On substantiating abortion numbers

“I have aborted over a million babies, and I consider it my passion.”

 
So quoted Gianna Jessen, abortion survivor, of the abortionist who delivered her--presumably Dr. Edward Allred, formerly of Avalon Memorial Hospital.

If true, that's an extraordinary and horrific achievement.  But is it true?

She didn't cite her claim, so I have searched the Internet for a few hours.  No luck.  I did find a plaintive query on Reddit, though, under the heading "Supposed Eddie Allred quote"

"At about 3:20, this woman [Gianna Jessen] asserts that Eddie Allred stated at some unknown point in time, "I have aborted over a million babies and I consider it my passion". I have been trying, to no avail, to find a source for this quote. 

I asked her via Twitter if she could give me a source and she basically told me to look it up for myself. The only hits for this quote are from her speech.  Can anyone confirm or deny this, provide the original edited source, anything? I know it's a shot in the dark."

No takers.  That was five years ago.  

So I'm wondering: did he ever brag about his numbers?  Did he say it of himself or merely his clinics?

Prolifeblogs (http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2011/03/) in 2011 attributed half a million kills to Dr. Allred: 

"Family Planning Associates was founded by the notorious abortionist Edward Allred, who once claimed to have personally aborted at least 500,000 babies..."  

Unfortunately, no source cited.

In 2013, Advindicate writer David Read attributed a mere 250,000 kills to Dr. Allred: 

"In 1980, Allred claimed to have personally aborted a quarter of a million fetuses in the preceding 12 years. It may seem difficult to believe that one man could perform so many abortions, but Allred tried to spend no more than five minutes with each pregnant woman. “We've been pioneers in so many ways,” he once told a reporter. “We streamlined, we made efficiencies, we employed the suction technique better than anyone, and we eliminated needless patient-physician contact. We usually see the patient for the first time on the operating table and then not again.” Spending only five minutes per patient would have allowed Allred to perform as many as 100 abortions in a 10-12 hour working day, and 200 working days per year (50 four-day work weeks) would, over 12 years, add up to 240,000 aborted fetuses. So Allred's estimate of the number of abortions he performed during that time is credible."  http://advindicate.com/articles/2560

Again: no source cited, but at least a 1998 article in the OC Weekly corroborates--without citing the source itself:

"In 1980, he claimed to have personally aborted 250,000 fetuses during the previous 12 years. The number of abortions Allred has conducted in the past 18 years is not known. "I don't discuss numbers anymore," the doctor recently told the Weekly. 'But obviously we've done plenty more surgeries.' If it's any indication, Allred's current ad in the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages proclaims his Family Planning Associates clinics are "California's leading provider" of abortions."  http://www.ocweekly.com/1998-06-25/news/the-abortionist-who-funds-pro-life-republicans/full/

The only sourced number of abortions I can find attributed to Dr. Allred is that notorious 1980 San Diego Union article, in which Allred "estimates his clinics will perform upwards of 60,000 abortions this year".  The article, titled "Doctor's abortion business is lucrative," characterizes Dr. Allred as a hard-charging businessman: "I love to work very hard," he says.  "I'd work from 6 in the morning until midnight performing abortions."

It's possible that Gianna Jessen found a credible source for her quote--"One million babies"--but given the above, I would be surprised if such information were available, as Dr. Allred apparently experienced some fallout from that article and clammed up.  On October 14, 1980--two days after the unflattering article appeared--the parents of one of Dr. Allred's deceased patients filed a $14 million lawsuit alleging he had "provided substandard treatment as a result of [the patient's] race and ancestry..." http://www.thefreelibrary.com/William+L.+Webster+vs.+Reproductive+Health+Services.-a095612647

So Gianna Jessen's quote of Dr. Allred--whom she did not name, incidentally: is it credible?  That depends.  Assuming the OC Weekly is correct that he claimed to have aborted 250,000 fetuses in 12 years, it's likely that his clinics easily accounted for a million kills in 30 years.  At his previous personal rate of abortions, he could have done 625,000 by 1998.  But did he say that anywhere?  Perhaps.  It's possibly on the Internet still, or it's possible that it was on the Internet but has been removed.  Either way, it's devilishly hard to find without a citation.

