Make tele-med abortions illegal

By Tim Duggan

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Jan. 22 marks the 38th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Human Life International reports that 53 million of our fellow Americans have been killed since that ruling.

The pro-life movement has managed some small steps toward gaining back the unalienable rights of pre-born children guaranteed under our Declaration of Independence. In 2007, the Supreme Court upheld the ban on partial-birth abortions. The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, enacted in 2002, extends legal protection to an infant born alive after a failed attempt at induced abortion.

The Guttmacher Institute's data shows that 38 states prohibit abortions after a specified point in the child's life, 33 states have outlawed public funding of abortion, and 35 states require some parental involvement in a minor's decision to kill another human being.

Another encouraging indicator: In 2009, for the first time since the Gallop poll was started, more Americans consider themselves pro-life by a margin of 51 percent to

42 percent.

Last year, 400,000 people traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the March for Life. As our local pro-life supporters prepare to make the pilgrimage this year, it is paradoxical that Cedar Rapids is now threatened by the looming specter of chemical abortions.

Planned Parenthood recently announced a broad new patient services initiative, which includes a requirement that every Planned Parenthood affiliate offer abortion services.

In December, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland confirmed the takeover of Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa.

The merger will provide the means to easily expand tele-med abortions into Eastern Iowa.

I applaud the medical community for using telemedicine to extend services to people in remote areas. However, I will not stand by and watch this resource be mutated into a procedure wielded against the most innocent and vulnerable in our society.

Equally disturbing is that Planned Parenthood's procedures endanger the health of women. A complaint filed with the Iowa Board of Medicine charges that Planned Parenthood's practice is illegal under Iowa law and is a violation of FDA protocol for Mifepristone (aka RU-486). The FDA says this drug has injured more than 1,100 U.S. women since 2006.

At this year's March for Life, we will petition our legislators to recognize the sanctity of the unborn and protect the lives of women by enacting laws that will prohibit prescribing and dispensing the abortion pill over the Internet.

Tim Duggan is chair of Dubuque County Right to Life Inc. Comments: dug

meister2001@yahoo.com.