!!!!!
I've mostly been on myspace lately. But here, a post! Something I wrote! About why anti-choicers are liars! Man, I'm excited!
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Many pro-life groups use pictures of abortions to hook people into believing their arguments, or at least into stopping to listen to them. And with good reason! Most people believe abortion should remain legal in some, if not all cases, that a women would want to obtain one. Many groups, like the Pro Life Action League in Chicago, would like to call 1 in 3 women1 murderers and have their medical operations become illegal- which would send many women, doctors, friends and families to jail. Their biggest defense is the humanity of a child through photographs, many of which are mislabeled, changed or otherwise altered.
First Trimester Photos
Many groups use pictures of disembodied arms and hands showing abortions, or a fetus sucking its thumb, floating around on a photoshoped backdrop, using the phrase “tenth week of life” (or any week for that matter). This is where their lies begin. Since there is no way to prove at this point how old the fetus actually is, doctors go by the woman’s Last Menstrual Date, whereas this photos go by two weeks later. This is to confuse those not well versed in biology- while they say “10th to 12th week of life”, doctors say “14th to 16th week after LMD”- making this picture actually a second trimester photo!2
Dr. Sarah Whippman, a British physician, had to say about the "aborted fetuses" depicted at AbortionTV.com:
"...the proportions are all wrong for them to be fetuses - in some of them, the presence of an adult hand in the picture makes it possible to tell the size of the supposed embryo or fetus, yet the proportion of head and limbs to trunk is all wrong for a fetus of this size. So at least some of them seem to be fakes. I suspect that at least a few photographs of macerated stillbirths have also been included and passed off as pictures of abortions. I've seen abortions, and they look nothing like the pictures that are touted as being representative of abortion."2
First trimester abortions, representing 85% of abortions - would be a suction aspiration performed at less than 12 weeks. At that stage remember we are talking of an embryo/fetus that is mainly gelatinous watery materials and is easily removed by gentle suction - much like the old dental suction used to clear saliva from your mouth.3
Exactly how much tissue is pregnancy tissue during a first trimester abortion? According to the Department of Gynecology at the University of Copenhagen, 1 Tablespoon of tissue should be evacuated in the seventh to eight week, 1.6 Tablespoons in the ninth to tenth week, and 2.4 tablespoons in the eleventh to twelfth respectively (this is not including, of course, how much you would lose on a normal menstrual cycle). 3
Second Trimester Photos
The most famous of this group is the “Baby Malachi” photo- an incredibly misleading photo. First off, the measuring tape in the photo is on the centimeter side, not inches, giving it the appearance of being 20 inches long, not the actually measurement of 20 cm- 7.8in. One site claims the fetus was a victim of a “D & C” and another a “D & E” (two seperate medical techniques). Secondly, and probably most importantly, there are TWO versions of this photo. One is of a grayish fetus, while the current is of a pink and red fetus- why the change? Life and Liberty for Women had this to say, “Malachi, the literal poster-child for the anti-choice campaign, is a gruesome example of inaccuracy. The back of this 3 x 5 inch card claims that the fetus's life ends in pain. However, judging from the fetus's gray skin, it was aborted via laminaria through an intra-amniotic injection or was done to preserve the mother's life. If the procedure was done while the fetus was alive, its skin would be the pinkish color of its left leg.” 4
Why the change in photo? Did the pro-life campaign need to save itself from cries of “the pro-lies movement?”
A mid-trimester surgical abortion does produce fetal parts, which are treated like plutonium under today's laws regarding the disposal of "potentially infectious materials" containing possible human blood-borne pathogens (OSHA regulations). They are not available for casual photography.
Third Trimester Photos
One of the most used picture for a third trimester “abortion” is a picture of a severed head on OR rings- if the forceps securing its head over the jar are standard OR ring forceps, the ring is 1 x 0.5 centimeters, which would mean that the head is too small to be in its third trimester, yet one less developed would not have that much hair, says Dr. Andrew Ross. "I strongly suspect that this picture is fake, and the information on the card certainly does not match what's shown," he adds. The second, and most obvious, fallacy lies within the description. It says that the pictured fetus was aborted in 1987 in Texas. However, that was the year that third trimester abortions were banned, rendering the alleged procedure altogether illegal.4 Not to mention that third trimester abortions are illegal to perform now- and when they were legal, accounted for only some 320-600, or under 4/100ths of 1% of all abortions.5
Finally, let us speak a little about using photos. Leonard Peikoff said, “a picture is not an argument.” Using a fake or photoshoped one is even lower!
{The} heartwarming Lennart Nilsson photo of the thumb-in-mouth fetus that shows up on the covers of magazines every once in a while, is a picture of a fetus aborted (by hysterectomy) long ago, as are most "A Child Is Born", "miracle of life before birth" photographs. It just goes to show that "aborted fetus" pictures are more about politics than reality.2
If I were to take a photo of a triple bypass, it would be an ugly photo. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen. Let us not forget that most pro-lifers- who should really simply be called “anti-choicers”, simply want to punish couples- even married ones- for having sex, or else they would push for more relationship and sexual health education, would push for free prenatal care and take care of pregnant mothers and their families, would handout condoms and fight to make birth control cheaper and more accessible, and would not attack women going into clinics (who may or may not be going in for abortions!). There will always be mistakes made, or situations that arise that will result in abortions being wanted or necessary- let’s work on lowering the need instead of punishing women.
