Amicus Curiae Brief — McCorvey v. Hill

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Supreme Coun. U.S

No. 04-967 ! PILED |

In The OFFICE OF THE CLERK |

Supreme Court of the Anited States

NORMA MCCORVEY,

FORMERLY KNOWN AS JANE ROE,

Petitioner,

¥.

WILLIAM “BILL” HILL, DALLAS COUNTY

DISTRICT ATTORNEY AS SUCCESSOR

IN OFFICE TO HENRY WADE,

Respondent.

On Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari

To The United States Court Of Appeals

For The Fifth Circuit

BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE OF THE NURTURING

NETWORK, HEARTBEAT INTERNATIONAL,

CARE NET, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FAMILY

AND LIFE ADVOCATES, AND ABORTION

RECOVERY INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER

RICHARD C. BAKER, Counsel of Record

JASON R. CRADDOCK

MAUCK & BAKER

One North LaSalle, Suite 2001

Chicago, Illinois 60602

(312) 726-1243

COCKLE LAW BRIEF PRINTING CO (800) 225-6964

OR CALL COLLECT (402) 342-2831

QUESTIONS PRESENTED

Should the original judgment in Roe v. Wade be

vacated under FRCP 60(b) due to substantially

changed factual and/or legal conditions that make Roe

no longer just or equitable for prospective application?

Is Petitioner Norma McCorvey entitled under FRCP

60(b) to any relief, substantive or procedural?

Should the Court, at a minimum, require a hearing to

afford fundamental due process which would lead to

determining whether Roe v. Wade should be re-

examined?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

QUESTIONS PRESENTED .............sccssssssssseeessereeeeeeees

TABLE OF CONTENTS. ....::ccccccscssssssoscesccccsvesessccccsessese

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES. ...ccssscoccsccscscccscsssesssseseccessess

STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF AMICT ...........:c000008+

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT. .............c:ssssssssessesrreseeeees

ARGUMENT .......:1::s::csaenssuiss snapndencnsonennsgssssbepeacensdusseanens

AS CONSTRUED BY THE COURT IN

AGOSTINI V. FELTON, 521 U.S. 203 (1997),

THE APPLICATION OF FRCP 60(b), COM-

PELS THIS COURT’S CONSIDERATION OF

MATERIALLY CHANGED FACTUAL CIR-

CUMSTANCES REGARDING THE HARM

ABORTION CAUSES WOMEN AND THE

BETTER ALTERNATIVES TO ABORTION

THAT WERE NOT KNOWN AT THE TIME

OF THIS COURTS ROE V. WADE DECI-

SION, 410 U.S. 113 (GTB). ccccccscsssrsccoscsessssvesecces

A. Pursuant to the Court’s Construction of

FRCP 60(b) in Agostini and Stare Decisis

in Casey, this Court Has the Legal Author-

ity to Grant Petitioner’s Motion.................

B. The Undersigned Amici Can Provide Am-

ple Evidence of Changed Factual and Le-

gal Circumstances to Grant Petitioner’s

PROP Gai I sess snesssnsscssubesnssesssasansns

II.

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued

Page

JUSTICE AND EQUITY NOW REQUIRE

THIS COURT TO CONSIDER UNDER FRCP

60(b) THE SERIOUS, PERVASIVE LONG-

TERM PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES

THAT AMICI HAVE WITNESSED AND

CURRENTLY CARE FOR IN THE LIVES OF

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF POST-

ABORTIVE WOMEN AS A CHANGED FAC-

TUAL CIRCUMSTANCE, NOT CONSID-

ERED BY THIS COURT IN ITS PRIOR ROE

PTET ccccescccsscserccsncosesaccnrsccascunscosessscescosssosens

A. “If Only I had Known”: The Nurturing

Network’s 20-Year Experience Counseling

and Caring for Thousands of Post-Abortive

B. The Consistent Experience of Heartbeat

International’s Affiliates is that Abortion

Harms Women So Deeply and So Often

that Most Affiliates Now Offer Post-

Abortion Counseling Programs to Address

the Depression, Anger and Regret Post-

Abortive Women Suffer................:csccseeeeesees

C. Care Net’s Affiliated Pregnancy Resource

Centers Annually Serve More than

100,000 Women Suffering from the Ad-

verse Impacts of Abortion Upon their

III.

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued

Page

OPERATING NETWORKS OF AGENCIES

GENERALLY AVAILABLE WITHOUT

CHARGE THROUGHOUT AMERICA OF-

FERING BETTER ALTERNATIVES TO

ABORTION - WHICH PROTECT THE

PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL,

SPIRITUAL AND LEGAL INTERESTS OF

WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN - IS A

SUBSTANTIAL CHANGED FACTUAL CIR-

CUMSTANCE THAT JUSTICE AND EQUITY

NOW REQUIRE THIS COURT TO CON-

SIDER UNDER FRCP 60(b)........... eee ceeseseeeees

A. Heartbeat International Affiliates Now Of-

fer A Wide Range of Free Women’s Health

Services not Available in 1973 When Roe

NS i iiiktistiabidasindncnsintcenialanenadanane

B. Care Net Mobilizes an Affiliated Network

of about 2400 Paid Staff and 30,000 Volun-

teers to Help Woman Find Good Alterna-

tives to Abortion or to Recover from the

Harm Abortion Has Caused Them To Suf-

C. The Nurturing Network Focuses Heavily

on the Post-birth Care of Mothers and

SN TN inncacinsnentatckstenicsnniinncniaigameninatinn

a icon oncom neonate ane

I oon ane App. 1

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page

RULES

Feed. R. Civ. P. GO(b) ........cccccssscsscccccssrsrscrssssssssssseseceees passim

CASES

Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203 (1997).......sccsseeseeeeens 2,3

Aguilar v. Felton, 473 U.S. 402 (1985).........sssseseeeeereeeenes 3

Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992)........ 3, 4

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) ............cccceeeeeseeeeeeees passim

OTHER AUTHORITIES

“A List of Major Psychological Sequelae of Abor-

tion,” Fact Sheet Courtesy of the Elliot Institute,

Springfield, Illinois, 1997 (from www.after

AbOrtiON.OFg) ..........ccccccscsessrssecssessreeeccessssereessssnsssesseeeeeerens 7

Mary Cunningham Agee, “The Nurturing Network:

Serving the Urgent and Practical Needs of Moth-

ers in Crisis: Personal Reflections of the Founder

Based Upon Twenty Years of Compassion in Ac-

tion,” available at www.nurturingnetwork.org......... 8,19

Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D.: “Pregnancy Help Centers:

Prevention, Crisis Intervention, Healing: Putting

It All Together,” published in Back to the Draw-

ing Board: The Future of the Pro-Life Movement,

Teresa R. Wagner, ed. (South Bend, Ind.: St.

Augustine’s press, 20038)..........:scsesseesssresesreeeeneeeens 13,17

Heartbeat International “Worldwide Directory of

Life Affirming Pregnancy Services,” available at

www.heartbeatinternational.org..............cceeeeeceeeeees 14, 16

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES — Continued

Page

“The Ministry of Care Net” (2004 Information

PUIG nccccsnccocssudcndiiinesisdensetecsbanimieaees 14, 18

STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF AMICI’

Amici curiae Heartbeat International, Inc, Care Net,

The Nurturing Network (TNN), Abortion Recovery Inter-

national Network (ARIN), and National Institute of

Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) are 501(c)(3) not for

profit organizations involved in caring for women who

encounter an unexpected pregnancy or its aftermath.

As national organizations whose affiliated members,

professional staff and volunteers have collectively worked

directly. with the hundreds of thousands of women who

encounter crisis pregnancies, many of whom have experi-

enced or will soon face harmful post-abortion symptoms or

conditions harmful to their physical and psychological

health, each of the amicus parties has a direct and vital

interest in protecting women from the various harms

abortion yields that were not known or considered by the

Court when it rendered its opinion in Roe v. Wade, 410

U.S. 113 (1973).

Because amici have witnessed and now care for the

thousands of women who are now reporting how abortion

has harmed them and because amici have every reason to

believe that many more women will be coming forward to

report the harm abortion has done and is doing to them,

all amici urge this Court to grant certiorari so that Peti-

tioner Norma McCorvey can demonstrate to this Court

pursuant to FRCP 60(b) that the factual and legal as-

sumptions upon which the Court rested its Roe decision

have so materially changed as to make further prospective

application of that decision neither just nor equitable to

the interests of all parties involved.

‘ Counsel for amici state that they authorized this brief in whole

and that in addition to the amici, the only entity te make a monetary

contribution to the preparation of this brief is the Alliance Defense

Fund. ‘

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

Amici join petitioner, Norma McCorvey (Petitioner) in

urging this Court to grant certiorari to review the issue of

whether petitioner has satisfied this Court’s standards

under FRCP 60(b) announced in Agostini v. Felton, 521

U.S. 203 (1997) for relieving her from the prospective

application of this Court’s judgment in Roe v. Wade, 410

U.S. 113 (1973).

In Agostini, the Court held under FRCP 60(b) that the

threshold issue is “whether the factual or legal landscape

has changed since ... [the prior ruling of the Court].” 521

U.S. at 216. Amici submit this brief with regard to two

substantial “factual” presumptions made by the Court that

have changed since the decision in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S.

113 (1973). First, contrary to the expressed presumption in

Roe that abortion helps women, the amici have first hand

experience that abortion poses significant and grave risks

to the health of women far exceeding the health risks and

other concerns posed by carrying their children to term.

Secondly, in the 31 years since Roe was decided, an infra-

structure of care has developed offering a variety of

practical and compassionate alternatives to abortion for

women that simply did not exist in 1973. These alterna-

tives mean that an unwanted pregnancy no longer has to

mean an unwanted and burdensome child, a dashed career

or an unsafe abortion because an extensive infrastructure

of care has developed to assist women in crisis pregnancies

throughout the United States.

Granting certiorari will allow this Court the opportu-

nity that Agostini holds only this Court can grant to

closely scrutinize and evaluate the evidence of these

substantial changes which, amici respectfully submit,

render the prospective enforcement and application of Roe

no longer just or equitable in light of the very real harms

attendant with abortion for so many women, particularly

in light of the superior alternatives now available as a

matter of fact and law.

ARGUMENT

I. AS CONSTRUED BY THE COURT IN AGOSTINI

V. FELTON, 521 U.S. 203 (1997), THE APPLICA-

TION OF FRCP 60(b), COMPELS THIS COURT'S

CONSIDERATION OF MATERIALLY CHANGED

FACTUAL CIRCUMSTANCES REGARDING THE

HARM ABORTION CAUSES WOMEN AND THE

BETTER ALTERNATIVES TO ABORTION THAT

WERE NOT KNOWN AT THE TIME OF THIS

COURT'S ROE V. WADE DECISION, 410 U.S. 113

(1973).

A. Pursuant to the Court’s Construction of FRCP

60(b) in Agostini and Stare Decisis in Casey,

This Court Has the Legal Authority to Grant

Petitioner’s Motion.

This Court held in Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203

(1997) that a change in legal circumstances warranted

reversal of its previous decision issued twelve years earlier in

Aguilar v. Felton, 473 U.S. 402 (1985). Specifically, the Court

found that several of its decisions issued in the intervening

years undermined the holding in Aguilar so that continued

adherence to Aguilar would cause manifest injustice:

In Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, supra, at

384, we held that it is appropriate to grant a Rule

60(b\(5) motion when the party seeking relief from

an injunction or consent decree can show “a signifi-

cant change either in factual conditions or in law.” A

court may recognize subsequent changes in either

statutory or decisional law ... “The court cannot be

required to disregard significant changes in law or

facts if it is satisfied that what it has been doing has

been turned through changed circumstances into an

instrument of wrong” (citations omitted). Agostini v.

Felton, 521 U.S. 203, 215 (1997).

Moreover, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S.

833 (1992) a plurality of this Court declined to overrule

Roe’s “central rule” based upon principles of “institutional

integrity and “the rule of stare decisis.” However, even in

that case where the Court was presented with none of the

changed factual and legal circumstances that Petitioner is

seeking to present in this case, the Court recognized that

“liln constitutional adjudication as well as elsewhere in

life, changed circumstances may impose new obligations,

and the thoughtful part of the Nation could accept each

decision to overrule a prior case as a response to the

Court’s constitutional duty.” 505 U.S. at 864. However, the

Court stated it would only overrule a prior decision in a

context where the Court’s overruling action was “compre-

hensible as the Court’s response to facts that the country

could understand” (Jd. at 863) based upon “applications of

constitutional principle to facts as they had not been seen

by the Court before” (Id. at 864) and was not an “unjusti-

fied repudiation of the principle on which the Court staked

its authority in the first instance.” Id. at 867.

Unlike Casey where the Court was not asked to

consider the changed factual and legal circumstances

presented by this case, granting certiorari will yield this

Court a greater, more thorough opportunity to closely

scrutinize and evaluate the substantial and significant

factual changes surrounding the practice of abortion,

which render continued prospective enforcement and

application of Roe no longer just or reasonable. Such

action would be comprehensible by the country because

the Court would be responding to the harm abortion is

doing to women that this Court has not previously adjudi-

cated and would be consistent with the Court’s concern

expressed in Roe that women’s interests be fully protected

by the Constitution.

B. The Undersigned Amici Can Provide Am-

ple Evidence of Changed Factual and Le-

gal Circumstances to Grant Petitioner’s

FRCP 60(b) Motion.

The first factual change relates to the issue of the

health of the mother. Originally the assumption was that

the termination of an unwanted pregnancy through an

abortion provided a safe end to a short-term crisis that

would allow women to return to a normal and a productive

life. However, the years that have passed since Roe have

made clear that the crisis does not end for a substantial

number of women after their abortions. These women

cannot just “get over” the experience of their abortions.

Instead, a great many of these women are psychologically

devastated as the realization sinks in that they have

destroyed their own children. For these women, abortion is

not a relatively safe and easy solution to a crisis preg-

nancy, but the beginning of a much greater crisis.

A second factor that has changed also relates to the

health of the mother. There are now a myriad of practical

and compassionate alternatives to abortion that simply

did not exist in 1973. An extensive infrastructure of care is

now available to women in crisis pregnancies throughout

the United States. This care network allows women to

avoid the grave emotional and financial hardships that

some women once faced in giving birth, while at the same

time allowing them to avoid the emotional harms of an

abortion.

Il. JUSTICE AND EQUITY NOW REQUIRE THIS

COURT TO CONSIDER UNDER FRCP 60(b)

THE SERIOUS, PERVASIVE LONG-TERM

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES THAT

AMICI HAVE WITNESSED AND CURRENTLY

CARE FOR IN THE LIVES OF HUNDREDS OF

THOUSANDS OF POST-ABORTIVE WOMEN

AS A CHANGED FACTUAL CIRCUMSTANCE,

NOT CONSIDERED BY THIS COURT IN ITS

PRIOR ROE OPINION.

Roe was founded largely upon the assumption that an

unwanted pregnancy presents a short-term crisis and that

an abortion would provide a “health” benefit to the woman

facing such a crisis by allowing her to return to a normal

and productive life. In focusing on the health of women, it

was assumed that abortion was a relatively rare and safe

procedure without lasting harmful effects on the woman.”

With the dramatic increase of abortions since the Roe

decision, the unexpected and tragic consequences of

abortion are emerging and establish the need to reexamine

Roe’s assumption with regard to abortion and the health of

the mother.’

In 1973, neither this Court nor the women who have

undergone abortions since then, could have known of the

* The Roe Court further assumed that a woman’s decision to obtain

an abortion would be a medical decision that would be made by or in

conjunction with the woman’s physician, and such relationship of

professional medical care would presumably alleviate any health or

safety issues. 410 U.S. at 149-150. As the evidence offered by Petitioner

below and lodged with this Court comprehensively shows, nothing could

be further from the truth today. To the contrary, as the tens of thou-

sands of women served by amici have told amici, most women don’t

even meet a doctor until their abortion is underway and most report

their decision to abort was coerced and characterized by either an

inadequate or total lack of the informed medical consent required in

every state in other forms of professional medical care but more often

than not are actually absent in the case of abortion, contrary to the

Court’s presumptions in Roe.

