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You can read the following entire article at:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24020

Late-term abortionist gives babies funerals 
Wichita clinic caters to parents making 'heart-breaking choice' 
By Julie Foster © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
SATURDAY AUGUST 11 2001  

Americans are buzzing with the news of President George Bush's decision to
fund existing embryonic stem-cell research, and neither end of the issue's
spectrum appear to be happy with his conclusion. 

Embryonic stem-cell research has been the crucible for debating the beginning
of life: Is a days-old embryo – with no organs or limbs – human life, or is
it just the potential for life? 

Yet while the debate rages, many men and women are making trips to Wichita,
Kansas, where their unborn babies – well beyond the embryonic stage – are
aborted. 

What's so special about Wichita? That's where Dr. George Tiller specializes
in late-term abortions, ending the lives of unborn babies up to 38 weeks of
gestation diagnosed with various debilitating or life-threatening diseases.  
And when the abortion is over, parents are invited to hold memorial services
for their dead infants, dressing them in tiny clothes, having their hand and
foot prints taken, and even photographs with the family.

("They dress and name the baby, have footprints made, and religious rites
such as baptism are administered." - Rev. Easterling, Chicago Tribune Letter
to the Editor, 4-14-01)

It's the stuff urban legends are made of, except this one is much more than
an infamous Internet rumor. 

Women's Health Care Services has earned an international reputation for
performing abortions on babies in their second and third trimester. Run by
Tiller, the clinic specializes in late-term abortions for parents of unborn
babies diagnosed with various "fetal anomalies." Those "anomalies" have
included kidney disease, spina bifida, Down's Syndrome and a "variety of
other very significant abnormalities."

("These terminations were necessitated by unfortunate circumstances that
occurred in the development of the fetus in the womb.... Among the five
infants [born alive] three of them had developed major internal organ
anomalies." - Rev. Easterling, letter to US Representative Steve Chabot,
6-18-01)

The clinic also provides "elective" late-term abortions up to the time a
fetus is viable, meaning it can live outside the mother's womb.
Post-viability abortions are allowable under Kansas law when continuing the
pregnancy is deemed detrimental to a mother's health. 

The clinic's claim to fame is the unique grief-management services it offers.
 According to the Women's Health Care Center website, those services
include: 

+Viewing your baby after delivery Holding your baby after delivery
+Photographs of your baby
+Baptism of your baby, with or without a certificate
+Footprints and handprints of your baby
+Certificate of premature miscarriage
+Cremation An urn for ashes
+Arrangement of burial in either Wichita or your home state
+Arrangement of amniocentesis/autopsy
+Medical photographs and x-rays for your healthcare professional

("Families... welcome it as an opportunity briefly to hold their baby and
even have it christened.  Our philosophy and policies affirm that human life
is always sacred and thereby deserves and requires care, love and respect." -
Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)

When attempting to obtain comment, WorldNetDaily was informed by clinic staff
that, as a rule, Women's Health Care Services does not respond to press
inquiries. The policy is intended to assist in maintaining the clinic's low
profile, a staff person said. The clinic's website, however, offers abundant
information about Tiller's philosophy and includes quotes from the
abortionist. Regarding grief-management services, the website said staff will
attempt to accommodate individual requests to the best of its ability. 

"Everyone approaches this experience with their own unique emotional,
spiritual, and cultural background. There is not a right way or wrong way,
just 'your way.'

("Informed by our church sponsors' position on this issue, the entire
Advocate Health Care system, of which Christ Medical Center is a member,
supports each individual's right and responsibility to weigh complex
pregnancy decisions carefully in light of their own personal faith, values
and moral commitments.... Our role as caregivers is to provide comprehensive
information and compassionate support as families reach their own informed
decisions." - Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)

"Once the process of healing has begun, you may want to consider a token of
the precious time you and your baby had together," the website reads. "Grief
is a very complex emotion which is expressed in many different ways." 

("As an ordained Methodist minister specially trained in bereavement
counseling, I draw from my 20 years of experience to help families through
their intense grief." - Easterling Chicago Tribune letter, 4-14-01)

Interestingly, the website refers to fetuses as "babies" – a huge public
relations faux pas in the view of most pro-abortion organizations. But Tiller
puts a compassionate face on his chosen profession, choosing to identify with
parents who have opted to end a wanted pregnancy. 