Why do I bring this up?  To minimize his "accomplishments"?  No.  I cannot fathom the destruction that man has wreaked.  As Teresa Beem* illustrates for the 250,000 figure: imagine AT&T Stadium filled with infants.  Now imagine it filled three times.  That's 250,000 human beings murdered, quite lucratively, by one man. 

I question her "one million babies" statement because I don't want the cause to lose credibility.  There's no need to enlarge on the heinous story, even if the enlargements are plausible.  Opponents seize every opportunity to discredit the effort.  The known horror is sufficient to persuade a sufficiently sane, sensitive human being without a need to extrapolate.  

So Gianna, if you're listening: I'm glad you're alive.  You have an incredible testimony. And I mean "incredible" in the sense of "amazing"--although, it's useful to remember that some others will view it as literally incredible.  I would love to know where you got that "one million babies" line from--and if you simply extrapolated it, that's fine, but please admit it and correct it in the future.

God bless you and your powerful work.  I hope you will have a family of your own to love--to bring your story full-circle, just as you've done for others.

*http://arthurandteresabeem.blogspot.com/2015/04/dear-seventh-day-adventists-imagine-for.html  

Dr. Allred's article in the October 12, 1980 San Diego Union

I realize this piece of Adventist history is old news, but this is the first time I've seen it. Please bear with me. 

Below is a 1980 San Diego Union article about Dr. Edward Allred, the Adventist obstetrician and notorious abortionist. Lest you think I'm attacking the man for his sordid past, you should know that I do not condemn him. We all, like sheep, have gone astray--but by His wounds we are healed.

In short, I don't know Dr. Allred's status with God or the Adventist church (I just learned that he may have left the church years ago), but I know that abortion is murder.

Christians are called to represent the Way, the Truth, and the Life. A church that fails to stand against murder blasphemes God. A church that commits abortion in its own hospitals and clinics, through its associations, and through its "pro-choice" policy, is destined for hell. If the church will not separate itself from this practice--and I pray it will--I beg you to separate yourselves from the church.

Until then, please continue to speak of this with your friends, family, church leaders, and our God. May He bless you richly.

"Doctor's Abortion Business is Lucrative" (San Diego Union; October 12, 1980)

Abortion is a business to Edward Campbell Allred, and business has never been better.

Since finishing a two-year hitch as an Army doctor in 1967 with a "negative net worth," Allred has become a multimillionaire by forming the largest chain of abortion clinics in California. Allred estimates his clinics will perform upwards of 60,000 abortions this year--up from 40,000 just two years ago.

"I love to work."

Allred also owns two industrial medical practices, two pharmacies and a portfolio of silver and oil stocks, but his main investment is his abortion business. Allred declines to discuss his finances, but state health officials estimate Allred's clinics and 22-bed abortion hospital will gross more than $12 million this year--about 25 percent from Medi-Cal.

A new clinic will open in Long Beach this January, and Allred talks of opening one in Calexico to "help stem the Hispanic tide" into the United States.

"I love to work very hard," said Allred, who performs an estimated 1,800 abortions each month. "I almost feel guilty when I'm not working. Golf is the only thing that can take my mind off work. But if I'm away more than a day or two I get nervous and worried and have to get back to work."

Allred may love to work, but he also loves his leisure hours and the pleasures his lucrative Family Planning Associates Medical Group abortion clinics can buy.

Allred owns homes in Fresno, Long Beach and La Crescenta, a 270-acre ranch near San Luis Obispo, a 6,500-acre cattle ranch in Nevada, and one of the largest stables of quarter horses in the country. He uses his Mercedes 450XL or two planes, including his 10-place King Air 200 turboprop, to travel between clinics.

An Allred horse named Rich Grich won the $33,000 Golden State Derby this year at Bay Meadows Race Track in San Mateo. Allred's Charger Bar earned nearly $500,000 before being retired for breeding. Allred owns about 200 quarter horses--about 40 of which are on the race track circuit.

Allred, 44, is a 1964 graduate of the Loma Linda University Medical School run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He said he would have preferred to be a lawyer or politician but "every good Seventh-day Adventist boy is supposed to become a doctor."

