Can a mother forget her baby - An interview with Lynda Bell, Dr John Littell, and Dr Rebecca Peck

In this interview we have 3 guests from Florida Right to Life, and Do no Harm Florida, and we discuss Florida Amendment 4, the right to abortion initiative.
Lynda Bell is the President of the Florida Right to Life representing the statewide organization as a delegate to the National Right to Life Committee board of directors in which she also serves as Chairman of the NRLC Board. In her capacity as president, she lobbies at the state Capitol to promote and support pro-life legislation.

Lynda is one of the founders of “Do no harm, Florida.’’

Dr John Littell is a board certified family practitioner based in Florida. He has been practicing for 33 years. He worked in the hospital system for a few years and then in an independent practice in 1998 and then started his own practice in 2003. Dr. Littell is the author of "The Hidden Truth: A Physician’s Advice to Women ― and All Who Care for Them" . He is the chairman of Do no Harm Florida.

Dr. Rebecca Peck is a board-certified family physician who has worked in government, private and hospital-employed physician environments as a geriatric specialist and family physician. She has been practising medicine for over 20 years. She is a spokesperson of Do no Harm Florida.

In this episode, we discuss the following:

--Lynda explains what is Florida Amendment 4, the right to abortion initiative, and a bit of the history leading up to the amendment. The ballot will be on November 5, 2024, the same day as the US federal election.

--We discuss the Ballot Title : “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion”

-- We discuss the ballot summary, and the fact that many of the words in the summary are vague and misleading and the senate should never have approved this to go to ballot.

-- The Amendment 4 ballot summary can be found on the Do No Harm Florida website, with the 5 main concerns highlighted. See references below for that link, and here is the summary.

The proposed ballot summary is as follows:[1]

“

No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion’’

--The sponsor of the bill is Floridians protecting freedom which is a group of allied organisations.
The main 2 organisations are Planned Parenthood (the largest abortion provider in America) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

-- We discuss Campaign Finance. There is a big difference in the reported total $ contributions and expenditure for the sponsor versus the contributions and expenditure for the opponents. These figures can be seen on Ballotpedia. At the moment the sponsor have spent USD $19 million. The opponents, USD $73 000.

-- The Roe Vs Wade decision of 1973 and the overturning of that decision in June 2022. We talk about what impact all of this had on abortion in the USA.

---What is the Abortion law in Florida right now?
Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect May 1, 2024
The Exceptions are:

To save the pregnant person's life
To prevent serious risk to the pregnant person's physical health
If the fetus is not expected to survive the pregnancy
If the pregnancy is a result of rape and/or incest.

-- Is there a political organization behind the sponsor, or some sort of organized campaign to increase abortion in the US. Lynda tell us that the Democrat Party is actively involved. The Democrat mantra used to be safe, legal and rare. Now it’s everywhere.

-- On the Floridians protecting freedom website abortion is referred to as healthcare. We discuss with the doctors how can it be called healthcare when the baby is killed and the mother often has health issues following the abortion?

-- Dr Peck tells us that less then 1 % of doctors in Florida wish to perform abortions.

-- Dr Littell tells us that ACOG, (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) put abortion rights on the top of the list of things they want to see available to women. He said the obstetrical profession in America have turned from reproductive healthcare to experts in infertility and killing babies.

-- Dr Littell points out that chemical abortion is very profitable for Planned Parenthood. $600 for the pills. The mother can go home and have a miscarriage in the privacy of her own home, with all the risks that that entails, including bleeding to death.

-- Dr Littell tells us that what he saw happen during Covid (eg leaving the elderly to die on their own) was intentional, he believes it is an attempt to dehumanize the profession of medicine to make way for a new approach to medicine which has a callous disregard for human life.

-- Dr Peck tells us her story, she had 2 abortions herself, but now has 6 children. She explains the effect that has had on her, and how it has motivated her to help as many mothers and babies as she can.
-- Dr Peck reminds us that we have lost 63 million babies in the USA to abortion, and we have not really done an accounting of that.

-- We discuss the three methods of abortion. The morning after pill (plan B), the chemical abortion and the surgical abortion.

-- The chemical abortion is done with both mifepristone (round 1) and misoprostol (round 2). 62% of the abortions in America are done this way. It is $600 USD cost to the patient. The failure rate is 7%. Dr John Littell explains in details how these pills work and what can go wrong. This was meant to be done only up to 9 weeks gestation, however it is being done later than that. The risk of complications increases with a chemical abortion done between 9 and 16 weeks gestation.

-- The Ballot sponsor “Floridians protecting freedom” gives advice on their website for Florda women who wish to access the pills for a chemical abortion, post 6 weeks. A website is provided. It appears to provide a way to order these pills online. (including from India, in which case no doctor or nurse is involved).

-- We discuss the risks of doing a chemical abortion without a Doctor involved.

-- The WHO is pushing for at home abortions up to 24 weeks gestation.

-- Dr Peck believes that mothers are not given full informed consent with respect to surgical abortions, and do not understand what is involved.

-- We discuss what is the law in the USA when a baby is born alive in an attempted abortion. Who advocates for the baby? We compare with the situation in Australia. Attempts to put in a bill to protect the born alive babies failed in both the USA and Australia

-- We discuss these statistics on abortions in America.

Over 92% of abortions are performed for social or “other” reasons – because the woman does not want to have the baby. Less than 1% of abortions are performed because the mother’s life is in danger or for cases of rape or incest.
64% of women report feeling pressured into having an abortion; women also report being forced to abort.
48% of abortions are repeat abortions — the woman has already had one or more abortions.

-- Has the ease of access to abortion over the last 50 years (since the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision) created a cultural attitude now that no longer values every life as sacred? A culture of death.

-- The interviewees discuss how their faith has encouraged them to fight this battle.

Websites referenced in the Interview;

-- Do No Harm Florida, website.

https://www.donoharmfl.org/

-- Florida Right to Life, website.
https://frtl.org/

-- Floridians Protecting Freedom, website.

https://floridiansprotectingfreedom.com/

--Ballotpedia. (to see details of the ballot, eg title, summary, finance.

https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Amendment_4,_Right_to_Abortion_Initiative_(2024)

--ACOG (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), website.
https://www.acog.org/