companies that give incentives to physicians for performing
abortions, because insurance companies would rather pay for abortions than pay
for a full labor and delivery.
Dr. W: You get those
incentive payments?
Eric: Oh yeah, they flow
like water. If you’re a participating member of an insurance company, they will
give you incentives to perform an abortion. First trimester abortions are $250,
and insurance companies such as…I’ve seen them pay over $2,000 for those
abortions, because they would rather pay $2,000-$2,500 for a first trimester
case than pay $7,000-$8,000 for prenatal, labor and delivery.
Brad: So do you, as the
clinic owner, pocket that money?
Eric: Oh, definitely.
Brad: Let me ask you
about your attitude and contact with the women.
Eric: I would make their
appointments. I would sit and talk to them in the waiting room. I would go into
the procedure rooms with them. When I first got started, I was very truly
concerned about the women who were having abortions, but, as in most cases,
there are two reasons why people get involved in the abortion industry. The
first is money. The second is because they really feel that it’s helping women.
But even those people who get involved because they think it’s helping women –
at some point in time convert to the fact that it’s all about money. So you
stop looking at women after a certain point in time as being people that you’re
helping and you just start looking at them as dollar bills.
Brad: That’s what
happened to you?
Eric: Definitely. I found
myself, probably the last half of the time that I was involved in the abortion
industry, very depressed about it, which led to a cocaine drug addiction, and
toward the very end, I think I ended up hating them.
Brad: Why was that?
Eric: I think it was
because of the depression and guilt that I felt, myself, and I was blaming them
for it – for coming in and having this abortion – especially the woman that you
would see time and time and time again. There was one patient who came in and
had 16. Even the doctors who do the abortion become hateful toward the patients
– they become mean, rough.
Brad: So the average
woman didn’t get compassionate counseling when she went in there?
Eric: I would say she got
counseling, but compassion – no.
Brad: What kind of
counseling did she get? It’s my impression there hasn’t been much.
Eric: In my facilities, I
always gave option counseling. Of course you make the abortion the most
appealing. I told them about adoption and about foster care and about (when
there was welfare) assistance. The typical way it would go is, "Well, you
know you can place your baby out for adoption." But then, in the second
breath you would say, "That’s an option available to you, but you also
have to realize that there’s going to be a baby of yours out here somewhere in
the world you will never see again.. At least with abortion you know what’s
happening. You can go on with your life."
Brad: So were the options
more for your benefit to ease your conscience than for the women?
Eric: I would say that it
was more for my conscience because, to be honest with you, I really didn’t
care.
Dr. W: And the longer you
were in it, the less you cared?
Eric: Yes, exactly, Dr.
Willke. The longer I was in it, the less I cared, so I really didn’t really
care what my conscience said. My conscience was totally numb anyway. But what
it did do was public relations-wise. You were able, when a reporter or TV crew
came, to pull out a packet of information for the patients to read and they
received it. So what can anybody say? Publicly it looked good – in reality it
was another tool that was used to force a woman into abortion. It’s typical – I
would give them an option and then shoot it down. The only option you didn’t
shoot down, obviously, was abortion.
Eric: And then, again,
Dr. Willke and Brad, if they came in for an abortion – if they were scared,
hey, inject them with some Fentanyl. It costs you two bucks. Knock ‘em out. You
guarantee them they’ll never feel a thing. They’d come in and say, "Oh,
I’m scared to death…. I don’t want to have this memory for the rest of my
life." I’d say, "Sweetheart, there won’t be any memories. We can give
you an anesthetic that will knock you out. It costs me two bucks, but I’m going
to charge you a hundred bucks extra for it. I’m going to give you some birth
control pills when you leave." And then you have the drug companies
who would come in and throw these lavish parties and dinners for the clinic
staff to get the doctors to write prescriptions for them. The prescriptions
were written not necessarily based on what medication was best for the patient.
It was written on who gave the best party the week before. Did the rep bring in
the best donuts – did the rep bring the best pizza? Did they give nice golf
clubs this year?
Brad: Were there any
direct financial incentives by drug companies?
Eric: Yes, there were.
Eric: And while there was
legislation to curb that, it still goes on. You have to understand that drug
reps worked on commission. Their income is generated by how many of their
"scripts" are being refilled at local pharmacies.
Dr. W: Let me ask about
picketing out front. Did you have that in front of some of your places? And
what influence did that have?
Eric: It depended on what
kind of picketing it was. I found that it did nothing but infuriate people and
the woman who came in. What worked, and what I hated the most, were the
sidewalk counselors who would stand there and give a brochure about the local
CPC. Those were the most effective, because that’s when the girl would stop to
have a conversation.
Dr. W: And some of those
women never came in?
Eric: Yes.
Brad: You saw those
dollar bills walking away.
Eric: You never minded it
when the men were outside picketing, because that was good, especially if they
were loud and obnoxious, telling women they were going to go to hell. That was
productive because they would come in and say, "Who do they think they are
telling me what to do?" Women were much more effective at it than men,
definitely. We knew which one was going to be successful. What I found, in my
personal experience, is that the women didn’t usually respond to younger women
because they would typically look at them and say, "You’re my age – what
do you know?" But who they did respond to was older women – middle-aged
women and senior citizen women because I think, in their minds, those women had
valuable advice.
Dr. W: Did you have
escorts to help bring the women in?
Eric: Yes, at times, yes,
we did.
Dr. W: And was that
effective on your part?
Eric: It was effective
when the picketers were rowdy. When the picketers were calm, it backfired on
you because it was like you were trying to drag the women in.When the picketers
are loud, women are looking for someone to get them into that clinic. So you
would always hope, on Saturdays especially (that’s the biggest day for
picketing), that the picketers would be rowdy and obnoxious.
Dr. W: Is there any
particular piece of literature that you recall that you feared the most?
Eric: Yes, one by your
group, actually, that I used to hate. It was the one that you did about fetal
development.
Dr. W: "Did You
Know?"
Eric: Yes, that was the
one we hated the most. That really used to tick us off. And actually what we
would do is (I shouldn’t tell you this, but), the right-to-lifers would get
tired and they would put their stuff down on the sidewalk, and they’re talking
and we’d go over and take all their literature and just run with it.
Brad: What about your
lifestyle as an abortion clinic owner. Your chain was one of the largest in the
nation, is that correct?
Eric: Yes, it was. The
thing I enjoyed, as an abortionist, were the number of celebrities and
politicians who treat you as though you were a hero. Whoopie Goldberg, Cybil
Shepard, Morgan Fairchild…people who would come to pro-choice
functions…politicians who would actually court you. I had VIP seating at five Supreme
Court nomination hearings.
Brad: You enjoyed
material possessions too, I would imagine.
Eric: Yes. The travel,
the money was just there. It was a very, very comfortable living. And it was
easy money.
Dr. W: We hear that the
number of abortionists is declining, is aging, and that worries the industry.
Eric: The number of these
abortionists, yes, is declining, but what is increasing now is what's called
"docs in a box", doctors who hold licenses in anywhere from 5 to 20
states and spend their time flying from state to state just doing abortions.
You also have what are called "mega-docs" who totally control a
certain geographic area. Those are on the increase.. You should see the
anti-trust laws that are being broken by abortion providers – the "carteling",
as we used to call it, where you would get together for a friendly lunch and
decide what fee was going to be charged. The reason I was hated so much by the
people in the abortion industry was that I was a cartel-breaker. If I went into
a town where first trimester abortions started out at $275, I would go in and
charge $200, because I knew that the clinic had been around for five or six
years and already had a kind of debt. I was coming in and starting from
scratch. The thing was to go in and force them to shut down. It’s a very
cutthroat business, very backstabbing and very physically dangerous too.
Dr. W: You’ve known
doctors doing abortions who were physically injured or lost their lives?
Eric: No, I never knew of
anybody who lost their lives. I do know doctors who were physically threatened.
Usually the way it happened is, if you were going to go into an area where they
already were, and they didn’t want any competition, they were usually very
friendly. They’d give you a call, telling you that your services were not
needed. If you persisted, they’d persist a little bit heavier. But I’m not that
stupid. It’s not worth my aggravation.
Brad: When you left the
industry, you left everything behind?
Eric: Yes, I did. I didn’t
see how I could call myself a Christian and be living off the fruits of the
abortion business. That made no sense to me. And I prayed about it, and God
told me to leave it all behind.
Dr. W: And what are you
living off of now?
