America is full of pro-life citizens (in fact, the majority are) as well as lawmakers who share a common goal – making abortion unthinkable in our nation. A desire to stop the mass killing of a vulnerable group of people – pre-born human beings – is a primary driving factor for anyone who calls themself pro-life. But keeping women safe from a massive, predatory business is another objective many overlook.
The plain and simple truth is that abortion businesses are not incentivized in any way to abide by rules, regulations, or laws that affect abortion sales. It’s optimistic at best when abortion supporters defend the motives of Planned Parenthood and others abortion businesses as being somehow noble just because they follow them on Instagram and see posts purporting to care about women’s well-being. But those rose-colored glasses are obscuring the real abuse of women.
The reality is that abortion businesses nationwide are consistently caught transgressing laws and even ignoring standard medical protocols that are in place to protect their clients. Examples abound…
- At Family Planning Associates in Chicago, 13-year-old Deanna Bell died from an amniotic fluid embolism as a result of medical misconduct following her abortion under general anesthesia. Read more here.
- An inspection of Southwest Women’s Surgery Center in Texas in November 2015 resulted in 22-pages of egregious violations that included a litany of sanitation and infection control problems, including failure to properly sanitize surgical instruments or keep the facility clean.
- Despite health violations egregious in both nature and in number, the St. Louis Planned Parenthood has been permitted to operate unlicensed for the past two years. This facility has sent 80 women to the hospital since 2009.
A detailed report of dangerous abortion businesses can be found here.
Any other type of “health facility” would never get away with maintaining these types of conditions, sending otherwise healthy women to the hospital, and undergoing no penalty for any of it. The question is: how do we hold these dirty businesses more accountable for their crimes?
Taking “Good-Looking” Laws a Step Further
The pro-life movement loves pro-life legislators. After all, ending abortion is just as much a political battle as it is a cultural one, and we need solid politicians in high places to eradicate abortion via law. But, as good as some abortion restrictions seem to be, we have to ensure that our lawmaking allies are passing pro-life laws that are actually good at restricting the abortion industry… not just making headlines.
We can pass all the good-looking pro-life laws we want, but if abortion numbers stay the same (or even increase), we’re patting ourselves on the back in vain while children continue to die and women continue to be hurt.
The Language Needs to be Tight
Some of the pro-life movement’s most committed legislators out there are putting forward legislation that is able to curtail the abortion industry’s wrongdoings… yet there’s often a critical flaw. The language used accidentally has too many loopholes. The abortion lobby is able to find loopholes in even the strongest bills.
Weak pro-life bills have definitions that are too broad (i.e. “Abortion Facility XX is required to be inspected periodically.” Periodically could mean literally any period of time). In other cases, they are unclear about the exact penalties for transgressions.
An example of a common loophole taken advantage of by the abortion industry is found in judicial bypass. Every state with a parental consent law (i.e. minors must obtain consent from their parents to have an abortion) also has judicial bypass. This legal act involves petitioning a judge to approve a minor’s abortion in cases where the parents are not around or sound judgement to give consent.
Abortion facilities have no problem circumventing this in order to sell abortions to minors. They have pro-abortion pet judges who hand out illegitimate bypasses to young girls who simply don’t want to involve their parents. Reprotection has called an abortion facility, posing as a minor, and the staff quickly explained how they get around parental consent and promptly got the abortion appointment scheduled.
For those who want the violence of abortion to end, it is crucial that we: 1) Make sure solid pro-life candidates are elected, 2) Hold lawmakers accountable. 3) Communicate with them to make sure the pro-life laws are strongly written and enforceable. Opportunities to get involved in public policy abound – contact Reprotection to see what you can do to protect the pre-born in your city.