"Those pictures pro-life activists flash are real"

Those pictures pro-life activists flash are real. That is what a fetus looks like when its head is crushed. When you see the procedure, you must decide, as a pro-choice person, whether you are in or out. I have never been more in.

—Mary Mahoney, "The Rise of the Abortion Doula", The New York Observer, 14 November 2011.

"We all know that an unborn child dies in each abortion"

We all know that an unborn child dies in each abortion. And the majority of abortion care workers accept responsibility for our roles in these deaths. We have, for various reasons, determined for ourselves that having a part in these deaths is an important—and ethical—thing for us to do.

—Jeannie, "Talking about the Babies: Saying 'Things We Cannot Say'", Abortion Witness, 25 July 2011.

"I actually strongly prefer the term 'pro-abortion' and have for some time."

Are you a pro-choicer who kind of doesn't like the term "pro-abortion?" Seem a bit too extreme for you? Well, I'm not one of those pro-choicers. I actually strongly prefer the term "pro-abortion" and have for some time. I know some pro-choicers who say, "Well, no one is really pro abortion!" I am. Completely. Whole-heartedly. And absolutely unapologetically pro-abortion. For whatever reason.

—About a Girl, "Labels, Labels, Labels: The Best One?", The Abortioneers, 2 December 2009.

"What do I mean when I say I love abortion?"

What do I mean when I say I love abortion? To me, there is absolutely nothing wrong or surprising with the supposed "controversial" statement. I love women, therefore I love abortion.

—Silky Laminaria, "Matters of the heart", The Abortioneers, 8 November 2009.

"Am I killing?"

"Am I killing?" Boyd said. "Yes, I am. I know that."

—Curtis Boyd, M.D., "Abortion Doctor: 'Am I Killing? Yes, I am'", WFAA-TV, 4 November 2009.

"It was one of the more raw moments in my life."

When I was a little over 18 weeks pregnant with my now pre-school child, I did a second trimester abortion for a patient who was also a little over 18 weeks pregnant. As I reviewed her chart I realised that I was more interested than usual in seeing the fetal parts when I was done, since they would so closely resemble those of my own fetus. I went about doing the procedure as usual, removed the laminaria I had placed earlier and confirmed I had adequate dilation. I used electrical suction to remove the amniotic fluid, picked up my forceps and began to remove the fetus in parts, as I always did. I felt lucky that this one was already in the breech position – it would make grasping small parts (legs and arms) a little easier. With my first pass of the forceps, I grasped an extremity and began to pull it down. I could see a small foot hanging from the teeth of my forceps. With a quick tug, I separated the leg. Precisely at that moment, I felt a kick – a fluttery “thump, thump” in my own uterus. It was one of the first times I felt fetal movement. There was a leg and foot in my forceps, and a “thump, thump” in my abdomen. Instantly, tears were streaming from my eyes – without me – meaning my conscious brain - even being aware of what was going on. I felt as if my response had come entirely from my body, bypassing my usual cognitive processing completely. A message seemed to travel from my hand and my uterus to my tear ducts. It was an overwhelming feeling – a brutally visceral response – heartfelt and unmediated by my training or my feminist pro-choice politics. It was one of the more raw moments in my life. Doing second trimester abortions did not get easier after my pregnancy; in fact, dealing with little infant parts of my born baby only made dealing with dismembered fetal parts sadder......

Currently, the violence and, frankly, the gruesomeness of abortion is owned only by those who would like to see abortion (at any time in pregnancy) disappear, by those who stand outside clinics and in front of sports arenas holding placards with pictures of fetal parts and partially dismembered fetal bodies. The pro-choice movement has not owned or owned up to the reality of the fetus, or the reality of fetal parts. Since the common anti-abortion stance is that the fetus has a right to life, those who support abortion access necessarily deny such a right. However, in doing so, the fetus is usually neglected entirely, becomes unimportant, nothing. Instead of acknowledging what is on the placards, abortion rights activists may say in response to them that they are fake pictures or that abortions don't really look like that. However, to a doctor and clinic team involved in second trimester abortion, they very well may. Of course, acknowledging the violence of abortion risks admitting that the stereotypes that anti-abortion forces hold of us are true – that we are butchers, etc.

—LH, quoted in "Second Trimester Abortion Provision: Breaking the Silence and Changing the Discourse", The Abortioneers, 5 October 2009.

"Are We Ready for a Market in Fetal Organs?"

