Guide to Informed Choices
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organizations, to hopefully have some supportive friends or family and last but not least, God. There are more resources at the end of this book, but two very useful organizations that you might like to get in contact with are:
www.BeNotAfraid.net
An online organization that offers information and stories to support parents who have received a difficult diagnosis for their pregnancy:
www.PrenatalPartnersForLife.org A group that offers support and friendship to parents with a diagnosis of a negative condition
If you are just thinking, ―there is just no way I can do this,‖ there is also the option of adoption. I know, I know, you hate the idea. But think about it: adoption provides a way out. For the child to live. For you not to have to bear that cross. For the adopting family to adopt another child, and yes, there are agencies that specialize in special needs children and yes, families do want them. For example, did you know, according to a 2008 article in the Washington Post , that ―almost 200 families are on a waiting list to adopt a child with Down syndrome in the United States‖? 1161
parents seek adoption as a way to have siblings; in other cases it‘s more of a religious charity-type attitude.
Here are two quotes by different women who have adopted special needs children: Many don‘t want a baby that isn‘t perfect. However, if they will only give birth to these children, they will find others, like me, who do want them. I am grateful to the natural mothers of my M
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children. They gave them life and now I give them love. 1162
Over the years I have had many people make comments as to Nikki‘s condition, some as meaningless as ―why would you want a child like her?‖ …I always answer those type of comments with ―Doesn‘t every child deserve someone to love them?‖
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Can my child be happy? eople may say it is cruel, but how do they know? I would challenge the myth that special needs children can‘t be as happy as other children. Since those children have never known what it is to live another way, it‘s likely they may not miss it nearly as much as we think they would. In some ways I think it‘s possible they are actually happier when you consider the childlike attitude they often have.
As far as quality of life, I think Everett Koop — who had extensive experience with disabled children — put it best when he said: ―It has been my constant experience that disability and unhappiness do not
necessarily go together. Some of the most unhappy children whom I have known have all of the physical and mental faculties; and on the other hand, some of the happiest youngsters have borne burdens which I myself would find very difficult to bear.‖ 1164
In the words of Lawrence Brodeur, assistant prosecutor for life in the Doe vs. Bolton case: ― Who can make a decision as to what is minimal quality of life? Very simply, no one can. Nobody is qualified to do that. Maybe the child will be happy. Maybe it won‘t. How can you know?‖ 1165
Perfect or not erfect or not, children who are challenged by a disability are nonetheless a human being. They still feel pain. Their heart still beats. Their brain still sends brain waves. They are still a child of God. They still possess a right to live.
Reason #85 ―A diagnosis of disability doesn‘t have to be fatal — for you or the child‖ P
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Reason #86 Aborted fetuses are often used in research
Women usually aren‘t informed about this There is some evidence that, in earlier studies, the woman‘s consent was not always sought. 1166
lthough
informed consent
is usually given for research, many do not realize:
1. What they are signing at the abortion clinic. It‘s all in the fine print. Do you always read the whole thing? I know I don‘t. As one pro-choice author admits, ―Rarely are pregnant women asked to give specific consent on the use of fetal tissue.
Women choosing abortion customarily sign a blanket consent form that is similar, if not identical, to general surgery consents. These forms often contain one phrase among the main disclaimers, such as
‗I further
understand that in accordance with applicable law, any tissue removed may be disposed of in accordance with the custom practiced.‘‖ 1167
The abortion clinic may be profiting from this ‗tissue donation.‘ 1168
3.
On occasion aborted babies are born alive in late pregnancy and parents are not informed what happens to them afterwards.