Eric: I go around and
speak at churches. I did my first CPC benefit a few months ago – I have a
couple more of those booked. I’m writing a book.
Brad: Tell us about your
book.
Eric: The book I’m
writing tells the story of my life in the abortion business. But it’s also a tell-all
book about the abortion industry itself and it also gets into the areas of my
life I was involved in, which was homosexuality and how prevalent homosexuality
actually is in the abortion business. "The girls do carry on," as we
used to say.
Dr. W: Homosexual males
or homosexual females?
Eric: Both, and I’ll tell
you what – the lesbians are far worse than the males. Anytime you have a
feminist health care center that does abortions, they’re often all lesbians.
Within the abortion business itself, there’s this love/hate relationship
between the feminists and the abortion doctors, because the majority of the
doctors are men.
Dr. W: You’re doing
something they want done…
Eric: But they hate you
because you’re a man. Over the last couple of years groups such as NOW, NARAL
and The Fund no longer control the abortion industry. They did for a while, but
the feminists no longer control it. What you have now is a bigger struggle
going on now between them and Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is hated by
any doctor or [abortion] clinic that is independently owned and operated. Their
[Planned Parenthood] bread and butter is the abortions that they do. They don’t
do it because they care about women. That’s where the majority of their money
comes from. Planned Parenthood is shrewd, though, because it’s easier for a
politician to stand behind Planned Parenthood to support them than it is to
stand behind some entrepreneurial businessman or woman who has an independent
clinic. It’s more socially acceptable.
Dr. W: Yes, PP has an
image of doing it legitimately.
Eric: Yes, but what PP
also has within the business itself is their record of being racist, squashing
competition and outright lying about competition to squash them. What PP wants
is a monopoly in the abortion business.
Brad: Tell us about how
you switched from pro-abortion to pro-life.
Eric: I grew up in the
Church, so I knew that abortion was wrong. I’d say about the last five years I
was having serious depression and guilt over my involvement, which led to my
cocaine addiction. I saw myself doing things like, in the morning, getting up
and watching the 700 Club, just trying to have some tie back to my Christian
roots, I guess you could say. Finally, when I came to State College in
Pennsylvania to open a clinic (which I didn’t want to come here), it was nice
to have someone – a right-to-life group – who came to me and didn’t ridicule me
or call me names but reached out to me.
Brad: Give us some detail
of how they reached out to you.
Eric: Well, there was a
big battle getting the clinic open here in State College. I was on the front
page of the paper, I think, for forty-some odd days straight. It was the
biggest news story, I think, ever to hit this town. There were protests, prayer
marches and all kinds of things that the right-to-lifers did to shoot me down
for opening, but I was able to overcome it. (There’s a whole bunch of other
things that happened behind the scenes that people don’t know about, which
included secret agreements and secret deals with officials and different
things.) So the clinic finally opened and there were massive protests every
day. I said to the people with my clinic: "Don’t be scared.
Right-to-lifers are very fickle ( I still stand behind that). They will come
out and they will picket us very heavily for the first month or so, and then
the numbers will dwindle until eventually there’ll be hardly anybody here
protesting." And that came to pass, as it always had. But that day, they
came and told me that there was a football team outside picketing, and I went
outside with my bodyguards to see what was going on. There was just one
gentleman standing there in a Penn State football sweatshirt who started
talking to me.
Brad: But he reached out
to you with love and not hate and that made the difference?
Eric: Exactly, yes.
Brad: Was it a lonely
existence where you were at that time?
Eric: Oh, it was very
lonely. I hated State College. I had spent the majority of my time shuttling
between New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris. I grew up in small, podunk
town and I vowed that I would get out of it, and I did. I thought that I had
failed. I’m back where I started, even though I really wasn’t. I always tell
the story when I go to speak that a homosexual’s worst nightmare is to be stuck
in a town where there’s no Macy's and no Starbuck's. This town had neither. It
was a very lonely existence, yes. Steven Bringham decided it was too hot to be
here politically, so he stayed back in our homes in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Brad: You shared homes
together then?
Eric: Yes, we did.
