Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Dad Confronts Abortion Protesters Rebuttal

On October 23, 2010, a video was posted on YouTube that has now been viewed 716,000 times as of today. Why is it so popular? Apparently, it is popular because of a man who had an angry tirade against pro-life protesters holding signs outside of an abortion clinic.

The man stated that the pro-life protesters yelled at his wife while she was entering the facility. I have been a protester in front of abortion clinics before. I know how hard it is to get even one word heard by those who enter those clinics. The protesters know nothing regarding each person's situation other than there abortions are provided in that facility on that particular day. Thus, the most important information is quickly stated loudly to those who enter it ("please do not kill your baby," "what you have inside of you is a baby, it has a heartbeat"). Oftentimes literature is handed to these people as they enter the clinic. Usually the people who enter the clinic do not accept the literature; most clinics instruct their patients to have no interaction with pro-lifers including to not accept any literature. Other times, the literature is ripped out of their hands by clinic staff once they enter the clinic.

Furthermore, during the few protests in front of clinics that I have been to, I have been the one on the receiving end of violence and yelling. People have thrown things at me as they drive by. Numerous people yell obscenities at me as they walk or drive by. Some people who enter the clinic go into a yelling tirade. One woman who was entering the clinic yelled at those protesting "f*** you! I'm going to kill my parasite! You guys [pro-lifers] are worthless pieces of s***!" I can guarantee you that these pro-life protesters were peaceful and welcoming to those who wished to talk.

As illustrated in the following video, it was the man with the video camera that was being irate while the pro-life protesters were hardly ever given the chance to respond in a peaceful way. I will respond to the majority of the man's talking points after you watch the behavior of both the man and the pro-life protesters.







What are you looking to accomplish here?
Simple: to prevent unborn babies from being killed at the hands of another. Would you protest a clinic that killed born children? Pro-lifers value the unborn as much as we do the born.



We were trying to have a kid, [but our kid has "mermaid syndrome" - sirenomelia]. You're yelling at my wife, for having nothing more than having a dead baby inside of her?
An unborn human being who has sirenomelia is not dead. To the contrary, an unborn human being with that condition can very much be alive. Sirenomelia is a congenital deformity that results in their being fused legs and oftentimes a lack of a lower urinary tract and patent anus. Many cases of sirenomelia result in death shortly after birth (at times it does happen before due to chronic oligohydramnios from the lack of fetal urine production). There are rarely survivors. However, there are a few survivors of this condition. [1] To assume that an unborn child with this condition will die is to deny the very real possibility.



Do you maybe want to ask before?
As mentioned previously, there is no time at all to be asking what each person is there at the clinic for. Women who enter the clinic get out of their car and walk into the clinic in approximately one minute. This is one of the many reasons why Crisis Pregnancy Centers exist. There are many of these in my own immediate area and they are staffed by life-affirming and well-trained volunteers.



You have no idea what you are doing to [women who enter the clinic].
Many women put their trust into the doctors and paraprofessional people involved in the abortion industry. After all, women reason with themselves, these people have a really good education and know what they are doing. Carol Everett ran abortion clinics for a living where 35,000 abortions took place. She wrote a book titled Blood Money. In her book, Carol Everett chronicled how abortions were sold. Abortions were sold as a product; as if abortion was a product at a furniture store. "Counselors" were trained to play on the emotions of women and hide facts from them. [2,3] Thus, it would be wise for all people to seek information regarding abortion from all sides of the debate. More importantly, non-biased scientific information should be sought. Education is key.



Because of people like you, no one wants to perform these anymore.
Unfortunately, the numbers of abortions completed in the United States continue to remain high; "In 2006, 846,181 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC from 49 reporting areas. This total presents a 3% increase from the 820,151 abortions reported for 2005 [NOTE: the actual numbers of abortion are higher since multiple states are not counted in the CDC's statistics]." [4] Why? Because there the industry is highly unregulated and the procedure is vastly legal and unimpeded by government intervention.



There are not really many places to go anymore.
Aside from abortion clinics, approximately "367 doctors’ offices perform" abortions when asked by their private patients in the United States. [5] Altogether, "there were 1,787 abortion providers in the United States" in 2005 and "The number of abortion clinics has remained relatively constant." [5] However, there have been recent reports from pro-life sources who claim that there has been a drastic decline in abortion clinics nation-wide. One such source Operation Rescue who claims that "over two-thirds of the nation's abortion clinics have closed in the past 18 years." [6]. At best, the Alan Guttmacher institute, the research arm of the largest abortion provider in the United States, Planned Parenthood, the availability of abortion services has remained relatively stable. Thus, this man may be right that the number could be declining but there still are plenty of abortion clinics available to the public.



[Abortion is a] time sensitive in nature.
Time sensitive in that the further a baby develops the harder his tissue and the larger his body becomes thus making abortions more difficult. The irate father is correct in this assertion.



My wife does not want to deliver a still-born baby.
She wants a dead baby as soon as possible rather than an abnormally developed and very unhealthy baby? This is called discrimination against the disabled. It would be very rare for anyone to suggest killing a disabled born person, yet it is socially acceptable to do so to the disabled unborn? Even unborn children with Down's Syndrome and non-fatal neural tube defects such as spina bifida are discriminated against with purposeful death (abortion).



