Letters: Facts are abundant in anti-abortion movie, 'Bloodmoney'

The Muskegon Chronicle By The Muskegon Chronicle The Muskegon Chronicle
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on March 10, 2011 at 6:56 AM

The “As Readers See It” column on Feb, 21, contained the following Chronicle introduction to a letter: “Our letter writer points out inaccuracies in an anti-abortion movie, “Bloodmoney.” The long letter written by Rebecca McCroskey from North Muskegon was entitled “Facts are Lacking in Anti-Abortion Movie.”   

The movie contains facts, not inaccuracies; however, Ms. McCroskey’s letter was her opinion and DID NOT contain facts.

You were most gracious in the space you allowed for Ms. McCroskey’s opinions. I can only hope you’ll be as gracious with space to present the following facts.

The film’s narrator is Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr.  Her famous uncle was a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood and won the Margaret Sanger Award in 1966.  Martin Luther King Jr. supported the services Planned Parenthood provided to the poor, which at that time DID NOT include abortion.  Dr. King was killed in 1968.  Abortion became legal during the entire nine months of pregnancy for any reason in our country in 1973.

Alveda King has made a career of accusing abortion providers of outright genocide of African Americans.  Beginning in 2003, Michigan abortion data became available by race and immediately confirmed the abortion crisis in the African-American community. The tragic data show that abortions among black women are terribly disproportionate given their percentage of the female population. The data for 2009 in Michigan showed that black women accounted for 42.5% of all abortions despite comprising only 16.6% of women age 15-44.  Black women abort their children at a rate three to five times higher than women of other races. Demographically speaking, this data is catastrophic.

There have been many pro-choice supporters that have changed their minds, among them are Carol Everett, Norma McCorvey and Dr. Bernard Nathanson.  

Carol Everett was mentioned in Ms. McCroskey’s letter and she questions her claim to have “seen the light” because of Carol’s life experiences.  Many people have changed their minds on important issues over time as they learn the facts.  Carol is one person who worked in the abortion industry and changed her mind.  Here are facts on a few more people with first hand experience on abortion that also changed their minds.

At one time Dr. Bernard Nathanson was deeply entrenched in the American pro-abortion movement, having co-founded the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and overseen 75,000 abortions as director of an abortion clinic.

Nathanson’s high-profile conversion to the pro-life movement was sparked by the advent of the ultrasound machine in the early 1970s.  He has related how he was moved to acknowledge the humanity of the unborn child after he watched an unborn baby recoil from a vacuum abortion device before being sucked from its mother’s womb.  Nathanson created a video from this ultrasound abortion experience entitled The Silent Scream. He began using it to spread the pro-life message.  In an interview with the Washington Times in 2009 Nathanson explained: “My switch to pro-life had nothing to do with religion.” Instead he changed his mind purely “based on the scientific evidence ... based on fetoscopies and ultrasound studies.”

Ms. McCroskey’s letter says the film claims that Plaintiff Roe was duped.  Norma McCorvey, better known by the legal pseudonym "Jane Roe", was the plaintiff in the landmark American lawsuit Roe v. Wade in 1973.  In 1969, at the age of 21, McCorvey became pregnant.  She falsely asserted that she had been raped, so she would then be eligible to obtain a legal abortion (with the understanding that Texas's anti-abortion laws allowed abortion in the cases of rape and incest). Due to lack of police evidence or documentation, the scheme was not successful and McCorvey would later admit the situation was a fabrication.  She attempted to obtain an illegal abortion, but the respective clinics had been closed down by authorities. Eventually, McCorvey was referred to attorneys Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington.  The case took three years of trials to reach the United States Supreme Court. In the meantime, McCorvey had given birth to the baby in question, who was eventually adopted.   

McCorvey revealed herself to be "Jane Roe" of the decision within days of its issuance and stated that she sought an abortion because she was unemployable and greatly depressed.  In the 1980s, McCorvey asserted that she had been the "pawn" of two young and ambitious lawyers (Weddington and Coffee) who were looking for a plaintiff with whom they could challenge the Texas state law prohibiting abortion.  

