which reads: "c o s forces its female members to get abortions" (february 10, 2008) in 2001, former scientologist astra woodcraft told the san francisco chronicle that she decided to attempt to get pregnant because she thought this would help her get out of scientology, due to its practices with regard to abortion. "if you get pregnant, they'll send you to one of their smaller, lower-level organizations. in reality, you're very heavily pressured to get an abortion , but i figured it was my only way to get out," said woodcraft. a bio page on a website woodcraft created in 2008 said she "left scientology for good when the church tried to pressure her to have an abortion". scientology leaders told the san francisco chronicle that the organization does not have a policy on abortion, but instead leaves the decision up to the individual. in 2003, the times of india reported that "forced abortions, beatings, starvation are considered tools of discipline in this church." in 2005, a former high-ranking member of the sea org told the new york post, "it is estimated that there have been some 1,500 abortions carried out by women in the sea organization since the implementation of a rule in the late '80s that members could not remain in the organization if they decided to have children. and if members who have been in the sea organization for, say, 10 years do decide to have kids, they are dismissed with no more than $1,000" as a severance package. former scientologist and sea org member karen pressley recounted to andrew morton in the 2008 book tom cruise: an unauthorized biography that she was often asked by fellow scientologists for loans so that they could get an abortion and remain in the sea org. "i had a real problem because i don't believe in abortion," said pressley. she repeated the allegation in a book she wrote, detailing her escape from scientology. morton wrote that "scientology officials reject as 'simply false' the assertion that sea org women are encouraged, as a matter of policy, to have abortions." in april 2008, astra woodcraft appeared on the abc news program nightline along with jenna miscavige hill, the niece of scientology leader david miscavige. astra woodcraft said that when she was about 17 years old, scientology came up with a policy that sea org members could not have children. "if you get pregnant when you're in the sea org, you either have to leave or you get an abortion. i know people who have gotten like up to four abortions," said hill. astra's father lawrence woodcraft told nightline, "she was very upset when she was about 16 or 17 and told me they suddenly decided to change the rules and sea org members were no longer allowed to have children." two years later, astra became pregnant, and she said that she was asked about this by a high-ranking member of the sea org, "a very high-level sea org member one day saw me and asked me what i was doing and i said i was leaving and i said i was pregnant and he said, 'oh, is it too late for an abortion?' i didn't even know what to say in response." former scientologist and actor jason beghe and former scientologist and sea org member marc headley commented on issues of scientology and abortion in september 2008 at a conference in hamburg, germany sponsored by germany’s department of interior affairs. "it is against the codes of sea org to have children. if a female staff member for some reason was married, and got pregnant, then she's basically forced or convinced to have an abortion. if she refuses to have an abortion, then she will be offloaded from the sea organization and in most cases, declared; and she will not be able to speak to any of her family or friends that are scientologists," said headley. in 2009, husband and wife marc and claire headley filed lawsuits against scientology's golden era productions, asserting the organization participated in human trafficking and violated united states labor law on the state and federal level. claire headley was an employee at golden era productions from 1991 to 2005, and stated in the lawsuit that she worked "long, hard hours for illegal wages, was forced to have (two) abortions to keep her job and was subjected to violations of personal rights and liberties for the purpose of obtaining forced labor." scientology representative tommy davis described the headleys' lawsuits as "utterly meritless" in a statement to the press-enterprise. davis said that "as members of the religious order called the sea organization, we have dedicated our lives to the service of the scientology religion." he told the press-enterprise, "here's the thing that's so disingenuous about (the lawsuits). when you join the sea organization, you know you are voluntarily signing up and becoming a part of a highly dedicated, highly disciplined, very regulated lifestyle as part of a religious order. it's tough. it's not meant to be easy." laura ann decrescenzo filed a lawsuit in 2009 against scientology, in which she asserted the organization had engaged in "human trafficking, obstructing justice, employment violations, discrimination and violation of privacy". "there are two very different versions of scientology. there is the scientology as presented to the outside world and there is a different scientology in which plaintiff lived and worked for approximately 13 years. in the scientology world plaintiff experienced, 12-year-old children are taken from their homes, asked to sign employment contracts and put to work. pregnant women are coerced to have abortions," wrote decrescenzo in her complaint. she asserted in the complaint that while in scientology she was "coerced to have an abortion". the complaint stated, "at age 12, plaintiff signed her first 'contract of employment.' she left school, home and family to work for the church of scientology international. this required that plaintiff move to another state. she was married to a co-worker at age 16, became pregnant while still a minor and was coerced by csi to have an abortion at age 17." in march 2009, investigative journalist nathan baca of kesq-tv interviewed former scientologist maureen bolstad. bolstad said that women who worked at scientology's headquarters were forced to have abortions, or faced being declared a "suppressive person" by the organization's management. bolstand told