Pro-choice abortion clinic worker turns to dark side, spews hate-filled rant

[Mornac]

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Former abortion clinic worker breaks silence, speaks out for life

by Kristen Walker
Jul 21, 2011

July 21, 2011 (LiveAction.org) - One of the most powerful weapons in the pro-life arsenal is the authentic testimony of those who have advocated for and helped provide abortions, and later seen the light. People like Dr. Bernard Nathanson, Carol Everett, and Abby Johnson have information and insight that will help us win the fight against the abortion industry.

Allentown, Pennsylvania native and mother of three Jewels Green has made the courageous decision to finally speak up for life. In her first public pro-life testimony, she told Live Action about suffering the pain of abortion as a teenager and later spending several years working in an abortion clinic.

This is her story:

I was a 17-year-old drug-using high school drop-out, but when the lady wearing scrubs told me I was pregnant, I already thought of myself as a new mother.

Everyone wanted me to get an abortion…  except me.

I actually stopped using drugs, went to the library and checked out a book called Under 18 and Pregnant and started to read it to prepare. I scheduled my first prenatal check-up. My boyfriend was relentless. I am deliberately omitting the details of the violence, both real and threatened, but I finally caved in to my boyfriend’s insistence to not have our baby.

On January 4, 1989, he took me to the abortion clinic, but I literally ran out in the hope of saving my baby.

Two days later, on January 6, 1989, at 9 1/2 weeks gestation, I had an abortion. It nearly killed me. No, not the surgical procedure, the psychological aftermath. I attempted suicide three times after my abortion and finally ended up in an adolescent psychiatric ward of a community hospital for a month to recover.

I was coerced into having an abortion and thought that by becoming a counselor at an abortion clinic, I could help others like me really talk out their feelings on the issue, truly explore their options, and help them make an honest, informed decision–or help them leave an abusive situation.

I worked at an abortion clinic for five years (from age 18 to 23)—not the same one where I had my abortion. I started out on the phone, then at the front desk checking in patients and accepting payments, then I learned medical assisting and helped in the laboratory, took vital signs in the recovery room, and did “dishes” in the autoclave area. (I’ll come back to this). Then, after two years working at the clinic and starting college as a psychology major, I was trained as a counselor.

The “counseling” experience was not what I had hoped. Nearly every pregnant woman coming to an abortion clinic for “options counseling” had already made up her mind, but just wanted to check out the facility and have her questions answered and perhaps her fears allayed. And most of the women coming in felt they had no other choice. A few were truly ambivalent.

This is where the pro-choice movement and clinics fail. Sure, we had a little notebook with the names and numbers of two local adoption agencies, but we were never trained or taught how the adoption process works so we could explain it to women. We had the phone number of the local WIC office, public assistance, etc., but again, knew nothing about the process should anyone ever ask for details. If a pregnant woman wanted to learn more about these other choices, the best the “options counselor” could offer was a post-it note with a phone number hastily scribbled on it.

During my time at the clinic, I was a staunch supporter of abortion rights, while all the time knowing in my heart that I felt that what I did was wrong, that I missed my baby, and that I wished things could be different for me. In hindsight, I can see that by surrounding myself with people who believed it was OK to abort babies, I was hoping that someday I would be OK with aborting my baby. This never happened…

I have marched twice in Washington, D.C., in support of abortion rights. I have lobbied inHarrisburg (the capital of Pennsylvania). I have joined David Gunn, Jr., in lobbying Congress for stronger sanctions against militant anti-abortion activists who harass pregnant women, bomb abortion clinics, intimidate clinic staff, and murder physicians (like David’s dad, Dr. David Gunn, who was killed by an anti-abortion “activist”) – but even then I never agreed with rallying cries such as “Abortion on demand and without apology!” chanted at such gatherings. It was–and is–so much more complicated than that.

After graduating from college with a degree in psychology I left my job at the clinic to work the overnight shift at a teen crisis hotline for a year before moving to New York City to attend graduate school. After earning my Master’s in psychology, I moved back to my hometown and worked part-time at the clinic through much of my next pregnancy.

I remember one Saturday morning (a big “procedure day” when more than 20 abortions were scheduled and at least a dozen protestors were outside, standing along the long driveway that led into the clinic parking lot) when I was about six months along and very visibly pregnant–much farther along than the 16 week abortion limit of the clinic–when a protestor shouted to me, “Your baby loves you!”

