Bill No. 371, which mimics ordinances passed in Baltimore and Austin, would force PCCs in New York City to post signage that they do not commit abortions or distribute contraceptives. It would also force them to notify clients if there were no doctor in the house.

Penalties are harsh: a fine of $200-1,000 for the first violation and $500-2,500 for subsequent violations, a shut-down for three violations, and jail time up to six months if refusing to shut down.

But then came a report two weeks ago from the New York City Department of Health that a staggering 41 percent of all pregnancies in NYC ended in abortion in 2009. The rate for black women was even worse – 60 percent.

For Bill No. 371, the timing of this report could not have been worse.

According to the report, the number of abortions in NYC’s five boroughs totaled a shocking 174,546 in 2009. If, as Guttmacher states, 1.2 million abortions are committed annually in the United States, then abortions in the New York City region account for 14.5 percent of all abortions nationwide. NYC has the deadly distinction of being America’s abortion capital.

Even abortion proponents were disturbed by the report. According to the liberal online news source Slate, “Pro-choice and pro-life groups alike are shuddering at the news that four out of every 10 pregnancies in NYC end in abortion.”

The compelling, inspirational story of a Planned Parenthood director who switched sides. Order Abby Johnson’s new book, “UnPlanned”

Now Bill No. 371 looks not only cruel but harmful to women, as the Wall Street Journal editorialized yesterday:

So how is New York responding [to the health department report]? …

[T]he speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, is pushing a bill designed to make it harder for people who are trying to help women keep their babies. …

It tells us something that there appears to be no interest in requiring that, say, Planned Parenthood post in their clinics some telling information of their own: 324,008 abortions nationwide against only 2,405 adoption referrals in 2008. …

Rather than rehash the allegations against Crisis Pregnancy Centers – e.g., that they often disguise themselves as medical clinics, that they are not upfront about whether they offer abortion – let’s stipulate for the sake of argument that they are all true. In the end, a woman who wants an abortion can still walk out and get one, as many do. A woman who doesn’t necessarily want an abortion, however, can find all kinds of help: a place to live if her family or boyfriend has kicked her out; training for mother care; and, not least, the friendly face of a caring volunteer.

No doubt there are mothers who regret having their children. … Far more common, however, are the websites with women repeating this heart-rending lament: “If only one person had encouraged me to keep my baby.”

NARAL didn’t help its cause when it released its annual report last week, giving New York a grade of “A-” for abortion advocacy and ranking it the 12th-best state to “procure a hasty abortion,” as Juno would say.

Nor did the pro-abortion think tank Guttmacher Institute help, also reporting last week that U.S. abortions are slightly up after declining for almost 20 years.

Given all this negative news, I anticipate that even the brazen pro-aborts in NYC will be too embarrassed to pursue Bill No. 371. And hopefully the small groundswell that had been building nationwide to intimidate PCCs will recede.

Pro-lifers should actually be heartened by these attempts to silence PCCs, even though they’re certainly no fun. It only means PCCs are having a deleterious impact on abortion. Sometimes pro-abortion defense looks like offense, and this is one of those times. As was written by the Witherspoon Institute on Jan. 17:

In the United States there are some 2,300 affiliates of the three largest pregnancy resource center umbrella groups, Heartbeat International, CareNet, and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates.

Over 1.9 million American women take advantage of these services each year. Many stay at one of the 350 residential facilities for women and children operated by pro-life groups.

In New York City alone, there are 22 centers serving 12,000 women a year. These centers provide services including pre-natal care, STI testing, STI treatment, ultrasound, childbirth classes, labor coaching, midwife services, lactation consultation, nutrition consulting, social work, abstinence education, parenting classes, material assistance and post-abortion counseling.

All those services are free, I might add.

In stark contrast, all that abortion clinics offer is killing children, for which their own mothers must pay.

Isn’t it obvious why abortion proponents also want to kill off pregnancy care centers?

The true account of Abby’s dramatic journey from Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director (Employee of the Year even) to pro-life activist in the span of a week was mesmerizing.

Long story short: Abby’s traumatic participation in an ultrasound-guided abortion solidified a conversion that had begun forming when her bosses ordered her to increase profits by increasing abortions.

Abby’s book contains several insights, but what I gained most from reading “UnPlanned” was a better understanding of the abortion worker’s mind.

Abby challenged my preconceived notions from the start, literally, in her foreword:

And until we each set aside our own preferences for how we wish others would think and behave, or how we assume others think and behave, we won’t be able to understand those with whom we differ in order to engage in real dialogue and discover truth. …

Oh how we love to vilify our opponents. … How easy to assume that those on “our” side are right and wise and good; how those on “their” side are treacherous and foolish and deceptive. I have found right and good and wisdom on both sides. I have found foolishness and treachery and deception on both sides as well. …


To this day I have friends on both sides of this polarizing debate. … And even more shocking – we have far more in common with the “other” side than we might imagine. …

In all likelihood, as you look through the fence, you see faulty thinking and harmful behavior on the other side. Here’s my question for you: are you ready to look through the fence and see goodness, compassion, generosity, and self-sacrifice on the other side?

To be honest, not really. But because I trusted Abby as one of us now, and also as one speaking from experience, I decided to open my mind a little.

The jaw-dropping, inspirational story of a Planned Parenthood director who switched sides. Order Abby Johnson’s new book, “UnPlanned”

The fence of which Abby spoke in her foreword was not only metaphoric, it was literal. It was a fence that separated the two sides at Abby’s clinic.

On the outside of the literal fence it was one pro-lifer dressed as the Grim Reaper and another holding a large placard of an aborted baby that erected the greatest emotional fence, blocking workers and mothers in desperate need of the truth on the inside, so wrote Abby.

It was only when David Bereit and Shawn Carney eventually shooed the activists away and replaced them with prayerful, compassionate and informative sidewalk counselors that the emotional guard began to come down, Abby said.

Pro-lifers will recognize David and Shawn as leaders of the highly successful 40 Days for Life campaign, but way back when they were “just” leaders of a pregnancy care center down the street from Abby’s mill.

In fact, Abby’s clinic was the first where 40 Days was ever attempted.

It was intriguing to read the perspective of clinic workers observing that first historic 40 Days effort. Abby wrote:

I was trying to figure out exactly why certain Planned Parenthood staffers felt so threatened by the campaign. I didn’t like the feeling that we were surrounded by a 24/7 campaign either, but after all, it’s not like they were firing guns or bombs at us – they were praying, for goodness’ sake. How could that hurt? But the tension inside the clinic mounted. … After all, 40 days and 40 nights – those are biblical proportions! That’s a long time to be surrounded nonstop by a large group of people who disagree with you but are so persistently … well … nice about it. It created an atmosphere I couldn’t quite articulate.

As the campaign wore on, I tried to understand my mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, as a believer in God, how could I be unhappy about people praying? …

On the other hand, I have to admit that I resented it. Clearly the implication was that God was on their side, not ours, and I vacillated between squirming in discomfort and feeling downright irritated at their arrogance. I considered myself a pro-choice Christian and knew lots of other people like me. I was helping people who needed help and, I believed, saving and improving lives. I didn’t appreciate being surrounded and constantly watched by people who believed I was on the devil’s side. After the first few weeks, I realized I was ticked off! …

When Oct. 10, 2004, the last day of the 40 Days for Life campaign, finally rolled around, all of us at the clinic were relieved.

In my opinion, the 40 Days for Life campaign has been the most successful pro-life invention of the last decade, maybe more.

We tend to focus on the hundreds of babies 40 Days campaigns have saved, and the blow to the abortion trade 40 Days wields by its sustained presence twice annually.

But to date, 40 Days is also credited with attracting 43 workers out of the abortion industry.

This is major reason I think Abby’s book is a game-changer. Abby is a bridge. Abortionists, clinic owners and staff have come into our movement before, but Abby speaks to a new generation – on both sides. Abby’s heart and mission are clear, as she said on a webcast about her book the other night:

I also want to give a very special and sincere welcome to people who are on the line who are here as supporters of Planned Parenthood or are maybe staff of Planned Parenthood. I know there are many people on the line tonight who are here to listen to me as critics of my story, and I want to welcome you. I want to thank you for being here. It is a blessing that you are here, because I was once just like you. I was a person who sat in on these phone calls. I was a person who sat on the 40 Days for Life webcasts. And now I am a pro-life advocate. I am so thankful that you are all here and that you are taking the time out of your schedule to listen to us and to hear the truth.

Me, too.

Just finishing its third season, “16 and Pregnant” is a reality show that follows a different group of 16-year-olds each year as they navigate the numerous travails of teenage pregnancy. To date all have decided to carry their babies to term, most going on to raise their babies themselves, with one each season deciding to place her baby for adoption.

“Teen Mom” has just completed its second season following some of the aforementioned teens either raising their babies or moving on without them. “Teen Mom 2″ has just been announced.

Abortion is infrequently mentioned but has always been rejected, although neither show glamorizes teen pregnancy and motherhood in the least.

Now we get to “No Easy Decision,” which follows one of the teen moms from “16 and Pregnant.” Markai finds out eight months after having her daughter that she is pregnant again and decides this time to abort. If you haven’t watched the special, you can do so on MTV’s website.

MTV aired “No Easy Decision” as a half-hour special sans commercials on a Tuesday night at 11:30 p.m., which says how much MTV really wanted to do this.

Announcing the special, Entertainment Weekly wrote, “MTV sources say the documentary will tackle all sides of the issue. …”

Open your eyes to the ugliness inside the abortion industry with “Lime 5: Exploited by Choice”

So I expected the pro-life position to be fairly represented alongside the pro-abortion position – by educating on the documented harm of abortion to women, describing fetal development at the age of the baby being aborted and offering a counseling session at a pregnancy care center as well as an abortion clinic. I was resigned that Markai would move ahead with her abortion but thought her decision would be fully informed.

None of this came to pass. As it turns out, MTV partnered with the pro-abortion group Exhale to produce the special and linked on its website only to pro-abortion groups like The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Planned Parenthood. Of all the condoms in the world, the show’s moderator, Dr. Drew Pinsky (a pro-abortion sex therapist), distributed condoms marketed by Planned Parenthood. Interesting.

Abortion groups like NARAL and Feministing promoted “No Easy Decision” in advance. Afterward abortion proponents were elated. Gushed Lynn Harris at Salon:

But this member of the latter camp is relieved, delighted – and still amazed – to report that MTV got it right. Seriously, they nailed it. And by “nailed it,” I don’t mean they just did a great PSA for abortion. I mean they told the many-sided truth: that abortion is safe and common, that abortion has been made difficult to get, and, most importantly, that abortion is a complex decision made by complex human beings. (That thump you heard around 11:35 p.m. EST was the sound of 100 feminist media critics falling off our collective couches.)

Well, I’ve watched “No Easy Decision” four times now only to increasingly wonder what there was for the other side to crow about.

