LIFE DIGEST: Doctor poisons unborn babies in secret clinic
- Feb 15, 2011 -
An abortion doctor – his medical license suspended four times in Florida – has opened a secret clinic in the Washington, D.C., area to perform what is apparently a new type of late-term method.
James Pendergraft, who received a one-year suspension in August from the state where he operates five abortion clinics, has advertised his new clinic online. The website describes a procedure for late second-term and third-term pregnancies that involves the injection of poison or air into a baby’s heart to kill him. Pendergraft does not complete the abortion, however. After “several minutes” of observation, the woman is released in order for her to go to her doctor or a medical facility for induction of the dead child.
Also in this edition: State legislatures act on personhood, other life initiatives, Study: Nearly half of largest schools offer abortion in health care, and IVF risks for women need attention, doctors say.
Pendergraft’s secret operation and partial procedure, which were first reported by Operation Rescue, have been decried by pro-life advocates.
“How macabre! This is not medicine; it’s the stuff of a B-grade horror movie,” said C. Ben Mitchell, professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and a consultant to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “The fact that authorities allow James Pendergraft to continue practicing anywhere is an indictment on an abortion industry spinning out of control. James Pendergraft should be in jail.”
Mary Novick of Americans United for Life (AUL) wrote on the organization’s blog: “Pendergraft’s scheme is astonishingly selfish, clearly dangerous to women, and potentially coercive to health care providers. It must be stopped.”
While Pendergraft’s new, late-term abortion website says the clinic’s location is kept a secret in order to protect patients and staff, Operation Rescue said it is likely an attempt to avoid law enforcement. Pendergraft does not have a medical license in the District of Columbia or the surrounding states, Maryland and Virginia, according to Operation Rescue.
AUL’s Novick said Pendergraft’s approach not only puts women at risk but could require pro-life physicians to complete the abortion process against their will in order to protect patients’ lives.
On Pendergraft’s website, there is a warning for women who change their minds after the lethal injection: “The problem is if you do not go into labor for a few days, not only can the patient’s blood become severely infected, but this can lead to a clotting disorder where the patient’s blood does not clot, severe low blood pressure, bleeding constantly from needle sticks, internal bleeding, multiple organ failure which can lead to maternal death. This is nothing that should be taken lightly. Therefore once the intra-cardiac injection is complete, there is no turning back. The remainder of the procedure must be carried out as pre-planned.”
State legislatures act on personhood, other life initiatives
The North Dakota House of Representatives voted 68-25 for legislation that recognizes all human beings at every stage of development, including while they are in the womb, are persons with the right to life.
The Defense of Human Life Act serves as North Dakota’s part in the nationwide effort to pass legislation or constitutional amendments in the states to protect all life.
Rep. Dan Ruby, sponsor of the North Dakota proposal, said Feb. 11 the bill “is just common sense. Of course every human being is a person, and every innocent person should receive legal protection.”
In other actions by state legislatures:
- The Hawaii Senate’s Health Committee rejected in a 4-0 vote Feb. 7 a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
- The Arizona House’s Health Committee approved a ban on sex-selection abortions in a 5-3 vote Feb. 9, Capitol Media Services reported.
- The Arizona Senate’s Health Care and Medical Liability Reform Committee voted Feb. 9 to require abortions using the drug RU 486 be administered only by doctors and to bar tax credits for individuals who donate to charities that provide abortions, according to Capitol Media Services.
- The Washington House’s Health Care Committee approved legislation Feb. 10 that would require pro-life pregnancy care centers to post signs saying they do not refer for abortions and their pregnancy tests are the same as those available in stores, the Washington State Wire reported.
- A subcommittee of the Iowa House’s Human Resources Committee voted 2-1 Feb. 14 in favor of a personhood bill similar to that of North Dakota, according to The Des Moines Register.
Study: Nearly half of largest schools offer abortion in health care
Nearly half of the country’s largest universities offer their students health-care insurance plans that cover elective abortions, according to research by Students for Life of America..
The results from the study of the 200 largest universities in the United States showed:
- 44.3 percent, or 86, of the 194 schools that offer school-sponsored plans cover elective abortions.
- 44 percent, or 38, of the 86 schools that offer such plans automatically enroll students in a plan that covers abortions.
Students for Life also said in the report released Jan. 20 it learned there could be an issue of federal funds being used for abortion in violation of the law. It said education funds, such as Pell Grants, may be increased for students receiving such money because of the additional cost for abortion coverage in school health-care plans.
Students for Life said of its findings: “Abortion is not health care, and colleges and universities should not require students to pay for abortion in their health-care plans. Paying for abortion should not be a pre-requisite for learning.”
IVF risks for women need attention, doctors say
More attention should be shown to the health risks to women of in vitro fertilization (IVF), British doctors contend.
Writing in a British Medical Journal editorial, the physicians said grave, detrimental effects from IVF treatments should be reported in order to gain information and take action, the Internet-based news service PhysOrg.com reported. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is one of the negative outcomes that has been reported in IVF.
A recent study in The Netherlands reported 42 mothers’ deaths per 100,000 IVF pregnancies contrasted with 6 deaths for 100,0000 pregnancies overall, according to PhysOrg. The latest inquiry on maternal deaths in Great Britain recorded four deaths related to ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and three deaths related to multiple pregnancies after IVF, the report said.
One of the doctors’ recommendations in the Jan. 27 editorial was for there to be more transfers to the womb of only one embryo, according to PhysOrg. Often in the United States, multiple embryos are transferred.
IVF involves the manual fertilization of a woman’s egg with a man’s sperm in a laboratory followed by transfer of the resulting embryo to a woman’s uterus for hopeful implantation in the uterine wall. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can result from drugs given the woman to help produce multiple eggs, may be marked by such symptoms as severe nausea and abdominal pain.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. Our free, downloadable Impact resource is also available online. If your church is interested in purchasing materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com
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