The post #TheyFeelPain Quote Poll appeared first on Students for Life.

By 2013 Missionary for Life Teresa Pincus

For the past two weeks, I have been working on Capitol Hill as an intern. It is an exciting time to be on the Hill because of the recently introduced Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (HR 1797). This bill would prohibit abortions past 20 weeks of gestational age. The House of Representatives will vote on it this Tuesday, June 18th – please call your Member of Congress and urge them to support this important bill: (202) 224-3121.

Please also participate in the Tweet Fest going on right now by using the hashtag #theyfeelpain.

This bill is important because of the myriad of scientific evidence that supports the fact that unborn children can feel pain by the 20th week of fetal development. By 16 weeks post-fertilization, pain receptors are present throughout the unborn child’s body. By no later than 20 weeks, there are links from the nerves to the brain.

While the majority of abortions occur in the first trimester, second trimester abortions still occur and can be very painful for the unborn child. The common second trimester abortion procedures includes dismemberment (D&E) and inducing a fetal heart attack (digoxin abortion). If being torn limb from limb or having a heart attack does not sound painful to you, I don’t know what would.

One of the driving forces behind this bill is the exposure of Kermit Gosnell.  Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of the murder of three babies that were born alive during late term abortions and the involuntary manslaughter of an adult patient. According to the grand jury report, abortions past the 24-week limit Pennsylvania limit were a regular occurrence and babies were frequently born breathing and moving. Once born, Gosnell would sever the baby’s spinal cord. There is not an exact number of how many babies he killed, but does that matter? Human beings, old enough to survive outside of the womb, met a painful death. Gosnell’s horrific practices and the brutality of the babies’ deaths have sparked a fresh debate about abortion in America – one that we need to have.

From my experience talking to my peers, many do not know at what point in fetal development is an acceptable stage to prohibit abortions. Should we have protections for the unborn at a certain age? Viability? Personhood? Ability to feel pain?

This bill not only saves lives but it is an education tool. Slowly but surely, we are becoming more aware of the atrocities of abortion. The unfolding of the Kermit Gosnell trial opened the eyes of many Americans. It tugs at the heartstrings knowing that the babies Gosnell killed, and others late term abortionists continue to kill, can feel excruciating pain.

The Polling Company recently found 64% of Americans are supportive of a bill that bans abortion after 20 weeks of gestation. This is a good first step in limiting abortions. While it does not include the majority of abortions, this bill sheds light on the humanity of the unborn.

If you would like to speak up for the voiceless, contact Congress and use the hashtag #theyfeelpain on Twitter to encourage your representative to vote for this bill. Also, you can educate your followers with the scientific evidence about fetal pain found here: http://www.doctorsonfetalpain.com

Rest assured, the pro-life movement will continue to work hard for unborn children of all gestational ages to be protected under the law, but this bill is an important first step.

The post Protect Preborn Babies Because #TheyFeelPain appeared first on Students for Life.

This column by SFLA President Kristan Hawkins originally appeared on CNSNews.com

President Obama is waging a War on Girls by allowing young children to get Plan B without a physician or parent’s care or knowledge. Use of Plan B does NOT reduce abortion rates, but it does increase a whole host of dangerous risks. This is not “reproductive justice;” this is child abuse.

Common side-effects of the morning after pill include nausea, vomiting, lower abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, and dizziness – not fun for your kiddo to go through - but, it can also have fatal side-effects because Plan B has been known to cause blood clots, heart attacks or strokes.

Most alarmingly, when emergency contraception fails and a girl becomes pregnant, which Plan B says happens one out of eight times, it triples the risk of ectopic pregnancy. Children cannot understand these risks and, without a doctor’s supervision, an ectopic pregnancy could continue, every day becoming more and more dangerous to her health and life.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards was predictably excited about any attempt to sacrifice women and children’s health on the altar of “choice”:

“This is a huge breakthrough for access to birth control and a historic moment for women’s health and equity. The FDA’s decision will make emergency contraception available on store shelves, just like condoms, and women of all ages will be able to get it quickly in order to prevent unintended pregnancy.”