Aside from Dr. Drew’s advocacy of contraception and abortion and the obviously prepped abortion clinic counselor on the phone, the reality of abortion decision-making and its aftermath came painfully through. That was:

Abortion is a decision made in desperation. As Markai said, though tears, “I know we need to because we ain’t got no other way.” Abortion is the only so-called “right” Americans do not herald; rather, they prefer to avoid it. As Markai also said, again through tears, “I wouldn’t choose abortion as the first option for anybody. It’s the toughest decision ever to make in your life.” Markai’s support system clearly failed her, most critically her boyfriend – the baby’s father – who steadfastly pushed abortion. Had Markai received support from James, her mother or even the friend whose counsel she sought, she would not have aborted. As she also said, “I’m in love with this baby already and this baby’s not doing nothing but making me sick.” This is not something a focused abortion-minded mother says.

The 50-year free love experiment/wanton contraceptive mentality is a failure. The three post-abortive mothers interviewed demonstrated that the contraception/abortion industry fails to adequately teach about contraception, and young teens are too immature and irresponsible to handle it properly anyway. As even Dr. Drew pointed out, one in four teen moms experience a repeat pregnancy. This is not the failure of abstinence education, to be sure. It is the failure of the comprehensive sex-ed mentality.


The abortion industry lies about fetal development, utterly failing to provide informed consent. Markai’s abortion counselor told her, “Don’t think of it as 10 fingers and 10 toes and a forehead and all that, because if you think of it like that you’ll get depressed. Think of it as what it is, a little ball of cells.” This was utterly false information. At six weeks gestation, the age of Markai’s baby when she killed him or her, the heart has already been beating for three weeks, and its output is already 20 percent that of an adult’s. The baby has detectable brain waves. Only a half inch long, her little arms and legs are developing, and 40 sets of muscles are beginning to move.

Abortion leaves an aftermath. Another of the post-abortive mothers interviewed, Katie, said – through tears – that while she “didn’t have a lot of regret or negative feelings” when she aborted, she to this day has trouble being around her 2-year-old nephew who was born at the same time she aborted. Markai had somewhat of a meltdown when boyfriend James called their aborted baby a “thing.”

This is the show that “thrilled” abortion proponents, as the pro-abort blog Jezebel exclaimed?

It seems to me the pro-abort crowd is by this time in the history of legalized abortion merely happy with crumbs, for the simple display of abortion, even with all its catastrophic negatives.

It seems to me abortion proponents were simply happy for the kill.

‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’

In December 1863, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was still grieving the death of his wife Frances two years prior when receiving word their oldest son, Charles, had been seriously injured as a Union soldier in the Civil War.

A fierce abolitionist, Longfellow awakened in despair that Christmas morning, unsure of both the fate of his son and his country.

It was against this backdrop Longfellow wrote the melancholy poem “Christmas Bells” when hearing church bells peel throughout Boston proclaiming the birth of Christ. Two of the middle verses were later dropped to adapt the poem into a Christmas carol, which composer John Caulkin set to music. Those two verses give the current verse three (the last verse cited below) richer context:

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

”There is no peace on earth,” I said:

”For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Johnny Cash called “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” his favorite Christmas carol …

‘O Holy Night’

In 1847, his parish priest asked French poet Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure to compose a Christmas poem. Placide wrote “Cantique de Noel” while contemplating what it would have been like to be present at Christ’s birth and asked his friend Adolphe-Charles Adam to set it to music.

The song became an instant classic in France but was later denounced by the church after Placide himself denounced the church and became a Socialist Communist, and it was also learned Adam was a Jew.

A decade later, American abolitionist and Pastor John Sullivan Dwight learned of the beautiful song and saw something more when translating it into English.

According to Ace Collins in his book, “Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas,” verse three “supported Dwight’s own view of slavery in the South. … Dwight’s English translation of ‘O Holy Night’ quickly found favor in America, especially in the North during the Civil War.”

Here is the literal English translation of verse three:

The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle:

The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.

He sees a brother where there was only a slave,

Love unites those that iron had chained.

Who will tell Him of our gratitude,

For all of us He is born, He suffers and dies.

And here is Dwight’s translation:

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’

Episcopalian Pastor Phillips Brooks was so outspoken in his opposition to slavery and support of the North he was asked to preach the funeral eulogy of slain President Abraham Lincoln.

“That solemn honor, in tandem with leading the congregation of Philadelphia’s Holy Trinity Church through the bloody years of the Civil War, had taken its toll,” wrote author Collins in his aforementioned book. “Worn out and badly needing a spiritual rebirth, Brooks took a sabbatical… to tour the Middle East.”

On Christmas Eve 1865, compelled to escape the crowds, Brooks rode alone by horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and spent several hours during the night in worship, prayer and contemplation.

Preparing for a Christmas Eve service three years later, Brooks recalled his experience and wrote the poem we now know as “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” His church organist, Lewis Redner, set it to music.

Verse four:

Where children pure and happy

Pray to the blessed Child,

Where Misery cries out to Thee,

Son of the Mother mild;

Where Charity stands watching,

And Faith holds wide the door,

The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,

And Christmas comes once more.

‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’

John Wesley Work Jr., an African-American professor at Fisk University in Nashville, first published the lyrics and music to this slave spiritual in 1907.

Wrote Collins in his book:

The song had come from the fields of the South, born from the inspiration of a slave’s Christmas, and it was unique in that, in the hundreds of Negro spirituals the work family saved from extinction, few had been written about Christmas. Most, as would seem only natural, centered on earthly pain and suffering, and the joy and happiness that only heaven seemed to offer.

