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October 7, 1999
Concerned Women for America News
'Life According to Peter Singer: Christ Hospital turns professor's words into action'
The philosophy of Princeton University Professor Peter Singer has gained increasing
notoriety. In short, Mr. Singer believes, "Killing a defective infant is not morally
equivalent to killing a person. Sometimes it is not wrong at all." (Washington Times,
10/2/99).
His definition of "a person" reveals how he came to this startling conclusion:
"A 'person' is a being who is capable of anticipating a future, having wants and
desires for the future, which are cut off, thwarted, if that person is killed. Newborn
babies have no sense of their own existence over time. Killing a newborn baby. 'whether
able-bodied or not' I think, is never equivalent to killing a being who wants to go on
living." He continues, "The cases where it is not wrong are those cases where
the parents and doctors decide that the child shall not live." (PBS Religion &
Ethics NewsWeekly interview, 6/24/99).
His theories are disturbing and controversial. But are his statements simply academic
babble? "I think that he's in a position to recognize the dangers of the
implementation of his theoretical questions," stated Princeton graduate Bob Griss, a
Singer defender (Washington Times, 10/2/99).
Recognizing the dangers is not the issue. Stopping the implementation of his theoretical
questions already happening today should be our concern. No, his theories are not new.
Infanticide has happened nearly since time began. And it still occurs today.
CWA Illinois State Director Karen Hayes uncovered disturbing news about Christ Hospital in
Oak Lawn, a suburb of Chicago. Physicians there perform so-called "therapeutic
abortions," or "labor-induction abortions," in which the baby is born alive
and left to die. We term them "live-birth abortions." Regardless of the
label, the procedure is clearly infanticide or murder. Babies survive an hour or
more after the premature delivery. In one case, a baby survived for six hours after
delivery.
One nurse, Jill Stanek, appeared on Beverly LaHaye Today on September 28. She boldly
testified of the horror occurring in Christ Hospital. This has jeopardized her career. But
the righteous are bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1). She talked about holding live babies
until they died, their only comfort being wrapped in a blanket.
Jill also revealed that when no nurse can hold the babies, they are left in a soiled
utility room to die alone. Surely, it is harder on the physician's conscience to see a
dying baby next to other babies, some perhaps smaller, receiving life support in the
hospital nursery. Placing the neglected babies in a separate room could be a way of easing
guilt.
Is this case new? Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, it has happened even in the
past. Gregory Koukl is the founder and CEO of Stand to Reason, a Christian apologetics
group that teaches how to defend the faith in today's culture. He relays the chilling
story of Jennifer and Baby Garcia in a 1992 broadcast entitled "The Death of
Humanness." The case happened in the mid-1980s.
One night, Jennifer, a nurse, entered a utility room nurses use for breaks. A few
nurses were smoking and drinking coffee with their feet propped up on a stainless steel
table. A naked newborn baby was also on that table. Jennifer was shocked. When she
asked about the baby, they said, "That's a preemie born at 19 weeks. We don't do
anything to save them unless they're 20 weeks." Jennifer learned they had presented
the child to its mother as a dead, premature child. She picked up the child who was still
gasping for air. Then one nurse yelled at her, took the baby and tossed him in a container
of formaldehyde. The baby was killed instantly.
But are these cases rare? Not at all. Other Chicago-area hospitals routinely kill
"unfit" newborns. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center performs about 100
such abortions annually, while Christ Hospital routinely kills 20 infants in the same
manner each year. Other hospitals such as the Illinois Masonic Medical Center and Women's
Health Care Services in Wichita, Kansas, inject heart-stopping drugs before delivering the
babies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that labor induction
accounts for one-tenth of 1 percent of all abortions (Chicago Tribune, 9/29/99). However,
with approximately 1.5 million abortions happening each year, and those include only
voluntarily reported statistics, that is still a significant number of infanticides. Even
one would be too many.
Are these procedures necessary? Christ Hospital claims these "therapeutic
abortions" are "medically indicated pregnancy terminations." That is, these
procedures are performed when "complex and critical maternal or fetal conditions
threaten the life or health of the mother or developing fetus," according to hospital
spokesman Sue Reimbold (Chicago Sun-Times, 9/29/99). But including the term
"health" justifies any reason finessed to indicate physical or mental health.
Furthermore, Jill Stanek has witnessed some "therapeutic abortions" performed on
newborns whose physical or mental defects are considered unsuitable only for "quality
of life" (Chicago Sun-Times, 9/29/99). "These babies have been diagnosed with
handicaps such as Down Syndrome and spina bifida," she said, noting that these
infants have been deemed not worth saving (World Net Daily, 10/1/99).
Moreover, Mr. Kouk's description of Rachel in his book Precious Unborn Human Persons shows
that premature babies can live. "Rachel is two months old, but she is still six weeks
away from being a full-term [36 weeks] baby," he writes. "She was born
prematurely at 22 weeks, in the middle of her mother's second trimester. Rachel weighed
one pound, nine ounces, but dropped to just under a pound soon after. If this same little
girl, the very same Rachel, was inches away resting inside her mother's womb, she could be
legally killed by abortion." At Christ Hospital, she could have been delivered and
left to die.
Karen Hayes discovery about Christ Hospital prompted Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan to
ask the state Department of Public Health to review the hospital for criminal activity.
The investigation will determine whether the hospital's activity violates the Illinois
Hospital Licensing Act and the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Not taking legal
action would be irresponsible.
"This procedure goes even beyond Roe v. Wade, which claims that once a baby is born
she has all the rights of personhood," stated Mrs. LaHaye. Sun-Times columnist David
Byrne agrees: "Read Roe v. Wade upside down and sideways, and I find nothing in it
that legitimizes the killing of a born child."
The unconstitutional Roe v. Wade decision
limited full personhood only to those who are born. Peter Singer, in his words, and Christ
Hospital, in its actions, have deconstructed that flawed definition further by assigning
personhood only to those they believe worthy of life.
Abortion before birth or infanticide after, both are murder. As columnist Jon Dougherty
commented, "That human beings could be so cruel to their own species intentionally,
and under the ridiculous premise of 'for our own good' is criminal" (World Net Daily,
10/1/99). And this crime doesn't pay for anyone.
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