"We recognize your decision to come to our center is distressing. We
understand that many of our patients are experiencing the most difficult
situation of their lives.

("As I am sure you can imagine, this is a devastating time for parents
longing to begin or expande their families.  Expectant parents who learn that
their babies will not be viable after birth are faced with the most difficult
and painful decision of their lives." -  Easterling Chicago Tribune letter,
4-14-01)

"All of our services are oriented around our philosophy that the easy part of
the process is the premature delivery of a stillborn – the hard part is
saying goodbye to the hopes, dreams and relationships that you have with your
baby," the website states.

("Imagine, for a moment, the pain and sorrow expectant parents must feel
after happily preparing to bring a baby into the world and then being told by
doctors that the baby cannot survive outside the womb." Easterling Chicago
Tribune letter, 4-14-01  "The families to whom we provide obstetrical care
begin their pregnancies hoping for a happy ending." - Easterling letter to
Chabot, 6-18-01)

"Premature delivery of a stillborn" is how Tiller characterizes his late-term
abortions of babies with "fetal anomalies." The procedure is known as "labor
and delivery" in which sponge-like sticks are repeatedly inserted into the
woman's vagina over a one- to four-day period to open her cervix. When the
cervix has dilated, labor is induced. The woman is sedated and given
anesthesia during labor.

("One procedure available to them at many Chicago-area medical centers is
induced labor, which is approved as an accepted medical standard by the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists." -  Easterling Chicago
Tribune letter, 4-14-01)

"On the first day of the process, an injection of a medication is made into
the baby to assure that it will be stillborn and will not experience any
discomfort during the procedure," explains the clinic's website. 

After the baby is delivered, suction devices commonly used to perform "early"
abortions are used to remove the placenta and remaining tissue.  When it's
all over, most patients are able to leave the next morning. Over 80 percent
of Tiller's patients receive labor-and-delivery abortions. 

Describing the labor-and-delivery process used to abort late-term babies,
"Nancy W." writes, "Most babies are so young that they do not survive the
process, but be aware that some babies do survive the labor and delivery."  
She added, "If the baby is born alive, you can hold and comfort your baby
until he or she dies."

("Families understand this procedure has the possibility of resulting in a
brief life.  In those rare cases, most families cherish the opportunity to
hold and comfort their child for these few precious moments." - Easterling
Chicago Tribune letter, 4-14-01)

In one eerily morbid section, Nancy gives advice to families whose babies are
aborted by dilation and extraction, or D&E, as opposed to labor and
delivery. 

"If you have a D&E, you will not be awake for the procedure, so your choice
of memories to make isn't as long. Plus, your baby's remains may not be
intact after the procedure, so you may not get to hold and spend time with
your baby. But there are still options: a blessing beforehand, sometimes a
carefully posed picture shot by staff, sometimes that is not possible.  
Sometimes footprints or handprints are possible, especially if you
bring the stuff for it. And you can bring a special blanket or stuffed
animal, just because. Ask the staff ahead of time and tell them you are
making some memories," she writes. "Think of what you do as a way of honoring
your little baby's brief presence in your lives!" 

Tiller's website includes a link to "A Heartbreaking Choice." He has provided
abortion services since 1973, and is said to have "pioneered the use of
sonogram imaging during surgery and other procedures that have been adopted
as the standard of care for abortion providers nationwide," according to his
clinic's site. 

Tiller is a diplomat of the American Board of Family Practice Physicians and
is described on his website as having "vast experience [with] over three
decades of family medicine practice, both inpatient and outpatient." That
experience helps him "bring the excellence of diversity into focus on this
very specialized area of medicine and women's health care." He has received
numerous awards, including the National Abortion Federation's highest honor,
the "Christopher Tietze Humanitarian Award" and the Religious Coalition for
Abortion Rights' "Faith and Freedom Award." (RCAR
is now known as the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.) 

Regarding his controversial profession, Tiller has said, "Women and families
are intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and ethically competent to
struggle with complex health issues – including abortion – and come to
decisions that are appropriate for themselves." 

