A woman is concerned that she might be pregnant. Perhaps her period is two
weeks late. For some reason, she is interested in exploring her
alternatives to a problem pregnancy. She calls the number from the abortion
clinic advertisement, just to ask some questions.
The telephone is answered by an abortion salesperson who calls herself a
"counselor." She only sells one product-abortion. The abortion clinic makes
no money if a pregnancy is continued in any manner! The counselor has had
extensive training to "help" this woman with "her problem."
The counselor asks the frightened woman what the first day of her last
normal period was, and the woman figures the date. The counselor says, "You
are 6 weeks pregnant."
The woman is frightened by this; after all, the expert (counselor) has just
confirmed her worst fear-she is pregnant!
Next the counselor asks, "Is this good or bad news?" Women who are happy
about being pregnant do not call abortion clinics, so the answer is, "Bad
news." The counselor moves in. "No one needs to know; we can take care of
your problem without anyone's knowledge."
Then the counselor searches. What is the reason this woman does not want
this baby? The counselor must know in order to use that fear in her selling
techniques! When the woman tells the counselor why her pregnancy is not
convenient, the counselor continues the sale of her product.
"Does the father know?" They never call the mother, "a mother," or the
baby, "a baby," but the male involved is the father. Subconsciously, the
counselor is encouraging the woman to blame the man for this problem. "Put
all your guilt, anger, frustration on the 'father.' You (the woman) are not
to blame, only the father."
Two steps are left in the sales process, and the next one is the money! If
the woman doesn't ask the price, the counselor will help by saying, "You
know, the cost is $250.00. Do you have $250.00?" Horrified, the woman will
reply, "No." The counselor will then have to calm her down and walk her
through the steps to gather the money. The woman will be told, "Go to all
your friends. Ask to borrow $5.00, $10.00, or $25.00. Get a part-time job.
Pay them back in a year."
The last step in the process is getting the woman in the clinic, preferably
for an appointment, but at the very least for a "free pregnancy test so she
will know for sure." The counselor checks her appointment book and gives
the woman a choice of two times for the test. (The counselor must keep an
appointment book to keep the patients separated. There is nothing worse
than two women arriving at the same time who have just found themselves to
be pregnant, who are both upset, and who can only be seen by the counselor
one at a time.)
When the woman walks in the front door, the counselor knows who she is and
greets her by name. "Hello, Linda, I'm Carol. I am so glad you are here."
The woman thinks, "Am I the only one she is working with?" After all, this
counselor is trained to be a friend. Hopefully, she is the only one
discussing the abortion with the distressed woman.
Together, they go to the lab. The counselor mixes the urine and the
chemicals, pointing to a chart on the wall which shows the results of both
a positive and a negative test. The woman watches the test, and if it is
positive, the counselor sympathizes with her. Then the counselor asks, "Do
you have your money? Why don't you do it right now so you will not have to
think about it anymore? After all, the sooner the better." If the woman
leaves the clinic, someone might actually counsel her that abortion is not
the answer! If the woman has her money, they go to the front desk to pay.
If you read many pregnancy tests, you can tell at about a minute into the
test if it is going to be positive or negative. If the test looks
questionable, the counselor will start selling another step. "This test is
not sensitive enough to pick up a very early pregnancy, but we have another
test we can do that will tell you positively today. I know you don't want
to be concerned with this any longer than you must." The woman will be put
in the "proves she is pregnant" line, which usually will include a
sonogram.
A sonogram shows everything in a woman's abdomen, and a uterus will show
up, pregnant or not. The doctor or technician will find a good view of the
uterus, lock the screen in place, turn it around to show it to Linda, and
say, "See, there it is, you are pregnant." Linda does not routinely read
sonograms, so she will take the expert's opinion. The next question will
be, "Do you have your money? Don't you want to just do it right now so you
don't have to think about it any more?"
What happens when an abortion is performed on a non-pregnant woman?
When a woman is pregnant, her cervix (the mouth of the uterus) softens,
which makes it easier to dilate. A non-pregnant uterus is hard, and the
cervix is difficult to dilate, so the risk of injury is greater. Perhaps
the cervix will never clamp down normally on a pregnancy again. Once the
cervix is dilated, the doctor has to prove at least to the nurse that he
performed an abortion, and he must remove something, so he scrapes out more
of the lining of the uterus than normal. The chances of sterility resulting
are far greater in a non-pregnant woman. Might this fit into the new higher
rate of infertility our country is experiencing?
At the front desk, the woman pays. The preferred method is cash, but many
abortion clinics accept credit cards.
Then the woman moves to the counseling area. She is given a consent form
written by a National Abortion Federation attorney that so confuses the
poor woman that she does not ask questions. The form has every possible
complication, from nothing to death, and for the most part, it accomplishes
its purpose.
However, every woman has these same two questions: First, "Is it a baby?"
"No," the counselor assures the woman. "It is a product of conception (or
blood clot, or piece of tissue)." Even though these counselors see 6-week
babies daily, less than an inch long, with arms, legs, and eyes that are
closed like newborn puppies, they lie to the woman. How many women would
actually have an abortion if they told them the truth? The second question
is, "Does it hurt?" Again, a lie: "No, your uterus is a muscle. It is a
cramp when it opens and a cramp when it closes, so you will experience a
slight cramping sensation." Most women have had cramps and lived, so the
woman thinks it must not be too painful. However, an abortion can be
excruciatingly painful!
Now, the woman moves into the abortion procedure area. She has signed her
consent form and paid her money; she is now a different commodity!