References
1. “At current rates, about 1 in 3 U.S. women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45.” The Alan Guttmacher Institue,
2. www.about.com
3. http://eileen.250x.com/
4.www.lifeandlibertyforwomen.org
5. The Alan Guttmacher Institue, 1992 statistics
Brought To You By:
The Pro-Choice Action Committee of Pomegranate Radical Health Collective
www.pomegranatecollective.org
(312) 924-1820
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Many pro-life groups use pictures of abortions to hook people into believing their arguments, or at least into stopping to listen to them. And with good reason! Most people believe abortion should remain legal in some, if not all cases, that a women would want to obtain one. Many groups, like the Pro Life Action League in Chicago, would like to call 1 in 3 women1 murderers and have their medical operations become illegal- which would send many women, doctors, friends and families to jail. Their biggest defense is the humanity of a child through photographs, many of which are mislabeled, changed or otherwise altered.
First Trimester Photos
Many groups use pictures of disembodied arms and hands showing abortions, or a fetus sucking its thumb, floating around on a photoshoped backdrop, using the phrase “tenth week of life” (or any week for that matter). This is where their lies begin. Since there is no way to prove at this point how old the fetus actually is, doctors go by the woman’s Last Menstrual Date, whereas this photos go by two weeks later. This is to confuse those not well versed in biology- while they say “10th to 12th week of life”, doctors say “14th to 16th week after LMD”- making this picture actually a second trimester photo!2
Dr. Sarah Whippman, a British physician, had to say about the "aborted fetuses" depicted at AbortionTV.com:
"...the proportions are all wrong for them to be fetuses - in some of them, the presence of an adult hand in the picture makes it possible to tell the size of the supposed embryo or fetus, yet the proportion of head and limbs to trunk is all wrong for a fetus of this size. So at least some of them seem to be fakes. I suspect that at least a few photographs of macerated stillbirths have also been included and passed off as pictures of abortions. I've seen abortions, and they look nothing like the pictures that are touted as being representative of abortion."2
First trimester abortions, representing 85% of abortions - would be a suction aspiration performed at less than 12 weeks. At that stage remember we are talking of an embryo/fetus that is mainly gelatinous watery materials and is easily removed by gentle suction - much like the old dental suction used to clear saliva from your mouth.3
Exactly how much tissue is pregnancy tissue during a first trimester abortion? According to the Department of Gynecology at the University of Copenhagen, 1 Tablespoon of tissue should be evacuated in the seventh to eight week, 1.6 Tablespoons in the ninth to tenth week, and 2.4 tablespoons in the eleventh to twelfth respectively (this is not including, of course, how much you would lose on a normal menstrual cycle). 3
Second Trimester Photos
The most famous of this group is the “Baby Malachi” photo- an incredibly misleading photo. First off, the measuring tape in the photo is on the centimeter side, not inches, giving it the appearance of being 20 inches long, not the actually measurement of 20 cm- 7.8in. One site claims the fetus was a victim of a “D & C” and another a “D & E” (two seperate medical techniques). Secondly, and probably most importantly, there are TWO versions of this photo. One is of a grayish fetus, while the current is of a pink and red fetus- why the change? Life and Liberty for Women had this to say, “Malachi, the literal poster-child for the anti-choice campaign, is a gruesome example of inaccuracy. The back of this 3 x 5 inch card claims that the fetus's life ends in pain. However, judging from the fetus's gray skin, it was aborted via laminaria through an intra-amniotic injection or was done to preserve the mother's life. If the procedure was done while the fetus was alive, its skin would be the pinkish color of its left leg.” 4
Why the change in photo? Did the pro-life campaign need to save itself from cries of “the pro-lies movement?”
A mid-trimester surgical abortion does produce fetal parts, which are treated like plutonium under today's laws regarding the disposal of "potentially infectious materials" containing possible human blood-borne pathogens (OSHA regulations). They are not available for casual photography.
Third Trimester Photos
One of the most used picture for a third trimester “abortion” is a picture of a severed head on OR rings- if the forceps securing its head over the jar are standard OR ring forceps, the ring is 1 x 0.5 centimeters, which would mean that the head is too small to be in its third trimester, yet one less developed would not have that much hair, says Dr. Andrew Ross. "I strongly suspect that this picture is fake, and the information on the card certainly does not match what's shown," he adds. The second, and most obvious, fallacy lies within the description. It says that the pictured fetus was aborted in 1987 in Texas. However, that was the year that third trimester abortions were banned, rendering the alleged procedure altogether illegal.4 Not to mention that third trimester abortions are illegal to perform now- and when they were legal, accounted for only some 320-600, or under 4/100ths of 1% of all abortions.5
Finally, let us speak a little about using photos. Leonard Peikoff said, “a picture is not an argument.” Using a fake or photoshoped one is even lower!
{The} heartwarming Lennart Nilsson photo of the thumb-in-mouth fetus that shows up on the covers of magazines every once in a while, is a picture of a fetus aborted (by hysterectomy) long ago, as are most "A Child Is Born", "miracle of life before birth" photographs. It just goes to show that "aborted fetus" pictures are more about politics than reality.2
If I were to take a photo of a triple bypass, it would be an ugly photo. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen. Let us not forget that most pro-lifers- who should really simply be called “anti-choicers”, simply want to punish couples- even married ones- for having sex, or else they would push for more relationship and sexual health education, would push for free prenatal care and take care of pregnant mothers and their families, would handout condoms and fight to make birth control cheaper and more accessible, and would not attack women going into clinics (who may or may not be going in for abortions!). There will always be mistakes made, or situations that arise that will result in abortions being wanted or necessary- let’s work on lowering the need instead of punishing women.
References
1. “At current rates, about 1 in 3 U.S. women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45.” The Alan Guttmacher Institue,
2. www.about.com
3. http://eileen.250x.com/
4.www.lifeandlibertyforwomen.org
5. The Alan Guttmacher Institue, 1992 statistics
Brought To You By:
The Pro-Choice Action Committee of Pomegranate Radical Health Collective
www.pomegranatecollective.org
(312) 924-1820