* According to the abortion industry’s research agency, the Alan

Guttmacher Institute (for the years 1973-2000) and the National Right

to Life Committee’s estimates for the years 2001 through 2004),

46,023,191 abortions have been reported in the United States since Roe

was decided in 1973. See NRLC Web site at http:/Awww.nrlc.org/

abortion/facts/abortionstats.html. Based upon their collective experi-

ence caring for post-abortive women, amici estimate at least 75% of

those women have suffered from or are currently suffering psychologi-

cal or physical harm from their abortion. The magnitude of this harm to

women’s health, as well as the “downsizing” of America’s population by

abortion [ranging from a population loss by age group of between 10.2%

and 27.4%, excepting only the age group 45 years or older in 2000], now

presents implications for women’s health, social security and immigra-

tion policy that cannot be adequately addressed or corrected by our

democratic institutions so long as this Court refuses to consider the

material factual and legal circumstances that were not known or not

considered when Roe was decided.

Lhe s eon |

psychological and physiological harm legalized abortion

would cause them to suffer.. The presumption communi-

cated by Roe and its progeny is that “abortion is legal, and

therefore it must be safe as well.” However, the experience

of the amici, in working with thousands of women yearly

since the Roe decision, parallel the findings presented in

the affidavits of David C. Reardon, Ph.D. and Theresa

Burke, Ph.D. (summarized in the Appendix to Petitioner’s

certiorari petition and otherwise lodged with the Clerk of

the Court) regarding the complications and ill-effects of

abortion. The harmful psychological effects include post-

abortion traumatic stress disorder; suicide, suicidal

attempts, and suicidal ideation requiring psychiatric care

and/or the use of psychotropic drugs; sleep disturbance

(including recurring nightmares); sexual dysfunction;

increased smoking, alcohol and drug abuse; eating disor-

ders; abuse and/or neglect of their living children; chronic

relationship problems (including divorce); and repeat

abortions.’ Surely, these changed factual circumstances,

further documented below by amici, warrant this Court’s

immediate attention under FRCP 60(b), particularly since

this Court has established itself as the only public institu-

tion with the constitutional authority to do so.*

‘ This brief addresses only the psychological effects of abortion as

experienced by the women counseled by the amici and their affiliates.

5 “A List of Major Psychological Sequelae of Abortion,” Fact Sheet

Courtesy of the Elliot Institute, Springfield, Illinois, 1997 (from

www.afterabortion.org), at App. 3-14.

® As Justice Jones succinctly pointed out in her concurring opinion

below: “(T]he problem inherent in the Court’s decision to constitutional-

ize abortion policy is that unless the Court creates another exception to

the mootness doctrine, the Court will never be able to examine its

factual assumptions on a record made in court ... Hard and social

science will of course progress even though the Supreme Court averts

its eyes ... One may fervently hope that the Court will someday

acknowledge such developments and re-evaluate Roe and Casey

accordingly.” See Petitioner’s Petition for Certiorari, App. 11-12.

A. “If Only I had Known”: The Nurturing

Network’s 20-Year Experience Counseling

and Caring for Thousands of Post-

Abortive Women.

The Nurturing Network (TNN) is extensively involved

working with clients suffering from post-abortion trauma.

Approximately 50% of all TNN clients have already

experienced at least one abortion at the time they contact

TNN for help.’

Many TNN clients express fear in having to go

through another abortion. They also relate great remorse

and conviction not to add to the emotional anguish they

have already endured. They also often share a sense of

having been betrayed and then abandoned by those who

convinced or coerced them into having an abortion.

TNN has found that the forces and influences that

tend to drive women to abortion are an immediate attempt

to escape from shame, hope for greater economic security,

and the hope of saving a fragile relationship. However, the

actual testimonies of the betrayed and abandoned women

in Nurturing Network’s client files expose the miscalcula-

tions and illuminate the disillusionment that follows their

abortions.

Most women readily identify four primary sources of

pressure or coercion that lead them to abortion: the father

of the baby, forcing a choice between the relationship with

him or the baby; parents, forcing a choice between contin-

ued support and the baby; employers, forcing a choice

between continued employment and the baby; and peers,

forcing a choice between continued social standing or the

baby. Each ultimatum threatens to impose an emotional

" See “The Nurturing Network: Serving the Urgent and Practical

Needs of Mothers in Crisis: Personal Reflections of the Founder Based

Upon Twenty Years of Compassion in Action” written by TNN President

and Founder Mary Cunningham Agee, posted on TNN’s website at

www.nurturingnetwork.org, at App. 15-29.

sii aaa,

toll calculated to force the pregnant woman to make a

desperate choice.’

And yet, as the testimonies in the Appendix’ indicate,

it is primarily the woman alone who suffers the agonizing

remorse, the hidden grief, and the debilitating guilt from

undergoing the abortion. Thus, most women who have

chosen abortion do so not out of “freedom of choice” but out

of a desperate sense that they have no choice at all. Under

these circumstances, most post-abortive women come to

believe that the only “freedom” an abortion affords is

experiencec. by those “significant others” who have much

to lose if the pregnancy continues.

Another tragic, but all too often occurrence among

post-abortive women, is that after expressing regret in

having made the “choice” to abort, many of these women

become pregnant again in an effort tc remedy their error

and “recreate” their deceased child, only to then experi-

ence yet another abortion, because they are convinced once

again it is the only “practical” thing to do.”

The President and Founder of TNN, Mary Cunning-

ham Agee, relates the following regarding her extensive

experience during the past twenty years addressing post-

abortion trauma in women:”

* Ibid.

documented by the fact, reported by the National Right to Life Commit-

tee, that nearly half of all abortions are obtained by women who have

already had at least one abortion. For example, in 1994 and 1995,

women who had already had three or more abortions obtained 7%, or

nearly 100,000, abortions each year. See NRLC Web Site at http://

www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/abortionstats2.html.

4 Amici submit that Ms. Cunningham Agee’s observations, more

fully set forth in the Appendix (App. 15-37) are entitled to considerable

weight and respect by virtue of her educational background (Harvard

MBA), vocational achievement as a well-respected Fortune 100 corporate

executive and best-selling author and, most importantly, her twenty

(Continued on following page)

con i dea ia ase Sr

“If only I had known.” This is the haunting la-

ment that I hear almost daily on the toll free cri-

sis hotline of the Nurturing Network. Since

founding this charitable organization almost

twenty years ago, I have been invited by literally

thousands of frightened, wounded women to un-

derstand the painful circumstances of their trou-

bled lives. Let me assure you that they do not call

to express satisfaction in their “reproductive free-

dom” to terminate the life of their unborn child.

They call desperately seeking immediate, practi-

cal assistance in order to avoid an abortion pro-

cedure which almost half of our clients have

already experienced in a prior pregnancy....

I have come to know this topic up close and in liv-

ing color through the tragic life stories of women

who believed the marketing rhetoric about this al-

legedly safe and easy procedure. And yet, almost

all of them would tell you that if they could erase

just one decision in their lives, it would be the ir-

reversible one that ended the life of their unborn

child. Their grief is difficult to capture here in a

few words because it is always tinged with a

sense of having been betrayed. These women con-

sistently describe the panic and loneliness that

sets in when those whom she has trusted create

fatal trade-offs between their role in her life and

her child. How can she help but feel tricked and

manipulated by boyfriends, parents, friends and

employers who conveniently wash their hands of

her maternal needs and choose to describe her

unborn child as an inconvenience and even a

threat. None of these accomplices, of course, will

ever live out the permanent consequences of an

years of philanthropy and volunteer service dedicated to setting up

TNN and then serving voluntarily counseling post-abortive women and

supervising the work of thousands on TNN volunteers who assist these

women suffering such harm.

abortion decision the way she will and so her

sense of abandonment and isolation is profound.”

Ms. Cunningham Agee, spoke for all amici and their

clients when she recently summarized the changed factual

circumstances in a recent address published on the TNN

web site:

There have been other times in history when a so-

lution initially considered to be helpful or at least

useful was eventually exposed as being dangerous

and even harmful. It requires a certain humility,

honesty and open mindedness to admit when a

judgment must change in light of new and more

compelling facts. This is what the women whose

painful experiences are captured in the attached

testimonies are calling for today.

The simple but profound truth is that abortion

has not turned out to be the private, painless, safe

solution that many had hoped it would be. Yes, it

is quicker and seemingly less complex than alter-

native solutions. It surely is final. But the living

testimonies of TNN clients reveals that this pro-

cedure, often sought in haste and without a full

understanding of the emotional risks, has in-

flicted profound and lasting harm on a genera-

tion of women. Their voices say better than

anyone else ever could: Women deserve better than

abortion. It is time for this tragedy to end.

I need only to reflect upon the thousands of

; women whom I have had the privilege of serving

since founding the Nurturing Network to say with

conviction that the binding of deep wounds and

NH tein 580 BN ait Acre

es as SAN aia al tae eit Ml ae ee a

3 See “The Health Risks of Abortiou,” A panel presentation for

The Family Research Council offered by Mary Cunningham Agee,

President & Founder of The Nurturing Network, in April 2002, at App.

30-37. -

3 See Nurturing Network: Serving the Urgent and Practical Needs

of Mothers in Crisis, App. 15-29.

- —

the healing of broken hearts is an intensely intti-

mate and time-consuming process. In a society

that prides itself on finding quick fixes and expe-

dient solutions to any inconvenience or problem,

it is understandable that we would seek a short

cut to solve the crisis of an unplanned pregnancy.

But time and experience reveal that no fast solu-

tion exists without causing profound and lasting

harm to both the mother and the child.“

B. The Consistent Experience of Heartbeat

International’s Affiliates Is that Abortion

Harms Women So Deeply and So Often

that Most Affiliates Now Offer Post-

Abortion Counseling Programs to Address

the Depression, Anger and Regret Post-

Abortive Women Suffer.

Since its beginning in the early 1970s, affiliates of

Heartbeat International have also worked with many

thousands of clients who suffer emotionally from having

undergone abortions. Although the term “post abortion

syndrome” had not yet been coined in the early 1970's, the

Heartbeat International affiliate pregnancy centers

quickly began to see suffering clients who had one or more

abortions. In consulting with professionals to develop

programs to help these women, the centers were advised

on the one hand, that abortion did not have any damaging

effects on women. Yet, on the other hand, the centers were

cautioned that volunteers (“nonprofessionals”) should not

get involved for fear that post-abortive women might

become suicidal. This advice only confirmed what the

centers were experiencing, that for a significant number of

“ For the testimonies referred to in Ms. Cunningham Agee’s

address, quoted above, see App. 23-29.

a senses PEAR Recta te LRN LEA ae i . a

wo p Ya ddnnod he A vince ie iets

women, the choice to abort their children left them deeply

psychologically harmed.”

Like TNN’s Founder Mary Cunningham Agee, the

President of Heartbeat International, Dr. Peggy Harts-

horn, has personally received hundreds of calls and letters

and personal contacts from women looking for post-

abortion help who expressed depression, anger and regret

as a result of a past abortion. Heartbeat International’s

experience in working with such women over the years

further substantiates the research findings of Dr. Reardon

and Dr. Burke (summarized in the Appendix to Peti-

tioner’s certioriari petition and set forth in the record

below lodged of this Court) with regard to the psychologi-

cal harm their clientele are experiencing.

Because of the great number of post-abortive women

seeking help over the years, Heartbeat International

advises affiliates to have professional counselors available

as resources and referrals. 69% of the pregnancy resource

centers affiliated with Heartbeat International now offer

post-abortion programs. For example, one Columbus, Ohio

Heartbeat International affiliate, Pregnancy Decisions

Health Centers (PDHC), reports that in 2002, 57% of its

post-abortive clients reported “unresolved feelings” and

“regret” with regard to past abortions; in 2003 55% of the

post-abortion clients reported unresolved feelings and

regret. That number climbed to 68% in the first three

quarters of 2004.”

‘’ Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D: “Pregnancy Help Centers: Prevention,

Crisis Intervention, Healing: Putting It All Together,” published in Back

to the Drawing Board: The Future of the Pro-Life Movement, Teresa R.

Wagner, ed. (South Bend, Ind.: St. Augustine’s press, 2003), as ex-

cerpted for the Court’s reference at App. 38-48.

2003,” and “Board Report: 3rd Quarter 2004” (published in the PDHC

Annual Report, 2004 to be released in February 2005), at App. 49-62.

Heartbeat International is not alone in these findings.

Of the 2,026 pregnancy resource centers in the United

States (according to Heartbeat International’s count); a

conservative figure is that at least 785 of all pregnancy

resource centers now offer post-abortion programs to help

women who are suffering from symptoms of post-abortion

trauma in addition to other services.””

C. Care Net’s Affiliated Pregnancy Resource

Centers Annually Serve More than 100,000

Women Suffering from_ the Adverse Im-

pacts of Abortion Upon their Health.

Care Net is a large network of over 800 pregnancy

resource centers, which provide Support, care and re-

sources to pregnant women.

In 2004, 101,000 women and 2,710 men participated

in Care Net pregnancy center post-abortion counseling

and education support groups in this nation. One of Care

Net’s affiliates reports that 75% of its clients have experi-

enced past abortions, and struggle with the grief from the

experience. In response, 454 Care Net pregnancy centers

now offer recovery Support groups to women and men who

have experienced the trauma of a past abortion, that they

may restore the value of their children whom they have

lost to abortion through the experience of receiving and

acknowledging forgiveness, and the provision of a safe

environment in which they can express their grief.”*

" Ibid. See also the Heartbeat International “Worldwide Directory

of Life Affirming Pregnancy Services,” available at www.heartbeatinter

national.org.

“ “The Ministry of Care Net” (2004 Information Brochure). App.

63-68.

me laa ieneeieteememathie een ore a

Ill, OPERATING NETWORKS OF AGENCIES

GENERALLY AVAILABLE WITHOUT CHARGE

THROUGHOUT AMERICA OFFERING BET-

TER ALTERNATIVES TO ABORTION - MORE

PROTECTIVE OF THE PHYSICAL, PSYCHO-

LOGICAL, SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL AND LEGAL

INTERESTS OF WOMEN AND THEIR CHIL-

DREN - IS A SUBSTANTIAL CHANGED FAC-

TUAL CIRCUMSTANCE THAT JUSTICE AND

EQUITY NOW REQUIRE THIS COURT TO

CONSIDER UNDER FRCP 60(b).

A further concern of this Court in Roe was the distress

and difficulties that the Court presumed bringing an

unwanted child into the world would have upon the

mother psychologically and financially. Roe, 410 U.S. at

153. The Court was concerned that women often had only

a few options: single parenthood with the prospect of

poverty; a dashed career, adoption with the attendant

stigma, or a costly and, in most states, illegal “back alley”

abortion. Moreover, there were few material and social

resources available to pregnant women to help them

through the pregnancy and afterward.

However, over the last 3l-years since Roe was decided,

an infrastructure of care offering practical support to

pregnant women facing crisis pregnancies has developed.

In the public realm, this includes the recent “Safe Haven”

or “Baby Moses” laws, now adopted in 46 states. These

laws allow mothers who are unable to keep their babies for

any reason, to drop them off at fire stations or hospitals

without question, financial obligation, risk of criminal

liability, or the need to go through the stigma or burden of

adoption proceedings.”

In the private realm, over the last 31 years since

Roe, a network of nearly 3,500 organizations has arisen

* See Petitioner’s Certiorari Petition at 16-18.

throughout the United States to form an infrastructure of

care, offering practical support to women facing crisis

pregnancies.” The development of the infrastructure is

exemplified by the Heartbeat International Worldwide

Directory of Life Affirming Pregnancy Services. While the

initial Directory only listed about 75 entries for organiza-

tions providing alternatives to abortion, the 2004 Direc-

tory lists 5,162 organizations. Of those organizations,

3,471 are in the United States.” These include approxi-

mately 2,026 pregnancy resource centers offering medical

services, support services to pregnant women including

hotline counseling services, and/or clothing and housing;

nonprofit adoption agencies; social service agencies; and

groups that offer post-abortion support. In addition, to the

pregnancy resource centers and other services, the Direc-

tory lists 507 professional social service agencies, such as

Catholic Charities, also known for providing alternatives

to abortion; 319 maternity homes; 166 non-profit, adoption

agencies; 27 hotlines; and 54 independent post-abortion

programs, the vast majority of these are housed within

pregnancy resource centers.