Yet here, standing against the backdrop of such haunting spirituals as, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” was “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” a triumphant piece that embraced the wonder of lowly shepherds touched by God at the very first Christmas.

Verses one and three:

While shepherds kept their watching

o’er silent flocks by night,

Behold, throughout the heavens

There shone a holy light …



Down in a lowly manger

The humble Christ was born

And God sent us salvation

That blessed Christmas morn

“Go Tell It on the Mountain” became an anthem of the 1960s Civil Rights movement. Peter, Paul and Mary adapted the words to refer to the Israelites’ exodus from slavery, as an analogy to that modern-day struggle. The pro-live movement could clearly adapt the words today …

So, pro-lifers, take heart, as even in the midst of his despair Longfellow proclaimed in the final verse of his poem, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Driehaus is blaming the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List for his shellacking in November, going so far as to sue the PAC in federal court last week for “character defamation” and “depriving him of his livelihood.”

Driehaus was one of 15 pro-life Democrats around the country who were either fired or retired last month after voting for Obamacare.

As one of those targeted for defeat by the SBA List, Driehaus is fixated on it rather than his Pelosi-whipped self as the reason for his political demise.

Apparently, Driehaus didn’t expect the SBA List to follow though with its promise to campaign against any pro-life Democrat who supported Obamacare if it excluded an amendment stipulating it would not force taxpayers to subsidize abortion.

All national pro-life/pro-family groups except Democrats for Life agreed with Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards that the presidential executive order the 15 claimed blocked public funding of abortion in health care was merely “a symbolic gesture.” National Right to Life spells out exactly how Obamacare forces taxpayers to finance abortion.

Driehaus originally filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission, accusing the SBA List of planning a false billboard campaign outing him.


When even the ACLU came to the SBA List’s defense, recognizing Driehaus’s complaint as a glaring attempt to suppress the First Amendment right to free speech, Driehaus dropped it.

But he apparently didn’t stop fuming, attempting another route to derail the SBA List’s energy and finances as well as get at their private documents, letters, e-mails and records.

Driehaus had filed for discovery in his OEC complaint, sure that the SBA List was colluding with the Republican National Committee (which the SBA List tells me is unequivocally false).


Now, in his federal lawsuit, Driehaus is again attempting discovery.

Pro-life legal eagles tell me Driehaus’s lawsuit is frivolous and should be dropped, although the District Court judge overseeing the case, Timothy Black, was director of Planned Parenthood of Cincinnati from 1986 to 1989. So one never knows.

I would be remiss at this point not to again mention Kristen Day and Democrats for Life.

I wrote in a previous column that the rift that developed during the 2010 election cycle between Democrats for Life and basically the rest of the pro-life movement was “irreparable” as long as Day remained its executive director.

This was because Day submitted two affidavits on Driehaus’ behalf against the SBA List, relishing the ramifications in an Oct. 25 press statement that “[a]ll records … will have to be turned over to lawyers for Congressman Steve Dreihaus [sic].”

As we see, Day’s hope lives on.

But this amounts to Day advocating a pro-life WikiLeaks: releasing internal pro-life “cables” to the general public, including the enemy.

While legal in this case, it was certainly treasonous to the movement.

That is during the Super Bowl.

In fact, commercials have become part of the entertainment during football’s annual big game, a cultural phenomenon.

So imagine a 30-second Super Bowl ad showing the graphic reality of abortion.


Most Americans, including many pro-lifers, would abhor such an ad.

But pro-life activists like me would be ecstatic, if such a word can be used to describe fulfillment of a passion to see a multitude of people face the truth about abortion. Activists believe that only by understanding the reality of abortion will the culture be wholeheartedly persuaded against it.

And the publicity, oh, the publicity. Recall the controversy surrounding Focus on the Family’s pro-life pablum Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow earlier this year. This would be that on gigamegalo-steroids.

And there is a chance such a commercial will air during the 2012 Super Bowl.

The jaw-dropping, inspirational story of a Planned Parenthood director who switched sides. Order Abby Johnson’s new book, “Unplanned”

But let me back up.

This past spring, pro-lifer Missy Smith decided to run against pro-abort Democrat District of Columbia incumbent Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton for one reason: To air graphic abortion ads on television.

Smith was taking advantage of a federal law that forces network stations to run such ads, uncensored. As Politico reported in October:

“Much as broadcasters may be repulsed by these graphic images and are sensitive to their viewers, federal law requires stations to air the spots,” Allbritton general counsel Jerry Fritz wrote in an e-mail.

Fritz cited a similar 1992 Georgia case in which an anti-abortion candidate, Daniel Becker, sought to run a similar ad on an Atlanta station.

“The station asked the FCC for permission to channel the spot into time periods when children would be less likely to be in the audience – late night. Other broadcasters joined in and asked the commission for the right to refuse the spot altogether,” Fritz e-mails. “The FCC gave permission to permit the channeling, but Becker appealed. The D.C. Court of Appeals found for the candidate in a 1996 decision.”

The reason, per Fritz: The Communications Act requires broadcast stations to sell “reasonable amounts” of ad time to qualified federal candidates, and bars stations from making any changes to those spots, in what’s known as the “no censorship” provision.

In all, Smith raised enough money to air two graphic abortion ads a whopping 355 times on network and cable television stations in the metro-D.C. area, which included parts of Virginia and Maryland.

Along the way, Smith garnered scads of free national and international press focused on the fact that abortion graphically murders children.

Smith’s recruiter and mentor was pro-life activist Randall Terry.

Terry and Smith have decided Smith’s campaign was so effective they want to recruit 25 like-minded congressional candidates in the country’s top 25 media markets to run in the 2012 election cycle. By so doing, one-third of the nation could be educated on the horror and reality of abortion, says Terry.

I’m excited about this. I know Smith got calls from pro-lifers around the country during her campaign interested in duplicating what she did. There is great potential.

One positive of a consolidated effort would be the duo’s plan to create one or two excellent ads for all 25 candidates to air (with their own voiceovers and taglines). They recognize Smith’s ads weren’t the greatest quality, although she did the best she could with the time and resources she had. Utilizing the same ads would ensure quality control and accuracy as well as conserve resources. We also discussed the need for ads to focus more on abortions of younger babies.

Another positive would be the vetting process. Smith and Terry agree they would rather promote zero candidates than candidates who aren’t credible and articulate.

Smith and Terry are hosting an instructional/recruitment meeting on January 2 in D.C. Find out more at www.missysmith2010.com, where you can also view Smith’s graphic campaign ads.

Now, back to the Super Bowl.

Terry is considering a run for president specifically with the goal to air a graphic abortion ad during the big game in 2012. Terry’s back-up plan if unable to raise enough funds, estimated at $2.5-3 million, would be to run his ad during either the AFC or NFC championship game two weeks prior.

This one I’m a little more hesitant about, although a lengthy conversation with Terry alleviated many of my misgivings.

One is Terry’s penchant for showmanship, but he assured me 100 percent of his ad would be dedicated to the atrocity of abortion.

Another is a concern for financial accountability, particularly for what may be a massive amount of donations. The names on Terry’s finance committee would be critical here.

Misgivings aside, running a graphic abortion ad during the Super Bowl would indeed be a pro-life activist’s “coup de grace,” as Terry said.

Iowa’s incoming pro-life Republican speaker of the House, Kraig Paulsen, noted on Iowa Public Television Nov. 20 that while abortion was not much of a topic on the campaign trail, Carhart’s Nov. 9 announcement that he was planning to open up shop in Council Bluffs “really elevated the whole discussion.”

Or, as the Des Moines Register put it, Carhart “pushed the issue, Paulsen said.”

Paulsen noted that consequently there were “several” legislative options under discussion.

One he mentioned was a law that would force abortionists to offer abortion-minded mothers the option of viewing an ultrasound of their babies.

Another was tightening a loophole in state law that currently allows late-term abortions for “health” of the mother, which basically amounts to abortion on demand, given the U.S. Supreme Court’s broad definition of “health.”

Another possibility would be enacting an abortion ban similar to Nebraska’s, which is what drove Carhart over the border to begin with. Nebraska’s Pain Capable Child Protection Act blocks abortionists from killing babies older than 20 weeks because they feel pain by that age.

Iowa Republican Gov.-elect Terry Branstad is pro-life, having defeated pro-abortion Democrat incumbent Chet Culver Nov. 2. He has promised to sign pro-life legislation.

Paulsen confirmed that the state House is overwhelmingly pro-life.

So the only branch of Iowa state government still controlled by pro-abort Democrats is the Senate, although just barely at 26-24.

Therefore, Iowans for Life is urging constituents to call Democrat Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal at 515-281-3901, prodding him to pass legislation in his chamber to stop Carhart. Ironically, Carhart’s new location would be in his district.

I expect Gronstal and Iowa Democrats are none too happy with Carhart for bringing them this public-relations nightmare.

I also expect abortion advocates are irritated with Carhart for triggering this call for more abortion restrictions. Currently NARAL gives Iowa a C+ on abortion, which is high by its standards. Pro-lifers would love for NARAL to bestow Iowa a flaming red F in the none too distant future.

Both Democrats and the abortion industry learned from the decade-long battle over the Partial Birth Abortion Ban that notoriety of second- and third-trimester abortions drives the public our way. Americans find the thought of killing older babies repugnant. Another irony: Carhart steered the PBA conversation, too.

There is also the issue of abortion-industry turf, which doesn’t get much publicity. But Planned Parenthood of the Heartland must certainly be livid with Carhart for impinging on its territory.

PPH already operates one clinic in Council Bluffs and two more in nearby Omaha, with a brand new PPH clinic scheduled to open in Omaha next month to replace one of the others. These are all less than 20 miles from Carhart’s current dump in Bellevue, Neb.

While PPH’s Omaha clinics don’t commit abortions, the Council Bluffs mill commits medical RU-486 abortions. And all three, plus an additional two more PPH clinics in the vicinity, refer to PPH’s Lincoln, Neb., mill only 50 miles away for surgical abortions.

So the area was already saturated by the blood of abortion even before Carhart’s planned expansion into Council Bluffs.

Speaking of RU-486, PPH and the industry are also undoubtedly unhappy with Carhart on that issue as well. When Carhart galvanized Iowan pro-life activists and legislators to block his late-term abortion expansion plans, he apparently also greased the skids to pass a law banning telemed RU-486 abortions. PPH secretly began committing these abortions via computer screen over two years ago. Paulsen said on Iowa Public Television his people were considering doing something about them as well.

Then there is Indiana, where Carhart has also promised to open a late-term mill. His announcement gave Indiana Right to Life the opening to call on legislators to pass a Nebraska-modeled fetal pain law.

And since Republicans cemented control of all three branches of government in Indiana Nov. 2, there is reason to believe such a bill will pass.

And Indiana pro-lifers, like pro-lifers in Iowa – and the rest of us – have none other than LeRoy Carhart to thank for opening the door.