Aborted tissue is frequently used for ‗research‘ Specimens sectioned, snap
freezing and overnight shipping ―Human embryonic and fetal tissues are available…The laboratory, which is supported by the National Institutes of Health, can supply tissue from normal… [or] abnormal embryos and fetuses of desired gestational ages between 40 days and term. Specimens are obtained within minutes of passage…. processing methods include immediate fixation, snap fixation, snap freezing in liquid nitrogen, and placement in balanced salt solutions… Specimens are shipped by overnight express… also supply serial sections of human embryos that have been preserved in methyl Carnoy's fixative, embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 5 microns.‖ 1169
—National Institutes of Health Guide, ―Availability of human fetal tissue‖ —
a
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he government‘s National Institutes of Health notes that ―Federal funding of basic research involving human fetal tissue has been ongoing for decades.‖ 1170 I know, gross, isn‘t it? Where does this tissue come from? Where else but abortion clinics! Have a read of these quotes from a pro-choice source: Because of the frequency of abortion, fetal tissue is abundant. Most abortions now occur in hospitals or clinics where tissue can be properly recovered and stored. 1171
In contrast to miscarriages, elective abortion allows physicians to plan to receive and preserve the fetal tissue. Even though most abortions stop fetal life signs and dismember the fetus, abortion produces fresher and more intact tissue than do miscarriages. 1172
The Dilemma of the Fetus
What actually happens after an abortion? Well, the first job is to ‗reassemble‘ the suction or D&C abortion to ensure no fetal parts (e.g., head, arms, etc.) were left inside the woman. Then the tissue is stored before it is picked up. Norma McCorvey described the storage room at the clinic she worked at: (yuck warning): ―The ―Part‘s Room,‖ where we kept the aborted babies, was particularly heinous… You‘re hard core, I told myself. You‘re Jane Roe. You can handle a couple of plastic bags full of tissue…Arnie lifted up a large plastic freezer bag. The contents looked similar to a cut-up chicken, with all the parts swimming in blood, and I felt myself growing nauseous. Then I saw the back of a head float by and I immediately vomited all over Arnie, the sink and the counter.‖ 1173
What happened to the tissue next? In Norma‘s clinic the tissue was picked up once a week and taken to a lab. Probably for research.
What about the case of a live birth? There have been cases of later abortions such as inductions and hysterotomies that result in a live birth. 1174 The baby is either left to die, given encouragement to die or in rare cases had pity on and rushed to intensive care. 1175
Researchers actually prefer these types of ‗tissue donation‘ because the tissues are whole and fresh. 1176 Indeed, even a 1994 NIH government report mentions allegations that ―some abortionists performed abortion procedures that were more potentially harmful to the pregnant woman in order to obtain a live fetus for research purposes.‖ 1177
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How are these tissues used? ere are some examples I‘ve come across:
In one case eyes from aborted fetuses in the U.S. were shipped to a New Zealand University for research, reminiscent of Auschwitz. 1178
In
one experiment researchers transplanted fetal cells into the brains of elderly Alzheimer‘s patients — only to have them writhe and convulse — and now they can‘t turn it off. 1179
Many vaccines today contain tissue culture originally grown from an aborted fetus. 1180
Then there‘s Samsum, a research clinic which is importing aborted fetal tissue to transplant their insulin cells. 1181
Finally, tissue has been used from an aborted 14-week-old baby for the purpose of trying to grow new skin on burns victims. 1182
Let us do evil that good may come of it, they say. One pro-choice book proclaims that a woman‘s abortion can now be ―transformed into one of the most life- affirming acts a woman could offer the world.‖
1183 Wishful thinking. In other examples of vanity:
Russian beauty salons advertise anti- aging treatments that involve injections containing stem cells obtained from locally aborted fetuses. 1184
Some of these fetuses come from poor women who have been paid U.S. $200 to carry a baby to 8-12 weeks then abort. 1185
In the Ukraine there are allegations of women being paid to have late abortions, and unscrupulous doctors advising women there is something wrong
with the
fetus late
in pregnancy…all for beauty treatments, as the tissue is ‗donated‘ to universities then sold to private clinics. 1186
Another
report showed
women travelling for beauty treatments in Barbados, Ecuador, Russia and the Ukraine that use the stem cells obtained from aborted fetuses age 6-12 weeks old.
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A skin cream called ―NeoCutis‖ and available in the U.S. is made out of cell lines originally grown from the foreskin of an aborted male fetus. It is advertised to ―reduce the appearance of facial wrinkles.‖ 1188
These are just some examples I have come across in my research.
