Celebs say abortion hurts women, that Roe v. Wade is wrong
January 22, 2005 is the 32th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. Since that day, the U.S. government reports that more than 43 million abortions were performed on some 27 million women. It's estimated that approximately 43 percent of women who've reached the age of 45 have had an abortion.
Kathy Ireland says, "I used to be pro-choice."
While appearing on the TV show "Politically Incorrect," Kathy Ireland participated in a debate about abortion "rights" and whether or not Florida should approve "Choose Life" license plates. Kathy is against abortion and she defended babies in the womb by saying: "I was once pro-choice and the thing that changed my mind was, I read my husband's biology books, medical books, and what I learned . . . At the moment of conception, a life starts. And this life has its own unique set of DNA, which contains a blueprint for the whole genetic makeup. The sex is determined. We know there's a life because it's growing and changing."
Mel Gibson:
On a 1990 Barbara Walters TV special, Gibson stated his opposition to birth control, infidelity and abortion. He said, "God is the only one who knows how many children we should have, and we should be ready to accept them. One can't decide for oneself who comes into this world and who doesn't. That decision doesn't belong to us."
Patricia Heaton of the hit comedy, Everybody Loves Raymond, fights abortion
Emmy winning actress, Patricia Heaton, strongly opposes abortion. She speaks publicly against abortion in media interviews and on college campuses as the Honorary Chairperson of Feminists for Life.
Heaton says, "Indeed the tragedy of abortion haunts women from all walks of life. Abortion advocates are spending millions to package their tired rhetoric and half-truths in cutting-edge advertising campaigns targeted to young women. Please join me in supporting FFL's efforts to provide complete information, practical resources, and true choices through the College Outreach program."
"The early feminists were pro-life. And really, abortion is a huge disservice to women, and it hasn't been presented that way. As Feminists for Life-what we're trying to do is support women, and so what we want to do is-reach women on campus-college campuses so that, when they get pregnant, they can find housing. They can find money they need to stay in school."
(Sources: www.feministsforlife.org and an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor - Sept. 2002)
Actress, Margaret Colin, has appeared in Three Men and a Baby and the sci-fi blockbuster, Independence Day, and on TV in Chicago Hope, Now and Again and Madigan Men. A pro-life activist since the eighth grade, Margaret credits her parents with empowering her and her siblings to promote pro-life values. At a Congressional Briefing in Washington DC on July 17, 2002, Margaret spoke about abortion. Following are excerpts:
"We marched here to support all women and to protest the violence against them, legislated by Roe v. Wade. And while many will remember the 40 million [aborted] American children that were never born, I want us to also remember the 25 million women and girls in America today who have personally experienced an abortion."
"And we remember the women who have been rendered infertile or died from legal but lethal abortions…This is violence against women…This is the failure of our American society to help and protect women."
"The 1970's women's movement robbed us of our political birthright by changing the feminist platform to support abortion…Abortion hasn't fixed the litany of problems that women were promised would be resolved." Colin encourages others to defend the unborn, "You have to be brave -- the one who speaks out for a baby so she or he can come into this life."
Kathy Ireland also spoke about abortion on the Hannity and Colmes FOX-TV show (September 2002). Ireland said:
"Is it all right for the government to allow the murder of an innocent human being? The evidence I see tells me the unborn is a human being. From the moment of conception, a new life comes into being with a complete genetic blueprint. The sex is determined. The blood type is determined… the moment that I learned that the unborn was a human being, not part of the woman's body but its own individual human being, I have no choice but to defend the most vulnerable among us."
Dolores O'Riordan: Lead Vocalist, The Cranberries:
"It's not good for women to go through the procedure [abortion] and have something living sucked out of their bodies. It belittles women. Even though some women say, 'Oh, I don't mind to have one,' every time a woman has an abortion, it just crushes her self-esteem smaller and smaller and smaller."
(Source: You! Magazine, June/July 1996)
Lakita Garth - Former Miss Black California 1995 and Runner-Up for Miss Black America.