A. Heartbeat International Affiliates Now

Offer A Wide Range of Free Women’s

Health Services not Available in 1973

When Roe was Decided.

As stated above, amici Heartbeat International is an

association of pregnancy resource centers, medical clinics,

* Currently, pregnancy resource centers outnumber the abortion

clinics by 1,283 in the United States. This figure is based on the report

from Life Dynamics (at www.ldi.org) that there are currently 743

abortion clinics in the United States, as compared with the 2,026

pregnancy resource centers in the United States listed in the Heartbeat

International Worldwide Directory of Life Affirming Pregnancy Services

(at www.heartbeatinternational.org).

*" See-Heartbeat International’s website, at www.heartbeatinter

national.org.

maternity homes and nonprofit adoption agencies serving

over 850 affiliates in the United States and in 33 coun-

tries. Heartbeat International was formed in 1971 as a

loose federation of independent organizations that sought

to network with each other primarily in the “crisis inter-

vention” arena, offering pregnant women support and

referrals to a variety of services in the community such as

medical care, housing, material aid, and social services. =

Today, most pregnancy resource centers, including

those affiliated with Heartbeat International offer a wide

range of services completely free of charge. For instance,

479 of the Heartbeat affiliates have added medical ser-

vices, including ultrasound technology. Typical services

include pregnancy tests, crisis intervention for those

deciding among alternatives, peer or professional counsel-

ing, support groups, adoption support, parenting classes,

shelter, material aid (clothing, baby items, etc.), commu-

nity referrals, and community education programs. They

are staffed by a combination of professionals in various

fields and lay volunteers. Many also offer professional

services needed for adoption, medical care, childbirth

classes, legal assistance, financial assistance, housing, and

many other services that women facing an unexpected

pregnancy need, again, without charge. In the last several

years, Heartbeat International affiliated centers have

begun to offer a wide range of medical and health services

including STD testing, pap smears, prenatal care, abuse

recovery, and post-abortion programs. Such centers are

also adding, natural family planning counseling, birthing

centers, and even well baby care.”

2 Hartshorn, ibid.

* Hartshorn, ibid.

B. Care Net Mobilizes an Affiliated Network

of About 2400 Paid Staff and 30,000 Volun-

teers to Help Woman Find Good Alterna-

tives to Abortion or to Recover from the

Harm Abortion Has Caused Them To Suffer.

Similarly, amici Care Net, is one of the largest pro-life

organizations in the network of pregnancy resources

centers. Care Net represents a network of over 800 preg-

nancy resource centers, which include about 2,400 paid

staff, and approximately 30,000 volunteers. Care Net

affiliates services are similar to those of Heartbeat Inter-

national and serve over 250,000 young women who come

to the centers each year struggling with the fear of being

pregnant and alone. During the year, they provide alterna-

tives to abortion for over 100,000 women. Care Net’s

affiliates serve women in crisis pregnancy situations in

three primary ways: namely intervention, prevention and

reconciliation.”

Four hundred and fifty four of Care Net’s affiliated

centers offer recovery support groups to women and men

who have experienced the trauma of a past abortion as

part of the process of healing and reconciliation. Also, Care

Net, like the other amici, is dedicated to prevention. To

that end, individual clients received lifestyle counseling,

emphasizing the importance of sexual abstinence until

marriage. Care Net also presents the message of sexual

abstinence to the public. Care Net pregnancy center staff

and volunteers gave presentations to over 800,000 stu-

dents in classrooms and in civic organizations across

North America in 2003.”

As a further service, the Option Line call center,

operated and managed by Care Net and Heartbeat Inter-

national jointly, now provides women in crisis with real

* “The Ministry of Care Net” (2004 Information Brochure). App. 63-68.

* Ibid.

help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Option Line

currently handles calls and emails from about 5000

women every month.”

C. The Nurturing Network Focuses Heavily

on the Post-birth Care of Mothers and

their Babies.

This infrastructure of care developed to provide

women with alternatives to abortion does not end after the

children are born. The Nurturing Network (TNN) main-

tains over 42,000 volunteer resource members who provide

for all of the urgent and practical needs of women with

unplanned pregnancies focusing heavily on this post-birth

aspect of care for mothers. TNN has found that the woman

most likely to have an abortion has earned at least a high

school diploma, is from a middle-class background, and is

between the ages of 20 and 26. Such women often feel that

they have “too much to lose” by continuing an unwanted

" pregnancy, interrupting their future plans, and with no

support.”

Like Heartbeat International and Care Net, TNN

seeks to provide for every aspect of a pregnant woman’s

needs, from initial pregnancy testing to delivery of her

baby and provision of information on parenting and

adoption. Its volunteers include licensed counselors, -

nurses, social workers, and others, who seek to provide

information to the clients on available resources. They also

conduct detailed evaluations of clients’ needs, and provide

comprehensive plans of assistance, incorporating the

appropriate services of TNN and other organizations.”

* Ibid.

” Ibid. See also the TNN website, at www.nurturingnetwork.org.

* Ibid.

CONCLUSION

For all the foregoing reasons, amici urge this Court to

grant the petition for writ of certiorari.

Respectfully submitted,

Counsel for Amici Curiae

RICHARD C. BAKER*

JASON R. CRADDOCK

MAUCK & BAKER

1 N. LaSalle, Suite 2001

Chicago, Illinois 60602

(312) 726-1243

*Counsel of Record

February 7, 2005

G ies Wnt rere n

App. 1

STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE

Heartbeat International, Inc. is a national associa-

tion of life-affirming pregnancy resource centers, medical

clinics, maternity homes and nonprofit adoption agencies.

Heartbeat International currently serves over 850 affili-

ates in the United States and in 33 countries, providing

them with the education, training and support they need

to serve women who are facing unexpected pregnancies.

Heartbeat International also provides a Worldwide Direc-

tory of Life Affirming Pregnancy Services, a comprehen-

sive source which includes organizations providing

alternatives to abortion. Heartbeat International is com-

mitted to the principle that it is tragic to tell a woman that

her only option is to take the life of her child.

CareNet is a large network of over 800 pregnancy

resource centers, all of which provide support, care and

resources to pregnant women. 454 CareNet affiliate

pregnancy centers offer recovery support groups to women

and men who have experienced trauma with regard to

past abortions.

The Nurturing Network (TNN) is an international

charitable organization that works with over 42,000

volunteer resource members who provide for all of the

urgent and practical needs of women with unplanned

pregnancies. During the past twenty years TNN has

served over 17,000 pregnant women and unborn children

with its practical compassion.

The Abortion Recovery International Network

(ARIN) is an affiliate organization dedicated to connecting

like-minded abortion recovery programs with over 250

affiliates (“partners”), which provide post-abortion coun-

seling, care, and assistance in various locations around the

App. 2

world. It has developed the first online directory solely

committed to listing abortion recovery programs within

the United States and abroad. ARIN also assists in the

design and development of new post-abortion programs for

stand-alone recovery agencies, as well as the programs

already existing in pregnancy resource centers.

The National Institute of Family and Life Advo-

cates (NIFLA) supplies legal services and consultation to

pregnancy help centers nationwide. Founded in 1993,

NIFLA now serves a membership of 850 pregnancy re-

source centers in 48 states. Nearly 400 of these centers are

either operating as medical clinics, or are preparing to do

so in the near future. The services NIFLA provides to its

members include: legal review and audit of pregnancy

resource center documents, legal consultation and educa-

tion of centers, board training for boards of directors of

centers, publication of educational materials and training

manuals, training in the development of medical clinic

status, training of nurses and doctors in the provision of

ultrasound services, and the publication of bulletins that

highlight legal and medical concerns of which pregnancy

resource centers need to be aware. NIFLA places an

emphasis on the conversion of pregnancy resource centers

into licensed medical clinics, to enable them to provide a

variety of medical services to the women they serve such

as: pregnancy diagnosis, pregnancy confirmation via an

ultrasound examination, and testing and treatment for

sexually transmitted diseases.

App. 3

Fact Sheet Courtesy of the Elliot Institute,

PO Box 73478 Springfield, IL 62791-7348

A List of Major Psychological Sequelae

of Abortion

REQUIREMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT:

In a study of post-abortion patients only 8 weeks after

their abortion, researchers found that 44% complained of

nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep distur-

bances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had

been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family

doctor. (2) A 5 year retrospective study in two Canadian

provinces found significantly greater use of medical and

psychiatric services among aborted women. Most signifi-

cant was the finding that 25% of aborted women made

visits to psychiatrists as compared to 3% of the control

group. (3) Women who have had abortions are significantly

more likely than others to subsequently require admission

to a psychiatric hospital. At especially high risk are

teenagers, separated or divorced women, and women with

a history of more than one abortion. (4)

Since many post-aborted women use repression as a

coping mechanism, there may be a long period of denial

before a woman seeks psychiatric care. These repressed

feelings may cause psychosomatic illnesses and psychiatric

or behavioral in other areas of her life. As a result, some

counselors report that unacknowledged post-abortion

distress is the causative factor in many of their female

patients, even though their patients have come to them

seeking therapy for seemingly unrelated problems. (5)

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD or

PAS): A major random study found that a minimum of

App. 4

19% of post-abortion women suffer from diagnosable post-

traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Approximately half had

many, but not all, symptoms of PTSD, and 20 to 40 percent

showed moderate to high levels of stress and avoidance

behavior relative to their abortion experiences. (6) Because

this is a major disorder which may be present in many

plaintiffs, and is not readily understood outside the coun-

seling profession, the following summary is more complete

than other entries in this section. PTSD is a psychological

dysfunction which results from a traumatic experience

which overwhelms a person’s normal defense mechanisms

resulting in intense fear, feelings of helplessness or being

trapped, or loss of control. The risk that an experience will

be traumatic is increased when the traumatizing event is

perceived as including threats of physical injury, sexual

violation, or the witnessing of or participation in a violent

death. PTSD results when the traumatic event causes the

hyperarousal of “flight or fight” defense mechanisms. This

hyperarousal causes these defense mechanisms to become

disorganized, disconnected from present circumstances,

and take on a life of their own resulting in abnormal

behavior and major personality disorders. As an example

of this disconnection of mental functions, some PTSD

victim may experience intense emotion but without clear

memory of the event; others may remember every detail

but without emotion; still others may reexperience both

the event and the emotions in intrusive and overwhelming

flashback experiences. (7)

Women may experience abortion as a traumatic event for

several reasons. Many are forced into an unwanted abor-

tions by husbands, boyfriends, parents, or others. If the

woman has repeatedly been a victim of domineering

abuse, such an unwanted abortion may be perceived as the

App. 5

ultimate violation in a life characterized by abuse. Other

women, no matter how compelling the reasons they have

for seeking an abortion, may still perceive the termination

of their pregnancy as the violent killing of their own child.

The fear, anxiety, pain, and guilt associated with the

procedure are mixed into this perception of grotesque and

violent death. Still other women, report that the pain of

‘ abortion, inflicted upon them by a masked stranger

invading their body, feels identical to rape. (8) Indeed,

researchers have found that women with a history of

sexual assault may experience greater distress during and

after an abortion exactly because of these associations

between the two experiences. (9) When the stressor lead- _

ing to PTSD is abortion, some clinicians refer to this as

Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS).

The major symptoms of PTSD are generally classified

under three categories: hyperarousal, intrusion, and

constriction.

Hyperarousal is a characteristic of inappropriately and

chronically aroused “fight or flight” defense mechanisms.

The person is seemingly on permanent alert for threats of

danger. Symptoms of hyperarousal include: exaggerated

startle responses, anxiety attacks, irritability, outbursts of

anger or rage, aggressive behavior, difficulty concentrat-

ing, hypervigilence, difficulty falling asleep or staying

asleep, or physiological reactions upon exposure to situa-

tions that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the trau-

matic experience (eg. elevated pulse or sweat during a

pelvic exam, or upon hearing a vacuum pump sound.)

Intrusion is the reexperience of the traumatic event at

unwanted and unexpected times. Symptoms of intrusion

in PAS cases include: recurrent and intrusive thoughts

App. 6

about the abortion or aborted child, flashbacks in which

the woman momentarily reexperiences an aspect of the

abortion experience, nightmares about the abortion or

child, or anniversary reactions of intense grief or depres-

sion on the due date of the aborted pregnancy or the

anniversary date of the abortion.

Constriction is the numbing of emotional resources, or the

development of behavioral patterns, so as to avoid stimuli

associated with the trauma. It is avoidance behavior; an

attempt to deny and avoid negative feelings or people,

places, or things which aggravate the negative feelings

associated with the trauma. In post-abortion trauma

cases, constriction may include: an inability to recall the

abortion experience or important parts of it; efforts to

avoid activities or situations which may arouse recollec-

tions of the abortion; withdrawal from relationships,

especially estrangement from those involved in the abor-

tion decision; avoidance of children; efforts to avoid or

deny thoughts or feelings about the abortion; restricted

range of loving or tender feelings; a sense of a foreshort-

ened future (e.g., does not expect a career, marriage, or

children, or a long life.); diminished interest in previously

enjoyed activities; drug or alcohol abuse; suicidal thoughts

or acts; and other self-destructive tendencies.

As previously mentioned, Barnard’s study identified a 19%

rate of PTSD among women who had abortions three to

five years previously. But in reality the actual rate is

probably higher. Like most post-abortion studies, Bar-

nard’s study was handicapped by a fifty percent drop out

rate. Clinical experience has demonstrated that the

women least likely to cooperate in post-abortion research

are those for whom the abortion caused the most psycho-

logical distress. Research has confirmed this insight,

App. 7

demonstrating that the women who refuse followup

evaluation most closely match the demographic character-

istics of the women who suffer the most post-abortion

distress. (10) The extraordinary high rate of refusal to

participate in post-abortion studies may interpreted as

evidence of constriction or avoidance behavior (not want-

ing to think about the abortion) which is a major symptom

of PTSD.

For many women, the onset or accurate identification of

PTSD symptoms may be delayed for several years. (11)

Until a PTSD sufferer has received counseling and

achieved adequate recovery, PTSD may result in a psycho-

logical disability which would prevent an injured abortion

patient from bringing action within the normal statutory

period. This disability may, therefore, provide grounds for

an extended statutory period.

SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION: Thirty to fifty percent of

aborted women report experiencing sexual dysfunctions, of

both short and long duration, beginning immediately after

their abortions. These problems may include one or more

of the following: loss of pleasure from intercourse, in-

creased pain, an aversion to sex and/or males in general,

or the development of a promiscuous life-style. (12)

SUICIDAL IDEATION AND SUICIDE ATTEMPTS:

Approximately 60 percent of women who experience post-

abortion sequelae report suicidal ideation, with 28 percent

actually attempting suicide, of which half attempted

suicide two or more times. Researchers in Finland have

:dentified a strong statistical association between abortion

and suicide in a records based study. Thely] identified 73

suicides associated within one year to a pregnancy ending

either naturally or by induced abortion. The mean annual

App. 8

suicide rate for all women was 11.5 per 100,000. Suicide

rate associated with birth was significantly lower (5.9).

Rates for pregnancy loss were significantly higher. For

miscarriage the rate was 18.1 per 100,000 and for abortion

34.7 per 100,000. The suicide rate within one year after an

abortion was three times higher than for all women, seven

times higher than for women carrying to term, and nearly

twice as high as for women who suffered a miscarriage.

