Sacrificing Our Daughters
Abortion and Sexual Predation
May 2, 2005
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
You've seen all the press lately on parents' demanding to know if a sexual predator is in their neighborhood. Likewise, what parent wouldn't want evidence of a possible sexually based offense against a child reported to the authorities?
Yet, when my good friend state Attorney General Phillip Kline recently took steps to make these things happen, it was labeled an "inquisition." Why? The almost sacred status of the "right to an abortion."
Earlier this year, Phillip Kline, the attorney general of Kansas, subpoenaed the medical records of ninety women "who received late-term abortions at two Kansas clinics in 2003." In his application to the Kansas Supreme Court, Kline made his reasons for the request clear: to see if the clinics had violated Kansas law against late-term abortions and to investigate possible sexual predators.
Kline's critics immediately seized on his pro-life beliefs and labeled his request a "fishing expedition." Kline, who is under a gag order not to discuss specifics of the case, replied that "the issue in this case is whether abortion clinics are above the law." Without the records, the state argues, there's no way to make a "reasonably informed judgment" about what went on in the clinics and in those late-term abortions.
An equally important and outrageous issue here is the possible failure by abortion clinics to report sex crimes against minors.
According to Kansas health officials, seventy-eight girls under the age of 15 had abortions there in 2003. Since, under Kansas law, as in most states, no girl under fifteen can legally consent to sex, these girls were all the victims of, at least, statutory rape, a sex crime punishable by as much as thirteen years in prison.
This highlights a little-known and even less-discussed aspect of the abortion industry: In addition to destroying a human life, the abortion clinics can also withhold or destroy evidence of a crime. The abortion industry, as we all know, promotes the image of being responsible, of helping frightened teenaged girls whose boyfriends got them pregnant. What they know and neglect to mention to parents or to the police is that those "boyfriends" are, more often than not, adults.
A study by Mike Males of the University of California, Irvine, found that "roughly half of the babies born to 15-year-old mothers were fathered by adult men no longer in school." Even worse, Males and his colleagues found that the "younger the girl [giving birth], the wider the age gap." There's every reason to believe that what is true in the maternity ward is also true at the abortion clinic. The men getting 15-year-old girls pregnant aren't lustful teenagers; they're sexual predators.
These are the only people benefiting from the opposition to Kline's investigation. Invoking the "right to privacy" and "doctor-patient privilege" when 14-year-olds are involved only makes it easier for their assailants to victimize someone else's child.
Isn't it sadly ironic that in such a "safety-conscious" society we tolerate this state of affairs? It's proof, if you need it, of the almost religious significance of "abortion rights." Nothing, not even our daughters' well-being, can interfere with these rights. And they call us fanatics!
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Copyright (c) 2005 Prison Fellowship
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED
Abortion and Sexual Predation
May 2, 2005
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
You've seen all the press lately on parents' demanding to know if a sexual predator is in their neighborhood. Likewise, what parent wouldn't want evidence of a possible sexually based offense against a child reported to the authorities?
Yet, when my good friend state Attorney General Phillip Kline recently took steps to make these things happen, it was labeled an "inquisition." Why? The almost sacred status of the "right to an abortion."
Earlier this year, Phillip Kline, the attorney general of Kansas, subpoenaed the medical records of ninety women "who received late-term abortions at two Kansas clinics in 2003." In his application to the Kansas Supreme Court, Kline made his reasons for the request clear: to see if the clinics had violated Kansas law against late-term abortions and to investigate possible sexual predators.
Kline's critics immediately seized on his pro-life beliefs and labeled his request a "fishing expedition." Kline, who is under a gag order not to discuss specifics of the case, replied that "the issue in this case is whether abortion clinics are above the law." Without the records, the state argues, there's no way to make a "reasonably informed judgment" about what went on in the clinics and in those late-term abortions.
An equally important and outrageous issue here is the possible failure by abortion clinics to report sex crimes against minors.
According to Kansas health officials, seventy-eight girls under the age of 15 had abortions there in 2003. Since, under Kansas law, as in most states, no girl under fifteen can legally consent to sex, these girls were all the victims of, at least, statutory rape, a sex crime punishable by as much as thirteen years in prison.
This highlights a little-known and even less-discussed aspect of the abortion industry: In addition to destroying a human life, the abortion clinics can also withhold or destroy evidence of a crime. The abortion industry, as we all know, promotes the image of being responsible, of helping frightened teenaged girls whose boyfriends got them pregnant. What they know and neglect to mention to parents or to the police is that those "boyfriends" are, more often than not, adults.
A study by Mike Males of the University of California, Irvine, found that "roughly half of the babies born to 15-year-old mothers were fathered by adult men no longer in school." Even worse, Males and his colleagues found that the "younger the girl [giving birth], the wider the age gap." There's every reason to believe that what is true in the maternity ward is also true at the abortion clinic. The men getting 15-year-old girls pregnant aren't lustful teenagers; they're sexual predators.
These are the only people benefiting from the opposition to Kline's investigation. Invoking the "right to privacy" and "doctor-patient privilege" when 14-year-olds are involved only makes it easier for their assailants to victimize someone else's child.
Isn't it sadly ironic that in such a "safety-conscious" society we tolerate this state of affairs? It's proof, if you need it, of the almost religious significance of "abortion rights." Nothing, not even our daughters' well-being, can interfere with these rights. And they call us fanatics!
Get links to further information on today's topic
For printer-friendly version, simply visit www.breakpoint.org and click on Today's Commentary. The printer-friendly link is on the left-hand column.
Copyright (c) 2005 Prison Fellowship
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED
