New Birthing Center Will Deliver Babies in One Room, Abort Them in Another

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 26, 2013   |   11:53AM   |   Buffalo, NY

A new birthing center in Buffalo, New York will provide an alternative for women seeking to give birth outside of a hospital setting. But it will also do abortions — setting up a terrible irony. Babies will be welcomed into life in one room and, down the hall, their lives will be snuffed out in abortions.

From a local news report with more on this chilling paradox:

It will be only the third free-standing birthing center in New York State when it opens in November, offering nurse-midwifery services for low-risk pregnancies based on natural childbirth.

The birthing center also is likely to be the only one in the United States combined with an abortion clinic, as it is a project of Buffalo Womenservices, 2500 Main St.

Birthing centers are gaining in popularity in the United States. Advocates say they could cut the rate of cesarean sections and save money.

But not all doctors embrace the concept, and a center attached to an abortion clinic is a combination bound to surprise some people and upset others.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous that those who specialize in taking life claim they are qualified to help women give birth,” said Stasia Zoladz Vogel, president of the Buffalo Regional Right to Life Committee. “For anyone to entrust the birth of their child to a business that specializes in ending the life of infants in the womb is foolhardy at best and dangerous at worst.”

To those behind the facility, the location of the birthing center makes sense for philosophical and practical reasons.

“I see a connection between respecting a woman’s right to decide to end a pregnancy and her right to determine how she has her baby,” said Dr. Katharine Morrison, the obstetrician-gynecologist who has owned Buffalo Womenservices since 2005.

Morrison, who also runs an obstetrics practice at the abortion facility, made the case that women who obtain abortions are not a distinct group from those who give birth to babies.

“Both of these experiences – abortion and birth – can exist in a woman’s reproductive life,” she said. “Many mothers have had abortions or will have one.”

Kate Bauer, executive director of the American Association of Birth Centers in Perkiomenville, Pa., said she believes a facility offering both abortions and a birthing center will be “one of a kind” in the nation.

Ironically, abortions hurt the very women who will be attempting to give birth at the center — by increasing the risk associated with premature birth, for example.

In a fascinating new webinar sponsored by Heartbeat International and the Charlotte Lozier Institute, CLI adjunct scholar Dr. Elizabeth Johnson gave a fascinating presentation on induced abortion and the subsequent risk of pre-term birth.

In her talk, Dr. Johnson describes the serious public health concerns associated with pre-term birth and discusses the growing body of research on the topic as it relates to both clinical practice and a woman’s informed consent.

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

Pre-term birth is one of the most significant challenges facing the field of obstetrics and a serious public health issue. Pre-term birth is associated with substantial problems for families including significant infant mortality and morbidity, parental stressors, and financial burdens.

In the past few years, an ever-increasing number of studies have demonstrated that elective abortions in the first and second trimester are associated with an increased risk of subsequent spontaneous pre-term birth. A 2012 study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which looked at 26 years of birth data, showed that a single induced abortion increased a woman’s risk of having a premature baby by 37%.