Fortunately, just as opponents usually shake hands afterward, so do those friends.


But the rift that developed during the 2010 election cycle between Democrats for Life and basically the rest of the pro-life movement is irreparable, at least as long as Kristen Day remains its executive director.


Day became incensed when pro-life groups fulfilled their promise to target House pro-life Democrats for electoral defeat who voted for Obamacare sans the Stupak Amendment.

Pro-life groups considered those Democrats traitors, caving at the last moment to usher in taxpayer funding of abortion. These included Americans United for Life, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Family Research Council, the National Right to Life Committee, Priests for Life, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Susan B. Anthony List and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In fact, Kristen Day wholeheartedly opposed Obamacare if it excluded the Stupak Amendment in the months leading up to the March 21, 2010, cave-in of pro-life Democrats.

As recently as March 14, a week before Obamacare passed, Day forwarded to her e-mail list an Associated Press article entitled, “Dem House vote-counter lacks health care votes now,” with the comment, “It is going to be a long week.  Let’s hope we can keep Clyburn from the votes he needs.”

But Day underwent an astounding change of opinion following Obamacare’s passage, surely in large part due to her belief that President Obama’s executive order closed any and all abortion loopholes in the bill (which it did not – read NRLC’s thorough analysis).

Incredibly, the Democrats for Life website now hails Obamacare as “the most pro-life legislation of the last two years.”

Day began publicly bashing other pro-life groups, convinced their motive was not as stated but rather to function as covert operatives for the Republican Party. From Politics Daily, Nov. 3:

“They [pro-life groups] put all their eggs in one party,” said Kristen Day, executive director for Democrats for Life. … “They don’t want two pro-life parties because most of them want a Republican majority.”

The Nation, Oct. 28:

Says … Kristen Day: “I just wish they’d [SBA List] change their mission statement, to say they are trying to elect Republicans and trying to defeat pro-life Democrats.”

The Daily Caller, Nov. 6:

Kristen Day said … “We’ll see what the conservative groups want to do in the future, but right now it seems groups like the Susan B. Anthony List want to remove the pro-life voice from the Democratic Party.”

The Catholic News Agency, Nov. 5:

Day charged that conservative pro-lifers have been trying to cut down pro-life Democrats “for some time” because “they feel like the abortion issue is a winning issue for the Republicans and they don’t want the Democrats to take that away.”

I suppose all the aforementioned would be forgivable after political passions died down, but then Day went too far.

When Steve Driehaus, one of the embattled pro-life Democrats from Ohio, filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission, claiming this billboard SBA List planned to erect contained false information …

… Day submitted two affidavits on his behalf.

In the latter affidavit, Day relayed a statement she said NRLC’s Doug Johnson made during a private off-the-record meeting of pro-life groups (which he denies). She also relayed the details of an e-mail exchange she had with Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

Day relished Driehaus’ attempt to retrieve through the discovery process any documents, e-mails, or records that would link the SBA List to the Republican Party, writing in a Oct. 25 press release:

All records, including any coordinated communication with the Republican National Committee, will have to be turned over to lawyers for Congressman Steve Dreihaus [sic].

“This is an historic first step to stop the mudslinging and lies that have come to dominate American politics,” said Kristen Day. …

“Susan B. Anthony List together with other Republican dominated pro-life organizations, have adopted Rovian tactics to unfairly attack pro-life Democrats in furtherance of their true mission of electing a Republican Congress,” said Day. ”Pretending to be bipartisan while lying to defeat pro-life Democrats is simply not a good strategy to advance the pro-life movement in America.”

Earlier this week, Driehaus decided to drop his complaint. The Ohio Elections Commission will rule Dec. 2 whether to accept his request.

But the issue of Kristen Day’s betrayal of pro-life groups and confidences – erroneous or true – remains on the table and is insurmountable.

The next time Day becomes angry her affidavit may contain my name. It may contain my internal communications with her. It may contain her version of an off-the-record conversation she and I had. Maybe the next subpoena will be addressed to me.

The liberal activist Democrat lawyers who represented Driehaus in his complaint would have liked nothing better than to use his case to get to the internal communications of other national pro-life organizations.

Day has publicly anticipated the prospect of these being made public, which is to say, given over to our political opponents and to the mainstream media.

In fact, Kristen Day is an active agent of these efforts.

As one veteran insider told me, “I do not believe Kristen Day is a paid agent for Planned Parenthood posing as a pro-life activist.  But if such an agent ever did exist, she could hardly be more unworthy of trust or more destructive than Day has shown herself to be.”

For these reasons, Kristen Day should never again be allowed to attend any internal pro-life meeting. Prudence would also dictate that pro-lifers think carefully before communicating with her. Democrats for Life should be banned from inclusion in the pro-life circle until Day is gone and the group demonstrates it is worthy of trust again.

This week I’ll discuss what Abigail saw inside the mill where her mother worked. I have always been intrigued with the psyche of abortion workers and asked Abigail extensively about this.

Recall when Abigail was 13 years old her mother began pulling her from school every Friday to volunteer as what pro-lifers call a “deathscort,” someone who escorts mothers planning to abort from the parking lot, shielding them from pro-life sidewalk counselors attempting to engage them in conversation or provide written information.

So Abigail saw a lot as a semi-insider. I can only imagine how traumatized she must have been not only because she experienced all this as an adolescent and teenager but also as a closet pro-lifer.

