2012 Oratory Contest Winners

First Place Speech: Kristina Cherniausky, North Oakland Right to Life

We've all been lied to. Usually, these lies are labeled as exaggerating, stretching the truth, telling a white lie, or the half-truth. Although as children, we were all told that honesty is the best policy, lying has become a part of our society. Friends, family, teachers, TV, books, magazines, and politicians lie to us. They will tell us anything that makes us happy. However, we would hope and pray that there is still a place where we can discover truth. We would hope that we can trust those who take care of us. We would hope that our doctors are always making the best decisions for our health. This, however, is not always the case because abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood are not truthful to their patients. Their secrets have been hidden for far too long, so it is time to bring them to light.

Planned Parenthood, the largest birth control clinic in the United States, not only lies about the clinical part of the abortion, but also the emotional and physical after-affects. Since its founding in 1942, Planned Parenthood has established 820 clinics across the US, and now, one in every four abortions is performed in one of these clinics. Several years ago, Abby Johnson, once the director of a Planned Parenthood, became prolife. Why, after fighting for women's rights and the pro-choice movement would a woman like this want to leave? That is a good question: Maybe she was exposed to the truth. Her story goes like this: At the young age of 29, Abby Johnson would volunteer to escort women to their cars before and after the abortion. After several years of working there, she became the director. However, in September of 2009, after eight years of working for Planned Parenthood, Abby knew it was time to leave. When Abby saw an abortion on the monitor for the first time, something clicked within her. She immediately knew that what Planned Parenthood had stood for was wrong. She was all of a sudden exposed to the lies they tell women entering the clinic every day.

The number one question women ask as they come in for an abortion is this: "Will my BABY feel this?" Will MY BABY feel this? The women don't ask: "Will my fetus feel this?" or "will the glob of tissue feel this?" They specifically refer to them as MY BABY. This is where Planned Parenthood makes its first move. They have a scripted answer to these probing questions that goes something like this: "The fetus inside has not developed the sense of feeling until 28 weeks into the pregnancy." They try to convince women that the baby inside of them is just a piece of tissue with no feeling or value. They will do all in their power to keep women from changing their minds. On Planned Parenthood's web site, they say: "State laws that require mandatory waiting periods before a woman can get an abortion do not offer any health benefits. they result in increased expenses, travel difficulties, and medical risks. They unnecessarily postpone the procedure even when a women already made a deliberate, mature, and fully-informed choice." This sounds to me like Planned Parenthood wants to keep its patients from thinking about the abortion and changing their minds after the first counseling session.

The second lie Planned Parenthood tells its patients is regarding the actual process of the abortion. They describe the abortion process as a painless and simple procedure, much like going in to get your wisdom teeth removed. You may think that they are sugar-coating the procedure, but they simply are not telling their patients the truth. In fact, there are several testimonies where women were not allowed to see the ultrasound prior to the abortion for fear that the women change their mind. Planned Parenthood describes the abortion as follows: "It's common for women to be nervous about having an abortion--or any other medical procedure. But most of us feel better if we know what to expect." Then why don't they let women in the operating room prior to the abortion. Or why won't they let women see the ultrasound? Why don't they discuss other options with women who are hesitant about abortion? They describe the abortion as no big deal. 10 minutes, in and out. What they forgot to mention is that the abortion is extremely painful and that there are often serious complications. They also forgot to mention that the baby is literally being torn apart. One arm is torn off at a time until the entire baby is dissipated. They forgot to mention that they scrape what is left of your baby out of the womb. Is it coincidental that they do not give the patients this type of information? Unfortunately, it is not.

The next lie Planned Parenthood tells its patients is that there are little to no after effects of an abortion. However, 10% suffer immediate physical complications including infection, torn uterus, convulsions, chronic abdominal pain, and second-degree burns just to name a few. Of these immediate physical complications, one-fifth of them are life threatening. On average, there is an 80% increase in doctor visits after an abortion. And Planned Parenthood tells us that there are few risks. If women ever wanted to get pregnant again, the pregnancy is put at a much greater risk with infertility, stillbirths, miscarriages, and premature births. This is just the physical side-effects of an abortion. The psychological are much worse according to a study by the American Psychological Association. This study concluded that in post-abortion patients only 8 weeks after their abortion, 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had been prescribed anti-depressants by their family doctor.

The numbers are incredible. We would wonder why anyone would ever choose to have an abortion. But the fact is, Planned Parenthood doesn't tell its patients the whole truth. Planned Parenthood states: "Most women feel relief after an abortion. Serious emotional problems after an abortion are much less likely than they are giving birth. But anti-choice extremists make false claims about this. They want people to believe that most women who choose abortion suffer severe and long-lasting emotion trauma. This is not true." Planned Parenthood wants women to really believe that there are greater psychological and physical effects after a pregnancy than an abortion. They teach unsuspecting women that giving birth, the most natural experience in the world, is more traumatic than killing your child. They call us anti-choice. They say that we are limiting women from choosing their own life paths. What about the child's choice? What about the father's choice? There are three people in the equation, not just one. We are taking away the child's choice. We hear pro-choice and anti-choice all the time, but we have to remember which side is really pro-choice. We have to remember that there are really only two-groups: Pro-abortion or anti-abortion. Don't let Planned Parenthood get away with yet another lie by teaching society that we are anti-choice and anti-democratic. To stop abortion, the facts must be heard over Planned Parenthood's lies. Women have to know what is going on, see the ultrasound, and know the side effects to make an informed decision. With this, we can hope to put an end to abortion.