The Delusional World of Late-Term Abortionists

I did not watch the PBS documentary “After Tiller” celebrating the late-term abortionist George Tiller that aired on September 1st. In my work with couples who aborted late-term pregnancies due to an adverse diagnosis, some of whom went to Tiller’s clinic, I’ve had a front row seat to the “After” of those who went to Tiller.

I will never forget the first time I saw one of the pictures he took of a baby he had just killed, all dressed up and placed in her mother’s arms so that pictures could be taken with her parents, mimicking the normalcy of post-birth family photos. He was also known to “baptize” these deceased children. It struck me as surreal that anyone could legally kill viable children (and some nearly full-term) for a living. Perhaps he really believed that he was doing good, but what a travesty it is to pretend that acts of barbarism, beyond the bounds of even permissive moral norms, is somehow “normal.”  

One of Tiller’s patients with whom I worked shared this observation with me:

Say what you want, George Tiller was no hero.

It is plain to see that late-term abortionist Dr. Susan Robinson thinks of herself as a hero as well. Speaking of her participation in the documentary she says:

If anyone gets that impression after seeing the film, it can only be because it is filled with lies.

Most couples given adverse diagnoses are never offered alternatives to abortion and report that they felt pressured into the decision by their OB or genetic specialist. In the traumatic situation of learning that their unborn child—whom they expected to be healthy and “perfect” in every way—parents are given little time to recover from the shock and explore other options.

They are never told of the resources that are available to them to help them deliver their children and love them as long as they live. Over 200 perinatal hospices have been established in hospitals, hospices and clinics, in over 40 states in the United States, to offer palliative care to babies who are not likely to survive long after birth and offer support to their families. 

When parents believe that their circumstances would prevent their being able to care for a child with nonfatal health problems, there are any number of adoption agencies specializing in the adoption of babies and children with special needs. Here are just few of them: Special Needs Adoption: Rainbow Kids, Reece’s Rainbow, National Down Syndrome Adoption Network and Hopscotch Adoptions.

More than once, couples have told me about the “guilt trips” the medical community and even family members tried to lay on them. They were told that they were selfish for even considering bringing their child to term, with comments like these: “If something happens to you ‘it’ will be put in a home and abused.” Or, “You do not want your child to suffer, do you?” The irony of course is that killing these unborn babies
in utero absolutely causes them to suffer. Or this, “What about your other children? It is selfish to think of having this baby.”

We are made to believe that late-term abortions are needed because of concerns over the mother’s health. What most people don’t realize is that “mental health,” and not any physical reason, is nearly always given to justify the abortion.

What also perplexes me is that, although Susan Robinson surely uses mental health as a reason to abort, she emphatically denies the impact of the abortion itself on the mental health of women. She has said:

Really? Where is her compassion for the countless couples who are suffering because of a late-term abortion? How is it that she thinks “mental anguish” justifies having a baby aborted, but that suffering because you participated in the death of your own child is “junk science”?

The mother of an unborn child whom Dr. Tiller killed in the last trimester confirmed the error of this thinking: