Abortion and Those Who Do Them

 

The abortionist as hero: Part One

By Dave Andrusko

Abortionist Carol Ball
(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

If you’re looking for even a smidgeon of balance in an abortion story, arguably the last place you might look is the Los Angeles Times. Their commitment to the abortion agenda is as complete as their stories are one-sided.

I bother to mention that because even some of the most in-the-tank-for-abortion publications will drop in a hint or two that abortion is not easy, not merely a “medical procedure,” and not a walk in the park. But not the Los Angeles Times.

Today and tomorrow we’ll be talking about two profiles of abortionists who are among the last in their respective states still “practicing.” The first is Carol Ball who is the medical director for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota.
According to the Times’ Maria L. LaGanga, Ball splits her time among Planned Parenthood’s headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota, and the Sioux Falls, South Dakota abortion clinic. So what do we learn—aside from the overriding point that all the pro-life legislation passed is pointless, costly, and annoying to patients and abortionists alike?
Actually, if you read superficially, that’s pretty much it. But if you look deeper, here are five takeaways:

#1. Ball flies in several times a month because for the past decade they’ve been unable to find a doctor willing to pollute his skills by performing abortions. That may irritate her to no end, but the message is that South Dakota is a strongly pro-life state.

#2. In South Dakota there are plenty of speed bumps so abortionists can’t rush a woman through pell-mell. There is a 72 hour time for reflection, which to LaGanga (channeling Ball) dismisses as accomplishing nothing more than making women come back to the abortion clinic twice and pay lots for gasoline. Worse than that (for Ball), South Dakota law requires a woman to first visit pregnancy help center before having an abortion so she can hear about options available “to help her maintain her relationship with her unborn child.” That doesn’t fit the Planned Parenthood playbook which is to get the woman into the abortion clinic as soon as possible and complete the abortion at the first possible moment. Thinking is frowned upon.

#3. One woman who was coming back for the second time told LaGanga

“It’s hard enough to make the decision to come here once, but to have to come back here three days later? I don’t know; it’s difficult,” she said. “But I made the decision. It’s not the time. We live in an RV. I don’t have a job. I’m 36. And I smoke.”

Why was it “hard enough” in the first place? And, in this context why mention that she smokes? I think we know why.

#4. Talk about dehumanizing—and inaccurate descriptions.

Ball is one of six physicians who fly in to do both surgical and medical procedures here for patients who, under state law, cannot be more than 13 weeks and six days pregnant. During a surgical abortion, which takes about 10 minutes, the patient is given a local anesthetic before the uterus is suctioned out. This method is used for women who are between six and 14 weeks pregnant.

Elizabeth was having a medical abortion, which is an option for women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant. Medical abortions, which are a two-part procedure, can be done earlier in a pregnancy. Anesthesia is not required.

On Thursday, she checked in early for an 11:45 a.m. appointment. First, Ball gave Elizabeth a drug to take called mifepristone; it blocks the growth of the placenta. Then the physician sent her home with a drug called misoprostol, which makes the uterus contract and causes it to empty. It must be taken 24 to 48 hours after the first drug. 

The “uterus is sucked out”? Please. The baby’s body is sucked out. “Anesthesia is not required” when she receives the first drug. If you’ve read any of the accounts (from women who did not regret their decision to abort) we’ve published, you know that the pain of a “medical abortion” (a chemically-induced abortion, “RU-486”) is absolutely incredible. They no doubt would have loved an anesthetic. And

#5. It really is like “meat-market style assembly line abortions” (to quote a former Planned Parenthood of Delaware employee). In one day Ball (who described herself as “beat”) performed “five medical abortions” and “12 surgical abortions.”

LaGanga ends her story with this

But the Supreme Court decision striking down the Massachusetts buffer zone weighed heavily. It is an illustration, she said, of a Supreme Court that is hostile to the work she does and the rights of the women for whom she cares.

The SUV neared the airport. Ball gathered her belongings.

“I’m feeling very discouraged,” she said.

But in case we get the wrong impression, LaGanga adds a “hold-your-head-up” afterword:

Still, she will return.

Lots of money in 17 abortions per day? Sure. But Ball is a true believer, having learned at the foot of Jane Hodgson, one of the most prominent early abortionists.

Hodgson put her views in perspective one time when she said in the book “Doctors of Conscience”

I think in many ways I’ve been lucky to have been part of this. If I hadn’t gotten involved, I would have gone through life probably being perfectly satisfied to go to the medical society parties and it would have been very, very dull. I would have been bored silly.

Source: NRLC News