Subject: Reversing the Gender Gap, Positions and Talking Points, Part I
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Reversing the Gender Gap
The Essential Guide for Pro-Life Candidates
Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from our guide
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Powerful Positions & Talking Points,
Part I
America's Coerced
Abortion/Domestic Violence Crisis
As previously discussed in this booklet, American women are far more concerned about stopping domestic violence than they are with promoting abortion. A survey conducted by the pro-choice Center for the Advancement of Women found that women rated "preventing domestic violence" as the issue of highest concern to them.1
Domestic violence includes pregnancy-related violence as well as cases in which violence was used to compel or force an abortion. The violence may come from a woman's partner, or in the case of teens, a sexual predator or another adult.
While many men do want
their partner to carry to term and are supportive and involved in the child's
life, research has shown that
when an abusive partner is unwilling to accept or tolerate the birth of a
child, the woman may become the victim of verbal or physical abuse aimed at
compelling her to undergo an unwanted abortion.2 According to one
study of battered women, the target of battery during their pregnancies shifted
from their faces and breasts to their abdomens, which suggests hostility toward
the pregnancy.3
Attacked or Killed for Refusing to Abort
Some women are literally being killed for refusing to abort. The leading cause of death during pregnancy is homicide.4 In one study of violent deaths among pregnant women, three out of every four were killed during their first 20 weeks of pregnancy.5
The following is just a partial list of some cases in which women were attacked
or killed for refusing to have abortions. As you can imagine, for each woman
killed, thousands have been physically assaulted or subjected to verbal or
physical abuse in order to force them into abortion.
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In Charlotte, North Carolina, 24-year-old Cherica Adams died a month after being shot four times in the abdomen in Nov. 1999. Her eight-month-old unborn son survived. Rae Carruth, a former NFL player, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for plotting Cherica's death because he didn't want to pay child support.
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16-year-old Matthew Wiedeman pleaded guilty to killing Stephanie Burnett in April 2002 and was sentenced to life in prison. Police said Wiedeman believed Stephanie was pregnant and he didn't want her to have the baby. An autopsy showed she was not pregnant.
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Shawn Kristopher Holliman, 21, was sentenced to life in prison for killing 17-year-old Tanika Fox with a shot to the head at her Greensboro, North Carolina, apartment in Dec. 1999. Police said he killed Tanika because she refused to have an abortion and he didn't want to pay child support.
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Sonya Hayes was shot in the abdomen, killing her and her unborn son. Her boyfriend, Terrance Davis, was sentenced to life in prison for her murder. At his trial, Sonya's mother testified that Davis had wanted Sonya to have an abortion.
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A pipe bomb killed Deana Mitts, who was seven months pregnant, along with her seven-year-old daughter Kayla, in their Pittsburgh town home on New Year's Day 1999. Deana's ex-boyfriend, Joseph Mienerd, was sentenced to life in prison for the bombing. Police said Mienerd had threatened to kill Deana when she refused to have an abortion.6
Even parents may resort to violence in order to force an abortion that their daughter doesn't want. In 2001, Glenda Dowis of Florida pleaded guilty to forcing her 15-year-old daughter, Brittany, to go to an abortion clinic at gunpoint. Brittany was fortunate in that the clinic workers called the police after she wrote on a form that her mother was forcing her to have the abortion. Her mother allegedly told a staff member that if Brittany did not have the abortion, "I'm going to blow her brains out."7
(Tragically, as discussed further below, in many cases, abortion clinic workers have not only facilitated forced abortions but returned girls to abusive situations without reporting suspected abuse to authorities.)
More recently, the parents of a Maine teen pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault charges after they allegedly tied up and gagged their daughter, put her in the trunk of their car and drove her across state lines for an abortion. Fortunately the teen was able to escape from her parents and call police on her cell phone.8
Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of unwanted abortions. Looking for ways to help and support victims of domestic violence should be a key focus for pro-lifers who are concerned about the rights and status of women. Abused women will instantly recognize this link, and other women will instantly recognize that this link is credible.