Lakita says, "If you're pregnant, don't compound the problem by seeking an abortion. Getting an abortion doesn't solve anything. You are much better off in that situation to put the baby up for adoption because you might be able to help a couple that can't have children." Regarding saving sex for marriage, Lakita says: "I look forward to the day I can look my husband in the face and say, 'I loved you before I even knew you. I saved myself just for you.'"
On July 16, 1998, Lakita Garth spoke to a Congressional Subcommittee on the high costs of sex outside of marriage and teen pregnancy. To read Miss Garth's insightful testimony, and to go to a link with her photo, a short biography and speaking contact information, click on: Miss Black California
Has abortion been good for America? For women? For babies?
Did abortion "liberate" women and free them from "male oppression?" Did it give them "control" over their bodies and lives as some feminists promised? Or, has abortion hurt women, bringing them pain, shame, guilt and regrets?
Of 260 women surveyed by post abortion syndrome expert, Dr. David Reardon, Ph.D, 28 percent told him they attempted suicide because of grief they felt over their abortions. (See www.afterabortion.org)
Former "Cover Girl" model and actress, Jennifer O'Neill, can testify to the pain. She says, "I had the abortion and paid for it all my life."
Many women are now speaking about their abortions. Carna Spinella of Seattle, WA says, "Having an abortion was the biggest, most tragic mistake of my life." Lisa Burroughs of Buena Park, CA adds, "After abortion -- the guilt, shame and loneliness is horrible."
Star Parker of Los Angeles had several abortions and says they led to promiscuous, destructive relationships, "I used abortion as birth control until after my fourth abortion…abortion destroys self-worth and dignity." Cecilia Gomez of Tustin, CA says her abortions also contributed to "extremely promiscuous and self-destructive" behavior. She adds, "With each abortion, I became more and more depressed."
Numerous celebrities have seen how abortion hurts women. And although they've not had abortions themselves, they are now publicly opposing abortion and Roe v. Wade.
Actress Margaret Colin, in a recent interview with the National Catholic Register, said, "pro-choice women just took over the idea of feminism in the 1960's and said that you must end this child's life." The true feminist heritage, she said, opposed abortion as a denial of femininity. Gone now, she said, is the feminist ideal of having "the right to bear your child and protect you child."
"It's life. It's fundamental," Colin said. "You should be born. You should be taken care of," said the actress who appeared in Three Men and a Baby and Independence Day.
Feminists for Life, a national pro-life women's recently honored Colin and other female celebrities that they call "Remarkable Pro-Life Women."
Actress Patricia Heaton was another pro-life woman recognized by the organization. Receiving awards is nothing new for Heaton. When she accepted an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, she thanked her mother for "letting me out, because life is really amazing."
Known as the mother on CBS's "Everybody Loves Raymond," Heaton defended motherhood in a debate on the Oxygen network.
A doctor on the program had told the audience that the "morning after" pill would allow women "the opportunity -- instead of having babies every year -- they could actually do something with their lives." To which Heaton, a mother of four, responded, "Having and raising children is doing something with your life!... And I have to say that having your kids is one of the greatest things you can do."
But defending life can sometimes be very difficult says another honoree, Kate Mulgrew, star and Captain in the television series Star Trek: Voyager.
"I practiced my belief at great cost to myself," the actress told the American Feminist, a publication of Feminists for Life. Mulgrew had become pregnant at an early age and decided to place her baby girl for adoption. They were reunited two years ago.
She said that though "adoption or abortion almost always promises the mother a legacy of shame and regret, I have to be frank about my experience, I survived it. Women often don't believe that they can survive nine months of pregnancy and place the child with an adoptive family. Life is not always easy."
Kate Mulgrew went on to say,
"Life is sacred to me on all levels. Abortion does not compute with my philosophy."
Journalists are also speaking out against abortion. Columnist, Michelle Malkin, born of Filipino immigrants, worked for the Seattle Times and now writes a twice-weekly column syndicated nationwide.
