From: nyikos@math.scarolina.edu (Peter Nyikos)
Subject: Re: "Abortion" on a not-pregnant woman
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science
Date:  1 Sep 92 21:31:44 GMT

In <92243.112736ADMN8647@RyeVm.Ryerson.Ca> ADMN8647@RyeVm.Ryerson.Ca (Linda Birmingham) writes:

>In article <nyikos.715045629@milo.math.scarolina.edu> Peter Nyikos says:       u
>>
>>The following item is taken from _The Forerunner_, May 1989.  It appears
>>with a picture of the woman giving the testimony, which took place
>>at the "Meet the Abortion Providers" conference in February, 1989 at
>>Chicago's O'Hare Marriott, sponsored by the Pro-Life Action League.

>Do the rules of evidence apply at these meetings?
>Did anyone verify or ask the clinic to "testify"
>regarding these allegations?

My only source of information to date is the issue of _The Forerunner_
where portions of testimonies are printed, and it does not go into such
detail.  But I can borrow a copy of the tapes, and those might hold more
information.  

As to clinics "testifying", Carol Everett, who directed four clinics
in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, [Note that Nita Whitten is from Dallas.] 
and owned two, has testified that abortions
were done on not-pregnant women.  In a pamphlet titled "What I saw in
the abortion industry," she says:

	The woman who is not pregnant...may see thedoctor before the
	abortion procedure.  A sonogram is performed, locating a clear
	view of the uterus.  A uterus will show up, pregnant or not.
	The sonogram screen is locked in place and the doctor or
	technician points out the uterus to the woman, "See, you are
	pregnant."  This woman who does not routinely read sonograms
	accepts the opinion of the expert and buys an abortion she
	does not need! 

>>This testimony was given by Nita Whitten, of Dallas, Texas, a former
>>clinic assistant.  

> I do wonder about people
>who accept such "testimony" as proof however.

Proof, no.  Strong evidence, yes.

Similar denial occurred in the case of the "killing fields" of Kampuchea.
Famous activists like Noam Chomsky kept impugning the testimony of 
refugees.  It was not until Vietnam, darling of the American Left,
occupied Kampuchea that the American Left finally took the auto-genocide
of Kampuchea seriously.

>>        "One woman came to the clinic forcing her daughter to have
>>an abortion.

>The counter example of why parental consent laws
>should not be created

Parental consent laws would do nothing to prevent the above outrageous
example of child abuse.  

>>        "I became depressed, despondent, and hooked on drugs.
>>I took drugs to wake up, took speed at work, and took pot and
>>alcohol in the evening.  I also took birth control pills and
>>developed amenorrhea.  The abortion mill assumed I was pregnant
>>and gave me an abortion, but it turned out I wasn't pregnant.

>Why did this woman not take a pregnancy test?

Pregnancy tests at clinics have oodles of false positives.  Maybe
she did take a pregnancy test!

>Could it be that the "abortion mill" performed
>a D & C which is a common practice with women
>suffering from amenorrhea? 

It's also possible they did a suction curettage.  The Forerunner
simply does not say.  

> Can you tell the
>difference between a D & C and a D & E, Mr. Nykios?

Sure, one is given in the first trimester, and can serve a legitimate
medical purpose, [BTW my original post quoted Nita as having suffered from the
side effects of the procedure]
 while the second is given at later stages.  

>>        "Finally, when I decilded to give my life to the Lord,
>>I got out of the abortion business.  I told my husband that I
>>wanted to get out of the `rat race' and get a new job in a new
>>town.  Then, when I got pregnant, a physician recommended I
>>get an abortion because of the drugs I had taken.  He predicted
>>deformity.  I absolutely refused to get the abortion, and now I have
>>a beautiful four-year-old girl -- my `miracle baby' whose picture

>Which is what choice is all about.

Including the part about the physician recommending abortion? I'm not
surprised.

>Linda
>--
>All I know is that it's a matter of choice
>I need to hear myself

Trouble is, you also get to hear physicians warning of deformities.
[See above.]