Why don't you go help average kids? Why don't you try to stop the problem before-hand?
The woman in the video answered that she has adopted children. Indeed, adoption is the answer to helping women in crisis pregnancies. It is the ultimate sacrifice to give of oneself in the raising of another for the sake of another.

Helping children? What are these protesters doing? They are trying to save the very lives of children at their most vulnerable stage of development: in the womb! I'd say that's helping "average kids." Further, should no one help "non-average kids" such as those with disabilities? A child with sirenomelia is someone with a grave disability and needs the most help from others! That child needs a chance at life--NOT absolute death!

Stopping the problem before-hand? Regardless of the efforts of organizations like Planned Parenthood and the vast majority of public schools that push contraceptives there are still a high number of unintended pregnancies. Planned Parenthood's research arm the Guttmacher Institute admits that "for teens, abortion
rates and numbers decline due to increasing abstinence and teens
continuing unwanted pregnancies"-a clear admission that abstinence works more efficiently than contraceptives. [5] Indeed, failure of condoms and all reversible contraceptives is 19% in the first two years; further, those who are targeted most to use reversible birth control have the highest rates (higher than 19%) of failure (teens, hispanics, blacks, poor, and unmarried) [7,8,9]. Contraception does not work in preventing pregnancies. Thus, it makes sense to defend those "unwanted" or "unintended" children to survive as pro-life protesters do.



Why do you stand out here to make people feel bad about themselves?
When a pro-life protester speaks the truth ("please do not kill your baby") they are neither making people feel good nor bad about themselves. If the truth hurts, so be it. The truth is the most important thing for all people in the world in all situations. If a woman is unsure about having an abortion due to these statements then that women should take the time and research the topic more. Abortion is not something to be taken lightly. Even those who are ardently pro-choice frown upon the perspective that abortion is similar to a tooth extraction--it is NOT. It is a lot more than that. Pro-lifers contend that it is the taking of another person's life! Scientifically, that is the most true statement a person could make.



Lowest common denominator [in reference to the pro-lifers].
Rather than judging someone without giving them a chance to talk, why don't you engage these people in a civil and calm conversation? You may find that they are not the lowest common denominator. You may find that these protesters have a heart willing to care for a child with sirenomelia. Indeed, there are plenty of peri-natal hospice programs available for this very reason: to care for ill newborn children who are expected to die at birth or shortly thereafter. [10]

The name of the man in the video is Aaron Gouveia. His article regarding his experience surrounding this video is available through the following link: URL [11]. The following is a very thought-provoking response to the father in the video:

Matt says:
November 1, 2010 at 10:34 am

Don explains a very valid point, and I don’t think he is trying to be obtuse. “Being a parent and being pregnant are two very different things.” That may be the case ONLY if you believe that becoming a Parent only happens when a child leaves the womb, versus when the child in conceived. “A fetus cannot survive outside of the womb.”…that is true, but neither can a baby survive on its own. It’s not a viable argument.

Think of it this way...if you TRULY BELIEVED that a child is created at conception, then you would be fighting for the life of a child.

To put it in perspective, if an abortion clinic was a clinic for mothers of 0-2 month old kids to go and kill their children, would not pretty much everyone on this board be across the street screaming in outrage? Even for a child who would die or was suffering?

So the argument is really about, if an unborn child is a child, or not. This has always been the argument. Some people believe that others are misled by thinking that a child only becomes a child at some unclear point during a late term of the pregnancy, or after the child leaves the womb. Others believe some are misled thinking that a fetus younger than some point is a child.

In this case, the child’s outlook was terminal from a doctors point of view, but at that term, the child still had time to develop, and doctor’s are not always right. I could not in this case have decided not to give my child every chance.

I feel for the father and mother in this article and their situation, but I also sympathize with the protesters, as I know how they feel watching people enter the facility.



Indeed, "[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm … unites with a female gamete or oocyte … to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual." [12]



[1] A Warm Place (blog), "The Little Mermaid Syndrome," written by (unknown author, can't seem to find out who). **The links are the most important in this source** URL

[2] Blood Money: Getting Rich Off Woman's Right to Choose, written by Carol Everett, 1991, 1992, published by the Heidi Group.

[3] Blood Money: A Documentary. Access a trailer to this movie containing first-hand accounts regarding the business of abortion: URL to YouTube

[4] Center for Disease Control, "CDC’s Abortion Surveillance System FAQs" accessed on November 16, 2010. URL

[5] The Alan Guttmacher Institute (research arm of Planned Parenthood, the United State's largest abortion provider), "An Overview of Abortion in the United States" - a presentation with slides. PDF

[6] Opposing Views (blog), "Number of abortion clinics continues to decline." URL

[7] Center for Disease Control (CDC), "2002 PRAMS Surveillance Report: Multistate Exhibits: Unintended Pregnancy and Contraceptive Use." URL

[8] Ranjit N, Bankole A, Darroch JE, Singh S. Contraceptive failure in the first two years of use: differences across socioeconomic subgroups. Family Planning Perspectives 2001;33(1):19–27.

[9] Fu H, Darroch JE, Haas T, Ranjit N. Contraceptive failure rates: new estimates from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. Family Planning Perspectives 1999;31(2):56–63.

[10] Perinatal Hospice and Palliative Care: A Gift of Time (website). URL

[11] Good Men Project (magazine), "Confronting Life," October 23, 2010 By Aaron Gouveia. URL

[12] The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed. 1998, pg. 2-18.