David Daleiden from The Center for Medical Progress.
Planned Parenthood is facing trial in the Texas federal court for $1.8 billion over their illegal sale of aborted baby parts.
The lawsuit brought by the State of Texas results from the evidence unearthed in the undercover work carried out by reporter David Daleiden on behalf of The Center for Medical Progress.
The trial against Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion business in the US, is scheduled to start in April 2024.
Speaking yesterday about the upcoming trial, Mr Daleiden said: “We caught senior Planned Parenthood leaders on video admitting to selling baby body parts against the law - and using illegal partial-birth abortions to get the most marketable body parts. Make no mistake, Planned Parenthood is first and foremost about making money from the killing of innocent babies.”
Planned Parenthood’s defence unravelled when the federal Fifth Circuit ruled that the Center for Medical Progress’s videos were authentic. Referring to what’s likely to happen next, Mr Daleiden said: “I’m not done with this work because I have another 200 hours of undercover footage that has never been released. Yes, another 200 hours!”
A San Francisco judge is currently blocking the release of the footage but Daleiden claims the injunction will not withstand constitutional scrutiny. He said: “Once the legal dam breaks in the San Francisco case, I’ll be free to release all 200 hours of undercover journalism that the American public has not yet seen. And I expect that Planned Parenthood and its affiliates will face official scrutiny, defunding, and consequences under the law like never before.”
The peer-reviewed journal BMC Psychiatry recently published a new meta-analysis of psychiatric literature, showing that 34.5% of women experience depression post abortion.
The authors analysed 15 studies across the world - from China, Germany, Iran, Australia, Kenya, Jordan, Kosovo, Denmark, Lithuania, Turkey, and the Netherlands. They noted that post-abortion depression is a “common problem for all women of reproductive age.”
Moreover, the review shows that women from lower-income nations are more likely to experience post-abortion depression compared to women from higher-income nations.
The overall findings were somewhat skewed however as the meta-analysis also included data from three research papers dealing with spontaneous abortion/miscarriage. When these three papers are set aside, the studies focussing solely on induced abortion show even higher rates of depression post abortion.
Some commentators have speculated that the miscarriage papers were deliberately included in the study to take the primary focus away from abortion but there’s no hard evidence proving this contention.
The data extracted from the studies relating to miscarriage shows that a much smaller percentage of women suffered adverse after effects, with just 15.6% reporting depression after pregnancy loss due to miscarriage.
As Dr Randall O’Bannon from the National Right to Life Committee noted: “It may not be what researchers set out to prove, but their meta-analysis tends to lend support to abortion being much more likely to lead to depression than miscarriage.”
Pro-abortion supporters shy away from open discussion regarding the link between induced abortion and adverse mental health consequences for women. They parrot the misleading line all the time about abortion being ‘healthcare’ but refuse to debate the peer-reviewed evidence that disproves their claim. Frustrating and all as it can be, we must continue to challenge their falsehoods and avail of every opportunity to inform the public on this point.
The UK’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has admitted that abortion complications in England are very likely being grossly underreported by abortion performing doctors.
The report released last Thursday compared English Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data (which focuses on hospital admissions due to abortion complications) to Abortion Notification System (ANS) data (which abortion performing doctors are obliged to supply), for the years 2017 through 2021.
The data supplied by abortion doctors shows an average complication rate of 1.52 per 1,000 abortions for the years 2017-2021, while the hospital admissions data shows an average complication rate of 4.06 per 1,000 abortions for the same period. This suggests the hospital admissions rate is nearly 2.7 times higher than the rates disclosed by abortions performing doctors.
And as Right to Life UK reported: “When the HES data analysis also includes incomplete abortions, the complication rate over the same period is 18.16 per 1,000 abortions. This is over 11.9 times higher than the ANS-derived complication rate used in the annual abortion statistics which does not include incomplete abortions.”
The obvious and serious underreporting of abortion complications in the UK raises the possibility that the same is happening in Ireland. The Government here are very evasive and defensive when legitimate and elementary answers are sought by TDs on the floor of the Dáil or via Parliamentary Questions regarding Ireland’s new abortion regime. There needs to be far more transparency concerning what's happening. The public are entitled to know - most particularly those personally impacted by what’s taking place. The law needs to be amended to ensure the information that’s currently hidden from public view is made public.
You can access the report from the UK’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities here
Image: Philip Nitschke demonstrates a prototype of his ‘Sarco pod’ or suicide pod
On Tuesday, 28th November, the Director of Exit International and inventor of the “suicide pod” Philip Nitschke addressed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying. Australian former doctor Nitschke has been nicknamed “Dr Death” for his pro-euthanasia activism. In 2015, his medical licence was severely restricted by the Medical Board (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) because of his involvement in the work of Exit International.
His role in inventing the “suicide pod” has been widely criticised as “a glorified gas chamber” which glamorises suicide. He told the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying on Tuesday that: “what I did was build a machine so they could press the button and the machine would deliver the injection... They pressed the button. It was clear that it was not a doctor doing it to a moribund patient, but it was a situation where the person knew what they were doing, answered the questions on the laptop and pressed the button.” Nitschke has said his “DIY” suicide pod provides people with a “peaceful, even euphoric death.”
Speaking on Tuesday, he made a strong sell for Irish politicians not to restrict euthanasia and assisted suicide laws to “drugs, intravenous or oral” and instead to allow for “the use of gases” which he considers “very important”.
The Joint Committee on Assisted Dying, chaired by pro-life independent TD from Kerry, Michael Healy Rae TD, has been assessing whether Ireland should introduce a form of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Pro Life Campaign legal adviser William Binchy previously appeared before the committee, a clip of which has since gone viral.
JOIN US: An evening for volunteers will take place in Dublin City centre on 13th December from 6pm. If you think you might make it along, please let us know. Thank you!
It’s a really important time to approach your local TDs and Senators and urge them to reintroduce some humanity into the debate on abortion. The Three-Year Review, a seriously flawed process which produced a one-sided and extreme report, will be considered by politicians in the autumn. It’s important that we take action now.
We have produced a quick and easy Virtual Postcard for you to sign, which will automatically send an email to your local TDs. Use the button below to navigate into your county on our website and find your constituency.
It’s also important to have meetings with your TDs. These can be as simple as dropping into your local TD’s advice clinic to outline your concerns. Click below to register to lobby your local TDs. Don’t worry – we’ll help you every step of the way with advice on making the appointment to points you might consider raising.
We are heartened by the number of people actively involved and interested in meeting their politicians to express their views. The People Before Profit Bill which regrettably passed at 2nd stage of the Dáil on 31st May must also be countered. Even the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has said this Bill goes far beyond the recommendations of the Three-Year Review – which are already extreme in their own right.
It is crucial to engage with our politicians and remind them not to overlook the referendum promises. We need to fight to ensure our abortion policy is aimed at reducing the abortion rate.
Please take a moment to get involved in the Humanity Campaign. Remember even the smallest effort will make a big difference.
We are putting out a call for anyone in possession of any documents, photographs, correspondence, etc. relevant to the Irish pro-life movement throughout the decades. We are particularly keen to receive anything in your possession related to periods such as the 1983 referendum. A comprehensive history of the pro-life movement is yet to be written, but the historians of the future will need primary sources. We are asking for people to get in touch with the Pro Life Campaign if they possess such material (no matter how old or dusty!) to ensure it is preserved now and not lost to the ages.
Vital Signs is the e-newsletter of the Pro Life Campaign. This email is to update you on what we have been working on recently, including news stories, project updates, and details of upcoming events. If you want to get in touch with us please do so by emailing [email protected]