Suicide attempts appear to be especially prevalent among

post-abortion teenagers.(13)

INCREASED SMOKING WITH CORRESPONDENT

NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS: Post-abortion stress is

linked with increased cigarette smoking. Women who

abort are twice as likely to become heavy smokers and

suffer the corresponding health risks. (14)

Post-abortion women are also more likely to continue

smoking during subsequent wanted pregnancies with

increased risk of neonatal death or congenital anomalies.

(15)

ALCOHOL ABUSE: Abortion is significantly linked with

a two fold increased risk of alcohol abuse among women.

(16) Abortion followed by alcohol abuse is linked to violent

behavior, divorce or separation, auto accidents, and job

loss. (17) (see also New Study Confirms Link Between

Abortion and Substance Abuse)

DRUG ABUSE: Abortion is significantly linked to subse-

quent drug abuse. In addition to the psycho-social costs of

such abuse, drug abuse is linked with increased exposure

to HIV/AIDS infections, congenital malformations, and

assaultive behavior. (18)

App. 9

EATING DISORDERS: For at least some women, post-

abortion stress is associated with eating disorders such as

binge eating, bulimia, and anorexia nervosa. (19)

CHILD NEGLECT OR ABUSE: Abortion is linked with

increased depression, violent behavior, alcohol and drug

abuse, replacement pregnancies, and reduced maternal

bonding with children born subsequently. These factors

are closely associated with child abuse and would appear

to confirm individual clinical assessments linking post-

abortion trauma with subsequent child abuse. (20)

DIVORCE AND CHRONIC RELATIONSHIP PROB-

LEMS: For most couples, an abortion causes unforeseen

problems in their relationship. Post-abortion couples are

more likely to divorce or separate. Many post-abortion

women develop a greater difficulty forming lasting bonds

with a male partner. This may be due to abortion related

reactions such as lowered self-esteem, greater distrust of

males, sexual dysfunction, substance abuse, and increased

levels of depression, anxiety, and volatile anger. Women

who have more than one abortion (representing about 45%

of all abortions) are more likely to require public assis-

tance, in part because they are also more likely to become

single parents. (21)

REPEAT ABORTIONS: Women who have one abortion

are at increased risk of having additional abortions in the .

future. Women with a prior abortion experience are four

times more likely to abort a current pregnancy than those

with no prior abortion history. (22)

This increased risk is associated with the prior abortion

due to lowered self esteem, a conscious or unconscious

desire for a replacement pregnancy, and increased sexual

activity post-abortion. Subsequent abortions may occur

App. 10

because of conflicted desires to become pregnant and have

a child and continued pressures to abort, such as aban-

donment by the new male partner. Aspects of self-

punishment through repeated abortions are also reported.

(23)

Approximately 45% of all abortions are now repeat abor-

tions. The risk of falling into a repeat abortion pattern

should be discussed with a patient considering her first

abortion. Furthermore, since women who have more than

one abortion are at a significantly increased risk of suffer-

ing physical and psychological sequelae, these heightened

risks should be thoroughly discussed with women seeking

abortions.

NOTES:

1. An excellent resource for any attorney involved in

abortion malpractice is Thomas Strahan’s Major Articles

and Books Concerning the Detrimental Effects of Abortion

(Rutherford Institute, PO Box 7482, Charlottesville, VA

22906-7482, (804) 978-388 [sic].) This resource includes

brief summaries of major finding drawn from medical and

psychology journal articles, books, and related materials,

divided into major categories of relevant injuries.

2. Ashton, “They [sic] Psychosocial Outcome of Induced

Abortion”, British Journal of Ob&Gyn., 87:1115-1122,

(1980).

3. Badgley, et.al., Report of the Committee on the Opera-

tion of the Abortion Law (Ottawa:Supply and Services,

1977)pp.313-321.

4. R. Somers, “Risk of Admission to Psychiatric Institu-

tions Among Danish Women who Experienced Induced

App. 11

Abortion: An Analysis on National Record Linkage,”

Dissertation Abstracts International, Public Health 2621-

B, Order No. 7926066 (1979); H. David, et al., “Postpartum

and Postabortion Psychotic Reactions,” Family Planning

Perspectives 13:88-91 (1981).

5. Kent, et al., “Bereavement in Post-Abortive Women: A

Clinical Report”, World Journal of Psychosynthesis (Au-

tumn-Winter 1981), vol.13,nos.3-4.

6. Catherine Barnard, The Long-Term Psychological

Effects of Abortion, Portsmouth, N.H.: Institute for Preg-

nancy Loss, 1990).

7. Herman, Trauma and Recovery, (New York: Basic

Books, 1992) 34.

8. Francke, The Ambivalence of Abortion (New York:

Random House, 1978) 84-95.

9. Zakus, “Adolescent Abortion Option,” Social Work in

Health Care, 12(4):87 (1987); Makhorn, “Sexual Assault &

Pregnancy,” New Perspectives on Human Abortion, Mall &

Watts, eds., (Washington, D.C.: University Publications of

America, 1981).

10. Adler, “Sample Attrition in Studies of Psycho-social

Sequelae of Abortion: How great a problem.” Journal of

Social Issues, 1979, 35, 100-110.

11. Speckhard, “Postabortion Syndrome: An Emerging

Public Health Concern,” Journal of Social Issues, 48(3):95-119.

12. Speckhard, Psycho-social Stress Following Abortion,

Sheed & Ward, Kansas City: MO, 1987; and Belsey, et al.,

“Predictive Factors in Emotional Response to Abortion: King’s

Termination Study — IV,” Soc. Sci. & Med., 11:71-82 (1977).

App. 12

13. Speckhard, Psycho-social Stress Following Abortion,

Sheed & Ward, Kansas City: MO, 1987; Gissler, Hemminki

& Lonnqvist, “Suicides after pregnancy in Finland, 1987-

94: register linkage study,” British Journal of Medicine

313:1431-4, 1996.C. Haignere, et al., “HIV/AIDS Preven-

tion and Multiple Risk Behaviors of Gay Male and Run-

away Adolescents,” Sixth International Conference on

AIDS: San Francisco, June 1990; N. Campbell, et al.,

“Abortion in Adolescence,” Adolescence, 23(92):813-823

(1988); H. Vaughan, Canonical Variates of Post-Abortion

Syndrome, Portsmouth, NH: Institute for Pregnancy Loss,

1991; B. Garfinkel, “Stress, Depression and Suicide: A

Study of Adolescents in Minnesota,” Responding to High

Risk Youth, Minnesota Extension Service, University of

Minnesota (1986).

14. Harlap, “Characteristics of Pregnant Women Report-

ing Previous Induced Abortions,” Bulletin World Health

Organization, 52:149 (1975); N. Meirik, “Outcome of First

Delivery After 2nd Trimester Two Stage Induced Abortion:

A Controlled Cohort Study,” Acta Obsetricia et Gyne-

cologica Scandinavia 63(1):45-50(1984); Levin, et al.,

“Association of Induced Abortion with Subsequent Preg-

nancy Loss,” JAMA, 243:2495-2499, June 27, 1980.

15. Obel, “Pregnancy Complications Following Legally

Induced Abortion: An Analysis of the Population with

Special Reference to Prematurity,” Danish Medical Bulle-

tin, 26:192-199 (1979); Martin, “An Overview: Maternal

Nicotine and Caffeine Consumption and Offspring Out-

come,” Neurobehavioral Toxicology and Tertology, 4(4):421-

427, (1982).

16. Klassen, “Sexual Experience and Drinking Among

Women in a U.S. National Survey,” Archives of Sexual

Behavior, 15(5):363-39 ; M. Plant, Women, Drinking and

App. 13

Pregnancy, Tavistock Pub, London (1985); Kuzma &

Kissinger, “Patterns of Alcohol and Cigarette Use in

Pregnancy,” Neurobehavioral Toxicology and Terotology,

3:211-221 (1981).

17. Morrissey, et al., “Stressful Life Events and Alcohol

Problems Among Women Seen at a Detoxification Center,”

Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39(9):1159 (1978).

18. Oro, et al., “Perinatal Cocaine and Methampheta-

mine Exposure Maternal and Neo-Natal Correlates,” J.

Pediatrics, 111:571-578 (1978); D.A. Frank, et al., “Cocaine

Use During Pregnancy Prevalence and Correlates,” Pedi-

atrics, 82(6):888 (1988); H. Amaro, et al., “Drug Use

Among Adolescent Mothers: Profile of Risk,” Pediatrics

84:144-150, (1989)

19. Speckhard, Psycho-social Stress Following Abortion,

Sheed & Ward, Kansas City: MO, 1987; J. Spaulding, et al,

“Psychoses Following Therapeutic Abortion, Am. J. of

Psychiatry 125(3):364 (1978); R.K. McAll, et al., “Ritual

Mourning in Anorexia Nervosa,” The Lancet, August 16,

1980, p. 368.

20. Benedict, et al., “Maternal Perinatal Risk Factors

and Child Abuse,” Child Abuse and Neglect, 9:217-224

(1985); PG. Ney, “Relationship between Abortion and

Child Abuse,” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 24:610-620,

1979; Reardon, Aborted Women - Silent No More (Chi-

cago: Loyola University Press, 1987), 129-30, describes a

case of woman who beat her three year old son to death

shortly after an abortion which triggered a “psychotic

episode” of grief, guilt, and misplaced anger.

21. Shepard, et al., “Contraceptive Practice and Repeat

Induced Abortion: An Epidemiological Investigation,” J.

Biosocial Science, 11:289-302 (1979); M. Bracken, “First

App. 14

and Repeated Abortions: A Study of Decision-Making and

Delay,” J. Biosocial Science, 7:473-491 (1975); S. Henshaw,

“The Characteristics and Prior Contraceptive Use of U.S.

Abortion Patients,” Family Planning Perspectives,

20(4):158-168 (1988); D. Sherman, et al., “The Abortion

Experience in Private Practice,” Women and Loss: Psycho-

biological Perspectives, ed. W.F. Finn, et al., (New York:

Praeger Publ. 1985), pp98-107; E.M. Belsey, et al., “Predic-

tive Factors in Emotional Response to Abortion: King’s

Termination Study-IV,” Social Science and Medicine,

11:71-82 (1977); E. Freeman, et al., “Emotional Distress

Patterns Among Women Having First or Repeat Abor-

tions,” Obstetrics and Gynecology, 55(5):630-636 (1980); C.

Berger, et al., “Repeat Abortion: Is it a Problem?” Family

Planning Perspectives 16(2):70-75 (1984).

22. Joyce, “The Social and Economic Correlates of Preg-

nancy Resolution Among Adolescents in New York by Race

and Ethnicity: A Multivariate Analysis,” Am. J. of Public

Health, 78(6):626-631 (1988); C. Tietze, “Repeat Abortions

— Why More?” Family Planning Perspectives 10(5):286-

288, (1978).

23. Leach, “The Repeat Abortion Patient,” Family Plan-

ning Perspectives, 9(1):37-39 (1977); S. Fischer, “Reflection

on Repeated Abortions: The meanings and motivations,”

Journal of Social Work Practice 2(2):70-87 (1986); B.

Howe, et al., “Repeat Abortion, Blaming the Victims,” Am.

J. of Public Health, 69(12):1242-1246, (1979).

Reardon, Ph.D.

www.afterabortion.org

oss "asalibh bse

App. 15

THE NURTURING NETWORK:

SERVING THE URGENT AND PRACTICAL NEEDS

OF MOTHERS IN CRISIS

Personal Reflections of the Founder

Based upon Twenty Years of Compassion in Action

It is an honor to be invited to address you about a topic

that matters more to me than any other. Instead of ad-

dressing the myriad of vital issues concerning the termi-

nation of life for an-unborn child, let us focus today upon

the life and well-being of another victim, the mother. I

believe that it is time to shift our emphasis from the

obvious harm that abortion causes an unborn child to the

tragedy it inflicts upon the life of the mother.

Introduction:

My name is Mary Elizabeth Cunningham Agee. I am the

mother of three children; one of whom died in a second

term miscarriage twenty years ago on January 8th. It was

this personal loss that riveted my heart and redirected my

mind to the pivotal societal issue that we are addressing

today.

You might appreciate knowing a little more about the

person whose perspective you are about to hear. Please

allow me to introduce myself:

Professional Background:

You may recognize my name as having been one of the

first women in America to “break the glass ceiling” by

serving in the Senior Management of two Fortune 100

Companies as the Vice President of Strategic Planning in

the 1980's. I wrote a best-selling autobiography about my

App. 16

experience at the Bendix Corporation and Joseph E

Seagram & Sons and was twice voted_by World Almanac

as one of the “Twenty-five most influential women in

America.” I have been given the opportunity to share my

thoughts about corporate culture, women in business and

professional ethics at the Commonwealth Club, in the Wall

Street Journal, Reader’s Digest and Newsweek, and on

many prime time television shows including Barbara

Walters, Peter Jennings, Donahue, the Today Show and

Good Morning America.

Educational Background:

My education includes a BA with Honors from Wellesley

College (’73) where I was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and

received two Danforth nominations in Moral Philosophy

and Ethics. I have also earned an MBA from the Harvard

Business School (’79) and studied Law and Jurisprudence

at Notre Dame University and Trinity College in Dublin,

Ireland. I have been awarded six honorary doctorates

primarily for my work over the past two decades in trying

to alleviate the suffering of thousands of women and

children whose circumstances have caused them to be

vulnerable to abortion.

Particular Expertise:

My primary expertise on the topic we are addressing today

is based upon two decades of experience as the Founder

and President of the Nurturing Network (TNN.) TNN is

an international charitable organization comprised of over

42,000 volunteer resource members who provide for all of

the urgent and practical needs of women with unplanned

pregnancies. Over 17,000 pregnant women and unborn

SSNS RR he BRAIN ik es thin aia kala 1 GS OPA a src

App. 17

children have been served through the practical compas-

sion of the Nurturing Network during the past twenty

years.

While I must admit that it took the personal anguish of a

mid-trimester miscarriage for me to grasp the horror of

prenatal death, it has taken the daily, life-saving activity

of the Nurturing Network to teach me the importance of

translating my reverence for human life into concrete

action. This growing awareness enabled me to not look

back for even one moment to the comfort and grandeur of

an executive suite in midtown Manhattan. I chose to leave

that way of life and a six figure salary for the far more

rewarding and, I dare say, more vital work of managing

and directing the Nurturing Network.

Viewpoint:

While TNN’s mission has had nothing to do with debating

the merits of abortion or trying to remove that alternative,

the performance of my counseling role has required me to

listen to the unsolicited testimonies of literally thousands

of women. To a person, each woman has shared her pro-

found regret and lingering emotional wounds as a result of

an abortion experience. It is this unexpected, and yet,

undeniable revelation that compels me to share what I

have learned with you.

When the option of abortion was first presented for your

consideration, scientific and anecdotal evidence was very

limited. Since 1973, valuable medical and scientific re-

search has been conducted and revealing anecdotal testi-

monies have been collected. The insights gleaned from

these sources offer a compelling case for reevaluating a

App. 18

procedure that was once considered to be a safe and

private solution for women in crisis.

Unlike thirty years ago, we now have a generation of

women who are prepared to open their private lives and

expose their wounds in the hope that their experience

might prevent others from the grief and emotional harm

that they have known. I hope that you will agree that we

cannot afford to turn a deaf ear to these women who

provide such an eloquent witness to the dangers caused by

a procedure made available to them in the hope of provid-

ing assistance.

At the close of my remarks, I will share several moving

testimonies of actual TNN clients who profoundly regret

their choice of abortion. Their words convey an anguish

and loss that the passage of time or euphemistic rhetoric

cannot repair. Their experience is a haunting reminder

that what many once hoped would provide a “reproductive

freedom” within a woman’s “private choice” has, instead,

resulted in a prison of tragic regrets for a generation of

women who now know that they deserve better than

abortion.

TNN Facts:

Approximately 50% of all TNN clients have already

experienced at least one abortion at the time they contact

us for help. This fact is revealed in either an initial toll

free phone call requesting assistance, a referral from a

local crisis pregnancy center, a first counseling session, or

a confidential online questionnaire.

