Sunday, October 3 we had the Life Chain at McCorkle Place. About 26 people showed up and we protested abortion by holding signs. All over campus, the aborto-fascist storm troopers managed to vandalize University property with idiotic little fliers filled with pro-abortion rhetoric.

Here is a sampling of some of the fliers found, and my response to them. Enjoy!

1. George W. Bush signed into law the most significant restriction on abortion in the 30 years since Roe v. Wade when he signed the "Partial Birth" Abortion Ban. "Partial Birth Abortion" is a term manufactured by the Bush Administration as propaganda - it has no medical significance. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) states that a partial birth abortion is a procedure that is "never medically necessary, not taught in any medical school in this country, not recommended," yet the procedures the ban prevents are performed more than 2200 times a year.

NOTE: That PBA (partial birth abortion) is performed 2200 times a year proves only that it is being sought because it is legal and can be done, not necessarily because it needs to be done. This flier asserts that PBA (partial birth abortion) is never needed, then states simply that it is performed over 2000 times a year, which proves nothing. This is known in logic as a non-sequitur, "a conclusion that does not follow from the premises." Just because this procedure is practiced does not mean it is needed.

PBA is never medically necessary, and pro-abortion crusaders know this. From the National Right to Life Committee (those who doubt these facts can easily verify them online):

In a written submission to the House Judiciary Committee in June, 1995, the late Dr. James McMahon – who is considered to be the developer of the method – explicitly acknowledged that he performed such abortions on babies with no "flaw" whatever, even in the third trimester, for such reasons as mere youth of the mother or for "psychiatric" difficulties. Indeed, even at 29 weeks -- well into the seventh month -- one-fourth of the babies that McMahon aborted had no "flaw," however minor. Moreover, McMahon's submission showed that in a "series" of about 2,000 such abortions that he performed, only 9% were performed for "maternal [health] indications," and of that group, the most common reason was "depression."

The Physicians' Ad Hoc Coalition for Truth (PHACT) -- a group of over 600 physician-specialists (mostly in obstetrics, perinatology, and related disciplines) -- has spoken out to dispute claims that some women need partial-birth abortions to avoid serious physical injury. PHACT said: "We, and many other doctors across the United States, regularly treat women whose unborn children suffer these and other serious conditions. Never is the partial-birth procedure medically indicated. Rather, such infants are regularly and safely delivered live, vaginally, with no threat to the mother's health or fertility." In September, 1996, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and other PHACT members said that "partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect a mother's health or her future fertility. On the contrary, this procedure can pose a significant threat to both."

Also, as the last sentence there indicated, the Bush Administration did not make up the term "Partial Birth Abortion," since it was clearly in use in 1996. By my math (please correct me if I'm wrong), that's a good four years, at least, before President Bush was even elected. Also, a casual LexisNexis search found the term used in a June 14, 1995 Washington Post article. That the Bush Administration "made up" this term is a blatant lie.

Finally, another misconception advanced by pro-abortion fanatics (and this flier) is that PBA is not a medical term. That's interesting, because the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary - which is used by major medical websites sponsored by Harvard Medical School, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Library of Medicine - lists a medical definition for "partial-birth abortion." Don't believe me? Check out this link and enter the search for yourself (be sure to include the hyphen between 'partial' and 'birth'):

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mplusdictionary.html

2. 25.5% of women deciding to have an abortion want to postpone childbearing. 21.3% of women cannot afford a baby. 14.1% of women have a relationship issue or their partner does not want a child. 12.2% of women are too young (their parents or others object to the pregnancy). 10.8% of women feel a child will disrupt their education or career. 7.9% of women want no (more) children. 3.3% of women have an abortion due to a risk to fetal health. 2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health. In 54 countries (61% of the world population) abortions are legal. In 97 countries (39% of the world population) abortions are illegal. There are approximately 46 million abortions conducted each year, 20 million of them obtained illegally. There are approximately 126,000 abortions conducted each day.

Thank you, pro-abortionists, for doing our research for us. Notwithstanding the question of accuracy of these figures (for example, do these figures reflect worldwide statistics, or just in America? Where do these numbers come from? etc.), this flier actually bolsters our pro-life case. Look at all the reasons given here for having an abortion: a desire to postpone childbearing; cannot afford a baby; do not want another baby. None of these reasons (except, possibly, the 2.8% maternal health figure) are legitimate reasons for having an abortion. If you applied any of these cases to children already born (viz. "I don't want to raise my child because it might interrupt my career, so I should destroy it" or "My toddler and I live in poverty so I will kill my toddler"), they would collapse on themselves.

I added up these figures, and assuming they are correct, 95.1% of abortions are performed for unjustifiable reasons. (This excludes the 2.8% maternal health figure which some may use to justify abortion). I find it especially difficult to believe a child's life should be terminated because of a "relationship issue" or because the woman just does not want anymore children. Thank you again, pro-abortionists, for proving our case.

3. The next President may appoint up to three new Supreme Court Justices. Roe v. Wade was decided by a margin of only one.

NOTE: Roe v. Wade was a 7-2 decision (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade) - thus not "decided by a margin of only one." 5 justices constituted the majority decision, with 2 justices concurring (agreeing with the decision but for a different reason than the majority) and 2 dissenting. But the 2 who concurred still agreed that abortion is a constitutional "right." That means, in all, it was in fact a 7-2 decision. This flier presents a misleading statement that must be considered in light of the actual facts of the case.

4. "I will lead our nation toward a culture that values life -- the lief of the elderly and the sick, the life of the young, and the life of the unborn. I know good people disagree on this issue, but surely we can agree on ways to value life by promoting adoption and parental notification, and when Congress sends me a bill against partial-birth abortion, I will sign it into law." George W. Bush (Source: Speech to Republican National Convention Aug 3, 2000).

NOTE: Thank you for proving what most people already knew: President Bush is pro-life.

Abortion is my number one voting issue. I will not ever vote for a politician who believes it is morally acceptable to "terminate a pregnancy." In all of my experience with this issue, I have never encountered anyone who can rationally defend abortion as a legitimate matter of public policy. Those who advocate abortion are doing a terrible deed, and it is a shame.