"I was not much interested in science or medicine, frankly," Allred said. "I went to USC Law School but dropped out. I didn't have much aptitude for science but all my friends were going to medical school so I went. My instinct, I think, were better suited to the business world than medicine."

Allred's interest in politics persists, however. A moderate to conservative Republican, Allred has contributed to Ronald Reagan's campaigns "since the early days." He also contributed to the gubernatorial campaign of Sen. Ken Maddy, R-Fresno, (despite Maddy's anti-abortion views) and the campaign by Carey Peck to defeat Rep. Robert Dornan, R-Calif., a staunch foe of abortion.

Allred began his abortion business soon after passage of a 1967 state law allowing abortion in cases where the mother's mental health was endangered. Allred was administrator of the 22-bed Avalon Memorial Hospital (which he later bought) near Watts when the law passed.

Allred quickly made Avalon the leader in the abortion business. He says he was urged to turn Avalon into an abortion hospital by officials of the Los Angeles Free Clinic--a version of events which clinic officials say is not true.

"Here we were, this tiny hospital in the worst area of town, doing 17,000 abortions the year before the 1973 Supreme Court decision and our nearest competitor was doing 6,000," Allred said. "We just worked at it harder and were organized better than our competitors."

"Half our patients were from out of state. Planeloads would come in on the weekends from Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. We'd meet them at the plane with a bus and take them directly to the hotel. I'd work from 6 in the morning until midnight performing abortions."

After the Supreme Court struck down all anti-abortion laws, Allred began expanding into outpatient clinics where women could get abortions without staying overnight in a hospital. Allred now has clinics in San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, Fresno and Stanislaus counties.

"We've been pioneers in so many ways," Allred said. "We dropped the psychiatric evaluation even before the Supreme Court decision. We let the physician make the mental health decision. We streamlined, we made efficiencies, we employed the suction technique better than anyone, and we eliminated needless patient-physician contact."

A typical Allred clinic does abortions only two or three days a week. On other days nurses give pregnancy exams and postoperative follow-ups. Allred and his staff arrive only for the abortions; Allred tries to visit each clinic at least once a month.

Allred prides himself on keeping the clinics clean, comfortable and stocked with the latest in medical equipment. The San Diego clinic, for example, has a plush, carpeted waiting room, two spotless operating rooms, two recovery rooms, and every piece of equipment suggest for outpatient gynecological surgery in a recent edition of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Allred and his staff work quickly. Allred likes to spend no more than five minutes on each abortion--in order, he says, to reduce the amount of anesthesia needed and the chances of anesthesia-related problems. Speed also means lower prices, Allred argues.

At the San Diego clinic, on Alvarado Road, a first trimester suction abortion costs $160 with a local anesthetic, $185 with a general anesthetic, according to clinic director Kazumi Kato. Abortions for Mexican nationals cost $150, regardless of the type of anesthetic, Kato said, because "they can't afford more."

Kato says the doctors sometimes are told to slow down because the recovery rooms are full.

The secret of the clinics' efficiency, Allred said, is "giving everyone one job to do and then making them an expert at it."

"We try to use the physician for his technical skill and reduce the one-to-one relationship with the patient," Allred said. "We usually see the patient for the first time on the operating table and then not again. More contact is just not efficient. A nurse practitioner is adequate, although, of course, the doctors are always ready if there are problems."

Allred is also proud that he has never lost a malpractice suit. Nor has a medical charge ever been filed against him with the Board of Medical Quality Assurance. Even Carmen Trujillo, president of the California Pro-Life Council, says, "Our feedback is that the clinics are clean and medically sound."

The clinics do not require hospital licenses and thus do not receive the same scrutiny as hospitals by state health officials--a fact that suits Allred fine. "We hate having state bureaucrats crawling around," he said. "The state doesn't know a damned thing about abortions."

The Allred clinics perform the abortions for the Insurance Co. of North America and three hospitals run by the Kaiser health plan ("We're negotiating to get the work from two more.").

Allred said he was interested in population control even before he went in into the abortion business. He said he and his wife decided 20 years ago to have no children and never regretted the decision. He suffers the controversy surrounding abortion without apparent turmoil ("It's inevitable") and refuses to debate morality ("I'm not a philosopher").