Remind Americans
About Widespread Unwanted Abortions
Lack of support, pressure or demands for abortion, threats, violence, disinformation from clinic counselors and other experts, and lack of viable options are all methods on a spectrum of ways in which women are pressured or coerced into unwanted abortions. Indeed, the single biggest factor leading to unwanted abortions is lack of support from the woman's partner. In surveys of women in post-abortion support groups, more than 80 percent said they would have carried to term under better circumstances or with more support from those around them.9
Some abortion advocates will insist that women aren't being forced to have abortions; they're just exercising their free choice. But a closer look at the evidence shows that women are undergoing abortions they don't really want because of a lack of choice. For most women, abortion is not something they want or would choose for themselves. Their abortions are unwanted.
Women deserve the right
to say "no" to an unwanted abortion and to receive authentic support and viable
options to help them continue a pregnancy. Stopping unwanted, unnecessary and
dangerous abortions should be a key goal for the pro-life movement and for all
compassionate candidates, and one that cannot and must not be dismissed. As
noted
previously, even while this important issue has been below the radar screen,
the public is already inclined to believe that coerced abortions are a common
occurrence.10
Further, since unwanted abortions are so common, the fact that you express your understanding that many, if not most, abortions are unwanted will resonate with women who themselves have suffered unwanted or coerced abortions. Many of these women want leaders who will recognize this injustice and will work to spare other women what they have been through. While there are women who say they freely consented to abortion, many of them still see it as a negative and unwanted experience. Few women - if any - would want to undergo such a painful, traumatic and life-altering experience if there were other options available to them.
The fact that most abortions are unwanted is frequently overlooked by both sides in the abortion debate. It should not be, especially given the fact that many in the public already realize that abortion is generally unwanted. By using the phrase "unwanted abortions" often to remind Americans of this unjust reality, you will help others to recognize the truth, acknowledge the injustice and find better answers for women facing unexpected pregnancies.
Always, always, always express your concern for stopping
"unwanted abortions." The real crisis in this country is not unwanted
pregnancies; it's unwanted abortions.
Forced Abortions
Are Common in the "Hard Cases"
One of the most frequent arguments in support of abortion is that abortion should be available for women or girls who become pregnant through rape or incest. But compassionate leaders should ask women who've been there. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a closer look at these "hard cases" shows that:
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most of these abortions are unwanted or regretted,11 and
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abortion serves to protect abusers, not the girls being abused. By failing to report suspected abuse to authorities, abortion businesses cover up sexual assault and forced abortion.12
A common example is when an abortion clinic performs an abortion on the
14-year-old victim of a 31-year-old sexual predator. The predator insists on the
abortion, accompanies the girl to the clinic, and pays for the procedure. The
abortionist not only complies, but doesn't report the statutory rape to
authorities. So the abuse continues and the predator may even move on to other
victims.
One such case occurred in 2002, when an Arizona judge found a local Planned Parenthood negligent for failing to report performing an abortion on a 13-year-old girl who was being abused by her 23-year-old foster brother. A lawsuit alleged that the girl was subjected to repeated abuse and a second abortion because Planned Parenthood failed to notify authorities of possible abuse when she had her first abortion.13
Incest victims are
especially likely to be forced into unwanted abortions.14 For example, Denise became pregnant during the course of a series of incestuous rapes by
her father. When she became ill, doctors discovered she was pregnant. To cover
his own crime, the father accused his daughter of being promiscuous and demanded
an abortion. When Denise refused for moral reasons, the attending emergency room
physician refused to do the procedure. The father demanded that the local
abortionist be called.
"Within one hour, this man arrived at the hospital, talked with my parents and decided to do the abortion, without speaking to me. I refused and tried to get off the examining table. He then asked three nurses to hold me while he strapped me to the bed. . . [and] prepared to kill my baby. I continued to scream that I didn't want an abortion. He told me, 'Shut up and quit that yelling!' Eventually, I was placed under general anesthesia and my child was brutally killed.
"I was told that an abortion would solve my problem, when it was never really
the problem in the first place.
"I was told, 'Your parents know what's best,' when they obviously were only
concerned about their own reputations.
"I was told, 'You made the right decision,' when I was never given a choice.
More important, where was my baby's choice?
"I grieve every day for my daughter. I have struggled to forget the abuse and the abortion. I can do neither. All I think of is, 'I should have done more, fought more, struggled more for the life of my child.'"15
As Denise noted, abortion did nothing to resolve the trauma of being abused or remove her from the abusive situation, but rather, allowed it to continue. If we don't defend young girls like Denise, then who will? Feel free to share her story with others.
