The Myth of The Back Streets

Ryan Bomberger writes:

Abortion activists love their folklore. Women. Hangers. Millions of deaths. None of it’s true, but it sure sounds scary in a sound bite. Planned Parenthood’s own Medical Director, Dr. Mary Calderone, in a 1959 article decrying the lack of social acceptance of abortion declared: “Abortion is no longer a dangerous procedure…90% of all illegal abortions are presently being done by physicians. Many of these physicians are in good standing in their communities.”

From the “back alley” to main street, the self-policing abortion industry sets up shops, unaccountable to seemingly anyone, making millions in profit behind closed (and filthy) doors. The landmark ruling of Roe (coupled with Doe v. Bolton) birthed abortionists like Kermit Gosnell, Steve Brigham, Solieman Soli, LeRoy Carhart, James S. Pendergraft and hundreds more across the country.

It allowed other abortionists to simply change their geography from the back alley to a storefront. Same folks. Different decade. Gosnell’s case has only shed a sliver of light into what commonly happens across the United States. Contrary to NARAL President, Ilyse Hogue’s, silly and historically ignorant contention that Gosnell is a “peek into the world before Roe v. Wade”, he is the world legitimized, praised and forced upon us by Roe and its worshippers.

Gosnell is a murderer. A jury of Philadelphians convicted him on only 3 out of 4 1^st degree murder charges. According to Grand Jury and court testimony, he killed possibly hundreds of babies born alive, aided by a state regulatory agency that recklessly did nothing for decades. Planned Parenthood Southeast Pennsylvania boasted of knowing of Gosnell’s squalid clinic. They did nothing.

The National Abortion Federation inspected the “House of Horrors” and silently rejected Gosnell’s application into their elite world of baby killers. And they did nothing. NARAL knew of Gosnell’s “back-alley” butchery back in 1972 when poor black women (bussed from Chicago) were brutalized by Gosnell and International Planned Parenthood-funded convicted abortionist Harvey Karman in their “supercoil” experiment. NARAL did nothing. The Radiance Foundation discusses that tragic history here, where Gosnell’s heinous actions went ignored and unpunished.

And now NARAL, Planned Parenthood, their Sanger-award-winning media parrots, and liberal feminists blame Gosnell on prolifers. Yes, the very people who try desperately to save women and children through maternity homes, free services at pregnancy medical clinics, adoption, and other acts of love and compassion are the guilty ones. Huffington Post writes of the “rogue abortionist” and gives NARAL the creative space to weave a ludicrous tale of Gosnell as the “back alley” abortionist created by pro-life abortion regulations.

Sorry, NARAL. Sorry, Harry Reid. Gosnell was not rogue. He is vogue. The pro-infanticide abortion crowd, whose morality hinges on geography, (whether the baby’s body is a few inches this way or a few inches that way) hates to see the face of a typical abortionist shown to the world, revealing who they truly are. So, Gosnell is our fault? Abortion activists blaming Gosnell on prolifers is about as absurd as saying abolitionists caused slavery.

Failed actions from state medical boards, just as in Pennsylvania with Gosnell, enable these “doctors” of death to return to their dens of squalor and illegal activity. NARAL, when it first started, assured the American public that abortions were “safe” and conducted inspections to prove it (h/t LifeDynamics.com). In fact, the late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, one NARAL’s co-founders, inspected clinic after clinic following the legalization of abortion in New York City in 1970. NARAL never had these foul places shut down.

As horrifically revealed in Mark Crutcher’s Lime 5, Dr. Nathanson found filthy clinics from coast to coast – including Gosnell’s partner-in-crime Harvey Karman’s clinic, which was described as “drab, dark, and unsanitary.” NARAL’s Dr. Nathanson then went to work for the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health (CRASH) in NYC to try to rescue it from the cesspool that it was. The CRASH clinic administrator described the abortionists there as: “atrocious…sadists, drunks, incompetents, sex maniacs, thieves, butchers, and lunatics…”

Hmmmm. Sounds familiar.

After one and a half years of Dr. Bernard Nathanson’s efforts to impose a “professional” and clean killing environment, his attempts failed. (He eventually left and became passionately prolife, revealing the voluminous lies NARAL pumped out to the public about “safe” and legal abortions.) CRASH, on the other hand, eventually crashed. New York City Health Department forced it to close in 1988 following the death of a 19 year old victim due to a botched abortion. The abortion mill was under the medical supervision of abortionist David A. Gluck.

Mr. Gluck’s medical license had been previously revoked for 3 years because of felony charges stemming from illegal drug sales used to pay off his gambling debts – according to a 1988 New York Newsday article, entitled “Abortion Clinic Closed After Woman’s Death.” His medical license was revoked, again, but temporarily blocked by a court order.

His revocation was based on the illegal sale of prescription drugs, not because women were harmed in his CRASH clinic. In 1992, according to this letter from the New York City Office of Professional Medical Conduct, his license was reinstated. Only two years later, he killed a woman (Alerte Desanges, a 36 year old Haitian mother of three) in a botched abortion at Choices Women’s Medical Center in Queens.

This is all in a day’s work, though, for an abortionist. Today, Dr. David Alan Gluck now runs the Westside Women’s Medical Pavilion abortion center in Manhattan that performs abortions up to 26 weeks. But no worries, he’s “Board Certified”!

Despite his felony charges, having presided over one of the filthiest abortion clinics in NYC, and causing the death of a mother in a botched abortion, he’s free and clear. He’s even a member of the National Abortion Federation. Ignored and empowered like Gosnell by state health authorities who apparently have incredibly low standards for “physicians”.

The enforcement of regulations isn’t the problem. That saves lives. It’s the evisceration of these regulations that should cause alarm, like the efforts of Planned Parenthood in NYC (already the abortion capital of the nation). They’re endorsing New York’s Reproductive Health Act that is Governor Cuomo’s attempt to eliminate every state restriction on abortion, including all clinic standards. The abortion giant wants abortion to be classified as “primary care” (no different than treating a cold) and have building code standards (AB980) rescinded in California, according to California Family Alliance.

In the state where over 214,000 abortions occur annually (obviously not a lack of access), PPFA is fighting to pass AB154 so that non-doctors can commit abortions in California. Women aren’t at the center of their “back alley” advocacy; they’re just protecting abortion. In defending AB980 and asserting that abortion is the same as primary healthcare, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California’s chief legal counsel, Beth Parker, wrote: “There is no difference between taking a pill for a cold or taking one to induce an abortion.”

A child being given a cold and flu prescription doesn’t require the same medical attention as a woman who has undergone a life-ending abortion. The American public needs to see the abortion industry’s infatuation with the “back alley” and how they empower Gosnells across the country. Every “back alley” has a front door. And Planned Parenthood is spending (our) millions to make sure those doors stay open for business.