I smiled to myself. When I got inside and started to help the nurse set up the recovery room, I told her this, and she was angry and appalled. Even then–as an active employee at the clinic–telling a pregnant woman her baby loves her did not seem like such an objectionable thing to say, or even to shout, at an obviously pregnant woman.

Identifying myself as pro-life, though, did not come until many years later. After finally forgiving myself for aborting my first child I was able to see the world differently. After two failed marriages I was able to finally commit and my husband and I have been married for eleven years. After giving birth to three sons and feeling the life grow inside me and knowing the fierce overwhelming love a mother can feel for a child, I have been able to finally acknowledge that yes, life begins at conception.

But it wasn’t until stumbling upon links to Abby Johnson’s YouTube videos, and then reading her book Unplanned, that I could say out loud that I was pro-life. It was Abby’s amazing story, and her courageous and honest testimony, that helped me to openly join the ranks of the pro-life movement.

And although I now consider myself pro-life, I simply cannot abide by the extremists within the movement’s ranks who often act without censure by many of the position’s vocal leadership. I was at the front desk when the clinic was invaded on July 22, 1992, which we later dubbed “The Wednesday From Hell.” Six people ran into the waiting room with a huge metal contraption with multiple pipes attached that we all assumed was a bomb until they slid their arms inside of it and started singing. They were in the waiting room “attached” to that thing for seven hours while local and state police and FBI agents attempted to negotiate with and extract them from the device. They peed on the carpet. The clinic’s daily functions continued in other parts of the facility.

Not one woman changed her mind as a result of this invasion.

I was also working the front desk on the day two Boston clinics were attacked by an armed anti-abortion gunman who wounded five people and killed two. The gunman remained at large for many hours before being apprehended. Boston is a five-hour drive from where I worked and I remained at the front desk. (My uncle, a police sergeant, insisted I wear a bulletproof vest to work for a full week following that event, and I did.) One of the former directors of the clinic I worked for had her home broken into twice, another director routinely has her home picketed and has been followed home from work by suspicious vehicles on several occasions. There has to be a better way to further the cause of life.

Speaking of which: abortion ends life. Period. This is not in question nor should it be. This is a fundamental truth. I worked in the autoclave room where the “products of conception” (as so many pro-choice proponents—and abortion clinic counselors—call the fetus and placenta) were rearranged and counted to make sure “we got everything.” For early abortions, this meant floating the contents of the jar in water to visualize the chorionic villi. For abortions from about 8 1/2 – 12 weeks, this meant counting hands and feet, making sure the spine and ribcage and skull were present, you get the idea. For the abortions where the gestational age of the fetus was in question, especially if there was a chance it was an “oops,” meaning a pregnancy terminated beyond the clinic’s legal limit of 14 weeks LMP (from last menstrual period), the feet were measured to determine a more accurate gestational age.

Working in the autoclave room was never, ever easy. I saw my lost child in every jar of aborted baby parts. One night after working autoclave my nightmares about dead babies were so gruesome and terrifying and intense I met with the clinic’s director to talk about my feelings.

She was very understanding, open and honest, and painfully forthright when she told me, “What we do here is end a life. Pure and simple. There is no disputing this fact. You need to be OK with this to work here.” After a few days rotated out of the autoclave room, I felt I was OK with this, and God help me, I went back.

When in my fourth year at the clinic they won approval to do abortions up to 16 weeks LMP, one woman quit and two staff members—myself included— refused to work on the “late days.” My boss was very understanding and scheduled me to work with the non-pregnant GYN patients those days.

For myself, I know in my heart that I would never again terminate a pregnancy — EVER — nor would I ever work at an abortion clinic again. If someone I love was facing an unplanned pregnancy, I would do my very best to help her find a way to stay pregnant and give that baby a chance—whether it be by becoming a parent, or by offering up the child for adoption.

There are far too many innocent lives being snuffed out in our country before they have the opportunity to take their first breath, and as a nation we should be doing better. We need to do better. We need to provide real resources to pregnant mothers facing an unplanned pregnancy. The women and babies of our country deserve better. After all, sometimes the best things in life aren’t planned.

Happy Nobirthday, Unbaby. I miss you every day. Love & tears, Mom.”

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-abortion-clinic-worker-speaks-out-for-life/

[dustup]

Mississippi voters can decide 'personhood' of the unborn, court rules....