Let me begin by saying this was 15 years ago. Since then the Toledo, Ohio, abortion clinic where Abigail’s mother worked has moved to a new location, although it is still owned by the same woman, a Wiccan when Abigail knew her. Abigail’s mother has also moved on, so I don’t know if the nefarious practices and conditions Abigail observed are ongoing.

I asked Abigail if the clinic aborted women who weren’t pregnant. Yes, she said, adding the clinic owner often joked “anyone who wants an abortion can have one, whether she’s pregnant or not!”

I asked Abigail if due dates were ever adjusted. I recall the hospital where I worked admitted a mother for an abortion for fetal anomalies at 27 and sixth-sevenths weeks’ gestation, according to her last menstrual period (LMP). But the attending physician charted that according to ultrasound she was only 23 weeks along, coincidentally the upper age limit allowed for abortions. The baby was born (alive) weighing two-and-a-half pounds, clearly as old as the LMP indicated.

Abigail witnessed similar scenarios. Since her clinic was only allowed to abort up to 16 weeks, due dates were either dialed down with the help of the mother, encouraged to “re-imagine” the date of her LMP. Or dates were manipulated by staff, who told the mother LMP dating was unreliable because women can skip periods or have spotting they don’t realize is a period.

“I don’t remember a woman ever being turned away because she was too advanced in her pregnancy,” Abigail wrote me. “The latest date I ever heard was 28 weeks, although women were always told their date was 16 weeks or less.”

What did staff think of aborting mothers? “They called them ‘stupid sluts’ if it wasn’t their first abortion, or ‘brood mares’ if they chose life and left before aborting,” wrote Abigail.

There was one particular scandal Abigail recalled of a clinic worker who accidentally got pregnant but decided against abortion.

“There was first the ideological issue,” Abby explained. “The accepted belief was that all unplanned pregnancies were ‘unwanted’ by default and should be aborted. So the clinic owner insisted the philosophically correct thing to do was abort the ‘unwanted’ baby and then get pregnant again intentionally to have a ‘planned, wanted’ baby.”

The pregnant staffer reminded the owner that included in the word “pro-choice” was “choice.” The issue then became what effect would a visibly pregnant worker have on patients? Would more of them choose life, causing the clinic to lose money? The owner ultimately had no legal “choice” but to keep the pregnant worker, who refused to take a leave of absence.

When I was lobbying for pro-life bills at the Illinois capital in the early 2000s, the ACLU lobbyist became pregnant. I couldn’t understand how she could testify for the culture of death while at the same time feeling preborn life inside her.

Pregnant pro-aborts obviously develop a mental schism. Abigail observed this with the pregnant clinic worker. “She appeared not to mind upsetting patients,” Abigail wrote me, “and she also appeared to delight in tormenting pro-lifers.”

The latter she would do by daily flashing her pregnant belly at sidewalk counselors, crowing, “Today’s the day! I’m having an abortion!”

She didn’t, of course, but continued to facilitate abortions after her daughter was born, bringing her to work so she could breast-feed. “I was charged with babysitting, upstairs in the clinic library,” Abigail wrote, “a job I relished, since it kept me away from the drama out on the sidewalk and also meant I got to cuddle and play with a baby, which I loved, even though my mother disapproved!”

It was during this time Abigail’s pro-life views were cemented not only by caring for the baby but also by reading “hostile” pro-life books in the library.

“There was a sort of delicious irony in reading pro-life books and caring for a baby in an abortion mill,” Abigail wrote me. “I remember thinking, ‘This is what I want my life to be someday.’ Praise God, that wish has come true!”

Abigail and her husband are parents to two beautiful boys.

Abigail describes her childhood until that time as normal. But the abortion “radicalized” her mother, Abigail told me, who came to decide abortion had not only been the right decision for her but was also good in a moral sense.

“She began to celebrate her abortion,” Abigail said, “explaining that now I would remain an only child.” But young Abigail was secretly horrified, because she had always wanted a sibling.

Abigail’s mother was and is a nurse. She became more involved in feminism and the abortion culture. She decided to switch careers and began working at her local abortion mill in Toledo, Ohio, as well as her local Planned Parenthood, which did not commit abortions.

On Abigail’s 11th birthday, her mother put her on the birth-control pill, admonishing her not to have sex but to nevertheless take precautions, since she could be raped. “Rape was a particular obsession,” Abigail told me. “I lived in absolute terror of it for my entire adolescence. The feminist mantra ‘every man is a potential rapist’ was frequently repeated.”

As Abigail’s mother became more deeply involved with feminism, she told Abigail all people were naturally bisexual and androgynous and that gender and sexuality were merely social constructs. She cut Abigail’s waist-length hair short, which she was not allowed to grow out again until she was an adult. She encouraged Abigail at age 12 to identify openly as a bisexual and forced her to wear GLBT pins on her backpack.

Abigail was raised Episcopalian, but the abortion prompted her mother to change religions. The clinic owner where Abigail’s mother worked was a Wiccan. Most of her new friends followed a Wicca-oriented New Age path and worshipped fertility, warrior and death goddesses. Abigail’s mother dabbled in all the aforementioned but settled on Buddhism. She banned Bibles and discussion of Christianity from the house.

Open your eyes to the ugliness inside the abortion industry with “Lime 5: Exploited by Choice”

“I dutifully wore the crystal and goddess jewelry I was given and the ubiquitous Birkenstock sandals,” Abigail said. “I told people at school I was a witch, although when pressed I could never articulate exactly what that was or what I did that made me one.”

When Abigail turned 13 her mother began pulling her from school on Fridays to work as what pro-lifers call a “deathscort” at her abortion mill, one who attempts to usher pregnant mothers past pro-life sidewalk counselors into the mill before they can hear or see anything that would cause them to change their minds.