"Population control is too important to be stopped by some right-wing pro-life types," Allred said. "Take the new influx of Hispanic immigrants. Their lack of respect for democracy and social order is frightening. I hope I can do something to stem that tide; I'd set up a clinic in Mexico for free if I could. Maybe one in Calexico would help. The survival of our society could be at stake."

Eliminating welfare would be a good step toward population control, Allred said.

"The Aid to Families with Dependent Children program is the worst boondoggle ever created," he said. "When a sullen black woman of 17 or 18 can decide to have a baby and get welfare and food stamps and become a burden to all of us, it's time to stop. In parts of South Los Angeles having babies for welfare is the only industry the people have."

If the state eliminates Medi-Cal funding for abortions, Allred said his clinics might continue giving free abortions to poor women "for the social good." Besides, he said, the funding issue will be moot when the pharmaceutical industry perfects the abortion suppository, probably within the next decade.

"When the suppository is available at every drugstore, I'll be a dinosaur," Allred said. "I'll be glad to get out of the business. I'm sure I'll be remembered as a pioneer. I love what I've created, and I love my organization."

Seventh-day Adventists and Abortion: News and Notes

This is a compilation of news articles, blogs, and notes through the years--by no means comprehensive--on Adventists and abortion.  The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church has defended abortion in its policies, hospitals, and clinics since at least 1972--one year before Roe v. Wade. 

I myself hadn't realized until last year, when I learned of the church's wordy, spiritual-sounding, pro-choice abortion policy.  But their commitment to abortion goes far deeper than that policy.  One of the most prolific and innovative abortionists in the world, Dr. Edward Allred, was a longtime member of the Adventist church.  Former abortion pioneer, Planned Parenthood vice president, and Margaret Sanger award winner Dr. Louise Tyrer was an Adventist. 

I realize a few of you are pro-choice, but I think you'll still be surprised at the extent to which this church, ostensibly a Christian church, has committed itself to this endeavor.  Please pass this along.  I think everyone ought to know. 

1. The largest for-profit abortion business in the world, owned by a Adventist, closes a clinic (2011): 

Family Planning Associates was founded by the notorious abortionist Edward Allred [an Adventist at the time], who once claimed to have personally aborted at least 500,000 babies and famously stated during an interview with the San Diego Union that he wished he could set up a free abortion clinic in Mexico to “stem the tide” of illegal immigration. Allred retired in 2005, according to Newman, and sold FPA, which operates 20 abortion centers in two states.    http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/30/california-abortion-biz-closes-eighth-facility-this-month/

2. Gianna Jessen, who recently testified before Congress ("If abortion is about women's rights, then what were mine?"), survived a botched abortion at Dr. Allred's clinic. 

One abortion technique Allred used in the early days was saline amniocentesis--injecting saline in place of the normal amniotic fluid--which slowly poisons the baby while burning its skin. This method was usually used in late-term abortions, and the baby typically took an hour to 90 minutes to die. In 1977, Gianna Jessen's 17-year-old mother went to Dr. Allred's Avalon Clinic in Inglewood, California, seeking to abort a pregnancy of 29 weeks (seven months). Dr. Allred used the salt poisoning method, underestimating the amount of saline necessary to kill the fetus, which began struggling to escape the deadly womb. Gianna Jessen was born alive, and Dr. Allred is listed on her birth certificate as the doctor who delivered her.   http://advindicate.com/articles/2560

3. Dr. Allred's partner at Family Planning Associates pioneered the use of saline amniocentesis abortions:

FPA’s two physician founders, Dr. Edward C. Allred and Dr. Kenneth L. Wright, began immediately to concentrate on developing simpler and less expensive abortion procedures. In those early years, Dr. Wright pioneered the use of saline amniocentesis, a technique for terminating pregnancy safely [*not for the fetus] in the second trimester. http://www.fpawomenshealth.com/about-us/

