By Scott Thomas (admin@illinoisleader.com)
for Illinois Leader

OPINION - “Just because I’m pro-choice doesn’t mean I’m pro-abortion”.

I’ve heard that defensive claim from more than one abortion advocate. It comes part and parcel with the newly emerging “moderate” position on abortion, as articulated by Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice (sadly), and others that says, “I want to make the tragic choice of abortion as rare as possible in this country.”

Well, softer language aside, I simply see little or no evidence that points to those taking a “pro-choice” position as being anything other than pro-abortion. The most recent mind-boggling example of this was the failure of Illinois House Bill 1453 to make it out of committee for debate on the House floor.

HB 1453, the “Woman’s Right to Know” proposal authored by Republican Representative Randy Hultgren, would have required abortionists (to call them doctors seems oxymoronic to me) to give prospective abortive victims (to call them patients seems oxymoronic to me) complete information with regard to the full nature of the procedure, facts about the unborn baby inside them, and a list of possible physical and emotional side effects and consequences of having this “procedure” done. It would also have required a waiting period of 24 hours.

The purpose of the bill was not to ban any type of abortion. Its purpose was to provide the same kind of information and warnings that a woman would consider when having her tooth pulled. The purpose of the bill was not to insist on parental notification for women under 18. Its purpose was to require abortionists to provide the full balance of information to a woman so she could make an informed “choice”, based on all considerations.

As Yvonne Florczak-Seeman, founder of the Time to Speak movement of post-abortive women, clearly stated, “This is NOT a pro-life bill. This is NOT a pro-choice bill. This is a pro-women bill. If women are to make an informed choice about abortion, they need all the facts.”

However, based on the heavy lobbying against this bill by pro-abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood, the bill never made it out of committee. Those Planned Parenthood campaign contributions paid big dividends, I suspect.

This is simply one more example of where the stated value, “pro-choice”, is valid only so long as a woman chooses abortion. There is no visible evidence that those who politically advocate “choice” are anything other than pro-abortion. If they were, they would have no objection to women, especially young teenage girls, being informed that the “tissue” being removed in the abortion procedure has a heartbeat. It’s the truth. If pro-abortion advocates were really “pro-choice”, there should be no objection to advising women that there have been cases of severe episodes of depression, even suicide, because of the after-effect trauma of having an abortion.

Planned Parenthood, and other pro-abortion groups, are already presenting the possible consequences of bringing the baby to term…lower income potential, lower education potential, fewer social options, etc. If they’re really “pro-choice”, why not also present the potential consequences that sometimes result from the procedure and let women make a fully informed choice?

Why? Because if women in a traumatic pregnancy knew all of the potential consequences of abortion, and had 24 hours to think about it, some, perhaps many, would “choose” not to have an abortion. And that could mean severe loss of revenue for Planned Parenthood and the other abortion mills that dot the tragic, information deprived, landscape of this state.

I’m making a call for intellectual honesty among all the elected office holders in the state of Illinois who call yourself “pro-choice”…for all of you who want to echo Hillary Clinton’s admonishment to make the “tragic choice of abortion as rare as possible”. If you’re really pro-choice, then join with those of us who are pro-life, and offer ALL of the information available to prospective abortion candidates.

Either join us, or have the intellectual honesty to call yourselves what you are...pro-abortion, not pro-choice.

© 2005 IllinoisLeader.com -- all rights reserved

______

What are your thoughts concerning the issues raised in this commentary? Write a letter to the editor at letters@illinoisleader.com, and include your name and town.

[Scott Thomas hosts WYLL 1160 AM's afternoon drive home show from 3 to 5 PM each weekday. Thomas returned last year to radio after twenty years in the business arena. He is now studying to be a pastor. Scott regularly features Illinois Leader.com contributors on his show.]