“Pro-Choice” Violence and Illegal Activities in Alberta
CalgaryEdmontonGrand PrairieCalgary, Alberta
Infanticide (7 incidents) and Violation of Civil Rights (7 incidents)
Guidelines set out by the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons allow mothers at
any
stage of pregnancy ― even days or hours before birth ― to undergo an induced abortion, particularly if a doctor predicts that the infant might die within 30 days of birth.Nurses at Calgary's Foothills Hospital were horrified that "genetic terminations" ― eugenicabortions ― were carried out at Foothills, and that babies born alive after the procedures were simplyallowed to die in agony. They were also outraged that they were being forced to participate in thesehorrible procedures regardless of their personal or religious beliefs.Infants are not expected to survive what the hospital euphemistically calls a "genetic termination."However, a Foothills hospital nurse said that "Lots of babies are born alive. Doctors hope the baby dies before being born, but not all babies do." The nurse added that, although genetic tests are "based only on probabilities, not a guarantee of problems," few women can withstand the pressure to abort which doctorsoften exert. She said that doctors frequently use powerful arguments to persuade women that a "genetictermination" is the only possible option.The nurse cited an example published in
The Calgary Herald
in June 1999 to illustrate her point. Amother told the newspaper that she underwent a genetic termination at Foothills Hospital in 1998. Aroutine ultrasound had revealed what appeared to be an abnormality in her preborn child. "I was carryinga baby with a death sentence on it," concluded the woman. She apparently felt that her child was
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definitely doomed, with only the date of its death left within her control.However, said the nurse, the diagnoses are often wrong. Foothills Hospital's management askednurses last winter to submit their concerns surrounding genetic terminations after the incident of a"distressing" six-day eugenic abortion. One memo said "When another genetic termination 'had' to beaccommodated, this effectively tied up two LDR [labor and delivery] rooms, for an indeterminate periodof time, to the possible detriment of women and families with normal pregnancy." The aborting mother was given what was "perceived to be very fragmented care," writes the administrator, adding that since November 1997, the number of genetic terminations has increased dramatically from "one to two per month, to sometimes one or two per week."Furthermore, hospital memos reveal that nurses "doubt the accuracy and confidence in the prenataldiagnostic methods." One document states that7 nurses felt there was a huge issue around lethal vs. serious anomalies. They are oftenwilling to participate in lethal anomalies, but not in the 'serious' category. These nursesalso identified that the current policy and procedure is woefully outdated, and onlydiscusses lethal, not serious anomalies. There is also considerable anecdotal evidence of cases that have been 'diagnosed' as lethal anomalies that have been born with noanomalies at all.Nurses are uneasy about the "amount and kind of counseling offered" to mothers contemplatinggenetic termination, a memo reports. "It was felt by a number of nurses that there might not be enoughtime between diagnosis [of a potential abnormality] and making the decision to terminate the pregnancy."An article in
BC Report
Magazine reported that staff nurses reported that some infants survived for minutes or even hours after abortion, with medical staff forbidden to give them even fluids or oxygen."There is considerable anecdotal evidence that babies [who] have been diagnosed [before birth] as[suffering from] lethal anomalies have been born with none at all," said a hospital memo, obtained by
The Alberta Report
in June of 1999.Before leaking the incriminating documents to
The Alberta Report
, Foothills nurses had tried todiscuss their concerns with hospital administrators. They were instructed that all staff must participate ingenetic terminations without exception, regardless of personal beliefs or faith. The hospitalmemorandum, written by a senior administrator early in 1999, stated "It was made quite apparent in the[previous] memo I sent to them [nurses] that the unit must at this time participate in this procedure. Notto do so at this time was not an option."What was the response of the pro-abortionists to this ghastly revelation? Why, they tried to shut the press up, of course.In April 1999, the Calgary Regional Health Authority (CRHA) secured a broad publication ban after the
BC Report
'blew the whistle' on the horrors at Foothills.
Alberta Report
publisher Link Byfield attached copies of the memos to his court affidavit so that theuncensored versions of these documents would become public. Even then, the officially released memoswere censored. Blocks of text were deleted, including details of the prolonged six-day genetictermination.As usual, pro-aborts cited patient and staff privacy as the basis of their censorship. But the hospitalmemos had no names in them at all, either of patients or staff. A June 1999 news story in
The National Post
pointed out that "significant information ― including the nurses' concerns about potentialmisdiagnoses ― which had nothing to do with confidentiality, was held back" in the documents released.The CRHA then tried to justify its censorship by saying that the "credibility of doctors" might beharmed.
The National Post
criticized the CRHA's verbal "acrobatics" in an editorial. It pointed out "Atfirst, CRHA spokesman [Dr. Ian Lange] declared that "therapeutic abortions" are not performed at
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Foothills, but "genetic terminations" are. Later he corrected himself: No "genetic terminations" had been performed, just "induction of labor for infants with a lethal abnormality." Initially the CRHAadmitted to 40 such, er, procedures last year; then they denied them altogether. Then they admitted to51."Roman Cooney, public relations spokesman for the CRHA, tried more damage control anddiversion. First he accused
The Alberta Report
of being inaccurate. He charged "Frankly, what most of
AR
has reported has not been, from our perspective, an accurate reflection of the situation." Mr. Cooneydenied that staff are forced to participate in genetic terminations if they find them morally questionable,insisting nurses "have not been forced to do them and they are not being forced to do them."This is typical of the pro-abortion mentality ― everyone must fall into line and think as they do, or suffer the consequences.In July 1999, the suppression of the press was finally corrected by a new court order, which allowedthe media to publish information about eugenic abortions at Foothills, provided that patients, doctors, or staff were not identified without their consent.But the blustering and threatening of the pro-abortionists did not stop. Foothills hospitaladministrators and the CRHA made it clear to nurses that when the informants were found, they wouldlose their jobs, be labeled "squealers" by colleagues, and face a formal complaint charging breach of confidentiality with the Alberta Registered Nurses Association. The complaint is a serious one; it resultsin immediate license suspension. So nurses take serious risks when they reveal what goes on behindclosed doors on Unit 51 at the Foothills Hospital.As one hospital staffer explains, "Anyone who gets caught will never work as a nurse again. TheCRHA will make sure of it."
Conclusions
In summary, Foothills lied repeatedly about its horrible program of infanticide and late-termabortions, then tried to cover its rear end by simply muzzling the opposition and trying to cover up thetruth.Typical "pro-choicers." What else could we expect?Of course, there are many Canadian "pro-choicers" who never met an abortion they didn't like, andwho strongly supported Foothills Hospital with a propaganda campaign that bears the usual pro-abortionhallmarks of diversion and flat misinformation.One of these groups is the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (OCRT), whose sole purposeis to give a religious veneer to the grossest and most perverted evils. OCRT sniffed thatMany pro-life individuals and groups consider genetic terminations to be a form of abortion. They recognize that the fetus is disabled. They rarely mention that these procedures are only employed in cases where the fetus is so malformed that it has no possibility of living independently beyond a few hours or days after birth.This, of course, was exactly the same language used by pro-abortionists in the United States todefend the brutal and inhumane partial-birth procedure. Even abortionists confessed that this pro-PBAlanguage was a lie.And the OCRT is obviously lying, in light of the information given above, which proves that manyof the late-term "genetic terminations" were done on perfectly healthy babies.Of course, all Foothills had to do was keep its collective head down and wait for the firestorm to dieout as its pro-abortion and government minions protected it.To this day, Foothills is still doing "genetic terminations," since there is absolutely no regulation of
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