The operating area is cool, to keep the doctor happy. There seems to be
confusion here, as each team of nurses rushes around trying to keep women
ready for the doctor. Each operating room has a radio, each on a different
station, so there is little cross-communication between rooms. Every effort
is made to keep women from hearing other women scream during the abortion
procedure. The woman's counselor, usually the one who booked her on the
telephone, joins her in the room to continue the "friendship"; however, the
real reason is to keep her quiet!
The abortionist stops at the door of the room, picks up the chart, removes
a receipt, and adds it to his stack. At the end of the day, each doctor
turns in his receipts and is paid in cash. Using this method, the abortion
clinics do not show the doctors to be employees; therefore, the clinic is
not responsible for the doctor's malpractice insurance, and no records are
kept for the Internal Revenue Service. The doctors prefer this method
because they have no overhead. They receive cash at the end of each day
without waiting for insurance to pay. Again, how much of this money is
actually reported as income?
The abortionist enters the room, asking a question like, "Where does your
mother think you are today?"-something to reinforce the fear, rather than,
"Are you sure this is what you want to do? Have you considered your other
alternatives?" If the doctor misses the fear, the counselor helps him out.
The woman is scared. Her legs are strapped to the table. Many times, as the
abortionist starts numbing her cervix, she will say, "Stop. I don't want to
do this. I've changed my mind." The abortionist will reply, "It's too late.
I have already started the procedure." Another lie, but if he stops now, he
doesn't get paid! Many times, other nurses will have to be called in to
hold the woman on the table while the doctor completes the abortion. The
sounds of the suction machine, as the blood and small parts of the baby pop
through the tube, are permanently imbedded in the woman's memory. Finally,
the procedure is over, and she is moved to the recovery room.
Aborted women have two reactions in the recovery room. The first is, "I
have killed my baby!" As bad as this sounds, this woman has had an
opportunity to deal with the death of her child, grieve, and go on with her
life. In anger, the second reaction is, "You promised me I would only be
here two hours. It has been four. Let me go!"
But she can't leave yet. She has to go through the re-sale process!
"Take these birth control pills."
The woman replies, "I will never have sex again."
The recovery room nurse coolly says, "You came in once, and if you don't
take these, you will be here again." With inadequate information, the woman
is given the pill, and statistics show that when contraceptives are
dispensed in this environment, pregnancy rates go up. Statistics also show
that nearly one-third of all abortion clinic clients are repeat customers.
Life inside the abortion clinic is chaotic. I worked seven days a week
doing abortions, even on Sunday. My compensation was $25.00 per abortion
and one-third interest in the clinics. In 1983, with two clinics open, I
was well on the way to $250,000, with plans to open three more clinics.
With five clinics open (the McDonald's of the abortion industry), my income
would have been $1,000,000 annually! With this goal in mind, I called in a
business counselor to handle the problems between the partners. We agreed
to meet for an hour weekly for four weeks.
During my second meeting, I realized this man was surrounded with a peace I
didn't see in my world, and I started questioning him! For some reason, I
asked if he was a minister.
His reply was, "Yes."
Incredulously, I asked, "What are you doing in this situation?"
"God sent me."
I had my answer; he was crazy! After all, I was a Christian. I had a Bible
in my desk drawer. I tithed on all my abortion income, and I prayed daily
about the abortions!
As the minister shared the Gospel and we prayed a prayer of salvation, I
didn't think anything in my life would change. To my surprise, as I
returned to the abortion clinic, I saw that women were not happily rushing
in to have a long-awaited abortion. Each woman really wanted someone to
tell her there was another way. Abortion was not the answer! Even though
each woman actually cost me $25.00, I started counseling women not to have
abortions!
In confusion, I returned to the minister for my next counseling session. My
words were, "You will not believe what has started happening this week! All
these women don't want abortions!"
The minister replied, "It hasn't just started happening. Your eyes have
been opened, and you have just started to see it."
I knew he was right. In a state of confusion, I fell to my knees inside
that abortion clinic and prayed, "Lord-if there is a Lord-if this is not
where you want me, hit me over the head with a two-by-four."
My prayer was answered within a few days. A television station in our area
did an expose on abortion clinics doing abortions on women who were not
pregnant. Six women came in, dressed in blue jeans, wired for sound. We
worked so hard on one woman that she had to change her tape! She was so
convinced she was pregnant that she rushed to her own doctor, who ran
another test to confirm that she was not pregnant. As this flashed across
the television screen for five days, I experienced an incredible peace that
surpassed all understanding.
My prayer was answered. I was not supposed to be in the abortion business!
I know first-hand, from having my own abortion in 1973 and having operated
several clinics, that taking the life of an unborn child is not the answer
to an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion not only kills a real human baby, it
devastates the women, who are exploited by greedy abortionists.
Abortion will not be stopped until people are brought face to face with the
horrors of this holocaust. My prayer is that this walk through an abortion
clinic will cause you to re-double your efforts to stop this terrible
plague that is ravaging the women of this country and destroying our future
generations.
Carol Everett is available to share her testimony at rallies, conventions,
workshops, church meetings, colleges, high schools, banquets, fund raisers
for pro-life causes, and before various organizations to do media
interviews. If you are interested in scheduling Carol Everett for a
speaking engagement, you may contact her at LIFE NETWORK, 17430 Campbell
Road, Suite 206, Dallas, TX 75252, phone (214) 733-0338.
ALL About Issues, PO Box 1350, Stafford, VA 22555
$12.95 per year (6 issues)
