Butcher of Avenue A

If Anna Rosa doesn't change America's stand on abortion, nobody will. Anna Rosa is a little girl whose mother tried to abort her. The abortionist, Dr. Abu Hyat, bungled the procedure and managed only to hack off one of her arms. The next day, Anna Rosa was born-minus one arm. Today, news photos show a big-eyed toddler . . . with one sleeve on her pink satin dress sewed shut. What a graphic picture of what abortion really does: It slices up a tiny human being. With such graphic evidence at hand, I was curious how prochoice activists would respond. It seemed they would be reluctant to condemn the doctor because that would suggest abortion itself is wrong. But I was mistaken. To my great surprise, prochoice leaders did condemn the doctor. Then I listened more closely. Exactly what were they condemning him for doing? For bungling the abortion. In other words, their main concern is to make abortion swift and certain. On talk shows, prochoice leaders ranted on as though the real problems were, in their words, "access to quality health care" and the need for "safe, skilled practitioners." Sure, some of them talked about Dr. Hyat's "victims," but they didn't mean the babies he killed; they meant the women unfortunate enough to be in his incompetent care. Notice how people are distorting the language: "Good" medical care now means the baby in the womb is killed quickly and quietly; "bad" care means the baby survives. Our language is being shaped by what adults want, not by what babies need. The result is wrenchingly ironic. If a doctor kills a baby in the womb, he's touted as a great supporter of women's rights. But if he only maims the baby, he can be sent to jail. Abortion leaders seem blissfully unaware of the irony. On CNN's "Crossfire," prolife activist Joseph Foreman squared off with Barbara Radford of the National Abortion Federation, who denounced Dr. Hyat strongly. Foreman came back with a devastating response. "You said you were horrified by the little girl who got her arm ripped off," he said. "I was," Ms. Radford responded. Would you have been equally horrified, Foreman asked, "if the abortionist had ripped the other arm off, the leg off, crushed the skull and finished the job so there would be no mess?" For a stunned moment, Ms. Radford was silent. Then she stammered, "No, uh, that's not what we're here to talk about today . . ." But that's exactly what we must talk about. Congress right now is considering the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would invalidate the law under which Dr. Hyat was convicted. FOCA would make abortion legal up to five minutes before birth, just so long as the mother claimed that having a baby would cause psychological distress. So call your local prolife group and ask for a photograph of little Anna Rosa. Use it whenever you're talking to friends about the Freedom of Choice Act-to show them what abortion really does. This is one picture that is truly worth a thousand words.

04/26/93