The doublespeak in this statement is remarkable: “women’s health” and “women of all ages.” It is important to note that this decision lowered the age for obtaining the morning after pill over the counter from 15 years old and older to ANY age. This new policy does not affect “women,” it affects little girls!

And, of course, Richards tries to emphasize the words “prevent unintended pregnancy” without telling you that it can also end the life of a pre-born child that has already begun.

Plan B^® One-Step’s website says it “works similar to regular birth control pills,” but with a larger dose. One of the primary ways it works is by “Altering the endometrium, which may inhibit implantation.” Translation: it can cause abortions by preventing the zygote, a tiny human in its most vulnerable stage of development, from implanting.

The morning after pill is a megadose of the birth-control pill, which has been categorized by the World Health Organization as a Group I carcinogen. That’s the highest possible ranking – cigarettes are also in Group I. So why are drugstores required to put cigarettes behind the counter and ask for a photo id to stop minors from purchasing them, but President Obama is now ordering the morning after pill be sold over the counter to minors, next to candy bars and packs of gum?

President Obama has said in the past that his administration “could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drugstore should be able – alongside bubble gum or batteries – be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could have an adverse effect. And I think most parents would probably feel the same way.”

What has changed in the last year and a half to give him that confidence?

This is not a victory for feminism. It is perpetuating violence against women and rape culture by allowing rapists to continue to prey on children and then cover up their crimes.

Dr. John Bruckalski, an OB-GYN and advisor to our medical outreach organization Med Students for Life (Med SFLA), has said of allowing Plan B access to minors, “With partner violence at epidemic levels, the possibility for abuse of this powerful steroid in an at-risk population of our younger women is profound. This is another example of how medicine is moving away from the doctor-patient interaction because of political expediency. Abusive partner relationships that will affect our children throughout their life, increasing pelvic pain and infertility via sexually transmitted diseases will increase because of this legal maneuver.”

Dr. Mary Catharine Maxian, another Med SFLA advisor, agrees and says children “are also at risk of the severe emotional distress of a breakup after having done something very intimate with another person. It is also possible that the teenager is having sex because they are a victim of rape. The only one of these risks that is addressed by any form of contraceptive pill is pregnancy. Emergency contraception covers up very risky behavior. Making it available to anyone may cause us to miss the opportunity for parents to step in and help protect these young girls from the other risks associated with sex. It is irresponsible not to care for the whole person.  Our young people deserve better than for us to help them hide risky behavior.”

Proponents want Plan B available over the counter but studies show that access to the morning after pill does not reduce abortion or pregnancy rates – whether obtained before or after unprotected sex:

• Advanced Provision of Emergency Contraception Does Not Reduce Abortion Rates in the Contraception Journal said, “No effect on abortion rates was demonstrated with advanced provision of EC. The results of this study suggest that widespread distribution of advanced supplies of EC through health services may not be an effective way to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy in the UK.”
• Direct Access to Emergency Contraception Through Pharmacies and Effect on Unintended Pregnancy and STIs published in the Journal of the American Medical Association began with the context, “It is estimated that half of unintended pregnancies could be averted if emergency contraception (EC) were easily accessible and used,” but found that “compared with controls, women in the pharmacy access and advance provision groups did not experience a significant reduction in pregnancy rate.”
• Advance provision of emergency contraception for pregnancy prevention: a meta-analysis from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Journal concluded, “Advance provision of emergency contraception did not reduce pregnancy rates.”

Cutting parents and physicians out of the equation further increases the risks to young girls.  Dr. Anita Showalter, an OB-GYN and frequent speaker on Med SFLA tours, explains why:

“Contraception management is an opportunity for physicians to counsel patients in regard to their at-risk behavior and test for sexually transmitted diseases. A concern for the teen is immature decision making which puts their compliance and proper use of this medication in question. While no one argues the need to decrease teen pregnancy rates, making it easier to get emergency contraception means teens are less likely to receive counsel, guidance and screening while engaging in high risk behaviors.”

The bottom line is this: Plan B does not reduce pregnancy or abortion – the main reason proponents claim they want it accessible to anyone of any gender at any age. But, it does increase the risk of cancer, ectopic pregnancy, and side-effects ranging from uncomfortable to fatal, which is made even more dangerous by cutting out physicians and parents from the equation.