Plat Se al ac Li ia! eRe te ARAL SM Re Door he wk 1

App. 19

What the Clients Are Saying:

TNN clients express fear in having to “go through” another

abortion. They candidly share their profound remorse and

the conviction that they do not want to augment the

emotional anguish they have already endured. They often

share a sense of having been betrayed and then aban-

doned by those who convinced or coerced them into having

an abortion.

It may be difficult to imagine how utterly sincere and

blatantly honest these confidential counseling sessions are

between a TNN counselor and a client. More often than

not, I do not have the opportunity to meet a TNN client in

person. Our relationship usually takes place in the rela-

tive privacy of a phone call or by internet which seems to

afford more freedom to express what their hearts have

wanted to say for many years. A bond of trust is readily

established when a client discovers, often for the first time

in her life, that TNN wants nothing from them: No fees, no

baby to adopt, no promises, no work in exchange for our

services.

To more fully understand the wrenching sadness and

last: ag regret that TNN clients describe following an

abortion, it may be worth examining the forces and influ-

ences that drive a woman to make this choice: An immedi-

ate escape from shame, the possibility of enhanced

economic security, the hope of saving a fragile relationship.

The actual testimonies of the betrayed and the abandoned

in TNN’s client files expose the miscalculations and

illuminate the disillusionment that inevitably follows:

App. 20

e Most women readily identify four primary sources

of pressure or coercion that lead to an abortion

“choice”:

e The father of the baby: “It is our relationship

or the baby.”

e The parents: “It is either our financial sup-

port or the baby.”

e The boss: “It is either your job or the baby.”

e The peers: “It is either your social standing or

the baby.”

Of course, none of these tradeoffs have anything

to do with offering a woman in crisis the “free-

dom to choose.” Each ultimatum threatens to

impose an emotional toll calculated to force her

to make a desperate choice. And yet, as the at-

tached testimonies indicate, she alone will suffer

the agonizing remorse, the hidden grief, the de-

bilitating guilt.

e Most women who have chosen abortion do so not

out of “freedom of choice” but out of a desperate

sense that they have no other choice.

e Most women believe that the only “freedom” an

abortion affords is experienced by those “significant

others” who have much to lose if she continues her

pregnancy.

e Most women express regret in having made the

“choice” to abort and many become pregnant again

in an effort to remedy their error and “recreate”

their deceased child.

App. 21

e Most women admit that very practical needs influ-

enced their decision to abort a pregnancy. I have

heard many say: |

“If only I had been offered an alternative

educational opportunity; my peers were so

cruel when they found out that I was preg-

nant.”

“If only I could have been given a different

job; the father of the baby was my boss and I

just couldn’t put up with his ridicule and

pressure every day at work.”

“If only I could have had a peaceful, affirm-

ing place to live; my parents were so disap-

pointed in me that every day would have

been emotionally devastating living at

home.”

“If only I could have seen a good counselor to

help me understand what I was about to do

and what was at stake.”

“If only I could have had some financial sup-

port for college, rent and medical bills; my

parents withdrew all support and I just

couldn’t make ends meet.”

Listening to these women articulate what forms of practi-

cal support would have permitted their pregnancy to

continue is how the Nurturing Network was actually

formed. Before founding TNN, I interviewed and listened

to hundreds of women who shared the practical needs that

were not met when their own support networks let them

down. These unmet needs had directly led to their abor-

tion “choice” and helped to write the strategic plan that

formed the Nurturing Network.

App. 22

CONCLUSION:

There have been other times in history when a solution

initially considered to be helpful or at least useful was

eventually exposed as being dangerous and even harmful.

It requires a certain humility, honesty and open minded-

ness to admit when a judgment must change in light of

new and more compelling facts. This is what the women

whose painful experiences are captured in the attached

testimonies are calling for today.

The simple but profound truth is that abortion has not

turned out to be the private, painless, safe solution that

many had hoped it would be. Yes, it is quicker and seem-

ingly less complex than alternative solutions. It surely is

final. But the living testimonies of TNN clients reveals

that this procedure, often sought in haste and without a

full understanding of the emotional risks, has inflicted

profound and lasting harm a generation of women. Their

voices say better than anyone else ever could: Women

deserve better than abortion. It is time for this tragedy to

end.

I need only to reflect upon the thousands of women whom

I have had the privilege of serving since founding the

Nurturing Network to say with conviction that the binding

of deep wounds and the healing of broken hearts is an

intensely intimate and time-consuming process. In a

society that prides itself on finding quick fixes and expedi-

ent solutions to any inconvenience or problem, it is under-

standable that we would seek a short cut to solve the crisis

of an unplanned pregnancy. But time and experience

reveal that no fast solution exists without causing pro-

found and lasting harm to both the mother and the child.

App. 23

The simple truth is that there is no efficient or effective

substitute for what my two decades of experience tells me

every woman in crisis yearns for most of all: Love and

practical compassion. She does not seek our hand-washing

absolutions or an easy means of hiding or “getting rid of

her problem”. A generation of women now courageously

stands ready to tell us of a sobering reality: Abortion does

not heal, it harms. It silences a beating heart...and breaks

a mother’s too.

ADDENDUM: FROM TNN CLIENT FILES

HEARTBREAKING:

TNN counsels thousands of post-abortive, grieving women.

Here are several actual examples in each client’s own

words:

SARAH: TNN Valentine Card 2004

“I was not able to carry through with my pregnancy. I

wanted to say, ‘No,” but couldn’t gather the strength given -

the extreme pressures. I am completely overwhelmed with

grief and depression beyond anything that I can describe.

If only I had know about your Nurturing Network a month

ago. I can’t forget how exposed and humiliated I felt lying

on that table. The pain, sense of loss and crippling night-

mares just won’t let up. I can’t work and have lost my job.

I have lost everything! Will there ever be peace for some-

one like me?”

TRACEY: “Heart to Heart” Newsletter, Mother’s

Day 1992

I read about your organization in Ligourian and it is as

though a prayer was answered. I am twenty-eight and

App. 24

gave birth to a son September 29, 1991. Since then I have

been looking for an — outlet for my intense feelings and

need to help someone else by sharing my personal experi-

ence in not going through with an abortion.

I was raped (the acquaintance variety) and have endured

all of the post-traumatic syndrome symptoms. The father

of the baby threatened to “throw me down the stairs” to

get rid of ‘it” when I told him I thought I was pregnant. I

went to a clinic to find out for sure if I was pregnant and

told their counselor what had happened to me. She as-

sumed that I wouldn’t want to keep the baby due to the

situation and scheduled my appointment.

I drove directly to the father of the baby’s apartment and

on the way there, the light looked different. The sky was

brighter. the clouds bigger and fuller, the sun more vivid

than I remembered. I was slowly waking up from my

shock and realizing I had a baby inside me . . . something I

had wanted since I was nine years old. I had been in a

relationship where the man couldn’t have children and it

nearly ruined us because I wanted children so badly, and

here I was planning to get rid of one. I desperete!y wanted

this man to marry me out of a sense of obligation as a

father. After six hours of unsuccessful pleading, I left and

planned to run my truck off a cliff.

Having been thoroughly humiliated and insulted. I turned

to the man I left a year earlier (and still loved) and he

helped me for the weeks and months it took to decide the

fate of my child. He said to me. “We'll find a way. We'll

make it work:” Hearing these words gave me strength and

hope. and I’ve learned what a real father is. He’s a man

who fights for your life, makes life possible, and loves you

in spite of everything.

App. 25

I was lucky I know ... not everyone has someone to turn

to like your Network. But the point is the same, if you

open yourself to the possibility of this incredible love that

a child generates, people and things open up for you.

We have a beautiful, healthy, energetic. tranquil boy and

there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about what

I almost did. Well, that is pretty much:it. I would like to be

able to share this and the rest of my experiences so that

maybe someone in a similar situation can benefit sooner,

and not go through the agony and torture I did. I would

very much like to volunteer as an inspirational counselor

and perhaps offer my services as an artist in some way.

Please find a place for me as this would mean the world to

me.

My son. Henry. has been on my lap for much of this letter

and at three months, thinks he can type! Thank you for

letting me share my story with you. Please call if I can be

of help right away. Again, thank you for your organization.

I wish I had known about you sooner.

JOANN: “Heart to Heart” Newsletter, Thanksgiv-

ing 1992

“In December, I lived through what today is so glibly

referred to in the press as ‘date rape.’ Two weeks later I

graduated with honors with a freshly minted MBA ...

only to have my dreams shattered. Any course of action,

other than abortion, would have meant total abandonment

by my family. When I asked for support, the aggressor

accused me of ‘emotional’ rape and then abandoned me. I

have kept this secret to myself until now.

App. 26

Last fall I had surgery for ovarian cancer and am now

unable to have children. When I die I will leave no legacy.

Had I known about the Nurturing Network, I would have

carried the child to term and my story would have had a

happy ending. If I encounter someone in the future whom

you may be able to help, I will tell them about your Net-

work. If only I had known...”

TONI: “Heart to Heart Newsletter,” Mother’s Day

1993

“Ten years ago, Toni, married and a mother of two, found

herself facing an unintended pregnancy. A baby simply did

not fit into her career plans nor into her family’s work

schedule. Seeking the advice of her obstetrician, Toni was

assured that an “early pregnancy termination” was the

best alternative and that he had never heard of anyone

having any adverse effects from this procedure. Tony [sic]

chose to abort her baby and struggled with this decision

for many years. Through painful years of grieving and

professional counseling she now shares her heartache and

hopes with Mary:

My wish is that I had known about The Nurturing Net-

work. It would have taken so little to convince me to have

our child. On this Mother’s Day, I urge other abortion

victims to come forth with their heartbreaking stories in

the hopes of bringing an end to this national tragedy. I

want to assure you that there is no need to suffer in

silence anymore. Compassion, understanding and support

is available and is only a phone call away.”

App. 27

JANE: TNN Valentine Card 1995

“When I found out that I was pregnant, I felt frightened

and trapped. I felt that if I continued my pregnancy, I

risked humiliating my family whom I love dearly. The

thought of my boyfriend leaving me and the knowing looks

of my friends at work was beyond anything that I could

bear. |

Deciding to end my pregnancy was the loneliest moment of

my life. I knew then that this ‘choice’ would bring a sad-

ness that would never leave me. A day doesn’t go by that I

don’t think of what I lost. Perhaps it would help me to heal

if I could encourage someone else who is feeling as desper-

ate as I did. Please keep up the work you are ee I only

wish I’d known about you sooner.”

MARGARET: TNN Valentine Card 1997

“Many years have passed since I was 23, frightened,

unemployed and facing the stark reality of an unplanned

pregnancy alone. I felt trapped with no idea of where to

turn knowing that my family would be deeply humiliated

and angry beyond words. I made the desperate choice to

abort my son because I could think of no other way to go

forward.

The pain of that choice will forever haunt me in the quiet

moments of every day. Just last week I learned about your

Network. If I could help even one mother who is feeling as

desperate as I was, I would be so grateful.”

JANET: TNN Valentine Card 1998

“On February 7, 1995, I had an abortion. One week ago, I

picked up my sister’s issue of Today’s Christian Woman. As

App. 28

I was flipping through the pages, I ran across your article

and cried throughout the whole reading. I wish this article

was put on every corner and available at every place that

provides abortion. If only I had known about your Net-

work, my baby could have been saved. I miss my baby so

much. I think I understand how God is helping me to heal.

I think He wants-me to do something like you are doing.

How can I help someone else avoid this pain and loneli-

ness?”

KIM: TNN Valentine Card 1999

“Several years ago, I had a second trimester abortion. My

uterus was punctured and emotionally I was devastated.

Years of grief have taken their toll on me. I only wish I had

known about the Nurturing Network back then. I am

pregnant again and after many calls you are the only place

that has given me hope. What a comfort it is to know there

is an organization such as yours. I know that as I work

through the practical needs of my pregnancy with your

kind staff, I will be able to deal with the emotional wounds

still scarring my heart.”

MARTHA: TNN Valentine Card 2001

“Many years have passed since my senior year in college

when I felt deserted by almost everyone important to me

and made the desperate choice to abort my child. I could

think of no other way to go forward. The fear that haunted

me then was not being able to finish my education and

fulfill my dream to become a teacher. The fear that haunts

me now in the quiet of each day is that no matter what I

accomplish professionally, I will never hear my child’s

voice or laughter. I can only hope that at least one mother

App. 29

who may be feeling as alone and trapped as I was will read

my letter. I am living proof that your work is needed.”

App. 30

THE HEALTH RISKS OF ABORTION

PANEL PRESENTATION FOR FAMILY RESEARCH

COUNCIL BUILDING A CULTURE OF LIFE

Offered by Mary Cunningham Agee

President & Founder

The Nurturing Network

April 2002

“If only I had known.” This is the haunting lament that I

hear almost daily on the toll free crisis hotline of the

Nurturing Network. Since founding this charitable organi-

zation almost twenty years ago, I have been invited by

literally thousands of frightened, wounded women to

understand the painful circumstances of their troubled

lives. Let me assure you that they do not call to express

satisfaction in their “reproductive freedom” to terminate

the life of their unborn child. They call desperately seeking

immediate, practical assistance in order to avoid an

abortion procedure which almost half of our clients have

already experienced in a prior pregnancy.

This is why the Nurturing Network was founded: to

provide all of the practical support a mother in crisis needs

in order to choose life for her unborn child. Our 32,000

member resources are located in all 50 states and in 27

foreign countries. We offer individually tailored solutions

that include medical, emotional, financial, educational,

employment and residential assistance to any woman

whose own support network has let her down. I am happy

to share that we have had the indescribable joy of assist-

ing almost 15,000 mothers and children. Their personal

stories and courageous testimonies are what have contrib-

uted to the insights that I am sharing with you today.

App. 31

I must admit, therefore, that my perspective on the topic

of abortion is about as detached or philosophical as that of

a medic on the front line of an active combat zone.

I have come to know this topic up close and in living color

through the tragic life stories of women who believed the

marketing rhetoric about this allegedly sate [sic] and easy

procedure. And yet, almost all of them would tell you that

if they could erase just one decision in their lives, it would

be the irreversible one that ended the life of their unborn

child. Their grief is difficult to capture here in a few words

because it is always tinged with a sense of having been

betrayed. These women consistently describe the panic

and loneliness that sets in when those whom she has

trusted create fatal trade-offs between their role in her life

and her child. How can she help but feel tricked and

manipulated by boyfriends, parents, friends and employ-

ers who conveniently wash their hands of her maternal

needs and choose to describe her unborn child as an

inconvenience and even a threat. None of these accom-

plices, of course, will ever live out the permanent conse-

quences of an abortion decision the way she will and so her

sense of abandonment and isolation is profound.

While I am tempted to fill our time together with poignant

anecdotes from our client files, I believe that an objective

review of a few facts might be just as persuasive. The data

that I am about to share has not been gleaned from biased

sources, but rather, from medical and social scientists with

no ax to grind. Their rather startling research findings

only confirm what our common sense and the clients of the

Nurturing Network have said for years: Abortion is far

from being a safe procedure. It was, after all, this false

assumption about the safety of this procedure that led the

United States Supreme Court in to strike down every

App. 32

federal, state and local law regulating its practice. The

premise of their decision was th.‘ the advances of modern

medicine had removed the need for any regulation of the

procedure since it was now “relatively safe.”

Clearly, the facts no longer support this assumption and,

in fact, expose the glaring error at the root of our country’s

national policy toward abortion. The following data shows

that abortion is actually dangerous to the health of women

— both physically and psychologically — and, therefore,

should be at least regulated if not outright prohibited.

The data that I am about to share was made réadily

available in a report generated by the Elliot Institute.

While I cannot include all of the findings listed on their

web site, I would like to acknowledge them for providing

such well-documented statistical information. I will be

drawing heavily upon this for the statistical part of my

presentation.

National statistics on abortion show that 10% of women

who undergo this procedure suffer from immediate compli-

cations. (1) Over one hundred different complications have

been associated with induced abortion. “Minor” complica-

tions include: infections, bleeding, fevers, chronic abdomi-

nal pain, gastro-intestinal disturbances, vomiting, and Rh

Sensitization. The nine most common “major” complica-

tions are infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, ripping

or perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications,

convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury and endotoxic

shock. (2) Can you imagine what an honest warning label

might read like for such a procedure?!

