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.
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.
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
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
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/IqAVlpMurder 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/
This represents a useful source of pro-life material. Keep up the good work! I will be praying for your success in this noble endeavor.
ReplyDeleteNic Samojluk [adventlifenews.wordpress.com]
Here is evidence for additional public discussions about abortion in Adventist media:
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate form of child abuse
http://advindicate.com/articles/3008
Nic Samojluk. Adventist Today, “The Puzzling SDA Apathy Towards the Plight of the Unborn” (Jan/Feb 2007).
Nic Samojluk