This decision abandons our girls to rapists and child abusers and sacrifices their psychological and emotional well-being. This is the real War on Girls.

The post Obama’s War on Girls appeared first on Students for Life.

May was another crazy month at Students for Life! Join us as we bring you all the amazing and downright outrageous stories from our campus outreach last month in the second installment of our new YouTube show.

*Protesting the pro-abortion Irish Prime Minister at Boston College
*The trials and tribulations of Johns Hopkins Voice for Life
*The most outrageous flyer competition winners
*Regional Coordinators help you plan your upcoming school year

Watch the June Show here and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

(You can see all other episodes of the show here.)

The post Watch Our Outrageous June YouTube Show appeared first on Students for Life.

By Roanna Thawley, 2013 Missionary for Life

Karen Snuffer is the Executive Director of Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers with locations in Manassas (full medical center), Warrenton, and Woodridge, Virginia. Their ministry website is www.voice4life.org and their client website is www.empowered2choose.org. Karen is also hosting me as a Summer 2013 Missionary for Life at her home and she graciously allowed me to interview her about her work.

Why are you pro-life?

Karen: Because I made the mistake of having an abortion and I understand the pain and loss from that choice, how sacred life is and what a blessing life is. Through my experience of not protecting life, I learned that it is one of the most valuable treasures to protect.

How did you become involved in working with Care Net Pregnancy Resource Centers?

Karen: I heard about Care Net Pregnancy Resource Ministry through my church and the testimony of a woman who had had two abortions and went through abortion recovery at a local center. This prompted me to want healing because of my abortion and I went through the abortion recovery program. Through that healing and transformation I was led into volunteering and subsequently led into working in pro-life ministry.

How often do college students volunteer at the pregnancy care centers you direct?

Karen: During the summer as interns and sometimes during college breaks they will come in and help with mailings and administrative work.

What can pro-life college students do to get more involved in helping pregnancy care resource centers?

Karen: Spread the word about the true work that we do, not what most college kids think we do. Become informed about the resources your local pregnancy care center(s) offers, and distribute information (business cards, brochures). Work with your college and get them to share us as an option with women, so women know the resources we have and what is available. Help us become an option to pregnant women.

[Author’s Note: Students can work alongside SFLA and their Pregnant on Campus Initiative)

I spoke with a friend who said that the pregnancy care center in her town is Christian and mainly reaches Christian women who have become pregnant. How are the pregnancy centers you direct reaching women, regardless of their faith and whether they come to faith?

Karen: We are reaching more women, regardless of faith, mainly because we have started using social media. We are using Google ads, Facebook, and Twitter to reach out to those not in the faith community. Our development efforts and outreach are not just through churches; we are reaching out to the community through events, health fairs, etc. We are also connecting with our local hospitals and medical professionals to let them know the programs and services we offer. One of the challenges for smaller pregnancy care centers is social media marketing because of limited funds.

[Author’s Note: Students can help in this area by using their personal and pro-life group’s Facebook and Twitter pages to spread the word about pregnancy care centers. What is better than free advertising?]

If there was one thing you could tell college students who are fighting abortion, what would that one thing be?

Karen: Keep fighting the good fight and don’t give up. There is hope in our future. You are the generation that will carry the mantle, which is not one that is getting lighter. This is a battle that we need you to take a stand on so precious preborn lives are saved and women and men are spared the pain and anguish of abortion. Be the voice of truth wherever you are.

Thank you so much for your time and dedication to life.

The post Interview: How Students Can Help Pregnancy Care Centers appeared first on Students for Life.

Missionaries for Life are summer interns who rotate between Students for Life of America headquarters, Care Net, Susan B. Anthony List, and member offices in the House of Representatives.  They are some of the brightest student pro-life leaders and we look forward to training them and watching them grow as activists every year.

This year we are so excited to have a great group of six girls for the summer – they are the pro-life generation, ready to abolish abortion in this lifetime!

Meet our missionaries below:

Lori Kostka

Lori Kostka is a recent high school graduate who will be attending George Mason University. She is undecided on a major, however, hopes being a missionary for life will help her pinpoint a choice. She strives to find how she can make the biggest impact.