4. Dr. Allred was largest breeder of quarter horses and one of the most prolific murderers of children.

Edward Allred must be some kind of masochist. In his day job as a physician, he runs the nation’s largest privately held chain of abortion clinics. His Family Planning Associates Medical Group generates $70 million in annual revenue and some $5 million in profit, as well as the occasional death threat from antiabortionists. For kicks, he owns the Los Alamitos Race Course in Orange County, Calif., which is part of a lame industry that has been stumbling for years. With a herd of 500, he’s the nation’s largest breeder and racer of quarter horses, the beefy stepsisters to the sleek Thoroughbreds.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/1224/040.html

5. Dr. Irving "Bud" Feldkamp, also an Adventist, bought Dr. Allred's abortion business

Dr. Irving Feldkamp III, 67, a San Bernardino dentist and second owner of the California/Chicago abortion chain, Family Planning Associates (FPA), is in an incredible position. Overnight, he could close all of his 22 abortion mills and stop the massive slaughter of unborn infants.  http://cal-catholic.com/?p=938

6. Doctors unite to stop Planned Parenthood in Orlando:

Planned Parenthood kept its plan secret until March, when pro-lifer Jay Rogers  discovered its scheme while researching another proposed Planned Parenthood clinic.
As it turns out, PPGO purchased its 8,800 sq. ft. building in December 2013 from Orthopaedic Associates of Osceola for$1.4 million, this only after Adventist Health Systems, which held the deed to the property, signed a waiver to a restriction  that specified “the performance of elective termination of pregnancies is prohibited.” Seventh Day Adventists are woefully pro-abortion.  http://www.jillstanek.com/2014/05/70-physicians-join-pro-lifers-to-block-new-planned-parenthood-abortion-clinic/

7. La Sierra (Adventist) University names building after notorious abortionist

Riverside, California, January 16, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Seventh-day Adventist website ADvindicate has recently drawn attention to the fact that La Sierra University has named a new economics centre after abortionist and gambling magnate Edward C. Allred, who in 1980 claimed to have personally aborted a quarter of a million babies in twelve years.  https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/seventh-day-adventist-university-names-new-economics-centre-after-abortioni

8. Fourteen family members of abortionist Bud Feldkamp (who bought Family Planning Associates from abortionist Edward Allred) die in Montana plane crash (2009)

Feldkamp is a member of the Azure Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church.  http://archives.adventistreview.org/article/2484/archives/issue-2009-1508/08cn-three-adventist-families-are-montana-plane-crash-victims

9. The Feldkamp plane crashed into a Catholic cemetery near a memorial to the unborn:

March 26, 2009 - There is an ironic twist in tragedy of the small plane that crashed into a Catholic cemetery in Montana on March 24, killing seven adults and seven children. (Those in the plane were on their way to a ski resort only open to millionaires.)  

In this cemetery is a memorial called the Tomb [memorial] of the Unborn that reminds Catholics of the millions of unborn children who have been killed by abortionists.

The deaths of these 14 adults and children cannot be minimized, yet the mainstream media has ignored or suppressed a bizarre twist in this tragedy: Two sisters who died in this crash were the daughters of Irving "Bud" Feldkamp, the owner of Family Planning Associates, the largest abortion clinic chain in the United States. Feldkamp's two daughters, their husbands and their five children died in this horrific crash.

Verification at http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/feldkamp.asp#4Cqf8bILfCWTC7zC.99

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/646579835.html 

10. Candlelight vigil for mother and baby killed via late-term abortion at Adventist hospital:

Rev. Mahoney stated six actions that pro-life supporters are hoping to see in response to this tragedy:

1. Shady Grove Adventist Hospital must file a formal complaint against Carhart with the MD Board of Physicians.

2. The MD Board of Physicians should immediately suspend Carhart’s medical license pending an investigation into Morbelli’s death...  http://www.lifenews.com/2013/02/18/candlelight-vigil-remembers-mom-baby-who-died-from-abortion/

Original story:

Authorities in Maryland said Monday that they are investigating the death of a 29-year-old New Rochelle woman who reportedly traveled to the Washington, D.C., suburbs for a late-term abortion.  http://www.priestsforlife.org/clippings/4505-local-teachers-abortion-death-under-investigation-in-maryland

11. Adventist abortion guidelines:

1) Prenatal human life is a magnificent gift of God. God's ideal for human beings affirms the sanctity of human life, in God's image, and requires respect for prenatal life. However, decisions about life must be made in the context of a fallen world. Abortion is never an action of little moral consequence. Thus prenatal life must not be thoughtlessly destroyed [Read: life thoughtfully destroyed is okay, though.]. Abortion should be performed only for the most serious reasons...

