{"id":40886,"date":"2013-09-22T21:48:55","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T01:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=40886"},"modified":"2013-09-23T10:12:02","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T14:12:02","slug":"abortion-clinic-counseling-rhetoric-vs-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-clinic-counseling-rhetoric-vs-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Abortion clinic counseling: rhetoric vs. reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"test<\/p>\n

Peter Korn spent a year observing abortions and interviewing patients at an abortion clinic for his book Lovejoy: A Year in the Life of an Abortion Clinic<\/em> (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996). He was allowed to sit in on several counseling sessions with women considering abortion. He describes what he observed in his book.<\/p>\n

Before I go on, I would like to quote from The Abortion Resource Handbook<\/em> by K. Kaufmann (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997). The Abortion Resource Handbook<\/em> is a guide for women considering abortion, written by a pro-choice author. She walks her readers through the process of finding an abortion clinic, cautions them to avoid \u201cfake clinics\u201d (i.e. crisis pregnancy centers, which Kauffman accuses of dishonesty and underhanded tactics), and offers tips for hiding the pregnancy and subsequent abortion from family and friends who might try to intervene. She assures the reader that abortion clinics will offer thorough and unbiased counseling and that if a woman is considering an abortion, they are the best places to get information. The author states:<\/p>\n

\u2026counseling and other services at pro-choice clinics are nondirective and nonjudgmental. Doctors, nurses, and counselors won\u2019t try to talk you into anything you don\u2019t want to do- either terminating a pregnancy or continuing it. They won’t try to make you feel ashamed or guilty about being pregnant. Instead, they will give you information on your options, talk with you about your feelings, and encourage you to choose the course of action that is best for you. (pg. 2)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

I would like to contrast this with what Korn observed in the clinic where he did his research. Now, having read Korn\u2019s book, I can say that I believe that it is not written as an attack on abortion or abortion rights. The author makes no pro-life statements in the book. There does not seem to be any pro-life bias; he simply describes what he witnessed. If anything, he seemed to be overly sympathetic towards the clinic workers.<\/p>\n

At any rate, he described two counseling sessions he sat in on with two different patients.<\/p>\n

In the first session, a woman named Peggy sits with a clinic worker named Carye as the worker explains the procedure. Carye is telling her about how to prepare for her abortion. Korn says:<\/p>\n

Peggy\u2019s mind is off on a different track. ‘Is it true that at six weeks it has a heartbeat?’ Carye says nobody is sure exactly when the heart begins beating, and tries to deflect that concern. “This pregnancy and you are the same thing,” she adds, explaining to Peggy that prior to twenty-four weeks the fetus cannot survive outside her womb. (25)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The beating heart of an unborn baby can be heard with a fetal heart monitor or seen on an ultrasound screen in the first trimester. According to The Mayo Clinic \u201cPregnancy Week by Week\u201d Timeline<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Just four weeks after conception, the neural tube along your baby’s back is closing and your baby’s heart is pumping blood.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here<\/a> you can see the image of an unborn baby\u2019s heart working at four weeks and four days after conception. Scientists have known for decades when a baby\u2019s heart started beating.<\/p>\n

The clinic worker, rather than giving accurate information to the patient, answers evasively and tries to steer the subject away from the baby\u2019s humanity. \u201cThe pregnancy [i.e., not the \u201cthe baby\u201d or even \u201cthe fetus\u201d] and you are the same thing.\u201d Actually, the \u201cpregnancy\u201d and the mother are not <\/em>the same thing. The baby has his or her own DNA, circulatory system, and developing organs. The goal of the clinic worker seems to be geared towards shifting Peggy\u2019s view away from seeing her baby as a living being and toward convincing Peggy to accept the \u201cit\u2019s just part of your body\u201d viewpoint that many abortion advocates share.<\/p>\n

This is not unbiased counseling.<\/p>\n

Peter Korn\u2019s second example is even more blatant.<\/p>\n

In this second passage, a young woman named Tiffany is being counseled by clinic worker Anneke. Tiffany is only a teenager. She is 14 weeks pregnant. Her baby\u2019s heart has been beating for ten weeks. The baby\u2019s arms, legs, fingers, and toes are fully developed.<\/a> If Tiffany\u2019s child is a girl, she has ovaries of her own<\/a>. She has facial expressions and her own unique fingerprints. She can sigh, squint, suck her thumb, and taste.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tiffany is reluctant to abort her baby. She tells Anneke she thinks she wants to have her child. Korn describes what the counselor says next:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not here to change your mind. I\u2019m not here to force your opinion. But I\u2019m sitting here seeing this beautiful young woman with her whole life ahead of her, and you have so many other things you can do right now. Why don\u2019t you go ahead with your dreams and have kids later?\u201d Tiffany had no answer so Anneke continued, \u201cWe\u2019re always here for you.\u201d … Before ending the session Anneke left Tiffany with some figures that she recently had learned from Carye: One in ten high school girls who become pregnant finish high school, and one in ten thousand girls who have babies during high school finish college. And a third statistic: Over 80 percent of the men in this country don\u2019t pay their child support. \u201cThe statistics are stacked against you,\u201d Anneke said. (25)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reluctantly, Tiffany agrees to abort her baby. By this time, the baby\u2019s father has arrived at the clinic to talk her out of the abortion. The clinic workers call the police and have him thrown out before he can see her.<\/p>\n

Tiffany goes through with the procedure alone. The clinic makes another $400. Another baby is dead.<\/p>\n

This is what is considered \u201cnondirective\u201d counseling. The rhetoric of pro-choice activists and the reality of abortion counseling are two different things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Korn spent a year observing abortions and interviewing patients at an abortion clinic for his book Lovejoy: A Year in the Life of an Abortion Clinic (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996). He was allowed to sit in on several counseling sessions with women considering abortion. He describes what he observed in his book. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":27260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAbortion clinic counseling: rhetoric vs. reality - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-clinic-counseling-rhetoric-vs-reality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abortion clinic counseling: rhetoric vs. reality - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Peter Korn spent a year observing abortions and interviewing patients at an abortion clinic for his book Lovejoy: A Year in the Life of an Abortion Clinic (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996). 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