Michelle says: "For three decades, the pro-abortion lobby has succeeded in squelching doubts and dissent about the mass destruction of human lives -- 40 million so far -- in the name of choice. But the truth is seeping out. And according to an account in the pro-choice publication American Medical News, abortion clinic workers often wonder if the fetus feels pain…Haunting auditory hallucinations. Voices from the womb. This is the pro-abortion movement's worst nightmare. Imagine the roar of 40 million tiny voices, all in unison…crying out: 'I want to live. I do not want to die.'"
How many more babies will die? How many more women will be injured? Let's work together to ban abortion. It's time to speak up for women and their babies. For more information, please visit the many web sites listed in LoveMatters.com. They provide tons of information and helpful counseling hotlines.
[Adapted from Feminists for Life Reveals Prominent Pro-Life Women, a National Catholic Register article by Joshua Mercer, along with quotes from www.feministsforlife.org and www.womendeservebetter.com]
Other Notable Quotes . . .
Madonna surprised by ultrasound! Madonna was thrilled to see her baby living and moving in her womb. When she saw her daughter on ultrasound, Madonna said:
Photo above: Ultrasound of a baby at 16 weeks. See the baby's head, nose, lips and chin as he lays on his back. The heart is seen in the chest. It beats at 120-180 bpm. The spine is seen along the lower part of the image.
"I was stunned when I saw on the ultrasound a tiny, living creature spinning around in my womb. Tap-dancing, I think. Waving its tiny arms around and trying to suck its thumb. I could have sworn I heard it laughing." ("World Magazine" December, 1996)
Madonna said this after seeing her then pre-born child on ultrasound when she visited her OB-GYN. Moments like these are awe-inspiring for mothers and fathers.
Brooke Shields, Actress and Supermodel: "Too many people use abortion as a form of birth control. And that's very wrong. I could never, ever have an abortion." (Source: Redbook Magazine, 8/91)
Susan B. Anthony (1889), abolitionist and early leader of the women's suffrage movement, opposed abortion, saying: "Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them."
Mother Teresa said:
"The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion, which is war against the child. The mother doesn't learn to love, but kills to solve her own problems. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want."
"The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception...This (use of contraceptives) turns the attention to self and so it destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other as happens in natural family planning, and not to self, as happens in contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows easily . . . And abortion, which often follows from contraception, brings a people to be spiritually poor, and that is the worst poverty and the most difficult to overcome."
[Editor's note: Natural Family Planning (NFP) is the safest, most effective way to prevent or achieve pregnancy. Couples are raving about NFP across America and around the world. For details, click on the Couple to Couple League site. To read about the very low divorce rate attributed in large part to the strong, loving communication that is developed when couples practice NFP (there's less than a 5% divorce rate for couples practicing NFP), click on Kiss Divorce Goodbye!]
Pope John Paul II:
"America you are beautiful . . . and blessed . . . . The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless. If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life."
President Ronald Reagan in 1982:
"Simple morality dictates that unless and until someone can prove the unborn human is not alive, we must give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it is (alive). And, thus, it should be entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Celebs on saving sex for marriage:
Brett Butler - Former Los Angeles Dodger Great:
"Making love is a wonderful thing between a husband and wife in marriage. God promises that He will bless that relationship. The marriage relationship will not be as fulfilling if you don't abstain from sex before marriage. There is a danger of bringing emotional scars into marriage if you have sex in relationships prior to marriage." (Source: Pro-Life America interview 1997)
A.C. Green, NBA's Ironman, Former Basketball Star with the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers:
"I'm proud to say that I am a virgin, and I don't hide the strength God has given me. You have to learn to respect yourself before you can start respecting other people."
(Source: A.C. Green Youth Foundation, Inc., 1-800-AC-YOUTH)
Eric Clapton: Musician:
"It sounds strange for me to be saying this, but I've come around to the idea that sex really is for procreation."
(Source: You! Magazine, 8/95)
Dan Torweihe, former leader of The Thunderbirds, an elite Air Force Flying Team:
"If I used drugs, had bad grades or had a child out of wedlock, there is no way I could be where I'm at now. Stay focused...do not offer evil a foothold in your life."
(Source: Breakaway, 7/97)