The news was a real bummer. A reporter named Tom Szyszkiewicz, who writes for the Catholic publications, Our Sunday Visitor and the National Catholic Register, was calling to tell me he had discovered two Catholic hospital systems were committing the induced-labor abortion procedure – live-birth abortion – on handicapped babies.
The bad news warped to bizarre when Szyszkiewicz said these hospitals were waiting until babies were 23 to 26 weeks gestation before aborting them – i.e., until they were of viable age – so they could say these weren't abortions at all, but simply labor inductions and, thus, sanctioned by the Catholic Church.
"That's crazy," I thought. Most hospitals I'm aware of that commit LBA do just the opposite: They make sure to abort babies before 23 weeks – the most recent viability cutoff date according to the American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics – to avoid the ethical and legal dilemmas of deciding whether to resuscitate a baby they just tried to kill.
The Catholic hospitals' abortion strategy seemed even more risky when taking the Born Alive Infants Protection Act into account. It states that live-born babies, no matter what their gestational age or circumstances of birth, are "persons." According to the 14th Amendment, "persons" born in the United States are automatic citizens who cannot be "deprive[d] ... of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor den[ied] ... equal protection of the laws."
This means live-aborted babies can't be cast aside to die in hospital soiled utility rooms, or drowned in buckets of water, or sealed to suffocate in biohazard bags. They must be medically assessed and cared for just like wanted babies.
Last week, I contacted both hospital systems to make sure I wasn't missing something. I wasn't.
Loyola Health System in Chicago, and Providence Health System on the West Coast and Alaska, both commit live-birth abortion.
But they don't like the word, "abortion." They call what they do, "early induction of labor."
Webster's Dictionary defines abortion as, "the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus."
So now "termination of pregnancy" is called "early induction of labor." Euphemisms ... what would abortion proponents do without them?
Other Catholic hospitals may also be involved. Szyszkiewicz reported in the March 7, 2004, Our Sunday Visitor that Providence is the 10th largest U.S. Catholic health system, and "spokespersons for the other nine ... were either vague about their hospitals' practices or did not return calls."
Loyola and Providence say they are acting in accordance with the 2001 U.S. Bishops' Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services that states, "For proportionate reason, labor may be induced after the fetus is viable."
Theologian James LaGrye from the bishops' doctrinal office said the term "proportionate" is used "for situations in which some grave risk would be incurred if an action were not taken to avoid it," wrote Szyszkiewicz, who added, "LaGrye said the mental health of the mother 'is a reason' to perform early induction."
In addition to having "mental health" concerns, Fr. Jack O'Callahan, staff ethicist at Loyola, said they are trying "to ward off the physical complications of bringing to term a child who is not going to live anyway."
But, euthanizing one's handicapped child is not the solution to maintaining mental health, nor do handicapped babies normally spread voodoo vibes to make their mothers sick.
What about the physical and mental complications of abortion?
Even fatally ill babies, left to develop until term, give their mothers the gift of lowering their risk of breast cancer. Contrarily, mothers who abort dramatically increase their risk.
Aborting mothers also stand a much greater chance of ending up in hospital high-risk maternity departments next time they get pregnant. Their forcibly stretched cervixes will have difficulty keeping subsequent babies inside until full term.
But I digress.
The Aug. 19 New England Journal of Medicine reported that the smallest known surviving preemie just celebrated her 15th birthday. In 1989, Madeline Mann was born at Loyola Hospital at 27 weeks, weighing 9.9 ounces. She is now a violin playing, roller-blading, high-school honor student.
Doctors at Loyola delivered Madeline early by Caesarean section after determining she might fare better in their care than in her mother's uterus.
Oh, the irony.
© 2004
Jill Stanek fought to stop "live-birth abortion" after witnessing one as a registered nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill. In 2002, President Bush asked Jill to attend his signing of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. In January 2003, World Magazine named Jill one of the 30 most prominent pro-life leaders of the past 30 years.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40465Such hypocrites! For YEARS these liars in Rome have been proclaiming they are against abortion! They have stated it was murder! But now it seems they not only perform these abortions, they are doing so enmasse! How many lies will it take for the Catholic people to realize this is not a Christian church! It is a cult run by politicians that are only interested in power! Just yesterday, (9-19-04) on my Truth Provided Radio Broadcast I reported on St. Elizabeth Hospital of Granite City, Ill. (about 10 miles east of St. Louis) which is sponsored by the Sisters of Divine Providence. They knowingly allowed an abortionist, Dr. Yogendra Shah to be on staff at their hospital for almost 10 complete years while he performed abortions! Not only that, he was promoted to CHIEF of the OB/GYN department of that hospital several months ago to boot! The only reason he was let go was because Worldnetdaily.com went public with the fact he was an abortionist, and the Roman Catholic Hospital knew about it! Then 48 hours after the news went public, the Catholic hospital decided to fire the man! If the news media didn't report on this, he would still be killing 7000 children each year! (Click here for the Truth Provided Radio Broadcast on this) This is how the Vatian always responds. They allow the evils to continue UNTIL someone goes public, then they act as if they are moral by stopping it. Just last month I reported on the Radio how a Roman Catholic Seminary in Austria allowed all the children in their care to not only be molested, they were photgraphed performing sex acts on the Roman Catholic priests that were teachign them to become priests! The Vatican knew about this, and still allowed it to continue. They did nothing to stop it until it went public. When the authorities arrived they found over 40,000 pictures and videos of these children! (Click here for the Truth Provided Radio Broadcast on this)
By the way, the "Loyola Health system, and Providence Health system" are NOT solitary hospitals. They are MANAGING companies that run numerous hospitals and medical centers. They direct their internal procedures for them! Providence manages 18 hospitals and health facilities in the United States. Loyola manages at least 15 more. Think of it! There are at least 33 Roman Catholic Hospitals across this nation killing at least 7000 babies each year! That equates to at least 231,000 murders being done by Roman Catholic, Vatican run Hospitals!