Roundup: Neither Forced Sterilization Nor Forced Birth

The common thread in this morning's roundup is that women should be allowed to be the final decisionmakers of whether they have children. That is true whether they want more children or don't want any.

The common thread in this morning’s roundup is that women should be allowed to be the final decisionmakers of whether they have children. That is true whether they want to give birth or don’t.

It can be a good thing when a country that normal doesn’t
discuss abortion wants to bring the issue out into the open. But not if the
point is to drive an already illegal procedure even more underground.

South Korea has long made abortion illegal but has rarely
meted out punishment for obtaining or providing one. Now two South Korean
doctors are trying to start a morality campaign to push the country’s
government into enforcing
the laws banning abortion.

In a country where abortion is both
widespread and, with few exceptions, against the law, Dr. Choi and Dr. Shim are
hoping to force South Korea’s first serious public discussion of the ethics of
the procedure. In November, they and dozens of other obstetricians held a news
conference to ask "forgiveness" for having performed illegal abortions.

The group they formed, Gynob, has
called on other doctors to declare whether they have performed illegal
abortions. In December they set up another organization, Pro-Life Doctors,
which tries to discourage women from having abortions and runs a hot line to
report clinics that perform them illegally. This month, they plan to begin
reporting practitioners of such abortions to the police.

While Gynob’s primary tactic has
been to highlight the hypocrisy of having a law that is almost never enforced,
the group’s goal is not to resolve this by liberalizing the law but to end
abortions altogether.

Meanwhile in Spain, which recently
made moves
to grant women greater access to abortion, the Spanish Bishops’
Conference repeated their stance that no Catholic
politician can support abortion
.

The press director for the Spanish
Bishops’ Conference, Isidro Catela Marcos, has written a letter on behalf of
the bishops reiterating that Catholic politicians cannot support abortion. The
letter comes in response to pro-choice statements made by a Catholic who is
head of Spain’s Congress, Jose Bono.

The Spanish Senate is still debating a bill that would allow
women to obtain an abortion without restrictions up to 14 weeks.

In Other News

In America a mother of nine children is suing a Springfield,
Massachusetts hospital claiming she was sterilized
against her will.

Tessa Savicki, who has nine
children aged 3 to 21, claims doctors were supposed to implant an intrauterine
device, which is a type of reversible birth control, after she delivered a son,
Manuel Flores, on Dec. 19, 2006, at Baystate Medical Center.

Instead, she said, a type of
permanent sterilization known as a tubal ligation was performed, leaving her
mentally distraught and incapable of bearing more children.

The hospital is not commenting other than to say as they
cannot find any consent forms signed by Savicki agreeing to the procedure.
Although the story contains one oddity , Savicki said she brought
her own IUD into the operating room.

Jane Albert, a spokeswoman for
Baystate Health, declined to comment on the lawsuit or Savicki’s own medical
care, citing federal privacy regulations.

But speaking in general terms, it
is "absolutely not" normal procedure for a woman to carry her own IUD
into the operating room, Albert said.

"It is not our practice for a
patient, it is not our practice to insert an IUD into a woman who has just had
a C-section," Albert said.

Bonus item: Scott
Roeder, on trial for killing Dr. George Tiller, has subpoenaed
Phil Kline
to testify in his defense. Kline is the former Kansas attorney general
who prosecuted the case against Dr. Tiller last spring where he was acquitted on
all 19 charges
.

 

January
6, 2009

Catholics cannot support abortion,
Spanish bishops reiterate
Catholic News
Agency

Emergency Contraception
Sales Surge In India
Medical News Today

Adoption agency helps place children with HIV Chicago Tribune

Computer glitch puts birth control
Rx on hold
San Francisco Chronicle

Pro-life Advocates Plan Rally to Protest Opening of Largest
Abortion Clinic in US
CNSNews.com

Brits Offended By Heidi Fleiss’s
Pro-Abortion Comments
Jezebel

January
5, 2009

South Korea Confronts Open Secret
of Abortion
New York Times

Mother of Nine Sues Massachusetts
Hospital After Unauthorized Sterilization
ABC
News

Editorial: What matters most
Business Mirror

DeLauro: Full Speed Ahead To Health
Care Reform
TPMDC

Has U.S. adoption changed for the
better? | Adoption Blog
Adoption
Information and Laws

Diapers, bottles and more!
Lake Wylie Pilot

New archbishop gets down to
business
OnMilwaukee.com

There’s No Place Like Home
Center For American Progress

New Catholic bishop takes over in
Milwaukee
USA Today

Groundbreaking Book Examines
Viability of Pro-Life Movement as New Decade Begins
Christian News Wire (press release)

Why the Our Father is a Pro-life
Prayer, Part 1
Catholic Exchange

Christian Group: Pro-Life
Advocates Faced Attacks, Discrimination in 2009
LifeNews.com

South Korean Doctors Organize Pro-Life
Groups to Discourage Rampant Abortion
Lifesite

Congress to Tackle Concerns Over
Cost, Abortion
FOX News

Evangelicals: Abortion,
Moral Relativism Tops Moral Issues List
Christian
Post

Pro-Life Groups: Contact Congress
in Person to Stop Abortion in Health Care
LifeNews.com

Pelosi: My Pro-Abortion
Stance is Consistent with Catholic Faith
Catholic Exchange

Democrats Facing Backlash for
Hiding Talks on Pro-Abortion Health Care
LifeNews.com

Scalia Defends Gay, Abortion,
Gun Rulings at First Baptist
Jackson
Free Press

Heidi Fleiss Thanks God For Abortion
Huffington Post

Brown, Coakley spar over taxes, abortion,
health care
NECN

Keep Health Care Debate Open and Abortion-Free
Beliefnet.com

Obama Meets With Democrats to Map
Strategy for Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
LifeNews.com

Abortion and men Salt Lake
Tribune

Abortion funding fiight far from over Washington Times

Rates of sexually transmitted
diseases among teens reaching epidemic levels
Capital Times