Brad: You made a radical
change…
Eric: No, I didn’t make a
radical change. God made a radical change in me. I did nothing. I did nothing
but bend to the will of God, like I should have done a long time ago. I did nothing
to change myself – God changed me – because if it was up to me, and left to my
own devices, I can’t save myself and I can’t change my way of thinking. The old
me wouldn’t have walked away from thousands upon thousands of dollars a week
and millions of dollars in the bank – for what? To go out and get $400 to
$1,000 to speak at a CPC banquet, when I was making a hundred times that a
week? It’s not about me, it’s about God. And that’s what I want people to
understand.
Dr. W: How do you view
violence to stop abortions from being performed?
Eric: I do not accept,
nor will I ever tolerate, anyone who label themselves a Christian or a
pro-lifer who advocates violence, killing someone because they’re involved in
the abortion business. That person is not pro-life.
Dr. W: I agree with you
strongly.
Eric: Dr. Willke, the
reason I agreed to do an interview with you is because, over the years, you
have stayed consistent. You never advocated violence. Every piece of information
I ever saw that you put out was truthful, it was honest and it was never
hate-filled.
Brad: You recently came
out of the abortion industry. Tell us about some of the new things pro-lifers
should be concerned about.
Eric: The non-surgical,
Methotrexate/Misoprostil abortions. That’s a whole other racket. By the time
you count the two medications and the needle you need to give the injection,
it’s going to cost you around $15. I was charging anywhere from $375 and others
charged as much as $600. Now, here’s the big racket they do with it. They bring
these women in and they know it’s only good up until about 7 or 8 weeks. A
woman comes in at 9 or 10 weeks and they tell her about this wonderful
non-surgical abortion. She’s so desperate not to have to have the surgery that
she opts for the non-surgical procedure. They know it’s going to fail and then
they tell her, "Now we’re going to give this to you, but if it fails,
you’re going to have to pay us for a surgical abortion."
Dr. W: And totally unregulated.
Eric: Dr. Willke,
Abortion is totally unregulated! Anybody can open up an abortion clinic. Almost
any doctor can work there, even anesthesiologists. A psychiatrist
can do an abortion because he or she has MD or DO after their name.
Brad: Did you have
experiences in your clinics with chemical abortions?
Eric: Oh, yes. We were
one of the first ones in the country to do it. And, actually, it got to the
point where we'd say, "You come in, sweetheart. You don’t like needles?
That’s okay, we’ll fix you up on Methotrexate in a glass of orange juice and it
works in the exact same way."
Dr. W: How about the RU
486? Were you in on any of those trials?
Eric: No, I was never in
on any of those trials because I didn’t want to be because the FDA will regulate
RU 486 very strictly.
Dr. W: You know there’s a
certain battle fatigue out there in Right-to-Life offices.
Eric: I understand that
people are tired, but they need to get re-energized. They need to know that
their efforts have made a difference. Unfortunately, they don’t hear that
enough.
Dr. W: The one thing that
has really energized pro-lifers has been partial-birth abortion.
Eric: That has totally
floored me! The American people also need to know, when they talk about
abortion at 14, 15 or 16 weeks, you pull a baby apart to get it out. I have
seen my fair share of D&X abortions done over the years. I started to see
more abortions that were done on fetuses where the baby was born whole and was
left there to die. With the advent of new medications to help in labor, there
is not such a need to do the gruesome D&X abortions.
Brad: She essentially
went into premature labor, is that what they did?
Eric: Exactly, yes. They
would cause premature labor, she would be delivered and the fetus would be put
aside to die.
Brad: How do you think
pro-lifers have fared in the public forum?
Eric: You know what the
most hated commercial that the right-to-lifers ever put out was? It was
"Life, What a Beautiful Choice". We hated that commercial. It even
made me feel guilty, showing these beautiful babies.
Brad: Did you experience
anything with Post-Abortion Syndrome?
Eric: Yes, it’s rampant –
and, actually, I had Post-Abortion Syndrome. That’s why I became a cocaine
addict. I hated putting babies in strainers and rinsing them off and putting
them in zip-lock bags. I consider myself to be an abortion-survivor because I
was on a fast track of dying because of it. Post-Abortion Syndrome is very
prevalent – very, very prevalent.
Brad: So you saw it in
women?
Eric: I saw it in women
ten minutes after the abortion. I saw it in women a year after the abortion.
They would call begging for help.
Brad: What was your
response to them?
Eric: "You’ll get
over it, sweetie. Your hormones are going crazy right now. As soon as your
hormones calm down, you’ll be fine." That was the standard line that was
given.
