News Briefs: Janus Report reveals half of respondents reporting negative reactions

LA Butcher to Keep His License
Four women have died during or after abortions by Los Angeles doctor Leo Kenneally. One woman died when Dr. Kenneally was doing an emergency tracheotomy in which the patient’s throat was slit. Administrative Law Judge Milford Maron conceded that Kenneally’s negligence had resulted in patient’s deaths, but said mitigating factors prevented permanent revocation of Kenneally’s medical license. The mitigating factor? “There is presently an enormous need for his services in the [low-income] communities which he serves where he is the ‘price floor’ for elective abortions. His absence would make it much more difficult for disadvantaged women to obtain such services.” In short, cheap abortions are more important than safe abortions; licensed hacks are more valuable than “disadvantaged women.” Will the judge order Kenneally to advise patients of how many women have died at this hands? We doubt it, though we also suspect most women would consider such information relevant to their decision.

Re: Negative Abortion Experiences
In The Janus Report, a recently published book reporting on a national survey of sexual behavior, 25 percent of the female respondents reported having at least one abortion. Forty-five percent described their “post-abortion reaction” in negative terms, as either “sadness,” “guilt,” or “regret.” Forty-three percent described their post-abortion reaction as “relief,” four percent as “pleasure,” and eight percent claimed “no reaction.” Unfortunately, the single question “Postabortion reaction was:” did not distinguish between immediate post-abortion reaction, later feelings, and present feelings. Still, this bit of data, in a national study which has been compared in significance to the Kinsey Report, contradicts the conventional notion that women are universally helped by abortion.

Refusing Abortions – “Ethically Necessary”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (10/28/94), Sylvia Stengle, the director of the National Abortion Federation (an association of abortion clinics), admits that one in five women having abortions are doing so in violation of their own moral consciences. (This estimate is probably low.) Stengle says these women are a “very worrisome subset of our patients” and admits: “Sometimes, ethically, a provider has to say, ‘If you think you are doing something wrong, I don’t want to help you do that.'” The article does not say how often NAF abortionists actually take this ethical stand. But it is at least nice to have NAF admit that it ethically necessary to refuse to do an abortions in some cases.

Lessons from an Accidental Shooting
A recent newspaper article reports a tragic story. A unnamed man returned home and heard ominous shuffling sounds coming from a hall closet. Knowledge of recent robberies in the neighborhood filled with tension. He reached for a gun. A moment later, his daughter burst from the closet where she had been hiding with a friend. Before she could finish shouting “BOO,” she was shot dead by her terrified father.

Everyone can empathize with the tremendous guilt this father will carry with him for the rest of his life. Out of fear, he did something that cost him is daughter’s life. We must help people to see that the same trauma is experienced by abortion patients. In a panic reaction to an unplanned pregnancy, women choose abortion out of fear. Only afterwards, when it’s too late, do they recognize that their panic cost them their children’s lives. The lifetime of remorse which so many aborted women feel is no different than that of the weeping father bent over the daughter who shouted Boo. Both blame themselves for not waiting long enough to discover the truth. Both see it as the most costly mistake of their lives.

Thanks to Others
After a decade of study, the Elliot Institute’s Director, David Reardon, anticipates receiving his doctors of philosophy degree in biomedical ethics in the Spring of 1995. He wishes to acknowledge and thank his wife, friends, and advisors for their support and encouragement over these many years.