Since far more women have legal abortions each year in the United States than would be required to clear organ wait-lists, if only a small percentage of those women could be persuaded to carry their fetuses to the necessary point of development for transplantation, society might realize significant public health benefits. The government could even step into the marketplace itself to purchase fetal organs for patients on Medicare and Medicaid, ensuring that low-income individuals had equal access to such organs while keeping the "asking price" elevated.

Opponents of reproductive choice will object to such a market on the grounds that it will increase the number of abortions -- which will indeed be the logical result. However, such a market might also bring solace to women who have already decided upon abortion, but desire that some additional social good come from the procedure. Like the families of accident victims who donate the organs of their loved ones, these women could well find their decisions fortified by the public benefit that they generate. An additional economic incentive would further assuage any doubts, and might even make the procedure more palatable to otherwise equivocal spouses or partners.

—Jacob Appel, "Are We Ready for a Market in Fetal Organs?", The Huffington Post, 17 March 2009.

"[S]he did not do the rational and even humane thing..."

When tests made it clear that Palin’s pregnancy, which happened around the age of 43, had chromosomal abnormalities, she did not do the rational and even humane thing: return to nothing that which was still a no-thing.

—Charles Mudede, "The Curse", The Stranger, 15 September 2008.

"[I]f there’s any doubt, abort!"

I’m pro-abortion. I don’t mean that everyone ought to abort every fetus that happens to lodge itself in the lining of every uterus, but I do mean that my motto is: if there’s any doubt, abort!

What do I mean by this crazy motto of “If there’s any doubt, abort!”? I mean if you are a teenager and are afraid to tell your parents you’re pregnant, if you think you don’t have time or room in your life for a child, if you don’t think your partner will make a good parent, if you can’t stop drinking/smoking/doing blow, if you aren’t sure whether you can afford a child, if you have any doubt at all about whether you want to be a parent, DON’T BECOME ONE, and have the abortion. Trust me, it’s probably best for everyone involved.

— Nine Deuce, "I’m a pro-abortion patriot, and I say anti-choicers are with the terrorists", Rage Against the Man-chine, 14 May 2008.

"One thing, my wife, she says we doctors have a license to lie. And it's true."

One thing, my wife, she says we doctors have a license to lie. And it's true. It's absolutely true. Sometimes you need to lie to a patient about things that they want to do or not, much less now than in the past, because they are much more educated between CNN and the Internet.

—Alberto Hodari, speaking to medical students at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 9 November 2007.

"how do i persuade an abortion?"

my friend is 2 weeks pregnant. our relationship was 'friends with benefits'. we live together but i'm moving out.

i can't legally force her to abort. thats the rowe vs. wade thing. my only hope is there is something scarey in the ultrasound picture. but even then her friends mite persuade her to keep a 3 headed kid with a tail. when i have time with her she agrees that its not fair for kid to grow up in our situation, but then her friends undermine my efforts, which irritates me, cuz its not their kid.

—Ragemonkey, "how do i persuade an abortion?", LiveJournal, 24-25 April 2008.

"Having children is selfish"

Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet.

Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population.

--Toni Vernelli, "Meet the women who won't have babies - because they're not eco friendly", Daily Mail, 21 November 2007.

"For many women abortion can be a transformational experience ... [o]ne in which she is 'born again.'"

If you hear the same beeps I hear, they are kind of like in that old movie "It's a Wonderful Life," in which every time a bell rang an angel got his or her wings. Every time you hear a beep another woman joins the call – in a way gets her wings. Really. It might seem far-fetched to some of you, but for many a woman the experience of having an abortion is much more than just a medical procedure. It's often one way of claiming her wings – her wings of independence – taking charge of her own life – summoning up from inside herself the courage to claim her freedom from the old oppression of the past. It is about nearly every thing in our culture that has to do with anything. It is about life – death – sex - power – religion – God – right and wrong – family. An unplanned pregnancy challenges a woman to look at everything – her hopes and her dreams, her relationship choices, her ideas about family and career, her plans for the future. For many women abortion can be a transformational experience – one where she actively chooses what she wants for her life - one where she is in charge. One in which she is "born again."

--Beket, "Physician, MD Psychiatry OB/GYN Abortion Provider", "Is Abortion Dangerous? Just Buckle Your Seatbelts. Daily Kos, 18 July 2007.

"[N]o self-respecting career-oriented peer who conceived out of wedlock would have considered bringing that pregnancy to term."

It seems like ancient history at this point, but as one who came of age as a 1970s Ivy Leaguer, no self-respecting career-oriented peer who conceived out of wedlock would have considered bringing that pregnancy to term.

