Priests for Life comments on abortionist's fear of violence

Washington D.C., Jan 11, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The national director of Priests for Life has called on all people to reject violence “whether directed against abortion providers or against unborn children, and furthermore to reject the idea that we can be against one type of violence but for the other.”

Fr. Frank Pavone made the comment after Boston Magazine Online published "Confessions of an Abortion Doctor" in its January 2005 issue. The author admits that she withheld her name for safety reasons, recalling that John Salvi killed some clinic workers 10 years ago.

“We reject all violence, against unborn children, against abortionists, and against everyone else. But doesn't this abortionist realize that the words of those who kill people like her are simply an echo of her own?” said Fr. Pavone in a statement. 

In the article, the doctor says that all medical professionals who provide abortions believe in what they’re doing and “think it’s a good thing and a right that needs to be available.”

“I have the utmost respect for life; I appreciate that life starts early in the womb, but also believe that I'm ending it for good reasons,” says the doctor.

The doctor explains why she feels she is doing the right thing: “Often I'm saving the woman, or I'm improving the lives of the other children in the family. I also believe that women have a life they have to consider. If a woman is working full-time, has one child already, and is barely getting by, having another child that would financially push her to go on public assistance is going to lessen the quality of her life.” 

The doctor admits that performing abortions can be “really taxing”, but she adds: “I don't think it'll ever make me stop doing terminations.”

The doctor says that it’s not unusual to have only a few nurses who are willing to help out in the operating room. She adds that some medical professionals don’t feel they can tell their family members what they do. “Their families think they work on labor and delivery,” she writes.

The doctor says she is frustrated by the shortage of providers and by her medical colleagues who don’t “fight harder to provide it (abortion).”

She insists that providers offer women options, including adoption and carrying the child to term, and at times, women have changed their minds, “which is totally okay.

“We want that,” she writes. “Or sometimes we'll advise them that they have more time to decide what to do. I would feel worse terminating a wanted child than not being able to terminate at all.”

For the full article, go to: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/ArticleDisplay.php?id=495