More women choosing life for their unborn babies, Ultrasound at CPCs Makes a Difference

By Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D.
NRL Director of Education & Research

Abortion depends on a lethal ignorance, ignorance about what abortion is, what it does to the woman, what it does to the baby. One marvelous educational tool now being used to shatter that ignorance at many crisis pregnancy or pregnancy care centers around the country is the ultrasound machine. And now there is evidence from Massachusetts that it's working.

An article appearing in the January 23, 2002, online edition of Massachusetts News 1 discussed the outcomes of 371 new clients visiting the AA Woman's Concern (AWC) pregnancy care center in the Boston suburb of Revere between October 2000 and December 2001. We learn that 74% chose to keep their babies after receiving an ultrasound.

While some of those were not inclined to have an abortion or were on the fence, the remarkable thing is that 62% of the 198 clients who definitely intended to abort changed their minds after seeing the ultrasound.While other area clinics have not had their ultrasounds as long or conducted such detailed studies, they also have seen dramatic results. Rob Murphy of the Problem Pregnancy Center of Worcester told MassNews that in December, five out of the seven "abortion vulnerable"2 women who received ultrasound decided not to abort. " There is a real change when a woman sees her baby," Murphy told MassNews. "Even some of the guys have tears well up.... Everything we thought is true. It works."

Rev. John Ensor, founder of AWC, explains why the ultrasound works. "A woman's health and well being is connected to her baby not just by a physical umbilical cord," Rev. Ensor told MassNews. "The ultrasound helps her find the courage to choose life. Then it is the responsibility of the community to come alongside her and offer support."

The pregnancy care centers in Massachusetts are just a few of the scores of centers across the country offering ultrasound and other medical services. Machines cost about $25,000, with centers having to pay about $50,000 a year on top of that to hire or train qualified staff and meet state and federal standards to qualify as a medical center.

Still, Dr. Eric Keroack, the medical director of AWC who conducted the survey at the Revere office, calculates that the cost of convincing an abortion vulnerable woman to choose life for her child is right at about $336.

Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-Fl.) and others have proposed a new bill which would authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to give $3 million to centers to purchase ultrasound machines.

In a letter sent to House members by Cong. Stearns, he wrote "Modern medicine has provided us with a window into the womb and enables prospective mothers and fathers to bond with their unborn child. Sonograms are effective tools that foster a feeling of intimacy between a mother and child empowering an abortion-minded mother to choose life. This equipment has proven to be a powerful deterrent in the life and death struggle regarding abortions."

The letter goes on to explain, "Those who purchase this equipment must: 1) show the woman a live ultrasound image of the fetus showing her the general anatomical and physiological description of the characteristics of the fetus; 2) the physician must explain to the woman the approximate age of the child and; 3) Each pregnant woman shall be given information on alternatives to abortion and referral services should she choose either childbirth of adoption."

The pro-abortion rhetoric is hot and highly derogatory. "It never fails to amaze me how little respect they have for women's capacity to understand what goes on in their own bodies," Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League told the AP. "They don't provide true medical care," complained Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

How valid are these inflammatory charges? MassNews reported in May 2000 that Planned Parenthood claimed that 50% of women coming into their abortion clinics have ultrasound exams, with only 5% choosing to keep their babies. But Dr. Keroack told MassNews in the 1/23/02 issue that the explanation for this strange phenomenon was simple: abortion clinics don't let the patient see the ultrasound!

If so, it seems that it is the abortion clinics, not the pregnancy care centers, that "fail to respect women's capacity to understand what goes on in their own bodies" and fail to "provide true medical care" by not giving women unbiased information on all their options. So exactly who's afraid of the truth?

Tom Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, which represents some 750 pregnancy care centers throughout the U.S., told the AP, "When they get the information to make an informed choice, once they see the ultrasound, the majority of women chose to carry the pregnancy to term."

At least 120 women in Revere, Massachusetts, are glad they had the chance to see an ultrasound before deciding whether or not to have an abortion. And so are their baby sons and daughters.

NOTES:

1. www.massnews.com/12302preg.htm

2. The article says the "abortion vulnerable" woman is commonly defined as "one who faces obstacles that she may feel incapable of handling or unwilling to experience, but who has not decided with certainty to abort."