5) Christians acknowledge as first and foremost their accountability to God. They seek balance between the exercise of individual liberty and their accountability to the faith community and the larger society and its laws. They make their choices according to scripture and the laws of God rather than the norms of society. Therefore, any attempts to coerce women either to remain pregnant or to terminate pregnancy should be rejected as infringements of personal freedom...

9) God gives humanity the freedom of choice, even if it leads to abuse and tragic consequences. His unwillingness to coerce human obedience necessitated the sacrifice of His Son. He requires us to use His gifts in accordance with His will and ultimately will judge their misuse

12. History of Adventist abortion: worried about overpopulation

"Though we walk the fence, Adventists lean toward abortion rather than against it. Because we realize we are confronted by big problems of hunger and overpopulation, we do not oppose family planning and appropriate endeavors to control population."  - Elder Neil Wilson, 1970

https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1991/08/abortion-history-of-adventist-guidelines

 13: More Adventist history of abortion, including connections with Planned Parenthood:

Louise Tyrer, MD, known as “a true pioneer of the pro-choice, pro-family planning movement,”45 was the daughter of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to China and was a graduate of Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1944. She was a founding member of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP)in 1963 and “one of the first voices for the pro-choice movement.”46 In 1975 she became the vice president of medical affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and held the position for 15 years. After the age of 70, she continued consulting for groups such as Abortion Rights Mobilization in New York and the U.S. State Department, did medical direction for Planned Parenthood in Northern Nevada, and campaigned for RU-486 medication abortion.  http://lifeassuranceministries.org/proclamation/2014/2/abortioninadvent.html

https://www.arhp.org/modules/press/Reproductive-health-providers-and-advocates-celebrate-the-life-and-accomplishments-of-ARHP-medical-director-emeritus-Louise-Tyrer-MD--/62

14. Prominent Adventist abortion apologists (I suspect these two played a role in producing the Adventist abortion guidelines as well):

a. John V. Stevens, Sr., Adventist pastor, evangelist, and former [Adventist] Pacific Union Conference Public Affairs/Religious Liberty Director

-Author of The Abortion Controversy - Will a Free America Survive? Will You? [Will Unborn Children?]

While it may com to you as a surprise, God is both Pro Choice AND Pro-Life. The Scripture [sic] prove it conclusively...

This is a must for everyone to purchase as it will save your life.  http://theabortioncontroversy.com/

“The best example is Christ who chose to die in order to restore that freedom lost through sin so that all can choose to mold their own destiny. Christ valued choice over life. . . . Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to the Creator–individuality, power to think and to do. (Education, page 17) This takes place after birth, when the developing baby becomes a person. . . .”

“God gives humanity the freedom of choice, even if it leads to abuse and tragic consequences. Hisunwillingness to coerce human obedience necessitated the sacrifice of His Son. He requires us to use His gifts in accordance with His will and ultimately will judge their misuse.”
“Abortion Answers and Attitudes” by the Pacific Union Recorder in 1990 https://adventlife.wordpress.com/page/17/

b. Kevin D. Paulson, former Adventist pastor and evangelist:

 "To begin with, Seventh-day Adventists have a time-tested heritage of adhering strictly to the Bible in matters of faith and morality. Just because other Christians get excited about something doesn't mean we should too...How tragic that the same Christians who deny the claims of God's law and the ability of converted Christians to obey it are the same ones who apparently think civil coercion will succeed where spiritual persuasion has failed." (Kevin Paulson: http://bit.ly/1MsdnAw)

15 Pro-life Adventist and octogenarian Nic Samojluk's books about the history of Adventists and abortion.

From Pro-life to Pro-Choice: The Dramatic Shift in Seventh-day Adventist's [sic] Attitudes Towards Abortion https://goo.gl/IqAVlp

Murder in Paradise: https://goo.gl/rMGQLA

16. Link to Spectrum magazine's 1989 issue on abortion--to my knowledge, the only public discussion of its kind among Adventists: http://goo.gl/YLWrBc