And sacrifice the promise of a "good" marriage, rewarding career and children who would later be born to two involved, concerned, emotionally and financially secure parents? The tradeoff was not worth discussing.

--Bonnie Erbe, "A World Gone Mad", Scripps Howard News Service, 18 June 2007.

"I would rather ... fantasize about burying a machete in their head."

Apparently the crazies are out in full-swing today. Coming in from Union Station and walking to my job, I spotted a row of anti-abortion activists wielding their favorite favorite weapon - giant posters of bloody, dismembered fetuses...

Crazies just plain, old make me angry. I don't want to converse with them, I would rather just circle distantly around them like you do aggressive, screeching monkeys at th zoo, and fantasize about burying a machete in their head. FUCKERS.

--Her Royal Kainess, "Fetus Day", 4 April 2007.

"Why I Provide Abortions"

No one, neither the patient receiving an abortion, nor the person doing the abortion, is ever, at anytime, unaware that they are ending a life. We just don't believe that a developing embryo or fetus, whose mother cannot or will not accept it, has the same moral claims on us, claims to autonomy and justice, that an adolescent or adult woman has.

--William F. Harrison, "Why I Provide Abortions", Daily Kos, 31 May 2007.

"But we should never disregard the fact that being pregnant means there is a baby growing inside of a woman, a baby whose life is ended."

I think there is a need for us to talk more about what it is we are doing, when we carry out or support abortion. We – in the states – have dealt heavily, up to now, in euphemism. I think one of the reasons why the ‘good guys’ – the people in favor of abortion rights – lost a lot of ground is that we have been unwilling to talk to women about what it means to abort a baby. We don’t ever talk about babies, we don’t ever talk about what is being decided in abortion. We never talk about responsibility. The word ‘choice’ is the biggest euphemism. Some use the phrases ‘products of conception’ and ‘contents of the uterus,’ or exchange the word ‘pregnancy’ for the word ‘fetus.’ I think this is a mistake tactically and strategically, and I think it’s wrong.. And indeed, it has not worked – we have lost the high ground we had when Roe was decided.

My objection here is not only that we have lost ground, but also that our tactics are not good ones; they may even constitute bad faith. It is morally and ethically wrong to do abortions without acknowledging what it means to do them. I performed abortions, I have had an abortion and I am in favor of women having abortions when we choose to do so. But we should never disregard the fact that being pregnant means there is a baby growing inside of a woman, a baby whose life is ended. We ought not to pretend this is not happening.

--Judith Arcana, former member of Jane*, speaking at Birkbeck College of the University of London, October 1999.

* Jane (The Abortion Counseling Service ) was the CWLU's [Chicago Women's Liberation Union] underground illegal abortion provider that performed over 11,000 safe abortions, many performed by Jane members themselves. [source]

"The Abortion Debate Brought Home"

MY WIFE AND I just had an abortion. Two, actually. We walked into a doctor's office in downtown Los Angeles with four thriving fetuses — two girls and two boys — and walked out an hour later with just the girls, whom we will name, if we're lucky enough to keep them, Rosalind and Vivian. Rosalind is my mother's name.

We didn't want to. We didn't mean to. We didn't do anything wrong, which is to say, we did everything right. Four years ago, when Tina and I set out on this journey to have children, such a circumstance was unimaginable. And yet there I was, holding her hand, watching the ultrasound as a needle with potassium chloride found its mark, stopping the heart of one male fetus, then the other, hidden in my wife's suffering belly.

--Dan Neil, "The abortion debate brought home", Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2007.

"Abortion: Why It's the Ultimate Motherly Act"

Ultimately, I don’t understand antiabortion arguments that centre on the sanctity of life. As a species, we’ve fairly comprehensively demonstrated that we don’t believe in the sanctity of life. I don’t understand why pregnant women — women trying to make rational decisions about their futures — should be subject to more pressure about preserving life than, say, Vladimir Putin.

However, what I do believe to be sacred — and, indeed, more useful to the earth as a whole — is trying to ensure that there are as few unbalanced, destructive people as possible. By whatever rationale you use, ending a pregnancy 12 weeks into gestation is incalculably more moral than bringing an unwanted child into this world.

--Caitlin Moran, "Abortion: why it's the ultimate motherly act", The Times, 13 April 2007.

Sometimes, the Best Argument Against Abortion Is an Argument for Abortion

The more abortion advocates seek to rationalize their beliefs, the more self-evidently repulsive their arguments become.

Hence, this blog. Herein the words of abortion advocates will be presented without editorial commentary.

They will speak for themselves.