While the immediate complications of abortion are vsually

treatable, these complications frequently lead to even more

serious long-term reproductive damage.. For example, one

App. 33

common outcome of abortion related infections is sterility.

Researchers have reported that as many as 5% of aborted

women are left inadvertently sterile. (3)The risk of steril-

ity is even greater for women who are infected with a

venereal disease at the time of an abortion.(4)

In addition to the risk of sterility, women who acquire

post-abortal infections are five to eight times more likely

to experience ectopic pregnancies.(5) In fact, between 1970

and 1983, the rate of ectopic pregnancies in the U.S. has

risen four-fold! (6) It is worth noting that 12% of all

maternal deaths are due to ectopic pregnancy. (7) And

other countries who have legalized abortion have also seen

the same dramatic rise in ectopic pregnancies. (8)

Cervical damage is another leading cause of long term

complications following abortion. According to one hospital

study, 12.5% of first trimester abortions required stitching

for cervical lacerations. (9) Another study found that

lacerations occurred in 22% of aborted women. (10) And

women under the age of 17 have been found to face twice

the normal risk of suffering cervical damage. (11)

Whether microscopic or macroscopic in nature, the cervical

damage which results during abortion frequently results

in a permanent weakening of the cervix. This weakening

may result in an “incompetent cervix”, a serious medical

condition in.any pregnancy that often results in miscar-

riage or premature birth. According to one study, symp-

toms related to cervical incompetence were found among

75% of women who undergo forced dilation for abortion.

(12)

To put this risk in context, cervical damage from previ-

ously induced abortions significantly increases the risk of

miscarriage, premature birth and complications of labor

App. 34

during later pregnancies by 300 to 500%! (13) The repro-

ductive risks of abortion are especially acute for women

who abort their first pregnancy. A major study of first

pregnancy abortions found that almost half, or 48%, of

women experienced abortion-related complications in later

pregnancies. Women in this group experienced 2.3 miscar-

riages for every one live birth. (14) And another researcher

found that among teenagers who aborted their first

pregnancies, 66% subsequently experienced miscarriages

or premature birth of their second pregnancy. (15)

When this risk of increased pregnancy loss is projected on

the population as a whole, it is estimated that aborted

women lose 100,000 “wanted” babies each year due to

latent abortion morbidity. (16) In addition, premature

births, complications of labor, and abnormal development

of the placenta all can result from latent abortion morbid-

ity and each are leading causes of handicaps among

newborns. (17) Considering premature deliveries alone, it

is estimated that latent abortion morbidity results in 3000

cases of acquired cerebral palsy among newborns each

year. (18) And, finally, since these pregnancy problems

pose a threat to the health of the mothers too, women who

have had abortions face a 58% greater risk of dying during

a later pregnancy. (19)

There are similar shocking statistics that expose the

serious psychological risks associated with abortion. Since

this topic has been assigned to Dean Gladys Sweeney, I

will not cover this topic in my remarks. But I cannot

conclude my thoughts without at least stating that the

emotional scars of this decidedly unsafe procedure are

every bit as devastating as the physical ones we have just

discussed.

App. 35

It is my hope that by sharing this data, you will be moved

to inform others who are at risk for an abortion procedure.

It is a cruel and unconscionable for any of us to remain

silent in the face of new scientific evidence that undenia-

bly, points to the health risks of this procedure for women.

It is time for those in a position of policy-making power to

correct the errors of the past and protect the next genera-

tion of women from further exploitation and damage.

Thank you.

Footnotes: 1. Frank, et al, “Induced Abortion Operations

and Their Early Sequelae”, Journal of the Royal College of

General Practitioners (April 1985), vol 35, no 73, pp 175-

180. 2. Reardon, Aborted Women-Silent No More, (Chi-

cago: Loyola University Press, 1987). 3. Wynn and Wynn,

“Some Consequences of Induced Abortion to Children Born

Subsequently”, British Medical Journal (March 3, 1973),

and Foundation for Education and Research in Child

Bearing (London, 1972) 4. Wilke, Abortion: Questions and

Answers, (Cincinnati, Hayes Publishing Co., 1985). 5.

Chun, et al. Effects of Induced Abortion on Subsequent

Reproductive Function and Pregnancy Outcome, Univer-

sity of Hawaii (Honolulu, 1981) 6. Atrash, et. Al., “Ectopic

Pregnancy in the U.S., 1970-1983” MMRW, Center for

Disease Control, vol.35, no. 25s9.29ss. 7. “Annual Ectopic

Totals Rose Steadily in 1970’s But Mortality Fell”, Family

Planning Perspectives (1983) vol,15,p.85. 8. Hilgers, “The

Medical Hazards of Legally Induced Abortion,” in Hilgers

and Horan, eds, Abortion and Social Justice (New York:

Sheed and Ward, 1972). 9. Wilke, Handbook on Abortion,

(Cincinnati, Hayes Publishing Co., 1979). 10. “Abortion in

Hawaii”, Family Planning Perspectives (Winter 1973) 5(1):

Table 8. 11. Schulz, et. Al., “Measures to Prevent Cervical

Injury During Suction Curettage Abortion”, The Lancet

a acacrrcccr ea a

App. 36

(May 28, 1983),pp 1182-1184. 12. Wren, “Cervical Incom-

petence — Aetiology and Management”, Medical Journal of

Australia (December 29, 1973), vol 60. 13. Harlap and

Davies, “Late Sequelae of Induced Abortion: Complications

and Outcome of Pregnancy and Labor”, American Journal

of Epidemiology (1975). Vol 102, no.3; Hogue, “Impact of

Abortion on Subsequent Fecundity”, Clinics in Obstetrics

and Gynecology (March 1986), col.13,no.1. 14. Lembrych,

“Fertility Yroblems Following Aborted First Pregnancy”,

eds. Hilgers, et al., New Perspectives on Human Abortion

(Frederick, MD.: University Publications of America,

1981). 15. Russel, “Sexual Activity and Its Consequences

in the Teenager”, Clinics in Ob&Gyn, (Dec 1974). Voll,

no.3, pp 683-698. 16. Reardon, Aborted Women-Silent No

More, (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1987). 17. Hogue,

Cates and Tietze, “Impact of Vacuum Aspiration Abortion

on Future Childbearing: A Review”, Family Planning

Perspectives (May-June 1983), col.15, no.3. 18. Reardon,

Aborted Women-Silent No More, (Chicago: Loyola Univer-

sity Press, 1987). 19. Reardon,

Mary Cunningham Agee, President and Founder

To reach our Communication and Development Office

please feel free to contact us at:

The Nurturing Network

PO Box 1489

White Salmon, WA 98672

800-TNN-4MOM 509-493-4026 (Phone) 509-493-4027 (Fax)

tnn@nurturingnetwork.org

Home

New!

App. 37

Articles and Speeches | | College Network | | Women of

Courage

Founder’s Profile | | Culture of Life | | What is Clustering?

~ Suggestion Box

Last updated Tuesday, November 19, 2002

App. 38

Parts of the following are excerpted from an essay written

by Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., President of Heartbeat Interna-

tional, published in Back to the Drawing Board: The

Future of the Pro-Life Movement, Teresa R. Wagner, ed.,

(South Bend, Ind.: St. Augustine’s Press, 2003).

Pregnancy Help Centers: Prevention, Crisis

Intervention, Healing: Putting It All Together

by Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D.

The burgeoning numbers and types of alternatives to

abortion services and affiliating organizations also tell

much about our response to the devastating effects of

abortion. The first printed (i.e. mimeographed) directory of

contact names and semi-organized centers in the United

States contained about 75 entries. The most recent Heart-

beat International Directory contains 3,471 entries in the

U.S. Approximately 2,026 are pregnancy centers (about

479 of which have added medical services), and about 80%

of those are members of one or more of 9 affiliating organi-

zations: Baptists for Life, Grand Rapids, MI; Birthright,

Atlanta, GA; Care Net, Sterling, VA; Christian Life Re-

sources, Milwaukee, WI; Heartbeat International, Colum-

bus, OH; International Life Services, Los Angeles, CA;

National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, Freder-

icksburg, VA; National Life Center, Woodbury, NJ; and

Save-A-Life, Birmingham, AL.

The rest of the entries consist of 507 professional social

service agencies, such as Catholic Charities, also known

for providing alternatives to abortion; 319 Christian

maternity homes; 166 non-profit, Christian adoption

agencies; 27 hotlines; and 54 independent post abortion

programs (the vast majority are housed within pregnancy

centers).

App. 39

The History of our Network

The types of organizations reflect our response to the

women, girls, and families who have been coming to us for

help for over 30 years. In the late 60’s and 70’s we pre-

sumed these women were in short term crisis. Now we

recognize them as the walking wounded who need much

more than simple crisis intervention.

The birth of pregnancy centers in the U.S. was not a result

of Roe v. Wade but of the earlier movement to liberalize

abortion laws state by state. Concerned people realized

that with the carefully crafted message that abortion was

sometimes the reluctant, humane, even loving choice;

some women would be influenced to abort their babies

unless they had help and support. The work was generally

seen as service, a humanitarian effort, an outreach of one

caring individual to another, although the motive was

from deeply held religious values and beliefs.

The first formal alternatives to abortion service organiza-

tion was Birthright, founded in Canada in 1968.’ Centers

using the Birthright name soon spread to the United

States. A strict Charter, established in 1971, is still fol-

lowed by all Birthrights. Their vision was that you could

not save the baby without “saving” (or serving) the mother,

and vice versa.

A similar woman-and-baby-centered vision was held by

the Alternatives to Abortion, formed in 1971 (now known

as Heartbeat International) in the United States." The

founders established a loose federation of independent

organizations that could network with and learn from each

other. This seemed right for the entrepreneurial United

States, where a variety of small organizations had already

sprung up, starting in the late 60’s, from California to New

App. 40

York, some operating out of pro-life doctors’ offices,

churches, or even homes.

While AAI often called itself the “service arm of the pro-

life movement,” they and Birthright considered themselves

q.ite distinct from Right to Life, the lobbying and educa-

tional arm. Their role was primarily “crisis intervention.”

Once the woman knew she had a friend and could be

connected, by referral, to a variety of services in the

community (medical care, housing, material aid, and social

services), the presumption was that their work had been a

“success.” The mother was safe, and therefore the baby

would be safe.

By the 1980’s and certainly in the 1990’s, as abortions

continued and affected not only women but everyone

connected with them, as the culture became more accept-

ing of “sex for recreation,” as sexually transmitted diseases

surged and AIDS emerged, as marriage declined and the

disintegration of the two-parent family continued, the

“disconnect” between the original theory and reality

became evident.” In response, new values and visions

within the pregnancy center movement emerged.

The Baby-Centered Vision: The first influence was the

baby-centered approach. It soon brought centers, in

general, into disrepute, but eventually led to a movement

from within toward real credibility. In the late 1970's,

perhaps due to frustration that the lobbying and educa-

tional branch had not passed a Human Life Amendment

and abortion numbers were skyrocketing, a more pro-

active influence came into the pregnancy center move-

ment. Centers were urged to advertise alongside abortion

clinics in the yellow pages (the phone book indexes re-

ferred readers to the same headings, such as Clinics and

App. 41

Birth Control Information, for both abortion services and

abortion alternatives), show slides to clients of fetal

_development and aborted babies, and, in general, use

every possible method to save the baby at risk for abor-

tion. A small number of “Problem Pregnancy Centers”

influenced by this approach emerged.”

In 1987, an orchestrated effort by Planned Parenthood

resulted in television and magazine exposés on these

centers. Stories, written by undercover reporters posing as

clients and using hidden cameras and tape recorders,

ironically faulted the centers for not being totally “up

front” and transparent.’

Congressional hearings were held, but pregnancy centers

were forbidden from testifying in their own defense, so, in

the public arena, pregnancy centers had a “black eye.”

Many involved in centers felt the embarrassment and

shame, and supporters began to wonder if their own center

was operating unethically. Centers began to be suspicious

of each other. The boomerang effect even caused some to

think they needed to “warn” potential clients, in ads and

on the phone, of their pro-life values. Client numbers

decreased in many areas.

The attacks resulted not in the end of pregnancy help

centers, the intention of our opponents, but eventually in

strengthening of the centers. In 1993, NIFLA, the Na-

tional Institute of Family and Life Advocates, was founded

specifically to provide legal education and training to help

centers become more professional and protect themselves

from frivolous tort claims (such as assault and battery for

touching a client without her permission), and NIFLA

spearheaded the development of the first insurance

program to protect centers for “counselor liability.””

App. 42

The Medical Vision: Some centers in California had been

accused of “practicing medicine without a license” for

providing urine pregnancy tests, and pro-choice word-

smiths began to label all centers “fake clinics.” Meanwhile,

in the medical field, ultrasound was emerging as a new

diagnostic tool for pregnancy. NIFLA soon envisioned real

clinics not only doing pregnancy testing but also using

ultrasound to diagnose pregnancy, and pioneered a medi-

cal model for centers either licensed by the state or work-

ing under the license of a private physician. The potential

of ultrasound to help abortion-vulnerable mothers bond

with their babies was clear.

More and more centers today are adding ultrasound

services for abortion-vulnerable clients. True to their

entrepreneurial nature, centers are taking the original

model even further, with some adding STD testing, pap

smears, natural family planning, prenatal care, birthing

centers, and even well baby care. Some are becoming

“hub” medical clinics and encouraging other centers to

refer clients to them for ultrasound and other medical

services. As we partner with doctors, nurses, and other

medical personnel to bring a more pro-life and holistic

approach to the care of women, we are beginning to see a

ripple effect influencing the medical community.

Ironically, the origina! baby-centered approach, that

provided ammunition to discredit centers, eventually led

to more professionalism and credibility. Ironically too, our

opponents certainly hoped to eliminate all baby pictures.

Instead, still pictures have been replaced by images of

“live action” ultrasound provided by licensed medical

personnel that allows women not only to have an accurate

diagnosis of pregnancy at a very early stage (thereby

App. 43

helping their decision-making process), but also to bond

with their babies in utero.

In the early 1980’s, Evangelical Christians came into the

pro-life service movement in large numbers, and they were

a “breath of fresh air” to those who had been carrying the

ball since the late 60’s. Christian Action Council (CAC)

had been formed in 1975, primarily as a pro-life educa-

tional and lobbying organization, and it soon saw the need

for pregnancy centers. Their first pregnancy center was

opened in 1980. In 1984, CAC launched Sanctity of Hu-

man Life Sunday on the Sunday closest to January 22, in

an effort to educate and motivate Evangelical churches

nationwide. The service arm of this organization eventu-

ally took priority, the education and lobbying arm of CAC

was eliminated, and CAC was renamed Care Net in 1994,

to emphasize their network of renamed Pregnancy Care

Centers.

The value of the work of pregnancy centers as Christian

ministries has been enhanced by the involvement of Focus

on the Family, which, in the 1990's, developed a program

to support pregnancy centers with educational materials

and a ministry office.

The Healing Vision: In the early 70’s, we had begun to

see clients who had already had one or more abortion and

were thinking of another, and we had begun to be ap-

proached by post abortive women who wanted to help

other women avoid the tragic mistakes they had made.

The term “post abortion syndrome” had not yet even been

coined. When we consulted professional counselors for

help, they either denied that abortion had any ill effects or

they cautioned us, as volunteers and nonprofessionals, not

App. 44

to get involved for fear that post abortive women might

become suicidal.

Early attempts were made in some AAI centers to create

post abortion programs that were “nondenominational and

nonsectarian.” However, when centers were confronted

with the need for post abortion healing programs, many

moved from the service model to a ministry model, realiz-

ing that they had to choose a basis for their program and

the obvious choice was Biblical. As a result, pregnancy

centers have been pioneers in developing post abortion

programs for men and women that take the form of sup-

port groups, Bible studies, or one-on-one discussions.