Dr. W: And, of course, it
didn’t mean a thing.
Eric: No, it didn’t. But,
you know, it bought you some time with them. It was implanted in their minds
that there was nothing wrong with them. It was their hormones.
Dr. W: And they went
away?
Eric: They went away, but
at some point in time, they would usually re-surface again. In my clinic we had
protocols for what to do when people threatened suicide. They would call six
months after the abortion. They couldn’t stand it anymore. They were going to
kill themselves and you had to keep them on the line and then call a crisis
mental center and get intervention.
Brad: So the abortion industry
is aware of Post-Abortion Syndrome?
Eric: Yes, but they deny
it.
Dr. W: How about effect
on men?
Eric: What I did see was
this little game that was played, where the men would come in with these girls
and say, "Oh, honey, right now is not the right time to have the baby, but
go ahead and have the abortion and we’ll have another baby and get married
soon." Then, as soon as the abortion was over with, he’d dump her. That
happens constantly. And I would tell girls, "Don’t you even think for a
minute that he’s going to be back when you’re back here for your checkup,
because he’s going to be gone." "No, Eric, it’s not like that. You
don’t understand him like I do." And then, a month later: "You were
right, Eric. He left me."
Dr. W: Sweet-talk her into
it and then leave her there.
Eric: Exactly. Leave her
there. I’ve seen guys drop girls off at the abortion clinic, pay for the
abortion, sit around and wait until they hear the suction machines start – then
they know it’s over and they’re gone. Won’t even take her home! I’ve seen that
more than I can remember. I’ve seen all kinds of things.
Dr. W: Eric, we really do
thank you for your time and your straightforward answers. I encourage you to
keep writing your book. &127;
Life Issues Today with
Dr. J.C. Willke
Mothers Who Give Up Babies for Adoption – How They Fare
To find out let's recall
a fine study out of the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics by Dr.
Christine Bachrach. The area that she reported on is how does the birth mother
fare--the generous woman who placed her baby in the arms of adoptive
parents--as compared to a single mother who keeps her baby?
Well, Dr. Bachrach has
good news for us. From her report, which is well documented, it is clear that
the women who choose adoption do much better than those unmarried women who
keep their babies. Let's look. Only 18% of women who choose adoption later live
below the poverty line. In comparison, 40% of women who kept their babies live
in poverty.
Another way of looking at
this is to ask how many were receiving some kind of public assistance. Here the
difference is even greater. For those who opted for adoption, only 21% were on
public assistance compared to 51% of those who kept their babies.
How about Aid for
Dependent Children (AFDC) - that's the big government program? What are the
numbers here? They're almost startling! Of the single birth mothers who were
parenting their children, 36% were receiving AFDC compared to only 7% of the
women who had placed their babies.
Enough of finances. Let's
look at some other parameters. Another measure of future stability and security
is education. Who finished high school? 77% of those who placed their babies
finished, while only 60% of the birth mothers who kept their babies finished
high school.
What about the stability
that marriage brings later - or certainly should? Does placing a child in an
adoptive home help or hinder the birth mother's chance for a later marriage? It
helps, quite a bit. Of those who kept their children, only 50% married later.
Of those who placed their children, 70% married later.
Let's recall a disturbing
report published a few years ago by a group called Concerned United Birth
Parents (CUB). Its subjects were largely drawn from its own quite selective
membership. Regarding this, we have to assume that this was not a true
cross-sectional representative sample. But that study claimed that adoption was
so traumatic for the mother that such women subsequently had lowered fertility.
Dr. Bachrach's data disproves this.
Her data showed that both
groups--those who chose adoption and those who did not--had an identical
fertility rate of 59% later.
Most of us who counsel
and who have been aware that there are many benefits - benefits to both mother
and child in adopting - were certainly very pleased to see this study. It's
good to have some solid research to back up what our clinical observations have
always shown us.
Mainstreaming Euthanasia in Oregon's Medical Community
The people of Oregon
recently passed a referendum called the Death With Dignity Act. For the first
time in America's history, it allows a physician to prescribe a lethal dose of
medication to be self-administered by a terminally ill patient. Shortly
afterwards, the Task Force to Improve the Care of Terminally-Ill Oregonians was
formed. This group of mostly medical professionals then wrote the
"Guidebook for Health Care Providers". According to its authors, the
goal of this publication is "to offer guidance to health care providers
whose patients may be interested in exploring their options under the
provisions of the Death With Dignity Act." In other words, it’s a how-to
book for members of the medical community in Oregon who wish to help kill their
patients.
