Oregon assisted suicide numbers hit record high in 2015
The number of assisted suicides in Oregon reached a record high of 132 deaths in 2015. This is up from 105 deaths in 2014 and 73 deaths in 2013. These numbers from the State of Oregon rely almost exclusively on doctors self-reporting and state officials have no budget or legal authority to conduct independent investigations of any reported abuses of the law.
Oregon has about 10 percent of the population of California, which just legalized assisted suicide. Using the same ratio of deaths to population to extrapolate, the comparative number of deaths in California would be 1,300 annually. California has about 10 percent of the nation’s population. By the same measure, the extrapolated number of deaths in the nation would be 13,000.
Bioethics attorney and expert Wesley J. Smith, J.D., explains, “If much of the nation succumbs to assisted suicide advocacy — and the numbers keep climbing consistently as is the usual pattern wherever suicide/euthanasia is legalized — it would not be long before tens of thousands died by lethal prescription or injections each year. If that doesn’t disturb you, you are part of the culture of death.”
[www.lifenews.com/2016/02/11/
40 Days for Life saves – 598 babies
40 Days for Life is the “largest internationally coordinated pro-life mobilization in history.” The campaign, launched in 2007, involves peaceful, prayerful gatherings outside abortion clinics and has experienced amazing results. A total of 11,165 babies have been saved, 128 abortion workers have quit their jobs, and 69 abortion centers have closed. Campaigns have taken place in 607 cities and 32 nations.
This year’s campaign ran from February 10 to March 20, with confirmation of 598 babies saved in the U.S. In Oregon, campaigns were held in Portland, Salem, and Eugene. [www.40daysforlife.org]
Abortion clinics close at record pace
A Bloomberg analysis report posted on February 24 showed abortion facilities closing at a pace that’s hard to ignore. Plunging national abortion statistics indicate a drop in demand for their business. Other reasons for the closures include facilities failing to meet new health and safety requirements, modern technology and sonography humanizing the unborn with clear pictures of babies in the womb, more access to education and resources available to help women choose life for their unborn babies, abortionists deemed “unfit to practice,” and fewer doctors willing to do abortions.
Since 2011, at least 62 abortion facilities have shut down or stopped doing abortions; 21 new clinics opened during that time. The top four states experiencing abortion closures are Texas (with 30-plus), Iowa (14), Michigan (13), and California (12).
The nation’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood, has recently closed facilities in Dubuque, Iowa; Winter Haven, Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Augusta, Georgia. An abortion facility in South Bend, Indiana closed recently and Louisiana’s oldest abortion facility closed in New Orleans.
States pass pro-life legislation
West Virginia recently passed the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act protecting unborn babies from the gruesome abortion procedure that tears their bodies’ limb from limb. Governor Earl Tomblin vetoed the law, but a bipartisan coalition of legislators overrode his veto. Mississippi is expected to pass the legislation soon. Similar legislation was enacted in Kansas and Oklahoma last year.
A bill that protects the use of state-controlled funds for use by abortion clinics, increases and improves inspections, brings abortion facilities into conformity with other ambulatory surgical centers, and enhances fetal remains protections was passed in Florida and will now be signed into law by Governor Rick Scott.
Ohio passed legislation to defund Planned Parenthood, cutting over $1 million in yearly federal grants. Governor John Kasich signed the legislation, making Ohio the ninth state to take action against Planned Parenthood funding after the exposé videos were first released last year.
On March 24, pro-life Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a bill passed by the legislature that will protect unborn babies from being aborted because of sex, race, or a genetic disability such as Down syndrome. The bill also requires abortionists to renew their hospital privileges annually and sets requirements for handling of aborted or miscarried babies’ bodies.
South Dakota Governor Dennis Guagaard signed a ban on late-term abortions after 20 weeks, protecting babies from painful, late-term abortions. Similar bills have become law in 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
[NRL News Today, 3-10-16; www.lifenews.com/ohio-gov-
Euthanasia abuses expanding in Europe
The Daily Mail (3-14-16) reported that legislators in Belgium are considering new rules that would require doctors of patients seeking assisted suicide to approve the patient’s request within seven days or refer them to a doctor who will, potentially rushing patients into irreversible decisions. Belgium’s euthanasia numbers have been rising rapidly and are expected to reach 6,000 by the end of 2016. The country approved euthanasia for children with disabilities in 2014. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study on March 15, 2015 documenting the euthanasia of patients who had not given their consent. The study examined 3751 deaths in the Flanders region of Belgium during the first six months of 2013 and concluded that 1.7 percent of those deaths were without consent of the patients, representing more than 1,000 deaths yearly. The study also revealed that nearly half of Belgium’s euthanasia deaths are not reported, a clear violation of law.
On March 2, 2016, Swissinfo reported that Swiss assisted suicide organization EXIT helped 782 people end their lives in 2015, up from 583 in 2014. This represents a 34 percent increase in assisted suicide deaths.
The head of Portugal’s national nurses’ association told a radio station that euthanasia “is sometimes practiced in the health service hospitals, with doctors suggesting this solution for some patients.” The Health Ministry has ordered an urgent investigation of the allegations and Portugal’s national medical association has demanded that the nurse be prosecuted.
The Washington Post (2-24-16) recently reported on a case in the Netherlands that involved the euthanasia of a man with autism who had been labeled “treatable” by a doctor. The man, who had been neglected and abused as a child, was one of 110 people with mental disorders to be killed between 2011 and 2014.
[www.lifenews.com/2016/03/16/
Women still die from legal abortions
The mainstream media virtually never report deaths and complications from abortions. The “safe and legal” mantra of abortion activists is not accurate. While roughly 1.1 million abortions are done in the U.S. each year, the number of women who suffer the consequences is unknown.
Recently, the Maryland Coalition for Life and Germantown Pregnancy Choices reported ambulances arriving at abortion clinics and transporting women to the hospital. On March 20, 2016, an “underage” abortion patient from Germantown Reproductive Health Services was transported to Shady Grove Hospital. This is the twelfth medical emergency documented by Operation Rescue involving late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart, and the fourth in four months at his facilities in Germantown, Maryland and Bellevue, Nebraska.
Operation Rescue President Troy Newman warns, “It is becoming all too clear that if the Maryland Board of Physicians allows Carhart [who is 75] to continue committing abortions, the casualty count of dead and maimed women will only continue to rise. This is a serious public health issue that the authorities must not continue to ignore.”
OB-GYN Freda Bush, a clinical instructor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and a board member of American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says, “Having an abortion is not just a walk in the park. Women need to be protected when it comes to their health, rather than be victimized. We really don’t know how many abortions are being done, we don’t know how many people are dying of abortions because the numbers are not being kept … and we know even less about the complications.” Bush points out that many women suffering abortion complications after they leave the abortion facility often go to the emergency room by themselves, and many are too ashamed to say that they had an abortion.
[www.lifenews.com/2016/03/23/
