By Dave Andrusko

It's getting late in the day, so I only have a moment to touch on something I will expand on later in the week. We talked on the 18th about a ridiculous puff piece written by a Newsweek reporter about Nebraska abortionist Leroy Carhart. (www.newsweek.com/id/212017/page/1)  Alerted by my readers to a couple of other items Sarah Kliff had written in the same timeframe, I returned to the topic the next day.

Abortionist Leroy Carhart

By this time Kliff had some much invested in her profile of Carhart, she hammered Esquire magazine for its profile of Colorado abortionist Warren Hern (http://www.esquire.com/features/abortion-doctor-warren-hern-
0909?click=main_sr) for describing Hern as the only "doctor" in American to "specialize in late abortions." (The title given to her lament was "Why Esquire Got it Wrong." www.newsweek.com/id/212254)

As I wrote at the time,

Folks, she harrumphs, what about my guy, the guy I spent weeks with getting the inside scoop? Granted, Hern kills babies even more developed even later in pregnancy, but Carhart "operates in the second and third trimester, worked at [George] Tiller's clinic for more than a decade, and is trying to open a new late-term clinic in the Midwest." Let's give the guy his props. "I don't see how Carhart wouldn't be counted among the country's late-term specialists."

What I didn't know until yesterday was the author of the Esquire piece, John H. Richardson, and Hern, himself, subsequently wrote back bitter letters of rebuttal. Today we focus on Richardson. (You will find the responses added to the same web page as the original article--   www.newsweek.com/id/21225)

On its webpage, Newsweek said Richardson "took issue with the critique," which is so milktoast I almost feel embarrassed for the poor guy or gal saddled with arbitrating this one-upsmanship between journalists over whose abortionist kills the most babies really, really late in their development.

Let me quote what I would guess is Newsweek's very selective use of quotes from Richardson's response --and then I will try to untangle the narrative. (Word of caution: Don't get caught up in the use of the term "late-term" abortions, which is a notoriously slippery term which abortionists employ in different way to serve their interests.)

Abortionist Warren Hern

In his comment, Richardson took issue with the critique, arguing that "it is a black irony when someone attacks you for getting facts wrong by getting her own facts wrong" and noting that in Nebraska, where Carhart practices, only 29 late-term abortions were performed in 2008. "I don't see how anyone could describe this as 'specializing' in late-term abortions, which is probably why the quote Kliff cites ('the notion that Dr. Warren Hern is the last remaining late-abortion provider is not accurate') does not use the word "specialize," he writes.

Get it? Where does Kliff get off elevating Carhart to the elite circle of abortionists when "only 29 late-term, abortions were performed in 2008" in the entire state of Nebraska?! I mean, you have to kill--excuse me "terminate"--lots more of these babies before you can be crowned with the title of "specializing" in "late-term" abortions.

Hern went completely ballistic in his letter to Newsweek, not only bashing Kliff but taking out after Richardson as well! More about that on Friday.

Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com.

Part One