“I became a physician in order to help save lives. I am at once a physician, a citizen, and a woman, and I am not willing to stand aside and allow the concept of expendable human lives to turn this great land of ours into just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the privileged, and the planned have the right to live.” Dr. Mildred Jefferson[i]
Regular readers may remember Weaver Cove Boat Landing, a nearby frequent sunset stop for Rita and me[ii]. On the road in, last summer we were greeted often on a small hillock next to the railroad crossing by two families of woodchucks. Mothers, fathers, and pups. Watchful and wary, the adults would bark when we got close, and the young ones would dive into the brush and the safety of their dens. We monitored their progress and growth. Woodchuck pups grazing on the fresh spring grass are cute, and a passel of the large ground squirrels is entertaining. Lumbering awkwardly, yet quickly when necessary, they are somehow encouraging, life in one of its myriad varieties.
The ospreys still nest and hunt there. The various species of gulls, terns, and ducks are abundant. Canadian geese summer at the cove. But this year and not for lack of looking for them, we have seen only one lonely woodchuck, and he was a gray whiskered grizzled veteran. Only once, and not again at the edge of the bushes. I wonder where they went. Coyotes? Woodchuck failed relationships? Did the neighborhood get too expensive? Too many trains? One old remaining woodchuck who looked around in the spring, spied no eligible woodchuck beauties, got discouraged, retreated to one of his tunnels and pulled the dirt in behind him? We will probably never know, but I miss the woodchucks.
A friendly knoll devoid of woodchuck pups is a momentary deprivation; they are hardly an endangered species[iii].
A country well below our population replacement rate and increasingly devoid of young human pups is entirely a different matter.
One tragedy that Mildred Jefferson understood well is the misconception that terminating babies liberates women. The truly liberated are three generations of irresponsible sperm donors who have increasingly laid off the responsibility for their libidos and the resulting pregnancies on women. “Pregnancy was not what I signed up for, honey. Either the kid goes, or I do,” is the tragic refrain of far too many postmodern boys who fail the opportunity to be men. Rita and I have been involved in helping many women facing just this awful choice for nearly fifty years.
“My angel in distress
You look OK to me
I’ll send you my address
When I know what it will be
I could easily stay with you
On your side of heaven’s door
‘Cause I don’t love you any less
But I can’t love you anymore.” Lyle Lovett, “I Can’t Love You Anymore”
Far too large a topic for a blog post, but we can look at one major contributor to the dearth of babies in our country and in many others.
Pre-born infant “termination” and lies have are frequent allies. The narrative that legal abortion alleviates more heartbreak than it creates is a commonly accepted truism that rings increasingly hollow.
Just one example (and there are many others[iv]): the New York Times (yes, that New York Times) recently ran an expose of carelessness, unsanitary conditions and danger to patients at Planned Parenthood. I invite you to read the full article if you get past the paywall and form your own opinion: Botched Care and Tired Staff: Planned Parenthood in Crisis. Here are some relevant quotes: “In a case settled in California last year, a woman accused the organization of improperly implanting a birth control device in her arm and causing nerve damage.” “A Nebraska clinician in 2022 did not realize that a woman was four months pregnant when she inserted an IUD. Several hours later, the patient was rushed to an emergency room and gave birth to a stillborn fetus.” “For months last year at the North Central States affiliate, which oversees the Nebraska clinic, an understaffed nursing department did not upload sexually transmitted infection test results into charts, and patients wrongly believed that their results were negative when they did not hear back.” “Many clinics are in dire need of upgrades and repairs. In Omaha last year, sewage from a backed-up toilet seeped into the abortion recovery room for two days, according to interviews with staff members..”
The Times article finds underfunding, underpaid staff, high turnover, and poorly trained staff responsible. Perhaps there is an underlying and more pernicious explanation.
Planned Parenthood is a business and not a healthcare clinic[v]. The many ethical and legal violations are
well documented. Planned Parenthood consists of forty nine semi-independent affiliates each with their own CEO. The average pay for those executives based on the local affiliate’s income was $352,661 in 2023, the last full year reports were filed. The highest is Sue Dunlap in Los Angeles. Sue pulled down a lucrative $875,942 in total compensation. Not a bad job. Neither is the top job at the mother ship. National President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson was paid $904,014.
In some states local law for political reasons exempts Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses from the mandated health inspections[vi] that keep real health care clinics clean, safe, and professional, or local authorities are less inclined to enforce the regulations that do exist for politically ‘sensitive’ businesses. Efforts by some states to mandate that physicians perpetrating these procedures must be granted admitting privileges to local hospital have been stopped in the courts so far. Too much of a burden on a woman’s right, etc. A doctor can fly in from another state, whack out a few late term abortions and fly home with impunity, especially if their home state has passed laws shielding them from liability.
