FIRST-PERSON: Who's afraid of the fetus?"When I had the sonogram and heard the heartbeat -- and for me a heartbeat symbolizes life -- after that there was no way I could do it," Brown recalled. Once she had seen the image of her unborn baby, abortion was no longer an option.
According to the Heidi Group, a Christian organization that advises crisis pregnancy centers, up to 90 percent of women visiting the clinics who see their babies through the use of ultrasound technology change their minds and no longer seek an abortion.Make no mistake -- pro-abortion advocates understand what this new development represents. Susanne Martinez, vice president of public policy at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told The New York Times that the use of such images by pregnancy centers "is coercive."In an amazingly candid statement, Martinez put the issue in perspective. "From the time they walk into these centers, they are inundated with information that is propaganda and that has one goal in mind. And that is to have women continue with their pregnancies."Got it? Martinez clearly believes that something dreadful has happened when women are persuaded to continue with their pregnancies and not to seek abortions. Of course, all that makes sense when the Planned Parenthood Federation of America comes into closer view, and its real agenda is made clear.
The national media has been watching the development of these crisis pregnancy centers and the impact of ultrasound technology for some time. Writing for the Newhouse News Service, reporter Mark O'Keefe traced the experience of Rebekah Nancarrow, a 23-year-old woman who visited a faith-based pregnancy center in Dallas, Texas. According to O'Keefe's report, Nancarrow went into the clinic "95 percent certain I was going to have an abortion." Nevertheless, once Nancarrow saw her baby through an ultrasound technology, everything was changed. "She was moving, she was kicking, she had legs." Nancarrow made a promise to her baby on the spot: "I will take care of you."
O'Keefe reported that "abortion rights groups oppose the practice, arguing that ultrasound becomes a manipulative weapon when put in the hands of religious activists trying to persuade pregnant, vulnerable women." Planned Parenthood's Suzanne Martinez, also cited in O'Keefe's article, charged that the use of ultrasound technology by pregnancy centers "isn't a matter of providing more knowledge, but an attempt to manipulate women." In other words, the abortion industry doesn't want pregnant women to see inside their own wombs -- and thus recognize the humanity of their unborn children.
When all else fails, the Feminist Women's Health Center shifts to scare tactics. "If you discover you are seeking help from an anti-abortion facility, protect yourself from further harassment. Leave the premises immediately and do not return. When you do locate a professional clinic that offers information about all options, be sure to share your ... experience with your new counselor so that whatever distortions and misinformation you may have received can be corrected." There you have it. The abortion rights movement finally has met its match. The abortion industry is scared to death of the fetus, knowing that the mere image of a living baby in the womb is the refutation of every argument they can assert and all the coercion they would employ.
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=20144