In early September, Sandra Fluke gave a speech before the Democratic National Convention. A transcript of her full speech can be found here. Direct quotes from her speech appear in bold faced print, followed by the facts surrounding her assertion.
An America in which states humiliate women by forcing us to endure invasive ultrasounds we don’t want and our doctors say we don’t need.
During her diatribe of a future America, Ms. Fluke fails to mention that 40% of states in the current Americahave legislation in place regarding ultrasounds. In addition, “a 2003 study shows 99% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities do them before [a surgical abortion].” Interestingly, not just the states, but the facilities the current administration openly supports routinely perform these “mortifying” procedures. I’m not entirely sure how an ultrasound “humiliate[s] women.” As Jeanne Monahan, President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, wrote, “[Ultrasounds] bring to light the fact that a very young baby is not a lifeless blob of tissue. What’s so scary about that?” Maybe Ms. Fluke’s word choice stems from a misconception regarding the types of ultrasounds available to women. Depending on the time of pregnancy, either a transvaginal or transabdominal ultrasound will give the most definitive picture. Typically, if the baby is younger than 11 weeks a transvaginal ultrasound will capture a better picture than will a transabdominal one, but a woman is free to choose a transabdominal ultrasound, in which no instruments enter her body. However, Adrienne Schreiber, a Planned Parenthood official in Washington D.C., states: “But if she’s uncomfortable with a transvaginal ultrasound, then she’s not going to be comfortable with an equally invasive abortion procedure.”
Ms. Fluke attempts to speak for the medical community – “doctors say we don’t need [ultrasounds].” Only problem with this claim: the same 2003 study states providing ultrasounds are “consistent with common practice in the US,” and Schreiber describes ultrasounds before abortions as a “medical standard.” I’m curious how this practice became a ‘medical standard’ if doctors consider ultrasounds irrelevant for women. Based on the facts, abortion, NOT ultrasounds, appears to be the more invasive and medically unnecessary procedure for women.
In which someone decides which domestic violence victims deserve help, and which don’t
She seems to make an assumption that “help” is synonymous with abortion. However, a publication by the Family Research Council “The Hard Cases of Abortion” reveals the physical and emotional effects of abortion mirror the effects of rape for women (8). In a recent debate at the Voters Value Summit, I heard a young man powerfully word his response to a similar claim: “Where else in society do we respond to a crime by killing an innocent third party?” Great question. Rape is absolutely a crime, a violent and senseless aggression toward women. However, if a woman becomes pregnant after the act, her baby is no more at fault for this crime than the woman! These women do need help. They deserve love, compassion, restoration and counseling. The controversy is not whether or not these women should receive help: no one is suggesting barring them from true help and healing. Rather, the real controversy hinges on “Which babies deserve help, and which don’t?” An abortion survivor expresses this central issue poignantly: “Should the circumstances surrounding our conception or births define our rights? It’s easy to believe in exceptions to abortion until you are that exception. It’s easy to believe in the right to choose until you are that choice.”
Does a child’s right to live depend on how he or she was conceived? Shouldn’t a baby deserve a right to live with their mother or with a loving, adoptive family regardless of their conception circumstances? Do you get to decide which babies deserve life and which do not? – that’s the question I would like to ask Ms. Fluke in return.
In which no one can deny us affordable access to the cancer screenings that could save our lives
Defunding Planned Parenthood has become a hot button issue in the last 2 years. From the attacks on Susan G. Komen to the Presidential debates, tension escalates as the money (or the thought of the money) is restricted. One of the largest defenses for federal funding of Planned Parenthood lies in their supposed offering of cancer screening for indigent women. Ms. Fluke credits successful cancer prevention to the continuation of the current administration’s policies, but for this to be true, the current administration would have to dramatically CHANGE rather than continue their current policies and allegiances. Planned Parenthood does NOT offer mammograms, although our President tries to convince the American people otherwise in a recent Glamour article. Confirmed through a letter from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, no Planned Parenthood facility has the proper certification to offer mammograms. Earlier this fall Planned Parenthood did devote $3 million to breast cancer initiatives. According to a Life Site News article, “while it may actually add some new offerings, it may very well just plan more referrals, some of them possibly funded by Planned Parenthood.” Planned Parenthood does plan to offer more education and a new “screening tool” with this money, but neither of these is named. While the amount of money may seem like a significant effort, this “is less than 1 % of its total annual income” and “a bit more than 2 days of its government income”, and remember, they still aren’t licensed to perform mammograms (“or anything beyond Level 1 manual breast exams”). So, when people herald Planned Parenthood’s mammography cause, they are either calling for the organization to break the law, or they are simply wrong. Considering their credentials, it’s not a stretch to say Planned Parenthood is actually a perpetrator of “denying women affordable access to cancer screenings”. This isn’t the first time Ms. Fluke asserts a medical benefit of the current administration’s policies which isn’t 100% accurate. Ms. Fluke talks about “a close friend who…lost an ovary when she was unable to afford the contraception her insurance failed to cover, but that she needed to treat her polycystic ovarian syndrome.” Seems like a pretty convincing argument for all-access birth control, except that Dr. Gunter explains in a recent blog, birth control pills can’t treat ovarian cysts.
