"Smile From the Womb Fires Debate"

Herald Sun (Australia)
Babette Francis, National & Overseas Co-ordinator, Endeavour Forum Inc.
August 4, 2004



I regret the demise of Latin for the general public when I observe feminists in the abortion debate sheltering behind the euphemism "fetus" - which in Latin translates as "young one."
However, after the 3D/4D ultrasound pictures by Dr. Stuart Campbell that show the unborn child (oops, fetus) sucking its thumb, jumping, and smiling in the womb at earlier gestational ages than viability, feminists can no longer shelter from the glaring light of technology.

Now Julia Black's documentary "My foetus" to be screened on ABC on Sunday has caught feminists like startled deer in the headlights of oncoming traffic. They are not sure which way to jump. The British program has caused a sensation by showing the actual abortion of a four-week-old fetus.

Maybe the tide is turning. Feminists Eva Cox and Wendy McCarthy have urged a debate about late-term abortions, and Dr. David Van Gend from the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life, thinks a new civility has entered the abortion debate.

He writes evocatively: "I first saw my son, Robert, on ultrasound at 13 weeks. We watched him stir and put his hand to his cheek, as he still does in his sleep."

I'm more skeptical about feminist civility because despite her confronting documentary Julia Black is not willing to support a ban on abortion. At one time in the US, an African-American caught in the wrong place, or a possible horse-thief in the Wild West, was hung without too many questions. It was progress when it became policy that "the prisoner will be given a fair trial before he is hanged."

That's where the hapless fetus is now. He or she will be given a fair trial with the prosecution prattling on about "women's rights" while the pro-life defence will write articles claiming he or she is much more than a blob of tissue or clump of cells. And then the fetus will be aborted anyway because the law providing protection is not enforced.

Julia Black says that under certain circumstances she would again have an abortion, but made her film because she wanted to provoke anger, emotion and discussion. I suppose we have to be grateful to her for giving the fetus a fair trial, especially as abortionists use every means to oppose women being given information about the fetus or about alternatives to termination.

International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world's leading abortion provider, not only opposes clients being shown films of fetal development, but aggressively markets its product. The latest is their 'social fashion' T-shirt for post-abortive women to "assert a powerful message in support of women's rights and undo the stigma associated with killing the unborn." The shirt simply says "I had an abortion."

This abortion pride statement intrigued one Canadian commentator who wrote "I think it's a great idea. I think they should adopt a whole range of slogans. How about, 'I eat unborn babies for breakfast…Vote John Kerry.' Those would really sell."

As it happens, Julia Black is the daughter of Tim Black, head of Marie Stopes International, another major abortion provider. In a Perth suburb a Marie Stopes abortuary objected to a childcare centre being built next door, worried the happy sounds of children playing would be upsetting to clients. "It would be an emotional situation for someone who's decided to have an abortion and the last thing they hear before they enter the clinic is the happy voices of children," the local Mayor said.

The abortuary came to an agreement with the childcare centre that a 2m concrete wall would be erected to block the children's sounds.

Two meter thick walls is probably what Planned Parenthood would like to construct between their clients and the ultrasound screen used to estimate gestational age. If Mum saw the screen she just might see her fetus smiling at her. And if she watches the ABC on Sunday, she may wonder how she could contemplate such a decision.