("The heart-breaking decision to end a complicated pregnancy is a private
medical decision made by the patient and her family after much thought,
prayer and counseling." - Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)

More than 81 percent of the women who make the decision to come to Tiller's
clinic are married, 77 percent of them are white, the vast majority have
graduated from high school, and more than a third have college degrees. 

Tiller takes pride in his clinic's "unparalleled record of safety" in
late-term abortions, saying he has "more experience in late abortion services
over 24 weeks than anyone else currently practicing in the Western
Hemisphere, Europe and Australia." 

("I would like to... attest to the comprehensive, compassionate care that
Christ Medical Center and many other health-care institutions thorughout the
country offer to all patients and families, including those who face complex
pregnancies." - Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)

"Wherever you are in the North American continent, someone from your area,
state or country has been a patient at Women's Health Care Services.  By
providing our professional and compassionate Fetal Indications Termination of
Pregnancy Program services ("These terminations were necessitated by
unfortunate circumstances that occurred in the development of the fetus in
the womb." - Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01) to hundreds of women, we
have developed an international reputation for excellence and safety," reads
the website.

("Christ Medical Enter is a 662-bed teaching hospital, sponsored by
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and recognized as one of the top 100
hospitals in the United States." Easterling Chicago Tribune letter, 4-14-01  
"Advocate Christ Medical Center's role is to provide the finest medical
care.... " Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)

... And despite the opposition to abortion by Catholic and Protestant
Christians, nearly 70 percent of Tiller's patients identify themselves as
such. 

Joan Hawkins, executive director of Kansans for Life – a state affiliate of
the National Right to Life Committee – is appalled at the way Tiller presents
himself. 

"He's self-deluded. He thinks he's doing great and wonderful work, and that's
not how we see it all," she said.

("I feel privileged to have the opportunity to walk with these families and
minister to their needs under such devastating circumstances.  I also feel
privileged to be working at a medical center that provides such outstanding
care to families who experience tragic pregnancies." - Easterling letter to
Chabot, 6-18-01)

"George Tiller represents everything that is wrong with the abortion
industry. He holds himself out to be this professional who offers this
wonderful service to women he says are in need. ("We did not abandon these
young mothers during the most tragic time in their lives." - Easterling
letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)  But what he's really dealing out is death and
misery and horror, taking advantage of women in a very vulnerable state and
convincing them that they are doing the right thing by killing their children
and then salving their conscience," said Hawkins, by bringing in ministers
who console them with memorial services. 

("As an ordained United Methodist minister, I have a doctorate in theology
and am specially trained in bereavement counseling.  This experience is
especially relevant when a couple, looking to expand their family,
experiences the tragedy of a non-viable pregnancy." - Easterling letter to
Chabot, 6-18-01)

She added that Tiller provides grief-management services to help parents
mourn the loss of something he would otherwise not recognize as a baby. 

According to Hawkins, the least-expensive known price tag of a Tiller
abortion is $5,000. Given the number of late-term abortions performed only on
patients of his Fetal Indications Termination of Pregnancy program over a
12-and-a-half year period, and assuming each is performed for a fee of
$5,000, patients have paid an estimated $9.9 million to Tiller's clinic. 

"This is an industry," stated Hawkins. "He's making a ton of money, and he's
making a ton of money at the expense of these poor women who he's deluded
into thinking he's doing them a service." 

("Without our support of the 16 terminations, many of these mothers may have
given birth at home or in a public place.  Instead, we provided them a safe
and compassionate place where they could be with family members, friends,
nurses and chaplains." - Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)

From January 1989 to May 2001, Tiller reports that 2,006 patients – some as
young as 13 – had their critically diagnosed babies aborted at his clinic. Of
those abortions, 42.9 percent were performed because the baby had a problem
with its central nervous system, 19.4 percent because of genetic
abnormalities, 9.5 percent because of skeletal abnormalities, and 5.4 percent
due to cardiac problems.

("Three of them had developed major internal organ anomalies, one was
anencephalic (had no brain) and one had been diagnosed in the womb as having
acrania." - Easterling letter to Chabot, 6-18-01)

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