An America in which our president…stands with all women
If the current administration were reelected, Ms. Fluke describes the outcome as “An America in which our president…stands with all women.” I wonder how females still in the womb figure into her definition of “all women.” As reported by LifeNews, “President Obama Opposes Ban on Sex-Selection Abortions,” which isn’t surprising since Planned Parenthood clinics provide sex-selection abortions. Studies show that sex-selection abortions are many times about selecting males; one California study within an Asian-American community found 89% of pregnant women who were carrying girls aborted their child during the study period, and not the first time for many.” Sadly, many of these mothers face violence or threats from their families if they do not end their daughter’s life. How’s that for choice? I would hope the leader of our country would stand with these women too, and end the practice of sex-selection abortion (a practice already banned either completely or for non-medical reasons in 34 nations). An abortion survivor, Melissa Ohden, beautifully articulates the inconsistency of forsaking women in the womb, but advocating for them outside of it:
“If it’s acceptable to end the life of a child simply because she is a female, how then do we stop the floodgates of abuse, violence, sex trafficking and the like? How do we draw the line in the sand to protect and respect women at one point in their lives when we fail to protect and respect women at their most vulnerable point: developing in the womb?”
In a Susan B. Anthony video, Ohden informs America that “In the Illinois State senate, Barack Obama voted to deny basic constitutional protections for babies born alive from an abortion not once but 4 times.” I do long for an America where the president stands with all women: before, during and after birth!
A country that honors our foremothers by moving us forward
I’m not sure exactly who this country’s foremothers would be, perhaps Ms. Fluke refers to Margaret Sanger, a known racist, eugenicist and founder of Planned Parenthood. I do know who our forefathers, our Founding Fathers, are though. I would hope that the leader of our country would seek to honor their memory as he makes decisions for our future. Boldly displayed on a wall of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. is this quote: “[No man] shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and otherwise maintain their opinions in matters of religion.” Obama’s HHS mandate calls for religious organizations to surrender their belief, surrender their work or surrender their money to government fines. Catholic hospitals and adoption agencies, Christian soup kitchens and universities, to name a few, are “suffering on account of [their] religious opinion[s] or belief[s].” For the future, Ms. Fluke can embark on an excursion with her foremothers, but I hope America will embrace the vision of our forefathers, which has stood the test of time.
A country where we mean it when we talk about personal freedom, or one where that freedom doesn’t apply to our bodies and our voices
Once again, the conversation comes back to our Founding Fathers. Our Founding Fathers firmly believed in personal freedoms, or as they penned it “The Bill of Rights.” The first amendment grants Americans 5 key freedoms: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.” The Founding Fathers did not believe our freedoms came from a government mandate however, but were “endowed by our Creator,” as The Declaration of Independence states. (as an aside, while discussing this phrase, Obama has left-out ‘Creator’ on more than 1 occasion) As a writer for the Thomas Jefferson Center explains, “The founders taught that man’s laws are to conform to God’s laws, or they are not valid.” Based on these facts, the HHS mandate contradicts both the letter and the heart of the First Amendment. As expressed in FRC’s letter to the HHS:
“The contraceptive mandate will require insurance plans to offer abortifacients, contraceptives and intrauterine devices free of charge to the plan beneficiaries. A number of religious denominations, the Catholic Church being the largest, have expressed moral objections to the use of such contraceptives for many decades” (4).
Therefore, “Forcing religious entities to provide and pay for health care coverage that includes objectionable drugs and services is an act of religious discrimination” (12). Ms. Fluke implies that the current administration “means it when [they] talk about personal freedom,” but without a repeal of the contraception mandate personal freedom is just that – talk.
But it happens all the time. Many women are shut out and silenced
I will conclude with how Ms. Fluke begins her speech. “Many women are shut out and silenced [all the time],” but it’s not congressional hearings, as she describes, which threaten our country and our liberty. Every day, women (and men) are “shut out” of their destiny by a chemical or surgical procedure and “silenced” in the womb. Catholic and other religious organizations are shut out from charitable works and their beliefs silenced by a federal mandate. These are the true threats to liberty, and their victims are the women who need a moment at the microphone. For those who felt coerced or deceived when they made an abortion decision, for the women who died preventable deaths after an abortion to preserve the clinic’s reputation, for the women whose voices were silenced in the womb, for those of Catholic or other religious faith who have to shut their doors or face fines. Let’s speak up for them on November 6th.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…” Proverbs 31:8