Task Force is up front in
stating their neutrality regarding physician-assisted suicide. The guidebook
states that it was "designed to be a comprehensive reference book on all
aspects of putting the Act into practice." However, to the wary pro-life
reader, it’s a thinly veiled attempt to mainstream physician-assisted suicide
in Oregon’s medical community. Under the mission heading it reads, "we
wish to facilitate understanding of diverse viewpoints." Unfortunately,
these are often code words for we have a contrary agenda.
The book raises many red
flags regarding how the Task Force is approaching the execution of the Act (no
pun intended). For example, they point out to the physician that the Act does
not prohibit them from bringing up the idea of physician-assisted suicide, thus
making it ethical to plant the idea with the patient. The guidebook also opens
the door for possible assistance with self-administration of the lethal drug by
explaining that the Act doesn’t say how much, if any, aid someone may give the
patient in dying. Having said that, they also point out that the Act is unclear
whether the attending physician may prescribe an injectable drug for
self-administration. It would seem that a subtle plan is unfolding.
Confidentiality for the
patient and health care providers participating in physician-assisted suicide
is a major concern of the Task Force. The physician is advised to make prior
arrangements with a sympathetic pharmacist to help ensure this confidentiality.
Pharmacies are also urged to "develop procedures to ensure confidentiality
for patients, physicians and pharmacists" (emphasis added). This concern
for confidentiality is a permeating theme throughout the guidebook. They
acknowledge that providers such as pharmacists and hospice nurses have a right
to not be unknowing participants in a morally objectionable action.
"Nevertheless, attending physicians must respect the confidentiality of
the patient’s request unless otherwise waived."
It is the opinion of the
Task Force that if a pharmacist has any question regarding the intent of a
particular prescription, regardless of their willingness to participate in
assisted suicide, it is his or her responsibility to contact the doctor and ask
questions instead of being told up front. Further, physicians and pharmacists
who refuse to participate in the intentional death of a patient are expected to
refer them to someone who will. Perhaps this is what they mean in their mission
statement by facilitating "understanding of diverse viewpoints."
The Task Force has much to
say about the actual administration of lethal prescriptions. Because of
"liability concerns" and as a token olive branch to those who may
object to assisted-suicide, they don’t offer "specific formulas".
Formulas or not, a plethora of how-to information is shared.
Based on their experience
with oral medications, death is likely to occur within 5 hours for most
patients after ingestion. Perhaps the most chilling caution to health care
providers by the guidebook is that the bodies of young people eliminate
barbiturates more rapidly than elderly patients do, so higher doses are
recommended to get the lethal effect. This indicates that they see more than
just elderly terminal patients "benefiting" from the Act.
Serving tips for
administering lethal medications are given with the nonchalance of a cookbook
recipe. The barbiturate’s notoriously bitter taste can be overcome by
"mixing the powder with pureed fruit, fruit juice, pudding or
beverage." Artificial sweeteners are also recommended.
To the Task Force’s
credit, they point out some of the pitfalls of dispensing lethal medication,
such as how to prevent small children or others from having access to these
medications or what should be done with the medication if the patient dies
without taking it. The guidebook also points out that none of the drugs or drug
combinations have been part of a scientific, controlled study for their
intended lethal outcome.
The Act states that
health care providers are immune from civil and criminal charges if they
conduct themselves in "good faith compliance". This may be little
comfort, as both the guidebook and critics of the Act agree that the meaning of
"good faith" is unclear.
According to the Act, it
is a Class A felony for a health care provider to use "undue
influence" on patients to request assisted-suicide. However, this term is
not defined in the Act. The guidebook cautions providers that in other areas of
the law "undue influence" is also not precisely defined.
In addition, at the time
of the guidebook’s publication, the residency requirement had not been defined
by the Act or by administrative rule. This has the potential to result in a
one-way tourism industry.
If read carefully, the
"Guidebook for Health Care Providers" sends an ominous underlying
message. It demonstrates the potentially dangerous loopholes that may result in
people being killed against their wishes.
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