Ms. McCroskey’s letter states, “Next is the standard pro-life attack on science.  The film’s “hand picked” scientists claim the irrefutable, absolute word on when “personhood” begins.”  The concept of personhood is closely tied to legal and political concepts such as citizenship.  The beginning of human personhood is a concept long debated by religion and philosophy; however, iIt IS a scientific fact when LIFE begins.  The question raised by pro-abortion people is not when life begins, but when life is viable.  It is a fact that an unborn baby is dependent on his/her mother to sustain their life, just as there are many times throughout our life that we are dependent on others to sustain our life - a newborn infant, a toddler, during illness or an accident, the elderly - to name a few.  

Dr. Alan Guttmacher, founder of the staunchly pro choice Guttmacher Institute and former president of Planned Parenthood, told expectant parents that “a facet that makes the obstetrician’s burden unique in the whole field of medicine is his double obligation; he simultaneously cares for two patients, the mother and the infant… The essential step in the initiation of life is by fertilization, the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and the fusion of the two cells into a single cell.” (Dr. Alan Guttmacher, Pregnancy and Birth: A Book for Expectant Parents New American Library; Revised Ed edition January 1, 1962)

You can see for yourself…”google” The Silent Scream…you decide…is this a life?

For many, Planned Parenthood is a trusted name in affordable reproductive health care. Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) would like to keep that standing in the hundreds of communities where a center is operated. Planned Parenthood would also like to remain the largest abortion provider in the United States. To reach both goals, Planned Parenthood must hide the truth behind their public image and provide misleading information to women who are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy.

Approximately, 1 in 4 abortions performed in the United States are now performed at Planned Parenthood facilities.  According to the PPFA 2007-2008 Annual Report, none of the more than 860 Planned Parenthood “health centers” provided any true adoption assistance. In 1997, 9,381 women were referred to other agencies for adoption assistance.  By 2008, that number had dropped to 2,405 women. While referrals for adoption assistance declined the number of abortions performed increased. During 1997, 165,174 abortions were performed; however, by 2008 the PPFA abortion business has dramatically increased to 324,008 abortions performed. Planned Parenthood now commits approximately 34 abortions for every pregnant prenatal client it sees and commits 134 abortions for every adoption referral.  Abortion is clearly the number #1 choice for Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood operates as a “non-profit” organization, but consistently takes in more revenues than it spends. Nationally, their 2007-08 Annual Report showed a profit (income in excess of expenditures) of $85 million with an annual revenue of more than $1 billion. Despite making a steady profit as the nation's largest abortion provider, the report showed PPFA received nearly $350 million in taxpayer funds that year.

Like the national organization, Michigan Planned Parenthood "non-profit" affiliates also make steady profits. For 2004, Michigan’s six affiliates reported a profit of more than $1.2 million with almost $20 million in revenues.

Ms. McCroskey states in her letter “The boring fact is that most clinics like Planned Parenthood’s are closely regulated.”  In truth, the fact actually is ALL abortion clinics are regulated, but the regulations that are in place to protect women are not enforced because of lack of funding.

A point of clarification on her statement, “If Pro-life advocates would only use their “well-funded” organizing power….” - the “funding” is donations.

On one point we agree, we want to reduce the number of abortions, and in that we have been successful!  Michigan data provided by the Michigan departments of Community Health and Management & Budget state abortions performed in Michigan during 2009 decreased by 3,613 abortions – down 13.9% from 2008. Abortions in Michigan are at an all-time low of 22,357. Since 1987, the peak year for abortions performed in Michigan (49,098), total abortions have fallen by 54.4%.  Approximately half of the abortion clinics in the state have closed down during this time period.  

The data provided also shows that Abortion is not “a decision between a woman and her doctor.” In Michigan in 2009, 84.1% of women indicated that they “self-referred” to the abortionist with whom they likely had no prior doctor-patient relationship.  Women deserve better.

Patricia Vendal

Norton Shores