baca, "if a woman gets pregnant, and does not abort the child, then they are declared a suppressive person. because, it kind of started out gradually. at first, the thing was, the church of scientology international did not want to pay for child care." l. ron hubbard stated those declared suppressive persons, "cannot be granted the rights ordinarily accorded rational beings". as part of their protest movement against scientology, in june 2009 the group anonymous released a statement highlighting what it referred to as "abuses in the sea org", including "child labor, coerced abortions, harsh working conditions, human trafficking, cruel punishment, disconnection of families", and asserted a "cadet org" for children within the sea org "was disbanded as unnecessary when abortions were made mandatory for sea org women." australian politician nick xenophon, an independent member of the australian senate, gave a speech to the australian parliament in november 2009, about statements he had received from former scientologists. he said that he had been told members of the organization had coerced pregnant female employees to have abortions. "i am deeply concerned about this organisation and the devastating impact it can have on its followers," said senator xenophon, and he requested that the australian senate begin an investigation into scientology. according to the letters presented by senator xenophon, the organization was involved in "ordering" its members to have abortions. former scientologist aaron saxton sent a letter to senator xenophon stating he had participated in coercing pregnant women within the organization to have abortions. "aaron says women who fell pregnant were taken to offices and bullied to have an abortion. if they refused, they faced demotion and hard labour. aaron says one staff member used a coat hanger and self-aborted her child for fear of punishment," said senator xenophon. carmel underwood, another former scientologist, said she had been put under "extreme pressure" to have an abortion, and that she was placed into a "disappearing programme", after refusing. underwood was the executive director of scientology's branch in sydney, australia. former scientologists anna and dean detheridge of sydney had been scientology staffers for 17 years, and according to senator xenophon they had been "subjected to physical and mental abuse during their time with the organisation". the senator said that, "anna and dean also provided evidence where information they and others have revealed to the church have been used to blackmail and control. they also provided more information about coerced abortions." mike ferriss, the head of scientology in new zealand, denied the claims of forced abortions, saying to 3 news "there are no forced abortions in scientology and if aaron saxton or anyone else coerced someone into having an abortion then they are way outside of the church's policy and ethical conduct. we respect human life and the rights of mother's and families in such matters. the church does not intervene." in march 2010, former scientologist janette lang stated that at age 20 she became pregnant by her boyfriend while in the organization, and her boyfriend's scientology supervisors "coerced them into terminating the pregnancy". "we fought for a week, i was devastated, i felt abused, i was lost and eventually i gave in. it was my baby, my body and my choice, and all of that was taken away from me by scientology," said lang. lang explained why she chose this time to come forward, "i'm speaking out today because the time has come for victims of scientology to be heard." scientology spokesperson virginia stewart rejected the statements made by janette lang, and asserted, "the church of scientology considers the family unit and children to be of the utmost importance and does not condone nor force anyone to undertake any medical procedure whatsoever." commentary in his book a piece of blue sky, author jon atack commented, "a rather peculiar aspect of dianetics: the modern science of mental health was hubbard's emphasis on 'attempted abortions.'" atack pointed out that hubbard thought attempted abortions caused ulcers, and noted, "he had been suffering from a duodenal ulcer since 1943. author george malko wrote in scientology: the now religion that "hubbard's extensive discussion of things sexual, his concern with abortions, beatings, coitus under duress, flatulence which causes pressure on the foetus, certain cloacal references, all suggest to me a fascination which borders on the obsessive, as if he possessed a deep-seated hatred of women. all of them are being beaten, most of them prove to be unfaithful, few babies are wanted." hubbard's interest in abortions was criticized in the 1965 anderson report as "a morbid preoccupation with matters relating to abnormal behaviour of women" and "a prurient and distinctly unhealthy attachment to abortions, rape, perversion, and similar matters." "children take people off-line, so they discourage members of the sea org from having children." —j. gordon melton new religions scholar j. gordon melton told the san francisco chronicle that scientology discourages members of the sea org from having children. "they don't look at children as a resource, but as a problem. children take people off-line, so they discourage members of the sea org from having children," said melton. in the book new religious movements and religious liberty in america, melton contributed a chapter, "a contemporary ordered religious community: the sea organization". in the piece, melton commented on statements he had seen about scientology and abortion in "anti-scientology literature". melton wrote, "it has been asserted in some anti-scientology literature that the church had, at least for a time period, demanded that any female sea org members who became pregnant obtain an abortion. i have been unable to find any verification of that allegation." melton went on to assert, "given the nature of the church, were this ever to have become a policy of the sea org, there would have undoutedly been a paper trail of documents which, if they existed, have never been produced." in an article in the marburg journal of religion, stephen a. kent discussed scientology and abortion, writing "because the attitude among some