Organizations have formed whose sole mission is to

provide and promote post abortion programs, many of

which have their roots in pregnancy centers.

We have also come to realize in pregnancy centers that

almost all of our clients have broken sexual integrity. They

are wounded by casual sex and broken trust, sexual abuse,

incest, date rape, and/or abortion. By the 1980’s and

certainly by the 90’s, most of our clients had grown up ina

post Christian era. Most were not even born in the

“quaint” time when abortion was illegal and marriage was

the default option if there was a crisis pregnancy. Crisis

intervention alone is sometimes effective in keeping such

clients from jumping off a cliff (i.e. not choosing an abor-

tion), but they are still left with broken limbs and severely

damaged internal organs, like broken hearts and souls.

Life change and healing are necessary. Our centers have

sometimes become “revolving doors,” where clients come

back time and again for pregnancy tests. Providing on-

going support, education, and healing is becoming a

priority in our movement, and new programs are being

App. 45

introduced in an effort to provide healing and restoration

so clients can actually regain their sexual integrity.

The Prevention Vision: Abstinence education, like post

abortion healing, also had its beginnings in pregnancy

centers, since we had to develop an approach when the

client had a negative test, a more common result than the

positive test. In the 1980’s, as we witnessed more and

more clients with multiple sexual partners and sexually

transmitted diseases, it became clear that we needed to

move the abstinence message outside the pregnancy

center, and especially into the schools. All over the country,

entrepreneurial center volunteers and staff who had a

heart for prevention began to give classroom presentations

and inspirational assemblies. Abstinence curricula and

speakers began to proliferate and many centers started

abstinence education programs in schools and in the

community and consider “prevention” a major part of their

mission.

Tax-funded abstinence education programs, have ex-

panded dramatically and reached more and more schools

and communities (and teen pregnancy and sexual activity

rates have declined.). Pregnancy centers have been pio-

neers in the abstinence field. Many centers now have a

prevention program that is equal to or even greater in

scope and funding than their crisis intervention program,

and some of the best national abstinence education pro-

grams have their roots in our centers.”

The Marriage Vision: We have not ignored the growing

evidence, placed before our eyes in the person of our

client, that the deterioration of marriage in our culture

over the past 30 years has led to a dangerous situation

for single mothers and their children. The statistics are

App. 46

overwhelmingly convincing that children raised with both

biological or adoptive parents do best in terms of econom-

ics, education, physical and mental health, and many

other factors related to security and happiness. Children

do the least well in all of these measures when raised by

single mothers where the fathers are absent. While we

have always upheld the value of adoption and marriage,

few of our clients choose marriage or adoption. For many

of them, raised in an era in which divorce is rampant and

co-habitation is common, marriage is a foreign concept.

Many centers are experimenting with programs and

materials to get the fathers committed to being involved

during the pregnancy and after the baby is born. For

example, the founder of Boston’s “A Woman’s Concern

Pregnancy Health Centers,” a Baptist minister, initiated a

program called “Dad’s the Man” to envision males about

their role as husbands and fathers. As a result, the pastor

has been asked to officiate at several marriages of center

clients. The movement is committed to trying to help turn

the tide back toward marriage (and adoption), toward

more security for both women and children.

Today

We have grown tremendously in terms of numbers and

kinds of centers, of professionalism, of breadth and depth

of programs (prevention, intervention, healing). Sadly, our

growth has mainly been due to the increasingly devastat-

ing effects of abortion (and related sexual mores) in our

culture, as more and more wounded and scarred women

(men and children) seek us out for help and we respond to

the needs. We are seeing more and more casualties inside

our pregnancy centers.

App. 47

Today, pregnancy centers offer many services including,

but certainly not limited to, pregnancy tests, material

help, maternity clothing, baby items and parenting

classes. They offer referrals for adoption, medical care,

childbirth classes, legal assistance, financial assistance,

housing, and many other services that women facing an

unexpected pregnancy need. And it’s all provided at no

cost. Our volunteers come alongside women and offer

solutions that women can live with. As a society, we can do

better than to tell a woman that her only option is to take

the life of her child. A caring society reaches out and helps

those mothers who are in a difficult situation. Rather than

telling her that her solution is to kill her child, our centers

provide real, practical help so that she can choose life for

her child. If a woman is feeling pressured into an abortion

by those around her, or by financial circumstances, she

isn’t really being given a “choice.” Our centers are striving

to change that.

Many of our centers are branching out in an effort to meet

the needs of women by providing ultrasounds, STD test-

ing, prenatal care, natural family planning, abuse recov-

ery, and post abortion programs.

What ties all of the diverse centers together in the alterna-

tives to abortion movement is sexual integrity, whose

absence is the root of abortion. By sexual integrity, we

mean that sexual relationship, unconditional love, mar-

riage between man and woman, children, and God, all go

together. If we try to remove one of these from the equa-

tion we have almost all of the modern social ills (abortion,

but also rampant divorce, co-habitation, fatherlessness,

STD’s, loveless marriages, promiscuity, child abuse, and

more). Sexual integrity is what all pregnancy centers are

about: prevention, so sexual integrity is protected and

App. 48

valued; intervention, when crisis occurs because sexual

integrity is not being lived out; and healing, so sexual

integrity can be restored.

' Birthright was founded by the late Louise Summerhill in Toronto,

Canada. The Birthright USA central office is located in Atlanta,

Georgia.

“ AAI was founded in Toledo, Ohio, by the late John Hillabrand,

M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist, and Mrs. Lore Maier, an immigrant

from Germany who had served as a court reporter at the Nuremburg

Trials following World War II. Now called Heartbeat International, the

central office is in Columbus, Ohio.

“ For research on the decline of the family and marriage, with

attendant social problems, see a variety of papers by The Heritage

Foundation, Washington, DC, www.heritage.org. For statistics on the rise

of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, see studies by The Medical

Institute, Austin, TX, www.medinstitute.org.

" A manual, written by Bob Pearson over 20 years ago, which

promoted this baby-centered vision, is still quoted extensively by

NARAL on its web site to discredit pregnancy centers, even though

most people in the movement have never even seen the manual.

“ See “The Making of a Controversy: The History of the Conspiracy

Against Pregnancy-Help Centers,” a Special Report (vol. iii, no. 3) by

Life Decisions International, Washington, DC. Also available on their

web site at www. interlife.org.

“ Thomas Glessner, J.D. (chairman of the Board of the Seattle

pregnancy center, victimized by the NARAL smear campaign of the

1980’s) founded and still leads NIFLA, which has also published

newsletters detailing the court cases brought against pregnancy

centers.

“ For example, Abstinence Clearinghouse, the only national

organization that tracks and evaluates all abstinence until marriage

programs (and also publishes a Directory of these programs and holds

annual conferences for abstinence education providers) was founded in

1997 by Leslee Unruh, also founder of the pregnancy center in Sioux

Falls, South Dakota.

App. 49

[LOGO] Pregnancy Decision

Health Centers

Annual Report

2003

[Excerpts]

The mission of Pregnancy Decision Health Centers is to

empower individuals to make healthy life choices consis-

tent with the intrinsic value of every human life.

We seek to provide caring services for responsible sexual

values and alternatives to abortion to as many individuals

as possible in the central Ohio area. We focus especially on

individuals considering abortion because they lack infor-

mation or support. We do this through programs which

provide pregnancy testing and intervention, pregnancy

confirmation through medical examination and ultra-

sound; mentoring and nurturing support; linkage to

community resources, education and training; post abor-

tion support; adoption support; material aid; housing

referrals for pregnant girls and women; and abstinence

education in the community.

We provide consultation to groups who share our vision,

and we serve as a leader in the community and movement

at large for responsible sexual values and alternatives to

abortion.

Pate

RVICE

Te SMe

1. Services promote life-affirming choices for pregnancy

and sexuality.

29 Services are presented in a loving, caring, non-

judgmental manner.

REST AVAMABIE COPY _

App. 50

3. Services are presented to people of all races, cultures,

and creeds.

4. Services are confidential.

5. Services promote abstinence as the positive life choice

for unmarried persons.

BG le es OUR VALUES; 9 dati

Sanctity of every human life

Chastity (abstinence outside of marriage; faithfulness

within marriage)

Marriage and Family

Personal responsibility

Self-help

Dignity of work

Knowledge and wisdom

Community

Church.

10. Prayer

These values are rooted in and flow from the Christian

faith of PDHC Board, Staff, and Volunteers.

0s. HISTORY OF PREGNANCY DECISION ys

~~) HEALTH CENTERS ~ Piva

PDHC exists today because of the dream of a few couples

in 1978. Since then, so many others have made this

dream their own. These founding couples had helped

pregnant women in their own homes, but knew more had

to be done. With $500 and 10 volunteers, their vision, to

reach out with loving and practical alternatives to abor-

tion, was realized with the opening of our Ist client office

App. 51

and 24-hour Hotline in January, 1981. The first year God

blessed their efforts with 3,109 client visits and calls, and

they knew this was the beginning of a local mission effort

to extend help to girls and women in need.

Over the next 23 years our programs of help and support

expanded along with the numbers of volunteers, support-

ers, and crisis intervention offices. In 2003 PDHC operated

5 health services offices, a 24 hour hotline, two ultrasono-

graphy medical clinics, a post-abortion healing program,

abstinence education, and several continuing care pro-

grams to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs

of mothers, fathers, and babies, both born and unborn. As

a result, trained staff and volunteers served 19,616 indi-

viduals with health services and 14,371 students with

abstinence education services in 2003, a record number.

A key to our health and growth has been the commitment

to good stewardship of the funds entrusted to PDHC by

our donors, most of whom are individuals and families.

Due to the generosity of donors and volunteers, our

services have always been provided at no cost to

teens, women, and men who seek our help. The

following chart is a window into our history.

1981 2003

ls of People Served 3109 33,987

of FT & PT Paid 0 32

ee FTE 27.5

Wt of Volunteers 10 286

of Offices 1 5

Since our inception, approximately 3000 abortion-

vulnerable women have chosen life for their children

App. 52

With each new client need, PDHC strategically answered

with a creative new service. The three most noteworthy in

our history were the purchase of the Chrysalis House in

1990, the opening of our own Medical Clinic in 1995, and

the initiation of an abstinence until marriage education

program in the public schools in 1998.

The purpose of the Chrysalis House was to have a place

for our Life Plan program to provide prenatal, parenting,

and life-skills education. This program, (formerly “Part-

ners”) was recognized by the Ohio Department of Health

for our excellent work with mothers with a high-risk of an

unhealthy birth.

The opening of our Medical Clinic was as instrumental to

our life-affirming ministry as the opening of our first

office. The Clinic is staffed with volunteer physicians,

sonographers, and nurses who provide pregnancy confir-

mations, physician consultations, and ultrasounds to

women considering abortion. The powerful truth of the

ultrasound picture has resulted in many abortion-

vulnerable clients choosing life for their babies. Since

1995, we have seen more than 2,368 of our most abortion

vulnerable clients at the clinic.

1996 marked another significant advancement in our

work, with a nurse manager overseeing each neighborhood

office and the medical clinic. The nurse managers and

health service volunteers invite local medical & social

service providers and the local church to join in providing

for the needs of clients who visit PDHC.

Reestablishing an abstinence education program in the

school system became an obvious need as we constantly

counseled with single girls and women in our offices who

had never had anyone speak to them of the advantages of

App. 53

abstinence to their physical and emotional health. We

understand that we are fighting an uphill battle, as we try

to undo the false message of ‘safe sex’ and ‘condom use’

that Planned Parenthood and others have indoctrinated

into students, parents, and educators for more than 40

years.

Since our inception, at least 3,000 abortion-vulnerable

women have chosen life for their child, and an additional

3,000 women who were struggling with an abortion

decision decided to consider other options. Hundreds of

women have been emotionally restored from a previous

abortion decision, thousands of women and students have

made a commitment to end destructive sexual activity,

many have opened their hearts to God’s love, and thou-

sands more have benefited from our programs.

In our 1999 strategic plan we addressed a concern that we

had become too inwardly focused and allowed the huge

social service needs of our clients to shift our priorities

away from the abortion vulnerable client. We committed to

reevaluate our programs and return our priorities to the

original vision of:

e Seeking to provide caring services for responsible

sexual values and alternatives to abortion to as many

individuals as possible in the central Ohio area.

e Focusing especially on individuals considering abor-

tion because they lack information or support.

e Providing consultation to groups who share our

vision, and serving as a leader in the community and

movement at large for responsible sexual values and

alternatives to abortion.

As we entered the new century, we remained committed to

constantly reviewing our locations and services and

App. 54

adjusting to serve the needs of the community. In 2001, we

opened a new flagship center/north office, we revamped

our programs and services consistent with our mission,

adjusted our office hours to better meet client needs,

added professional hotline staff, reached out to churches to

partner with us in serving client support and healing

needs, expanded our school abstinence program, upgraded

our volunteer training program, ®nd recommitted to

assisting other groups who share our vision, partnering

with Heartbeat International to train pregnancy center

workers nationally and internationally.

In 2001, we also began a growth campaign, Legary of Life

...A Plan for Growth, to purchase the building at 665 E.

Dublin-Granville Rd. and expand our programs and

community outreach. Through year-end we had received

$690,000 in pledges.

In 2002, we began the initial stages of a new strategic

plan, which calls for partnering with groups throughout

centrai Ohio to reach any abortion-vulnerable person in

this area. We also received a grant to expand our media

outreach to abortion vulnerable girls and women, to

purchase an additional ultrasound and expand medical

clinic services by training an additional PT nurse in

sonography in order to open a second location, and to

expand our fundraising abilities. We served a record

number of clients and students (28,737) and had a record

357 life decisions from abortion minded clients with

another 293 saying they would reconsider their options.

During 2002, our founder and Board of Directors Chair-

man for 22 years, Peggy Hartshorn retired from the Board of

Directors, moving to the Advisory Board and Emeritus Board

Chairman. Longtime Board member, Linda Augspurger,

App. 55

was elected Chairman, Executive Director Joyce Wilson

became President and Debra Neybert became Executive

Director, as we restructured our staffing to accommodate

the significant growth we have experienced. We moved

into a new phase of development that always occurs when

a founder retires.

We reached a new milestone in 2003 when the Pregnancy

Care Center of Fairfield County merged with PDHC, and

in May we reopened their office which had closed in 2002.

We began the 2nd phase of our Legacy of Life Growth

Campaign. We opened a second medical clinic location at

the East Office, and at the invitation of Christian Assem-

bly Church, began planning our 6th office location at 4099

Karl Road (their former Christian School building) to open

in 2004.

We enter 2004 in awe of what God has done and continues

to do through thousands of faithful staff, volunteers, and

donors over the past 23 years. The Creator and Sus-

tainer of all life is Faithful.

HEALTH SERVICES CLIENTS

HEALTH TOTAL YEAR to YEAR

YEAR SERVICES HOTLINE CALLS NO. SERVED VARIANCE

. CLIENT VISITS # %

1981 309 2,800 3,109 - -

1982 678 4,100 4,778 1,669 54

1983 1,010 4,500 5,510 732 15

1984 tM 8 6,700 8,929 3,419 62

1985 2,892 8,600 11,492 2,563 29

1986 3,017 8,100 11,117 -375 -3

1987 3,320 8,700 12,020 903 8

1988 3,230 ALE 12,957 937 8

1989 3,344 9,270 12,614 -343 -3

1990 3,331 0323 13,254 640 2

1991 3,833 11,805 15,638 2,384 18

1992 3,871 10,717 14,588 -1,050 -7

1993 3,919 10,841 14,760 172 !

