Are women & babies safe in Washington?

The Dr. Kermit Gosnell abortion clinic trial has me absolutely infuriated with the media, and worried about women's safety--not to mention the lives of babies--here in Washington State.  The media spotlight is finally pointing in the direction of Pennsylvania, thanks to pressure from pro-life groups and the embarrassed outrage of some liberals who also noticed the problem.

But it all causes me to wonder:   Can we assume anyone is watching over what is happening in Washington State's abortion clinics?

Here's some background, in case you missed the story, thanks to the media's silence on the issue:

Pennsylvania abortionist Kermit Gosnell is on trial for murdering a woman during an abortion, and for murdering babies born alive during abortions.  Add to that, his clinic was a bloody, filthy, contaminated place where poor women were sometimes coerced into having their babies torn from their bodies.  Unqualified staff assisted in procedures. And Dr. Gosnell also kept baby body parts in jars as mementos.

The state of Pennsylvania skipped any inspections of Gosnell's clinic until a woman died there in 2009.  Officials obviously dropped the ball.

But the national media took the state's dropped ball and quietly kicked it under the couch.  A small splash of coverage accompanied Gosnell's 2011 arrest; but most major news agencies have given NO coverage to the trial, underway since early this year.  See Kirsten Powers' USA Today column calling attention to the "media blackout" on the case.

Given these facts, we need to ask some questions:

• Why doesn't the media want to cover this story?  
• Why wasn't Dr. Gosnell's clinic inspected by the state department of health for 17 years, and why were complaints from patients ignored during those years?
• Could similar atrocities be happening here, in Washington State, right now? 

Here are the answers:

The media doesn't want to hurt the abortion industry. 
The media loves a gruesome and horrific story, as long as it doesn't tread on sacred ground.

Consider the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and the Newtown elementary school shooting.  Nobody loves terrorists, and their evil acts are played up for all to see.  But the pro-choice media fears that any negative publicity will put "the cause" of abortion-on-demand at risk.  Some even sort of come close to admitting that's their reasoning. One reporter wrote:

"... surely those of us who are pro-choice must worry that this [the Gosnell trial story] will restrict access to abortion:  that a crackdown on abortion clinics will follow, with onerous white-glove inspections; that a revolted public will demand more restrictions on late-term abortions; or that women will be too afraid of Gosnell-style crimes to seek a medically necessary abortion."

The government wanted to protect the abortion industry. 
Pennsylvania officials failed to inspect Dr. Gosnell's clinic for 17 years, in spite of several complaints about women's health complications and the clinic's unsanitary conditions.  You see, in 1999, Pennsylvania's pro-abortion governor and his administration ended routine inspections of abortion clinics, according to the Gosnell trial grand jury report.  On page 150, an official testified:

“there was a concern that if they did routine inspections, that they may find a lot of these facilities didn’t meet [the standards for getting patients out by stretcher or wheelchair in an emergency], and then there would be less abortion facilities, less access to women to have an abortion.” 

This could happen in Washington State. 
A couple of years ago I asked the Department of Health about Washington State abortion clinic regulations.  They are not regulated.  The practitioners who do abortions are subject to regulation, but not the clinics.  You can read about that here.

Washington State's governors--and many of our Democratic and some Republican legislators--have been unashamedly protective of Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion agenda for years.

Right now our State Senate is considering a "sweetheart deal" for the abortion industry, requiring insurance companies and employers to cover the gruesome practice even if they have a strong moral objection to it.  So you have to wonder:

• How safe are women who seek abortions in Washington State?
• How carefully and frequently does Washington State inspect abortion clinics?
• What happens if a baby is born alive during an abortion in Washington State?
• Is there a "Dr. Gosnell" butchering women and babies in Washington State right now, with officials looking the other way because they're afraid of harming the industry?

Is anyone else bothered by this?  Before you dismiss this as conspiracy theory nonsense, do your homework.  Watch this documentary on Gosnell's clinic and two women's testimonies, and skim the grand jury report.  Read whatever media coverage you can find.  Then start asking our State government to answer some questions. 

National teacher union heads make more than $360,000 a year, 3 times more than highest paid WA school administrator

Apparently it pays to be a union leader, even if it doesn't necessarily pay to be a union member.


Check out this Fox News article about national teacher union heads raking in the money while average teachers scratch out a living.  The article says the national average teacher salary is $44,000 a year, while union leaders earn shockingly high average salaries:

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten's pay jumped to $407,323 between 2010 and 2011, while her counterpart at the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, got a raise to $362,644. Factor in stipends and other paid expenses and Weingarten took in $493,859 and Van Roekel $460,060 for 2011. 

To summarize: the lowest paid of two national teachers' union presidents makes about three times more than the highest paid WA public school administrator.  This, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In Washington State, the average teacher salary is $63,636 ($53,056 base salary, $10,580 additional salary), and $18,075 in benefits.

I'm still searching for information on what Washington Education Association union leadership gets paid.

You can check the figures for individual school districts at the Freedom Foundation website; or at the Bureau of Labor Statistics site.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/14/teacher-union-bigs-rake-in-dough-despite-budget-cuts-across-education-sector/?intcmp=trending#ixzz20cq3dosX

An abortion tax: Does it make sense?

A tax on abortions?  Why not?  In a time when we are strapped for revenue, why not levy a tax on a procedure that is infinitely more harmful than soda pop, candy bars, gasoline, or cigarettes?  It's something to think about.

Read more at the TaxProf Blog.

Alan Guttmacher institute (Planned Parenthood's research arm) reports this about Washington State's abortion numbers:

In 2008, 24,320 women obtained abortions in Washington, producing a rate of 18.3 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. Some of these women were from other states, and some Washington residents had abortions in other states, so this rate may not reflect the abortion rate of state residents. The rate increased 5% since 2005, when it was 17.5 abortions per 1,000 women 15-44. Abortions in Washington represent 2% of all abortions in the United States.

How much does an abortion cost?  I checked with the Feminist Women's Health Care Center (Tacoma and Renton areas), where I learned that a first trimester abortion costs $500-$1,000, and a second trimester abortion costs $600 to $10,000.  Would the tax revenue be worth it?  Should the tax be based on the potential loss of revenue, since a potential tax-payer is lost in the procedure?

It's something to think about.