The abortion industry regulations and their enforcement are heavily influenced by money, politics and ideology, not just medical prudence and common sense.
“How many deaths were we talking about when abortion was illegal? In NARAL, we always said “5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year.” I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the “morality” of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?” Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League). Dr. Nathanson, who later became an outspoken abortion opponent, presided over 60,000 abortions and performed over 5,000 personally.
The false narrative of thousands of maternal deaths from back alley abortions to support the original Roe v Wade decision has been debunked many times, most notably by Dr. Nathanson who helped make the statistics up to “document” his case when he was one of the most vocal advocates for legal abortion. The actual number of women who died from illegal abortions prior to Roe was estimated to be under a 100 per year for the nation. 87% of ‘back alley’ illegal abortions were committed by doctors in medical facilities or hospitals. The common meme of unsanitary knitting needles, brutal coat hangers, and bloody kitchen tables were emotional appeals to support pro-abortion advocacy. Did such horror occur? Most likely. But they were the rare exception, not the norm. Not even close. [vii]
Lies and the abortion lobby have long been close companions. The ongoing controversy regarding the high risk of chemical abortions without adequate supervision and follow up has yet to be resolved. It is another instance of politics and ideology affecting science and medicine.
A recent largest ever study from insurance company data[viii] found that in just under 11% of chemical abortions, women develop serious and even life threatening side effects requiring emergency room care or hospitalization. That’s 22 times more often than the FDA publishes for injuries caused by chemical abortions. Incomplete abortions, ectopic pregnancies, extensive bleeding, infections, sepsis, necessary surgery to complete the abortion, and cardiac or thrombosis problems were among the treated conditions.
Worsening the risks to women are the laxity of regulations in the use of these pills. When initially approved in an expedited, conditional process by the FDA during the Clinton administration, restrictions for safety and medical oversight were included: at least three office visits, prescribed only by a physician, no pregnancy past seven weeks, pills must be dispensed and taken only in the doctor’s office with a preliminary exam, observation and follow up, and adverse effects must be reported. Regulations were loosened progressively during the Obama administration and again under Joe Biden. The limit was pushed to ten weeks gestation and none of the above apply. At ten weeks, the woman could expel a tiny, but recognizable baby into a toilet or on the sheets and be left to deal with that on her own. Mail order drugs ordered over the phone with no physician required and no office visits are approved are the current almost negligible requirements. There is pressure from the pharmaceutical industry and the abortion lobby to make them available over the counter.
When politics and profits determine medical practice, what could go wrong?
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And yet, I remain hopeful. Perhaps reason and prudence will eventually regain their rightful place. And life will again be protected. Life will again be cherished. Life will again be loved as our most precious gift. Abundant life will prevail.
“What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.” Frederick Buechner, “Godric”
[i][i] Dr. Jefferson became a personal friend prior to her death fourteen years ago. A wonder and unique. Here’s an old post with some background: https://quovadisblog.net/2013/01/20/millie-and-a-fortieth-anniversary/
[ii] Here’s three. There may be more: Unsung Heros of Civilization – Selvage – Summer’s End
[iii] We once enjoyed woodchuck stew at the home of some farmer friends. Woodchucks (alternately called groundhogs) are a damaging pest to vegetable gardens. Our friend would shoot them out of his garden, and since they are clean herbivores, they are good healthy eating like rabbits.
[iv] A second egregious example is a pending lawsuit from a woman who underwent an abortion in Illinois. After being put off several times by the doctor when she called to complain of excruciating post op pain and being told to take laxatives and Tylenol, she went to an emergency room. The competent doctors there performed emergency surgery and saved her life. They discovered a perforated uterus and almost 2/3 of a dismembered baby that had infiltrated into her abdominal cavity through the hole in her uterus. Another few days would have left her with sepsis and life threatening infection. Don’t read this on an empty stomach.
[v] An argument should be made that in abortion facilities where more than half the humans entering the doors end up dead is not health care.
[vi] Connecticut is one. So is Oregon. Other states use different rules for the inspections than surgical outpatient clinics follow.