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Clinics may be making a ―killing‖ off the body of your dead baby sually it happens indirectly. Tissue is ‗donated‘ to researchers who then, in return, might rent a room at the clinic or perhaps pay abortion employees to retrieve the ‗tissue‘. 1189
According to the law, costs can be reimbursed as long as they are reasonable. Yet even with ‗reasonable reimbursement,‘ it seems like a fine deal for abortion clinics. Instead of having to pay someone to get rid of the fetus, they can make money off him a second time! Even pro-choicers admit the abortion industry is highly unregulated:
The line between making profit and repaying costs is often hard to draw, however… within limits — limits that have not yet been firmly set by regulation — tissue providers, most often abortion clinics, are allowed to include some of the costs of equipment and administrative overhead in the tissue costs. 1190
The nature of the relationship between the researcher and the tissue provider is not well known and varies markedly from place to place. There is little standardization in the collection and distribution of fetal tissue; the procurement of human fetal tissue, is, perhaps, the ―least structured and organized‖ of all the forms of tissue and organ donation. 1191
As an example of prices for fetal tissue, Life Dynamics was quoted by CNS news as having the
documentation for
the following:
$999 brain (22-23 wks) $550 reproductive organs $325 for a spinal cord $150 for skin $75 each eye 1192
CNS says, referring to the man who authored this price list, ―Jones told 20/20 producers, during an episode that aired on March 8, 2000, that he was able to make $50,000 a week from the sale of fetal body parts,‖ which he did from a Kansas abortion clinic. 1193
However, according to
a government investigation, Miles Jones did not break any federal laws so presumably he is free to continue. Another source,
the Republican Christopher H. Smith from the U.S. House of Representatives, provided these prices in a news release: $500 trunk $150 liver $100 pancreas $75 ears (under 8 weeks) 1194
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If it‘s not a baby, how can researchers profit from fetal parts?
―It is routine for pregnant women who are planning to abort their babies to be told that their children are nothing more than collections of cells, blobs of tissues… Babies younger than 8 weeks have identifiable brains, livers, spleens, eyes and ears, and they — as well as older babies — are being taken apart, piece by piece, limb by limb — even skinned. Worst of all, there are profiteers waiting in the wings to make money from this tragedy by collecting and selling their pieces.‖ 1195
—Republican Christopher H. Smith, U.S. House of Representatives, Press Release November 8, 1999
Reason #86 ―Clinics may be profiting from the sale of your baby‘s body‖ Reason #87 Your unborn baby is intelligent
Our preconceptions I think generally we have this closed-in perception that because
we can‘t
communicate verbally with our babies and have them respond in kind, and because they are so helpless and needy and mysterious, it seems impossible to our educated mind that they could have an intelligence beyond our imagination. 1196
, The Mind of Your Newborn Baby
f we say that a fetus does not have consciousness, how do we know? How do we know what is going in inside that little head? Just because he cannot communicate literally does not mean he is not conscious, aware or even capable of thought. Even brain scans of people in comas show they can think. 1197
Why not the fetus? After all, language is not necessary for thought — it is simply a tool for our communication.
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Some brainy facts y better understanding the brain we can see how your unborn baby can indeed be intelligent. Here are some fetal brainy facts for you to enjoy!
From week 3-13 the fetus‘ brain becomes transformed from a tiny, bent tube into a distinguishable brain shape. 1198
From 4 weeks onward textbooks illustrate the fetus‘ forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. 1199
At 4 weeks the fetus brain is about as small as a grain of salt, then at 7 weeks the brain is the size of a small pea. 1200
The brain of the fetus is perfectly smooth at 13 weeks and doesn‘t develop the familiar ‗walnut look‘ until the last month of pregnancy. 1201
At 18 weeks your unborn child has roughly 100,000,000,000 simple brain cells — the total he or she will have for life. 1202
(This does not include brain cell connections.)
roughly 10 grams — about the weight of 2 sheets of paper. 1203
At birth, 1/7 th of your baby‘s total body weight is made up of his brain — the real reason behind your baby‘s big, adorable baby face. 1204
Simple brain waves have been measured 6-12 weeks after conception. This is obviously not logical thought, but having brain waves is a human quality. 1205
From 32 weeks gestation Dream or REM brain waves can be picked up and seen on ultrasound. 1206
Here‘s your deep thought for the day: If a fetus can dream, what is he dreaming about?
Your baby is growing a brain that is just as unique from yours as your fingerprints. 1207
But what about…? . How can a fetus be aware when we know his brain isn‘t finished developing? A. Remember, the brain is the first organ to begin developing and the last to finish!
1208 Just because certain parts of the cerebral cortex are not completed doesn‘t prove that the brain can‘t work in any way or without any complexity. Some areas, such as the survival instinct, emotions and memory mature earlier than others. Before the fetus can analyze his experiences he is already absorbing them into his memory, body and experiencing emotion.
Q. I‘ve heard that before birth the nerves which carry brain messages aren‘t fully insulated by myelin, so how, then, can B Q
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