By Bill Mears, CNN
September 9, 2011 2:16 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

    The state's supreme court says any challenge of the measure can only come later
    Voters will decide November 8 if the unborn will be granted "personhood" status
    The measure would probably halt abortions in the state

(CNN) -- Voters in Mississippi will be given a chance to decide whether life begins at conception, a controversial abortion-related ballot initiative that the state's highest court has refused to block.

The Mississippi Supreme Court late Thursday allowed Measure 26, also known as the Personhood Amendment, to appear on the state ballot November 8. The decision was a rejection of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and abortion-rights groups.

The 7-2 ruling said those groups had not met the legal burden required to restrict the right of citizens to amend the state constitution.

"We cannot invade the territory of the legislature or the electorate to review the substantive validity of a proposed initiative, and thereby, we will honor the maxim embodied in the constitutional mandate of separate of powers," said Justice Randy Pierce for the court.

He said any challenges to the constitutionality of such statutes can come only after they are enacted or approved by voters.

The measure would amend the constitution to extend "personhood" to the unborn, likely rendering abortions illegal in the state if upheld.

Anti-abortion forces hope the amendment, if passed, would ultimately be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, providing another opportunity for the justices to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

"Although our opponents were beaten in this lawsuit, we know that they will not stop in their desperate attempts to deny the obvious truth that life begins at conception and that every life deserves to be protected in the law," said Steve Crampton, general counsel of the conservative legal group Liberty Counsel. "Not only Mississippians, but all Americans, should support this commonsense amendment."

A coalition of abortion-rights groups -- including Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Center for Reproductive Rights -- expressed disappointment in the opinion.

"A measure will be on the ballot that will allow the government to dictate what is a private matter that's best decided by a woman, her family and within the context of her faith. Mississippi voters should reject this intrusive and dangerous measure," said Nsombi Lambright, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.

Mississippi is the only state with a "personhood" initiative on the ballot this year. Similar measures are being planned for next year in Florida, Montana and Ohio, say supporters. Efforts it at least five other states are in the planning state.

The state high court also allowed separate ballot initiatives on eminent domain and voter identification.

The property rights initiative would block the state from taking private land and giving it to another person or business. Eminent domain has traditionally been used to acquire a citizen's land for such projects as transportation and infrastructure improvements, but the U.S. Supreme Court has recently given local governments the power to use eminent domain for private economic development.

The other measure endorsed by the Mississippi court would require voters to present state-issued identification when they vote.

The "personhood" case is Hughes v. Hosemann (2010-1949).
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/09/mississippi.personhood/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

[foodserver]

I don't have all the answers but this should be decided by a vote. 

Roe V Wade makes me ashamed for my species...

[dustup]

I don't have all the answers but this should be decided by a vote. 

Roe V Wade makes me ashamed for my species...

I don't know foodserver....some of the posters here are starting to make me think abortion, maybe, maybe it should have been practiced a little more   What about retroactive abortion, is that possible? 

[foodserver]

I don't know foodserver....some of the posters here are starting to make me think abortion, maybe, maybe it should have been practiced a little more   What about retroactive abortion, is that possible? 

It's funny that you say that.  There is a study out there (somewhere) that concludes that children eventually adopt the politics of their parents about 70% of the time.  This study also suggests that every 100 "liberal" couples will produce about 160-170 live births.  "Conservative" couples will produce closer to the normal population sustaining 205.  Obviously there are quite a few challenges with such a study.  How are "liberal" couples defined as opposed to "conservative" couples and also what about couples with polar opposite politics? (not all that uncommon)

But at the end of the day, the study "sounds" about right and the obvious difference between the two types of couples would be--abortion. . 

So--we may be out breeding liberals.

The other source for optimism is the increasingly long life span.  Most conservatives are "ex liberals", (for example--me).  As time goes on and people gain more knowledge and experience, they become more conservative.  So between out breeding and longer life spans, there is some reason for optimism.

[Mornac]

Laughing at the baby’s foot in the sink: for us abortion clinic workers, the macabre was the norm

by Jewels Green
Sep 08, 2011

Note: Jewels Green is a former abortion clinic worker who also had an abortion herself. She recently spoke out about her experiences as an abortion clinic worker for the first time. You can read that article here. In this column she reveals more details about her five years at the clinic.

