Dear Pro-Life Partners, February 15, 2023

A month ago, the Republican-led House passed The Born Again Survivors Protection Act which requires that when a baby
survives an abortion attempt, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care that
would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. “Yay” you may be thinking, and I do not deny
that this is a good thing. However, the vote on this bill is discouraging because it should have been an obvious thing. Yet
the bill only passed by the narrow margin of 220 to 210, with only TWO democrats voting in favor. (Unfortunately, this
indicates that the likelihood of this bill passing in the Senate is not a foregone conclusion.) The failure of nearly half of the
representatives in the House to vote in favor of this bill is puzzling in that it isn’t even an abortion restriction; rather, it
simply calls for life-saving care for newborns who survive this brutal procedure (LifeNews, 1/12/23).

Our nation seems to be suffering from an epidemic of widespread delusion. My definition of “delusion” is this: A false
and self-centered perception that personal beliefs drive reality and invalidate objective truth. In our self-is-supreme
culture, whatever we deem “our truth” or whatever we feel is “best for us” relegates objective morality to the sidelines
and dictates our self-propelled values and beliefs. Consequently, we will justify our actions based on this distorted world
view. Let me give you some examples:

 Dr. Warren Hern, a late-term abortionist who has aborted more than 20,000 babies, stated in an interview in the
Los Angeles Times that after performing his first abortion, he “felt (he) had found a new definition of the idea of
medicine as an act of compassion and love for one’s fellow human beings.” Since then, Dr. Hern has been hailed a
trailblazer for pioneering new approaches to make late-term abortions “safer.” As a matter of fact, his clinic in
Boulder, Colorado now only accepts patients who are at least 20 weeks pregnant (LifeNews, 3/11/22).
 A woman who had five abortions describes her first this way, “I was young and much more centered on myself
and my life circumstances than on the baby.” Her subsequent pregnancies, she believed, existed to “teach her life
lessons” and they were “not meant to be born.” She “honored” them by learning from them and expressing
gratitude for their “healing effect” on the guilt she carried for a long time after her first abortion (”Conscious
Abortion” by Claudette Nantel, pp 14-15). I would call this delusion with a side of narcissism.
 Sarah Lopez, from the pro-abortion group We Testify, attended a U.S. House committee hearing prior to the
overturning of Roe v Wade. “Abortion is health care,” she said. “My abortion was the best decision I ever made. It
was an act of self-love” (LifeNews, 7/14/22). Heaven forbid she deny herself for the sake of another’s life.
 Antonia Senior, a British journalist, is an abortion supporter who believes that life begins at conception (you read
that right). “My daughter was formed at conception,” Senior writes, “Any other conclusion is a convenient lie that
we on the pro-choice side of the debate tell ourselves to make us feel better about the action of taking a life. Yes,
abortion is killing. But it’s the lesser evil” (Love Thy Body, by Nancy R. Pearcey, p. 47). The greater evil, in her view,
would be putting limits on women’s right to control their reproduction. (Narcissism on steroids).
Unfortunately, delusion can result from the influence of others in the form of gaslighting, i.e. manipulation that makes
others question their own reality, including personal conviction, beliefs, and self-perception. The abortion industry has
been gaslighting us for the past 50 years and has reached the pinnacle of leadership in our country. On the 50 th
anniversary of Roe v Wade, President Biden issued a proclamation which regurgitated abortion lobby disinformation.
Below is a list of 10 lies meant to create panic in the aftermath of Dobbs (NRL News, 1/27/23).

1. Thousands of women will die without access to abortion. Based on flimsy date from early 1900’s, predating
antibiotics and modern contraception. Every pro-life law ever enacted contains a life-of-the-mother exception.
2. Women will die from ectopic pregnancy. Based on same flimsy data as #1 and goes under the life-of-the-mother
exception.
3. Pro-life laws will endanger women suffering miscarriages. Laws against abortion do not affect miscarriage
management, just as laws against euthanasia do not preclude end-of-life hospice care. Honest doctors know the
difference between miscarriage and abortion.
4. Women will be thrown in jail. Pro-life legislation seeks to protect both victims of abortion—mother and child.
Penalties in pro-life laws apply to those who perform abortions, not those who receive them.
5. After Dobbs, states will ban contraception and IVF. The Dobbs majority anticipated this argument and specifically
stated that the ruling applies to abortion only, not contraception (meaning methods that prevent pregnancy, not
methods that eliminate pregnancy).
6. We don’t really know when life begins. Yes, we do. The biology of the sperm-egg fusion is clear.
7. “Heartbeat laws” are deceptive—there is no heartbeat in early pregnancy. The only thing deceptive here is that
otherwise intelligent people pretend not to understand what they see and hear on an ultrasound.
8. Restricting abortion discriminates against women on the basis of sex. I’m sure the abortion industry would be glad
to perform abortions on men, except that MEN CAN’T GET PREGNANT. So, unless you view pregnancy as a disease
or disability for which you are not receiving “health care,” it cannot be called discrimination. (Abortion restriction
actually favors women in that fewer girls will be aborted.)
9. Pro-lifers don’t care about the mother or baby after birth. Do me a favor: Visit a few of the over 2,700 pregnancy
centers across the United States, then come back and make this statement again. (I dare ya.)
10. Women need abortion to be equal members of society. This is an insult to women everywhere. Those who choose
life, especially in crisis situations, are a testament to the strength and moral fortitude women possess to embrace
what sets them apart as female while realizing what they can contribute to society.
Partnering with You for Life,
Linda Verhulst, MRL-WR