Chapter 10, Part VIII: I’m Not Perfect Either
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? college biology student wrote a paper on the topic of the telemarketing of abortion.? A friend who was considering an abortion called the state’s largest abortion clinic.?
The conversation went like this:
Caller: ? What form of payment do you accept?
Clinic: ? We accept Visa or Master Charge.? No personal checks are accepted.? We accept cashiers checks, Travelers Checks and money orders.
The caller was then transferred to another lady at the clinic.
Caller: ? What is the cost for an abortion?
Clinic: ? Terminations between 8-12 weeks are preferred and cost $300.? When was your last period?
Caller: ? I’m about 12 weeks pregnant.
Clinic: ? We do an ultrasound first.? The cost is $75.? We can take you this Thursday for the ultrasound.
Caller: ? I’d like to think about it first.
Clinic: ? After 12 weeks the fee increases $50-$75 each week up to $400 plus $75 for the ultrasound.? Counseling is available. ? We do good counseling.? We don’t counsel for abortion;? we don’t counsel against abortion.? But I’ll tell you this, its a fetus, not a baby.? We’re not talking you into or out of anything.? Your decision needs to be made quickly because otherwise it will stretch into a two- day procedure.? You come in the first day to have the laminaria? inserted to dilate the cervix and a sedative.? You go home for the night.? The next day you come back for the procedure.? It’s not considered a baby it’s still a fetus.
Caller:? ? Do you have prenatal information?
Clinic:? ? Of course.? Do you have children?
Caller: ? Yes.
Clinic: ? How old are you?
Caller: ? 38.
Clinic: ? Then you need to come in right away for amniocentesis!
Caller:? ? Amniocentesis?? Why would I need amniocentesis?
Clinic:? ? Everyone 35 and older needs to have amniocentesis!
Caller:? ? Why would I need to have amniocentesis?? In order to decide to abort?
Clinic:? ? Would you want a Down’s Syndrome baby?
Caller:? ? I don’t know.? I’d have to think about it.? I’m not perfect either.
What the lady at the clinic didn’t know was that the caller valued ALL human life, even that which is considered less than perfect.? The caller had experienced and survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer? as a teenager.? What others might consider a life not worth living, the caller considered precious.
Abortion clinic personnel are trained to market callers to purchase their product - abortion.? Providing misinformation or no information at all about prenatal development is only one marketing technique.? Another technique is pinpointing the caller’s fear and magnifying it.? In this case the caller was an “older†mother, so the clinic magnified the caller’s possible fear of giving birth to a child who might be born with Down’s Syndrome.?
There are several stages of prenatal development including the zygote, embryo? and fetal stages.? “At eight weeks, 4 centimeters (1.6 inches,) the developing individual is no longer an embryo, but a fetus.? Everything that will be found in the fully developed human being has now been established.†? [1]? The child’s final stage of development prior to birth is that of fetus - a Latin term meaning “little one.â€? Yet the clinic personnel told the caller “–(I)t’s a fetus, not a baby.â€
The caller also understood that the purpose of what was referred to as “the procedure†was intended to get rid of [kill] her baby.? The caller had also read of women who had died while undergoing “the procedure†and was worried about the possible physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual consequences of “the procedure.â€
“Dr. Julius Fogel, a psychiatrist-obstetrician, who has performed abortions says: ‘I think every woman - whatever her age, her background, or sexuality - has a trauma at destroying a pregnancy.? A psychological price is paid.? It may be alienation or perhaps a hardening of the maternal instinct’.†? [2]
[1] Lennert Nilsson, Mirjam Ffuruhjelm, Axel Ingelman-Sundberg, Claes Wirsen,? A Child Is Born, Delacorte Press, p.71.
[2] “Your Body Ecology,†1980, Body Ecology;