Lori is has been a passionate pro-lifer ever since taking over her town’s small 40 Days for Life. She is not blind to abortion’s horrors. Researching, attending events, and speaking with friends who have had abortions has ignited a determination to make a difference. Nothing gives her more joy than being involved in life saving work, and moving closer to abolishing abortion each day.

Teresa Pincus

Teresa Pincus goes to NC State University and is working towards a degree in Civil Engineering. She is president of NC State Students for Life.

US citizens’ views are changing in our favor about abortion and she wants to be a part of this continuing change until abortion is completely illegal. She is looking forward to a great experience working in different aspects of the pro-life movement!

Karen Shufflebarger

Karen Shufflebarger will be a second-year at the University of Virginia this fall, where she hopes to graduate with degrees in Art History and Italian.  She is an active member of UVA’s Catholic Student Ministry, Hoos for Life club, and Madison House Volunteering Organization.  Karen hopes to meet people committed to the pro-life cause, and learn ways to spread the pro-life message by working with Students for Life of America in the Missionary for Life program.

Brittany SanSouci

Brittany SanSouci is a rising Junior at Plymouth State University. She is still undeclared but is thinking of being a high school History teacher and getting her Masters Degree in Library Science. She is an RA at school and part of her campus’ Catholic Campus Ministry and PSU Republicans. Brittany is looking forward to another great summer in the DC area fighting for something she feels so strongly about. She is looking forward to meeting new people who feel just as strongly as she does about abortion and making great new friends!

Evelyn Hildebrand

Evelyn Hildebrand is thrilled to be working at Students for Life of America this summer!  She just finished her sophomore year at Franciscan University of Steubenville as a Philsophy Major, Human Life Studies Minor.  During her time at Franciscan, she has learned so much about herself, about the Lord and about life through prayer and friendships as well as through class.  Life is a precious, precious gift.  While it is completely true that the pro-life movement is focused on ending abortion, she believes that the pro-life movement is a call to hope.  Being pro-life means we must, “always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)  The pro-life movement means responding to the words of Pope John Paul II who said, “Do not be afraid to go out onto the streets and into public places like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages.”

The pro-life movement hangs upon this hope, this Good News, this truth that life is worth living because we are loved by God.  This summer, Evelyn wants to be a missionary of hope.

Roanna Thawley

Roanna Thawley graduated from God’s Bible School & College in May 2012, with an Associate of Arts in General Studies. After seeking direction from God for her next academic step, she transferred to Ohio Christian University in the fall of 2012, where she studies Government and Public Service with a Pre-Law concentration. As a Missionary for Life this summer, Roanna hopes to learn how to effectively use the political arena to advance the rights of the unborn and to educate others on the value of life.

We look forward to another outstanding summer with our Missionaries!

The post Meet Our 2013 Missionaries for Life! appeared first on Students for Life.

Let me tell you about a girl named Sam, and why she needs your help.

Sam came to us in the Fall of 2012 excited to start a pro-life group at her high school in Branford, CT. You see, Sam’s mother had her when she was 17 years old. And she has courageously decided that she wants to make sure that other young, pregnant high schoolers have the resources they need to chose life the way her mom did.  After Sam contacted our team, we sent her our “Get Started!” Activism Kit for free, met with her and her mom when they came to our 2013 SFLA National Conference, and strategized with her to help Sam make a plan for starting the first pro-life group at Branford High School.

But a month later, we received a disturbing email from Sam. A parent had complained to the Branford Board of Education that Branford Students for Life “gets its directive from an extreme base of hate and intolerance” with “with tactics of killing doctors, assaulting women, blowing up clinics and is terroristic in nature and has a total disregard for law and woman at large.” She also claimed she feared for her daughter and other students’ safety at the school because of Sam’s group, concluding, “Don’t let hate groups infiltrate our educational system.”

All this for a group of high school students who just want to educate their peers about the evil of abortion and save babies from death by helping pregnant women in need!

But did this harassment and bullying from an adult deter Sam? No way! Right after we received her email about the controversy Sam was in the middle of at Branford, Brendan O’Morchoe, our National Field Director, and I made plans to travel to Connecticut to visit Sam and train her new Students for Life group.