Always Come Back
to the Issue of Coerced and Unwanted Abortions
In the abortion debate, abortion advocates and lobbyists tend to retreat to the hard cases of rape and incest. (This is especially ironic since abortions for incest victims are almost always the result of coercion and return the incest victim to her abuser.)
While those who become pregnant through rape or incest certainly need and deserve our support, the survivors themselves say that abortion only intensifies their pain. In the largest survey ever done of women who had experienced a pregnancy resulting from sexual assault,
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Nearly 80 percent of those who had abortions reported that abortion was not a good solution.
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Many victims who did have abortions reported that abortion only worsened the trauma they had already experienced, while none of those who carried to term said they regretted having done so.
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In many cases, especially where the pregnancy resulted from incest or the victim was very young, it was someone else, not the girl or woman herself, who made the decision for the abortion.14
How Abortion
Hurts, Not Helps, Women
In fact, the widespread availability of abortion has not only allowed sexual
predators to cover up their crimes, but has lead to the widespread abuse of
women's rights through coerced and unwanted abortions.
This point cannot be made often enough. If we ever wish to protect the rights of women and their unborn children, it needs to begin with protecting the rights of women who are faced with coerced or unwanted abortions.
Give an example. Then
insist:
"Whether the victims of
abuse and coerced abortions number in the tens of thousands or tens of
millions, it's clear the abortion industry has failed them. We have an
obligation to end the injustice of unwanted, unnecessary and dangerous
abortions.
"I don't understand how
anyone can say easy access to abortion is more important than
protecting women from being pushed, coerced or even violently forced into unwanted abortions.
The rights of women matter
more than the abortion industry's profits."
to be continued ...
Citations
1. "Is Your Mother's Feminism Dead? New Agenda for Women Revealed in Landmark Two-Year Study," press release from the Center for the Advancement of Women (www. advancewomen.org) June 24, 2003; and Steve Ertelt, "Pro-Abortion Poll Shows Majority of Women Are Pro-Life," LifeNews.com, June 25, 2003.
2. RM Tolman, "Protecting the children of battered women," J. Interpersonal Violence 3(4): 476-483, 1988; Burke & Reardon, Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2002).
3. E. Hilberman, K.
Munson, "Sixty battered women," Victimology 2:460-470 (1977-1978).
4. IL Horon, D. Cheng, "Enhanced surveillance for pregnancy-associated mortality-Maryland, 1993-1998," JAMA 285(11): 1455 (2001).
5. CJ Krulewich, "Hidden from view: violent deaths among pregnant women in the District of Columbia, 1988-1996," J. Midwifery & Women's Health 46(1):4 (2001).
6. For citations and other cases of abortion- and pregnancy-related violence, see the special report, Forced Abortion in America, at www.unchoice.info/resources.htm.
7. "Mother charged in forcing abortion, Said to threaten daughter with gun," Washington Times, Aug. 3, 2000; "Woman in Forced Abortion Case Gets No Jail Time," Associated Press, Jan. 6, 2001.
8. David Sharp, "Plea seen in case against parents," The Boston Globe, Oct. 11, 2007; Adrienne P. Samuels, "Police say Maine couple kidnapped daughter, intent on forcing abortion, The Boston Globe, Sept. 18, 2006.
9. Reardon DC, Aborted Women, Silent No More (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2002) 11, 333.
10. The Elliot Institute National Opinion Survey of 600 Adults Regarding Attitudes Toward a Pro-Woman / Pro-Life Agenda. Conducted December 12, 2002 by Rasmussen Public Opinion Research, Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
11. Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault, edited by D. Reardon et. al. (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2000).
12. "Abortion Clinics Concealing Sex Crimes, Study Finds," The Post-Abortion Review, 10(3): 7, July-Sept. 2002.
13. "Planned Parenthood Found Negligent in Reporting Molested Teen's Abortion," Associated Press on the Pro-Life Infonet, December 26, 2002.
14.
Victims and Victors, op. cit, pp. 21, 118-119.
15.
Victims and Victors, op. cit., p. 124-126.
14.
Victims and Victors, op. cit., p. 19-23.
Hard copies of Reversing the Gender Gap are available from the Elliot Institute for $5.00 each (bulk pricing is available). Find out more about other Elliot Institute books and resources at www.unchoice.info/resources.htm. To place an order, call 1-888-412-2676.
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