(In July 2002 the 11 public hospitals in New York City imposed mandatory abortion training for all medical residents. Amid the bad news, an encouraging sign has been reported. Some 25 percent (or 38 of the approximately 150 doctors in residency training) have opted out of the abortion program, though doing so could compromise their medical careers. Project REACH congratulates these brave new doctors. By standing up for medicine as a profession that heals instead of kills, they will slow the agenda of abortion supporters who want to make abortion training mandatory all across the United States.)

Making Abortion Mandatory
A Project REACH feature report

Twenty-five percent of medical residents working in New York City's public hospitals have opted out of the mandatory abortion training program recently imposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. That's the figure the city's public hospital chief, Dr. Benjamin Chu, gave two pro-life leaders during a meeting last fall.

The percentage is significant because it shows that even in New York, where the abortion rates are sky high and the culture of abortion has engulfed the medical profession, there are some brave new doctors who are willing to stand up, risk their future, and say that they will not be forced to perform abortions.

"I haven't seen this reported anywhere," said Christopher Slattery, who runs five pro-life pregnancy centers in New York City. "The secular media does not want people to know that there are doctors in New York who refuse to do abortions." Slattery counsels hundreds of women each year who turn away from abortion when they realize the dangers of the procedure or find out that abortion kills the unborn life in their womb.

He and Jeanne Head, a registered nurse and director of the Manhattan Right to Life Committee, were the two pro-life leaders who met with Dr. Chu, head of the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation.

"He said 25 percent was the figure. He wouldn't give us the names or phone numbers of those who had opted out," Slattery stated. "I guess you could say that 25 percent is not that high, but as someone who has been working on the pro-life side in New York for years, it is a sign of hope."

Forced abortion training - which requires medical residents to observe, assist in and perform abortions -- was instituted in New York City's 11 public hospitals in July 2002. The program has a narrow conscience clause that allows residents to opt out if they object for personal, moral or religious reasons to participating in abortion. It was thought that not many new doctors would opt out, however, because refusing to go along with the full program of medical training could possibly slow their career advancement.

Yet Nurse Head reported a surprising figure. Dr. Chu stated that before abortion training was made mandatory, 95 percent of residents were instructed in some part of the abortion procedure, she said. Apparently, making the training mandatory and telling residents that they need a serious reason to opt out has triggered a reaction, since now only 75 percent are taking the training.

About 150 physicians train in residency programs in the city's public hospitals each year.

"I think it will become more difficult for them to decide each year to opt out as they go along in the four-year program," Nurse Head said. "As they seek to become chief resident, they may find some subtle pressure to go along, though the law is supposed to protect their right of conscience."

Abortion Advocates Seek More Abortionists
The National Abortion Rights Action League of New York (NARAL-NY), a strong political supporter of Bloomberg, designed the city's mandatory abortion training program. "We want to say how thankful we are to Mayor Bloomberg for standing up and defending this…" said Kelli Conlin, executive director of NARAL-NY.

NARAL's push for abortion training responds to what the organization sees as a crisis. The number of doctors willing to perform abortion has been steadily declining, and more than half of the 2,000 abortionists in the U.S. are over the age of 50. Last spring The Washington Post reported that between 1992 and 1996, the number of abortionists dropped by 14 percent. In many rural areas, there are no doctors willing to do abortions.

New York was chosen by abortion activists as a training center because of the favorable political climate, and because about one in seven doctors in the U.S. trains here. The plan is to make the city the abortion capital, and to have abortion-trained doctors spread throughout the country.

'Choice' By Force
Pro-life advocates claim that the mandatory abortion rules expose the true agenda behind the "pro-choice" movement. "What they really are interested in is forcing everyone to accept abortion as a routine medical procedure, which it is not," said Slattery.

"I think the goal also is to break down the lingering resistance to abortion in the medical community, and to desensitize young doctors to the horror of abortion," said Nurse Head.

A statement by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), reported by columnist Michelle Malkin, outlines the agenda: "It is not enough for training to be available on an elective basis to overworked residents," the NAF states. "Programs need to set expectations of resident participation in routine abortion training so that trainees who exercise a conscience clause provision to opt out become the exception and not the rule." In other words, residency programs should make it clear that the way to career advancement is through abortion training.

While abortion advocates press their agenda in training programs, pregnancy help centers throughout New York seek to provide women with the information that will allow them to make truly informed choices. Slattery has seen the power of the truth working through his state-of-the-art 3-D sonogram machine. When women see an image of their baby on the screen, they are more likely to choose life for their child, he said. "There is so much medical and scientific evidence today about the humanity of the unborn baby. We now have a window on the womb that lets a woman 'touch' her unborn baby."

Too bad the city's hospitals are showing their residents live abortions instead of sonograms of live babies. Maybe more would see the light and opt for life.

-- Promoting the Culture of Life in New York 3250 Westchester Avenue, Suite 210, Bronx, NY 10461 Phone: 718-409-0900 | Fax: 718-409-9259 | info@projectreach.org Program REACH, Inc., aka Project REACH is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. All website content © Program REACH, Inc. 2004