In preparation for our visit, Sam started hanging flyers around her school advertising for the next Students for Life group meeting we were to attend. However, the flyers were vandalized within hours  with messages like: “Requirements: White, Catholic, Ignorant,” “Be pro-life; kill a doctor,” and “The new terrorist organization.” (See the pictures of the vandalized flyers below!)

In just a day, Sam became the target of her classmates’ hate, being yelled at and sworn at in the hallways, and even having binders thrown at her head.

And her school administration did nothing to protect her rights!  In fact, they have and continue to fight her every step of the way.

Sam’s school vice principal actually told her she needed to take flyers down because one had a picture of an unborn baby in the womb.  A simple picture, that was not graphic and could have been in the students’ biology textbooks, was said to be “disturbing to the atmosphere” at the school.

But, it gets worse.

After Brendan and I’s visit to Branford High, Sam’s group set up a table at their school’s freshmen orientation club fair where they displayed their 12-week fetal models and showed fetal development pictures. Before the fair even started, the school principal told Sam to take down the display of fetal development pictures because they were “inappropriate,” though he declined to say how or why. Sam put the pictures back up when the club fair started, and the school’s vice principal soon came over in a rage, yelling at Sam and her pregnant mother to take the “inappropriate” pictures down. She then threw the poster board with the pictures and the fetal models on the ground and stormed off. What a great example of tolerance for the students!

Soon after the freshman orientation club fair, Sam was told, yet again, by her principal that she had to take down two more flyers –this time because they directed students to outside resources for information on pregnancy help centers and gestation, abortion, and adoption.  The principle said it’s not the students’ job to provide these resources, but it’s the school based health center and Planned Parenthood’s!

Since she first stepped up to lead, Sam has faced constant pressure from her school administrators to censor her life-affirming materials and new group. Every step of the way. Yet, her pro-life group has carried on courageously forward: raising funds for the pro-life St. Gianna’s center in CT and stepping up their campaign to educate their peers about abortion, most of whom have never heard the pro-life message before and don’t know that there are free resources available if they are pregnant.

Sam is truly leading the way in changing the abortion culture at Branford High School.

Next month, Sam will be continuing her training with SFLA as one of our inaugural Thaddeus Stevens Leadership Fellows. Our new Fellowship is modeled off our highly successful William Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship for college students and will train the top high school pro-life students throughout the year, helping them to become the best leaders and activists in their schools and, ultimately, in the nation.

Student leaders such as Sam need your help!  They are at war every day against the abortion industry, hostile administrations, and sometimes violent opposition.  But where others might get discouraged, Sam continues to carry our pro-life message — and in places you and I might not be able to reach.

I want to be able to show Sam there is an army of pro-lifers ready to support her mission.  For $25, or whatever amount you can, will you sponsor a student leader like Sam?

This July, Sam and several other Stevens Leadership Fellows will fly into DC for a weekend-long training program with our team to launch their year-long program.  Only $25 will pay for one student’s meals for the weekend.  $68 will cover the cost of a hotel room for a leader like Sam. $150 will cover half the cost of a round-trip plan ticket.

Courageous student leaders like Sam are the reason I know that abortion will be abolished in our lifetime. With your prayers and support, they will abolish their generation’s greatest social injustice, abortion.

The post Help Support Courageous Student Leaders Like Sam appeared first on Students for Life.

Today Students for Life of America, along with Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition and Kate Bryan of Live Action, held a pro-life witness at the Irish Embassy in Washington, D.C. calling for Ireland to remain abortion-free.  Across the world, members of the pro-life community held demonstrations at Irish Embassies challenging the current government not to bring abortion into that country ahead of the June 8th Irish National Vigil for Life that will take place in Dublin.

“We stand with pro-life Ireland because we have seen the devastating effects of legal abortion in America, with the deaths of over 55 million preborn baby girls and boys, the victimization of millions of women, and the crumbling of countless families,” said Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America.

“It has taken us more than 40 years to start turning our nation back around after Roe v. Wade, but now we have the chance to exert international pressure to stop another Roe v. Wade moment in Ireland.  The time is now to stand in solidarity with pro-lifers in Ireland as they courageously defend the preborn and prevent the genocide of millions of Irish children.”

