Wednesday, December 8th, 2010 This Week's Feature
ELLA: A Deadly Deception
 The future of abortion in America increasingly includes the use of deadly drugs—some of which are deceptively sold as something other than what they are – agents of abortion. Particularly disturbing is the fact that these drugs can be purchased almost anonymously online. This trend is disconcerting as parts of President Obama’s Health Care Law may require full coverage – by all health insurance plans – of such drugs under the “preventive care for women” mandate. (Click here for more on those activities.)
Case in point: ella, sold through U.S.-based marketer Watson Pharmaceuticals. On its self-described “informative” website, Watson claims that ella “is not an abortion pill” and “if used as directed, emergency contraceptives do not work the same way as Mifeprex,” the FDA-approved chemical abortion drug. However, ella, like Mifeprex, works by blocking progesterone, a hormone essential for maintaining a pregnancy and can cause the death of an embryo by not allowing the child to attach to the mother and grow to full term or by starving an embryo to death even after implantation. Watson acknowledges, “ella may also work by preventing attachment to the uterus.” Yet even this description is misleading. What, exactly, is prevented from attaching and where is the warning that ella can kill an already implanted embryo? Watson’s deception builds on that of the FDA when it approved ella, an abortion-causing drug, as contraception. For further analysis on the controversial drug, click here.
On The Docket Caught in the Crosshairs: Military Personnel and Hospitals still at Risk of Being Forced into the Business of Abortion Voters may be surprised to learn that an attempt to force military hospitals and personnel into the abortion business continues. The abortion industry’s tool to force that radical change is the Burris Amendment, attached to the current Department of Defense (DoD) Authorization bill. Last week, AUL’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest continued efforts on Capitol Hill, urging members to oppose the current version of the DoD Authorization bill because it includes the pro-abortion language of the Burris Amendment. The Burris Amendment shows an “outrageous and a callous disregard for the purpose of our military medical system, which is to serve our fighting men and women,” said Yoest. “The Burris Amendment reveals anew the political ambition of the abortion industry -- to turn every medical facility and unwilling medical personnel into subsidiaries of the radical abortion movement. This misguided amendment plays politics with soldiers’ lives and meddles in the care available to our fighting men and women.” For more on the amendment, click here. Pro-Life Doctors at risk of Losing their Rights While many people might think the law protects pro-life doctors and medical personnel from having to perform or provide referrals for abortions, that is in doubt today. Recently, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) reviewed and reaffirmed the Orwellian sounding Ethics Committee Number 385, which states that physicians have a duty to perform or refer patients for “standard reproductive service.” The rule even suggests that pro-life physicians should relocate in order to be closer to an abortionist to whom they might refer patients. While ACOG cannot force pro-life doctors to comply, the medical licensing board, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), has that power. And ABOG does require compliance with the ACOG rule for doctors who wish to renew their medical licenses. During the Bush Administration, the Secretary of Health reprimanded ABOG and ACOG when they first attempted this one-two punch to a physician’s right to act according to his or her values. But healthcare providers no longer have the benefit of an administration that will advocate for their right to practice medicine in accordance with their conscience. To read more, click here. Abortion: the Gift of “Life”? While most Americans are preparing for Christmas, the celebration of a special baby’s birth, a number of Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in Indiana and Illinois wanted to offer a gift-giving suggestion – a “gift of life” voucher that can be used for services such as abortion. To give death as a gift during a celebration of life is a sad irony. For more on the story, click here. 
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