September 8, 2011 (LiveAction.org) - So much became daily business-as-usual while working at an abortion clinic year after year: the tears, the shouting parents and boyfriends, the drivers who accompanied abortion patients who said they were “going out for a cigarette” and then disappeared—abandoning the pregnant mother they’d brought in, the jokes in the lunchroom about the one who showed up with her multiple other kids in tow (we did not allow children in the waiting room. Ever.)

Even the macabre became commonplace. The gallows humor I’d seen in movies about medical staff that work around disease and death day in and day out was right at home in an abortion clinic.

I vividly remember the cleaning lady who quit after finding a foot in the drain of the one of the sinks in the autoclave room (where the medical instruments were cleaned and sterilized after abortions) and how we all laughed and joked about it in the staff lounge for days and weeks afterward.

When the power went out one time for hours and we were all explicitly instructed NOT to open the freezer where all of the medical waste was stored (read: dead baby parts in bio-hazard bags) but inevitably, someone did open that freezer and I will never, ever forget the stench of decaying human flesh for as long as I live—but we all laughed as we gagged and joked how at least “they” had it better in that non-functioning freezer because at least they couldn’t smell it.

But one thing about the clinic never sat well with me, and maybe this is because in my heart I always knew it was wrong. All of it was wrong. Especially this: the dead baby in the refrigerator in the lab. It was touted as a “teaching tool” and a “medical anomaly” that this perfect 10-week-old fetus “survived” the suction abortion procedure perfectly intact. So he (I thought I could tell it was a he) was given the dubious honor of being preserved in formalin in a translucent plastic jar in the laboratory refrigerator. I think we called him Charlie, but I can’t really remember. I know he had a name, but blissfully I have either forgotten or repressed it. But he was there. Every day I worked there.

Occasionally I peeked in on him, fascinated by the bizarreness of it all, but also with a scientific curiosity—every other abortion resulted in parts, bits and pieces of human in the jar—but this miraculous little creature was perfectly formed and complete in every way, with the heartbreaking exception that he was dead. There was no amniotic sac, no placenta, just teeny-tiny perfect little baby. Floating in the jar. In the fridge. Forever silent witness to the march of death of his immature brethren.

How I now pray his soul rests in peace, and that someday he is given decent burial—or at the very least tossed out with the rest of the bio-hazardous waste—for that would be far more merciful than where I knew him to be.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/laughing-at-the-babys-foot-in-the-sink-for-us-abortion-clinic-workers-the-m.html

[ivanm]

I don't have all the answers but this should be decided by a vote.  

Roe V Wade makes me ashamed for my species...

Making abortion illegal won't make abortion go away.  It just drives it underground where a lot of women have suffered and even bled to death by botched procedures performed by quacks.

The abortion rate is relatively low and continues to drop as far as I know.  I say stay the course and spend our time and energy on other items of priority.

Given the behavior of our politicians, WDC is a piss poor role model for telling us how to resolve the abortion issue.  

Your idea of a vote sounds nice, but remember the prohibition problem? It seems the prohibition was repealed because it caused more problems than it solved.  I think an abortion law or amendment would have the same fate.  It seems that at present those who are pro-choice are about equal in number to those who are pro-life, so any voting result, either way on the issue, would be inconclusive IMO and would simply take resources we need to use for other pressing reasons.

I realize that moral issues are important to a civilized and viable people, but as of late, and probably for decades to come, our economic problems should take center stage. One has only to look at Euro and African basket case nations to see that without a sound economic base, without income to feed the children, there is little hope for any new children that are born into such an environment.

There are those who may differ from me, but I think a primary reason why young mothers abort is economic in nature.  All too often it is a young woman who cannot support herself let alone a child, so she does what she has to survive, she aborts.  It is a sad day for humanity when people are that desperate, but I knew a single mom who got an abortion for her teenage daughter.  A grandchild would have made matters worse for the family  that was also struggling, and I doubt the child would have been normal. so
 there are circumstances that  make abortion more than a cut and dried moral issue.

[ivanm]

I don't have all the answers but this should be decided by a vote. 

Roe V Wade makes me ashamed for my species...

When you look at it, Roe v Wade side stepped the morality of the issue. It addressed the right of the woman to decide her own reproductive capacity or aims. It was a copout, I agree, but it was political.

To me that is the fallacy or weakness of voting on the issue.