[vii] https://www.hli.org/resources/doesnt-legal-abortion-save-women-filthy-back-alley-abortion-mills/
If we had lived in the Roman Empire, which lasted about 500 years as the Western Roman Empire and another thousand or so as the Byzantine Empire based in Constantinople, we would have expected that daily life probably would never change
Rita and I started volunteering at the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge in February this past year, mostly in the Visitor Center. During a typical shift between fifty and a hundred visitors will come into the center to ask questions, look for directions, cruise our little shop of nature books, clothing, and art, browse the well-designed exhibits while their children try to complete the scavenger hunt identifying the various animals and birds, get a drink of water, or use the restrooms. The rangers estimate they represent about a quarter of the total visitors walking the two and half miles of trails. It’s a busy place, but it rarely feels crowded.
government employees is somehow not up to the standard of private employees. The rangers we’ve had the honor to meet are dedicated, smart, knowledgeable about wildlife – both flora and fauna, friendly, sensitive to visitor needs, diligent about protecting all things wild, and work hard and long. They don’t direct from afar; when plantings are needed to recover and protect erosion areas, they are on their knees with dirt on their hands. Understaffed, they rely heavily on volunteers to help with building and trail maintenance. They have a mission, and willingly fulfill it with dedication and no small measure of joy in their calling.
Most of the questions we field are prosaic. “Do you have a trail map?” Yes. This is how you orient it to the visitor center. Ocean View is a bit longer, but more open to the sea out by the point. Harbor seals have been seen there. “Can I fish off the rocks for stripers?” Yes. In season and with a license you can get online. “I heard there is a scavenger hunt questionnaire for kids?” There is, and we have stickers for them when they attempt it. “How much do I owe for parking here?” A hundred bucks, cash, is my usual answer, but no one ever believes me or pays. It is open and free to all. “Where are the bathrooms?” For the guys, there is a very big one out back in the woods. Rita gives me ‘the look’ when I say that. Or you can use the ones right behind you that have a flush. “Can you tell me what this bird (or bug or snake or shellfish or snail or flowering shrub or vine) is on my phone camera or as I describe it?” Sometimes we can. Other times we need to consult the many books on our wildlife shelf. It’s enjoyable to search and learn with them. “What is that animal we saw that looks like a weasel?” Probably a mink. “I saw a pair of pheasants (with great enthusiasm)!” Yes. They are very beautiful. “Does anything eat the deer here?” We have a good herd of about forty here. Please don’t feed them. Sometimes coyotes get a small or a weakened one. And sometimes the velociraptors get one. (That may get “the look” again from Rita, but kids like my answer. Wide eyed, they laugh.)
Like other venues that welcome all comers, Sachuest has regulars who become known and comfortable with the place: men, women, and children who walk the trails weekly or daily. Most are folks like us who have come to love the varying moods and seasons of the trails and walk them year round. We never tire of hundreds of migrating songbirds that come and go, raptors, waterfowl, insects, snails, and flowering plants. We recognize the regular hikers from the trails, and they recognize us. They are invariably friendly and smile easily almost without exception. I have yet to meet a cranky person there – either because the environment eases their angst or because it tends to attract people who don’t carry a lot of it anyway.
One regular visitor lives in an assisted living and only gets out when her friend (platonic) drives an hour over a couple of bridges to pick her up and bring her to the center after their AA meeting. They come almost every week, sit for a while on the benches outside and chat quietly, enjoying some people watching, and taking in the view of Sachuest Beach with the spires of St. George School on the southern end along with distant views of the Bellevue Avenue mansions across the bay. Oftentimes they come in for a visit and sit in the chairs by the visitor desk to bring us into the conversation. He is a pleasant sort of absent minded fellow who is a retired bus driver, gentle and unassuming without pretensions. She has a couple of black belts in two martial arts, which apparently were helpful in her old job as a bartender and occasional bouncer. Her life remains difficult and now is physically challenging. They seem an unlikely pair but clearly benefit from discovered kinship and support. He lifts her up with quiet small acts of kindness.
The relationship between music and mathematics and the universe is mysterious. We can start with an ancient theory and wander around a bit. Bear with me, and we’ll see where this goes.
Music, too like math, is a wonderous alchemy of human cognition and the universe. In a sense, the universe only exists because someone is there to perceive it. Human creativity and genius took the stuff of the universe – wood, metal, reeds, strings, felt hammers, and more – fashioned and refined and tuned a vast diversity of instruments which enhanced and added complexity to the marvel of human voice and created sound images that reflect our universe with inexhaustible variety.
The human person has a curious capacity for wonder. The universe is filled with persistent, unexplainable beauty, but why are we capable of noticing and being awestruck by this chain of astonishment? Chaotic, yet ordered; incomprehensible, yet intelligible, we seem to be created, our brains seemingly wired to appreciate it all. How marvelous is our capacity to wonder and to be in wonder. To be amazed and deeply longing simultaneously for a fulfillment unknown. Why is this so?
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