1994 4,037 10,680 14,717 -43 -.2

1995 3,757 7,694 11,451 -3,266 -22

1996 4,045 9,451 13,496 2,045 18

1997 3,908 10,368 14,276 780 6

1998 2,810 8,933 11,743 -2,533 -17.7

1999 3,154 10,122 13,276 1,533 13

2000 3,227 10,810 14,037 761 6

2001 3,750 9,874 13,624 -413 -3

2002 4,432 14,554 18,986 5,362 39

2003 5,115 14,501 19,616 630 3

TOTAL 74,245 212,770 287,015

gg ‘ddy

CLIENT VISITS BY OFFICE

GERMAN

YEAR EAST WEST NORTH OSU VILLAGE | LANCASTER

199] 16% 14% 1% 8% 55%

1992 15% 13% 71% 9% 56%

1993 14% 14% 8% 8% 56%

1994 15% 11% 8% 9% 57%

1995 14% 15% 8% 11% 52%

1996 15% 11% 8% 12% 54%

1997 21% 11% 2% 16% 49%

1998 23% 11%. NA 22% 44% >

1999 23% 13% NA 19% 45% a8

2000 19% 3% 1% 25% 53%

2001 19% NA 17% 23% 41%

2002 17% NA 29% 19% 34%

2003 17% NA 37% 18% 27% 96 clients

* Lancaster Office Open May through December of 2003 - Served 96 Clients

REASON FOR HEALTH SERVICEVISIT

YEAR TEST OR SUPPORT | MATERIAL AID OTHER TOTAL #

CLIENTS

1991 87% 11% 2% 3833

1992 82% 13% 5% 3871

1993 87% 9% 4% 3919

1994 83% 10% 7% 4037

1995 83% 10% 7% 3757

1996 83% 10% 7% 4045

1997 87% 7% 6% 3908

1998 84% 10% 6% 2810

1999 83% 10% 7% 3154

2000 83% 12% 5% 3227

2001 89% 9% 2% 3750

2002 78% 12% 10% 4432

2003 _ 11% 12% 11% 5,115

RAISE TELA MTA tA GBPS ESTE LE ES ORAS L OTEEILOL I LEE EP TEL SEE ARE T TL TE ST IIS PSOE SNCS L LTTE DAI is BTELIS A TY —

HEALTH SERVICES CLIENT DEMOGRAPHICS

RACE 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 EDUCATION 2000 | 2001 2002 | 2003

White 54% | 52% | 47% | 48% < High School Grad. 33% 33% 35% 33%

Black 39% | 42% | 41% | 45% High School Grad or > 62% 67% 65% 67%

Other 7% 6% 8% | 7%

INCOME MARITAL STATUS

Single 78% | 82% | 76% | 83%

Dependent | 24% | 32% | 30% | 30% Married 17% 18% 16% 17%

< $10,000 | 26% | 29% | 20% | 28%

> $10,000 | 34% | 35% | 35% | 34% AVERAGE AGE 22.4 22.5 22.7 22.9

2003 HEARTS CHANGED/ LIVES SAVED

HEALTH SERVICES OFFICES-CRISIS INTERVENTION

DESCRIPTION 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

# of clients seen 3154 3227 2997 3883 3918

# of pregnancy tests performed 2707 2686 2452 2910 2805

Ab-minded or und before test” 590/22 | 662/25 722/29 882/30 1090/39

Abort/Und before test who tested + 271 365 315 402 501

*PDHC had 4 offices in 1997,1998, 1999, 3 offices in 2000, 4 offices in 2001 & 2002, and 5 in 2003.

MEDICAL CLINIC CRISIS INTERVENTION

DESCRIPTION 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

# of days clinic open 40/77% 45/85% 77/92% | 144/91% | 159/88%

# of clients scheduled 412 672 661 1027 1034

No shows 216/52% | 348/52% 347/52% | 458/45% 532/51%

Clients seen 182 /44% | 324/48% 317/48% | 549/53% 502/49%

Decision after foilow-up

“| will parent” 78 /43% 141/44% 168/54% | 265/48% | 231/46% -

“| will make adoption plan” 1/0% 6/2% 6/2% 3/1% 6/1%

“Undecided/considering 14 /8% 52/16% 16/5% 97/18% 25/5%

other options”

Still planning to abort 20/11% 33/10% 46/15% | 62/11% 42/8%

Miscarried/not pregnant 9 /5% 14/4% 10/3% 28/5% 20/4%

Not reachable 60 /33% 82/25% 68/22% | 96/17% 183/36%

HOTLINE CRISIS INTERVENTIO

DESCRIPTION 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Total # of Calls 10,060 10,810 9,874 14,554 14,501

Total # of Client Calls* 7,983 8,469 7,282 10,679 12,556

Total # of New Contact Calls** 4,439 4,327 3,778 5,761 5,811

App. 59

Other PDHC Programs at a Glance

Program 1999 | 2000 2001 2002 | 2003

Material Aid

# of Clients Receiving a Baby Layette 167 238 201 283 327

# of Clients Receiving Maternity Clothes 160 143 137 259 323

H.E.A.R.T.(Post Abortion Recovery Workshops)

# of Workshops Held 7 15 17 13 S

# of Women Attending a Workshop 30 65 am 48 45

Healthy Choices Abstinence Program

/99 (3 mos.) 1999/2000 school yr. 2000 2001 2002 2003

Students served 939 8428 8242 10,005 10,681 11,946

Total encounters 23,273 29,925 20,556 65,003 59,730

Average # of 2.76 3.63 2.0 6.09 5

encounters

Teachers 51 460 622 859

School systems f 4 8 14 13 16

Total Middle Schools 3 4 7 13 20 27

Total High Schools 2 8 14 21 pe 25

Elementary Schools 6 6 + ) 0

Other y 15 2 2

Private Schools l 2 8 2 2

Total Students served 2002/2003 School Year -- 14,371

P.D.H.C. OVERVIEW_STATS

Services 2000 2001 2002 2003

Clients seen-Client Offices 3188 2997 3883 3918

Pregnancy tests 3071 2452 2907 2805

Abortion vulnerable before test 599 722 847 1090

Still Abort. Vul. after 307 255 310 346

counseling _

Pregnant clients making 10 11 10 14

adoption plan

Clients affiliated with Christian 1178 1719 2460 2104

church

Clients reporting past abortions | 386/12% 441/15% 545/14% 558/14%

Clients with unresolved 210/54% 234/53% 313/57% 308/55%

feelings/regret

Clients seen at medical clinic 324 317 549 502

Still Abort. Vul. after follow-up 85/26% 62/19% 159/29% 67/13%

Hotline calls 10,201 9.874 14,554 14,501

Total client calls 7,282 8,723 10,858 12,556

Client calls from Yellow Pag +s 2.690 2,281 1,862 1,850

Client calls from TV, Radio, & 1,357 913/70/98=

Billboard 1,081

Abortion Related Calls 1997 1961 2,524 3,177

Life Decisions 357 453

Spiritual Discussion 821 1,804 2,045

Shared Christ 187 475

Clients who Accepted Christ 54

Maternity clothes clients 137 152 259 323

Baby layettes provided 227 201 283 327

H.E.A.R.T. (Post-Abortion 58 71 48 45

Healing)

Students served in abstinence 8,242 10,005 10,681 14,371

programs (school year)

Teachers served 622 859

Schools Served 42 62 56

Volunteers 300 320 260 286

Dollar value of volunteer hours | $204,354 $223,963 $170,573 $135,709

Dollar value of staff donated $45,269 $ 58,121 82,932

hours

TOTAL | $218,641

09 ‘ddy

App. 61

PREGNANCY DECISION

HEALTH CENTERS

BOARD REPORT

3rd Quarter 2004

Presented to the Board of Directors

PDHC OVERVIEW STATISTICS

SERVICES 2003 Qt | 2%Qt | 3° Qtr

Totals 2004

Client visits-Client Offices 3918 1129 1199 1195

Pregnancy test 2805 677 726 727

Abortion vulnerable clients 1090 426 462 449

Birth Control Failures 360 345 392

Abstinence Counseling 414 428 426

Still Abort. Bul. After counseling 346 150 162 192

Pregnant clients making adoption 14 4 4 1

plan

Clients affiliated with Christian 2104 571 560 534

church

Clients reporting past abortions 558/14% 135 138 104

Clients with unresolved 308/55% 87/61% | 89/65% | 51/77%

feelings/regret

Clients seen at medical clinic 502 154 146 102

Still Abort. Vul. After follow-up 67/13% 17/11% | 16/11% | 25/25%

Hotline calls 14,501 3765 3692 3860

Total client calls 12,556 3158 3167 3352

Client calls from Yellow Pages 1,850 523/17% |553/17.5%|621/18.5%

Client calls from TV, Radio, & 913/70/98=1 75 72 54

Billboard ,081

Abortion Related Calls 3,177 815/26% | 699/22% | 761/23%

Life Decisions 453 165 118 86

App. 62

Description 1* Qtr 2° Qtr | 3° Qtr | 4” Qtr 2003 2002

Totals Totals

Religious Affilitation #reporting | #reporting | #reporting | #reporting 2002

« None 216 265 209 211 901} 994/26%

= Non-Christian Religion 35 47 44 33 159} 184/5%

« Christian 508 556 578 462 2104} 2460/63%

Spiritual Interaction & Resources Given

Opportunity to share Christ 37 56 84 34 343 187

General Spiritual Discussion * 388 504 516 154 2045 1804

Client Accepted Christ 7 10 7 8 32 27

Unsure if client accepted Christ 53

Client already a Christian 172 293 2 1127

Church Referrals Given 94 101 112 103 417 437

*couldn't find this stat in Access

Past Abortions

#/%Clients Reporting Past

Abortion(s) 166/16% | 168/16% | 118/14% | 106/12% | 558/20% 545

Y%reporting unresolved feelings or

regret 70/48% 85/52% | 77/54% | 76/72% | 308/55% | 313/57%

#/Yrequesting contact about

HEART (interest) 80/55% 79/46% | 56/40% | 49/46% | 264/47% | 169/31%

Material Aid/Service

Layettes 73 91 77 86 327 283

Maternity Clothes ey 85 86 93 323 259

Preg. Verification 49 49 72 70 240 150

Walk-ins 498 516 557 410 1981 2179

Appts. Made from Hotline 611 2367

Appointments 344 463 470 482 1759 1498

New Clients 551 608 738 536 2433 |2092/54%

Previous Clients 288 372 385 416 1461 |1603/41%

Demographics

Single 639 748 639 398 2424 3023

Married 139 131 147 96 513 ~ 669

Black 329 412 357 278 1376 1575

White 343 398 397 347 1485 1796

Other 61 81 65 20 227 291

App. 63

[LOGO]

The Ministry of Care Net

Care Net is one of the largest pro-life organizations in the

evangelical network of pregnancy centers in North Amer-

ica, helping to save over 100,000 babies from abortion each

year. Care Net represents about 2,400 paid staff, 5,000

board members and over 450,000 volunteers. This team of

dedicated Christians is ministering to over 250,000 young

women who come to the centers each year, struggling with

the fear of being pregnant and alone.

Care Net has been promoting, equipping and developing

pregnancy centers for over twenty years. We support over

800- pregnancy centers across the United States and

Canada.

Care Net’s pregnancy centers are building a culture of life

in this nation in three primary areas:

e Prevention

e Intervention

e Reconciliation

Prevention

Committed pregnancy center staff and volunteers pre-

sented the message of sexual abstinence to over 800,000

students in classrooms and civic organizations across

North America in 2003. In addition, the individual clients

of pregnancy centers received lifestyle counseling, empha-

sizing the importance of sexual abstinence until marriage.

Pregnancy center volunteers engage in honest dialogue,

encouraging their clients to recognize their self-value and

make a plan for purity in their lives.

App. 64

Intervention

For more than twenty-eight years, Care Net has assisted

hundreds of pregnancy centers in becoming life-protecting

shelters of hope to women trapped in the despair of an

unplanned pregnancy. Life affirming options such as

parenting and adoption are presented with care and

compassion to women, men and families in need. Tangible

helps such as material assistance and limited medical care

are offered to the financially challenged. Care Net’s

pregnancy centers provide educational classes on child-

birth and parenting. Many pregnancy centers also offer job

skills training by way of computer classes. All the services

provided by Care Net’s pregnancy centers are free and

confidential. Pregnancy centers are impacting our nation

for good.

Reconciliation

Beneath the patina of reproductive rights lies three

generations of women, men and families that have suf-

fered the emotional trauma of a past abortion. Approxi-

mately 3,750 abortions occur daily in this country. Of this

number, 43% of these abortions are sought by women who

identify themselves as Protestant and 27% from women

who are Catholic. Women who identify themselves as

Christians obtain two-thirds of the abortions in America.

Equipping pregnancy centers to minister effectively in the

area of post-abortion recovery is a primary mission of Care

Net. In the words of many women and men whe have

sought relief from the aftermath of abortion,

“No one ever told me I would feel this way.”

App. 65

Four hundred and fifty-four Care Net pregnancy centers

offer recovery support groups to women and men who have

experienced the trauma of a past abortion. Care Net has

produced vital post-abortion resources, leadership training

and cutting edge information for our network of pregnancy

centers to utilize with their clients, and cultivate the

emotional healing desired after an abortion occurs. “

In 2004, 101,000 women and 2,710 men participated in

Care Net pregnancy center post-abortion counseling and

education support groups in this nation. Women and men

experiencing post-abortion grief report an increase in

alcohol and drug use, episodes of crying, nightmares, or

anger with those involved with the abortion. The last

stage of grief is acceptance.

Post-abortion counseling and education support groups

enable women and men to restore the value of their

children who were lost to abortion. Through post-abortion

support groups, women and men experience forgiveness,

expressing gratitude for a safe environment in which they

can express their grief. :

As of March 19, 2003, Care Net’s affiliates have responded

to at least one survey in the past year. Of the affiliated

organizations that have responded to our surveys, 75%

indicated that they had a post-abortion support group for

women.

Care Net Programs

The Option line

The Option Line call center is operated and managed by

Care Net and Heartbeat International. It is our newest

effort to provide women in crisis with real help 24 hours a

App. 66

day, seven days a week. The Option Line is serving 3,500

women each month. Six out of ten women who call this

help line are considering abortion.

The Option Line provides:

s 24/7 phone coverage

« Bilingual consultants

« Computerized center locator system

* Calls patched through to nearest center

The Urban Initiative

Care Net is planting new pregnancy centers in urban

areas where abortion clinics greatly outnumber pregnancy

centers. African American and Hispanic women represent

only 25% of the population, yet they receive 57% of all

abortions. Women deserve more than just one choice.

Ultrasound Legislation

Care Net continues to lobby. congress to pass the Informed

Choice Act, a bill that will enable pregnancy centers to

receive grants for ultrasound machines. Seven out of ten

abortion-minded women who see an ultrasound choose life

for their unborn children. Last year, Care Net conducted a

poll of women and found that 87% of women see ultra-

sound access as very important.

Multi-Media Campaign

Billboards

In 2003, Care Net placed over 6,000 billboards across the

country. Our billboard campaign is in its 8th year of

App. 67

operation. Thirteen percent of women calling the Option

Line do so after seeing a billboard.

TV Commercial

In 2003, Care Net produced a quality 30-second TV com-

mercial and is currently airing it on MTV, Lifetime, E-

Entertainment, BET, and Oxygen.

Yellow Pages

The majority of the 35% of women calling the Option Line

cail center do so after seeing an ad in the Yellow Pages,

making it the best performing of all media in which to

advertise. In 2003, Care Net will place 30 ads in metro

areas across the U.S.

Care Net Publications

Center of Tomorrow Journal

Care Net’s new quarterly journal with in-depth research

on emerging programs and services for pregnancy centers.

Care Net Report

Care Net’s flagship publication, currently in its fifth year

of circulation.

Serving With Care and Integrity

Care Net’s new volunteer training manual.

App. 68

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Care Net’s annual brochure, jointly published with Front-

lines.

‘History of Care Net

Care Net actually began as the Christian Action Council,

in 1976. Dr. Harold O. J. Brown founded this organization,

with the counsel and encouragement of Rev. Billy Graham

and the late Francis A Shaeffer. The first pregnancy center

was started in Baltimore in 1980; since then, the number

of Care Net pregnancy centers has grown to over 800. Care

Net was founded to make up for the consistent failure of

political and legal efforts to restore protection to the

unborn.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.