In May, SFLA held a prayer vigil and public witness outside the graduation of Boston College because the commencement speaker was Ireland’s Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, who is pushing legislation that will allow abortion on demand, through all 9 months of pregnancy, in his country. Thousands of people from across the globe took action on the website NotAtBC.com to voice their outrage to BC President Rev. William Leahy over the decision to allow Kenny to speak at the Catholic institution and sent messages of support to Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who was under attack by pro-abortion forces for boycotting the event.

The post Keep Ireland Abortion-Free! appeared first on Students for Life.

As part of our new Students for Life High School Initiative, our team is so excited to announce the Thaddeus Stevens Leadership Fellowship! Like its college counterpart, the William Wilberforce Fellowship, the Stevens Fellowship has been developed to raise up the next generation of pro-life leaders. We want to help high school students become the best leaders and activists in their schools and, ultimately, in their communities!

For our first-ever Stevens Fellowship, we’ve invited high school students from all over the nation, who have shown exemplary leadership and passion for the pro-life movement, to join with SFLA so that we can take them to the next level!

Here’s what our SFLA Thaddeus Stevens Fellows will do during the 2013-2014 academic year:
- Attend an SFLA intensive training weekend, July 19-21, 2013, at the National Students for Life Headquarters in Manassas, VA
- Learn what it takes to be a leader by reading various books and participating in bi-weekly webcasts for discussion and guest speaker lectures
- Apply the skills they learn to their school’s existing pro-life groups by organizing at least 2 community service events (fall and spring) with their groups
- Assist Students for Life of America in its mission of equipping the pro-life generation
- Work with a National Stevens Mentor (a leader of an existing national pro-life organization) who will help them network with the national pro-life movement and assist in the completion on their Stevens Fellowship Projects

Why Thaddeus Stevens? Thaddeus Stevens, a Pennsylvanian Representative in the 1800′s, was a fierce opponent of slavery. He was one of the most influential members of the Republican Party in the history of Congress. The abolition of slavery became his primary political and personal focus, resulting in the defense of runaway or fugitive slaves consuming the greatest amount of his time. Stevens was actively involved in the Underground Railroad by hiding slaves under his office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He even refused to sign the new PA state constitution of 1838 because it did not give the right to vote to black citizens. Thaddeus Stevens was a key player in abolishing slavery in our nation, just as we hope our Stevens Fellows will be key players in abolishing abortion!

We are honored to work with such outstanding students. We believe, just like Stevens, they will abolish our generation’s greatest social injustice, abortion.

The post Announcing Our First-Ever SFLA Thaddeus Stevens Leadership Fellowship! appeared first on Students for Life.

This column by SFLA President Kristan Hawkins originally appeared on Townhall.com

Pro-abortion zealots want you to believe that convicted killer Kermit Gosnell was an exception. That his “House of Horrors” was the only bad apple. But you don’t have to look far to find other Gosnells. They are lurking in communities across our nation, enabled by politicians and officials who won’t enact or enforce basic regulations and health safety standards on abortion businesses because of their own utmost devotion to abortion eugenics ideology or for fear of the powerful abortion lobby. Late-term abortionist Douglas Karpen is one such man who has thus far escaped into the system, like Gosnell did for decades.

Delivering Babies Alive and Snipping Necks

Of course we all know how Gosnell infamously snipped the necks of babies who were born alive. It’s horrible to think about, but that seems to be the modus operandi for late-term abortionists. Down in Texas, Douglas Karpen does the exact same thing when he fails to kill his patients’ children quick enough, i.e. before they leave the birth canal.

In eye-opening testimony, former workers for Karpen’s abortion business have spoken out about his abhorrent practices. One of Karpen’s former operating room assistants confirmed she saw babies born alive every day but didn’t realize it was illegal. She helped Karpen with the abortions and said, “Most of the time the fetus would come completely out before he cut the spinal cord; or he introduced one of the instruments into the soft spot of the fetus, in order to kill the fetus.”

Just as Gosnell witnesses testified that they saw some of the babies breathing or moving before he “snipped” them, Karpen’s assistant described, “It was still moving, you could see the stomach, breathing. That’s when he would snip the spine.” Often, she said Karpen would pull a baby out feet first until he clamped down on the head with “Bierers” (forceps with with serrated jaws.) She had to look away after too many times watching the baby’s toes wiggling, then jerk and spread open, before finally going limp.