Abigail developed a mixed view of pro-lifers. Some were friendly and sympathetic, but some were noisy and militant.

“The worst part was when they would try to persuade me to agree with their view,” Abigail told me, “little realizing I already did. But if I admitted it, the other deathscorts would report back to my mother and I would be punished.”

Abigail developed her secret pro-life beliefs by reading “hostile” pro-life books at the abortion clinic, by listening to sidewalk counselors, by seeing graphic photos of aborted babies at the mill and by learning about fetal development in school.

And Abigail was greatly impacted by post-abortive mothers “coming in and out, often crying, sometimes downcast with a hostile-looking partner or parent dragging them along by the arm, sometimes lashing out in rage – but never, ever calm, confident and happy, which is what I had been told, over and over again, was in fact the case: Everyone who has an abortion wants one.  Everyone feels relieved afterwards.  No one ever suffers psychological ill effects, whether before, during, or afterwards – and if they say they do, it’s only because they’ve been brainwashed by evil Christians who want to keep women barefoot, pregnant and illiterate.  They must have been weak.  That’s not our fault.  We did what was best for them and now they’re being ungrateful.  They should just grow up and get over it.”

Abigail first smoked marijuana at the clinic owner’s house at age 15. Drug use within the abortion culture is “quite common,” Abigail told me, “particularly marijuana and LSD.” Pot was kept at the clinic and “smoked communally after work each day.”

At age 18, Abigail went off to college and accidentally got pregnant. She and her boyfriend both opposed abortion but didn’t think they were ready to raise a baby. They decided on adoption.

But Abigail’s mother would hear none of that. A controlling and volatile woman, she threatened to cut off Abigail’s school funding unless she aborted. She insisted that Abigail fly home and abort at her clinic, where she would gather friends to celebrate.

“I got the VIP treatment,” Abigail said. “Before I knew it I was on the table and waiting for everyone to crowd in so the doctor could begin.  There were eight people in the room, including my mother’s two best friends. One drove 100 miles. They were so excited.  They kept saying things to me like, ‘You’re part of the sisterhood now!’”

When it was over, Abigail’s mother looked at her with tears in her eyes and told her how proud she was. Despite Abigail’s previous academic and artistic accomplishment, she realized “this was the only time in my life that my mother had ever said she was proud of me.”

I asked Abigail about the abortion worship I’d heard so much about. “It is very real,” she explained. “It can sound fantastical, but some go so far as to worship death goddesses like Kali and Hecate and consider abortion to be a form of sacrifice. They are often obsessed with their menstruation and blood as well.”

After her abortion, Abigail’s good grades spiraled downward. Both she and her boyfriend eventually dropped out of school and drifted apart. She became addicted to eating – anorexia and bulimia – partying and cutting.

When she was 22, Abigail met her husband and began to get her life back together. After several miscarriages, they had two children before Abigail was rendered infertile when her endometrium had to be removed during early-intervention cancer treatment.

Abigail continued some of her destructive habits until last year when her oldest son was diagnosed with autism. She began conducting online research for help, but got nowhere with the atheist groups. “Their overwhelming response was, ‘I’m sorry you weren’t able to find out and abort him in time.’”

The thought of not having her son, difficult though his condition sometimes is, was unthinkable.  “I realized I was a good mother, a loving mother and, most importantly, now, without question, a pro-life mother,” she said.

Abigail began to research Christianity, which “somehow didn’t seem as hostile and threatening now.  In fact, it seemed like just what I needed.”

Four months ago Abigail accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She signs off her e-mails now with a line by St. Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Amen.

At the same time Abigail became actively involved with the pro-life movement. Last month, she shared her testimony at a Silent No More post-abortive rally and then did a radio interview. Her mother now refuses to speak to her.

But Abigail’s heart is for her mother and the abortion culture. She wrote in her testimony:

As important as my faith now is to me, it is not the most important lesson I want people to take away from this.

It is important to recognize and effectively counter the culture of death that drives the abortion industry.  Most people who are pro-choice have no idea about it.  If they have given the issue any thought at all, they view it as either a religious one – “Christians hate women and sex” – or a civil-rights one – “Women have the right to make their own reproductive decisions.” Many are unaware of the scientific facts about fetal development.  Many are unaware of the statistics and medical facts regarding miscarriages, infertility, infection, ectopic pregnancy, difficult births, cancers and mental-health issues that so often occur in post-abortive women.  Many are unaware of the non-religious arguments against abortion.

It is worth noting that I considered myself pro-life – although not an activist – for 10 years before coming to belief in God.  I was, and am, pro-life because I believe that the potential negative physical and mental effects on women outweigh the dubious positive of “not having to have a baby,” and that the fetus, from the moment of conception, is a separate human being with unique DNA who deserves the right to life as much as any person, regardless of their state of weakness, helplessness, or dependency.

The value of a person is without measure.  It cannot – should not – be measured by intelligence, strength, appearance, economic status, ability to communicate, mobility, or any other subjective manmade standard.  A person is a person, and if we allow – even encourage – them to be killed in abortion, then all manner of currently unspeakable horrors may become commonplace.

I have hope that this may not come to pass.  Through a combination of effective outreach and activism, prayer, public testimony, sidewalk counseling and simple private conversations, I believe we can – and will – change this world, one person at a time, from an uncaring, selfish, shallow culture of death to a vibrant, joyful culture of life.

Note: Abigail Seidman may be contacted through Jill Stanek via e-mail.