She and other former Karpen workers told of other ways Karpen would kill babies born alive. How he pushed a surgical instrument into a baby’s stomach to kill it, put his finger down a baby’s throat, or twisted a baby’s head to break it off his neck. And just as we saw the dead bodies of the babies Gosnell snipped, the bloody images of at least two late-term babies Karpen killed have been smuggled out of his chop shop as proof of his practices.

“Fetuses and Blood All Over the Place”

In the bloody business of abortion, the name of the game is to get women in and out quickly. One of Gosnell’s unlicensed workers testified that at times, when women were given medicine to speed up their deliveries, “it would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place.” Another worker testified in the Gosnell Grand Jury report “that one or two babies fell out of patients each night. They dropped out on lounge chairs, on the floor, and often in the toilet.”

Karpen’s workers spoke of similar horror stories where women went into labor too early. The workers said, “We saw a lot of cases where women felt like they had to push and they had to run to the bathroom. On some occasions, we had women where the fetuses were falling into the toilet…or before even getting to the clinic.” They went on to say that one woman left her baby in a McDonald’s bathroom. Another was walking to the operating room for her abortion, but ended up giving birth in the hallway. In that case, Karpen simply picked the child up and threw him in a trash bag.

It gets worse. Another Karpen assistant said that sometimes a baby was too far along to be delivered easily: “Sometimes he couldn’t get the fetus out. He (Karpen) would yank pieces – piece by piece – when they were oversized. And I’m talking about the whole floor dirty. I’m talking about me drenched in blood.”

The fetuses and blood really did get everywhere. At Gosnell’s clinic, they backed up the facility plumbing regularly, and the janitor had to clean out the fetal parts, babies’ arms and legs, from the pipes. When Karpen’s clinic had a sewer leak, a woman at the business next door reported, “This whole area is nothing but raw sewage and bloody pieces. There were little legs coming out from one side.” It sounds like a scene out of a horror film, but the horror of abortion is all too real.

Medical Boards that Refuse to Investigate or Discipline Serious Complaints

How do mom and pop chop shops like Gosnell’s and Karpen’s stay open? Because the authorities in charge of regulating and licensing abortion facilities turn a blind eye. The Gosnell Grand Jury reported:

“The [Pennsylvania Medical] Board overlooked Gosnell’s unprofessional conduct not only in the 1970s but for the next three decades, as he continued to employ unlicensed workers to practice medicine at his clinic, and as his patients continued to suffer serious injuries or worse during abortion procedures. …

“Between 2002 and 2009, Board of Medicine attorneys reviewed five cases involving malpractice and other complaints against Gosnell. (The Grand Jury also received records of three older complaints – from 1983, 1990, and 1992 – one of which resulted in a reprimand.) None of the assigned attorneys, or their supervisors, suggested that the Board take action against the deviant doctor. In fact, despite serious allegations, three of the cases were closed without any investigation. The other two were investigated and then closed – without any action being taken.”

Similar stonewalling is taking place in Texas with the Karpen case. Operation Rescue filed a complaint against him to the Texas Medical Board in 2011 documenting years of violations, botched abortions, and at least one girl’s death. OR’s Cheryl Sullenger thought the investigation was moving along, until communications with the board dropped off. On Feb 8th, the Medical Board dismissed the case in a letter:

“The investigation referenced above has been dismissed because the Board determined there was insufficient evidence to prove that a violation of the Medical Practices Act occurred. Specifically, this investigation determined that Dr. Karpen did not violate the laws connected with the practice of medicine and there is no evidence of inappropriate behavior, therefore no further action will be taken.”

Didn’t violate the law? No evidence of inappropriate behavior?

Once again, this is just state authorities sweeping the crimes of an abortionist under the rug, and the media is trying to ignore the story. The similarities between Karpen and Gosnell are eerie until you realize that this is business as usual. This is what 40 years and 55 million dead by legal abortion has wrought. This is what abortion truly is.

The post Douglas Karpen is the Texas Gosnell appeared first on Students for Life.