Kathleen Cassidy, Texas Justice Foundation
The National Foundation for Life and the Texas Justice Foundation are leading a women’s national mobilization effort against the coercion of women through abortion. This energetic, massive project focuses on the reality of abortion: abortion hurts women. Countless women have been deceived into believing that abortion is their only solution. But these same women are now coming forward to tell the courts of this nation the real truth regarding their personal experience with abortion. Abortion survivors are telling the courts how abortion has ravaged their lives. The testimony of each woman’s personal experience details the devastating mental, physical, and spiritual impact that the abortion “right” continues to have on their lives.
The multi-pronged effort includes litigation on three fronts. First is the lawsuit of Donna Santa Marie, a young woman who, at the age of sixteen was forced by her parents and clinic personnel to undergo an abortion against her will. Donna Santa Marie’s suit against the abortionist is supported by Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano, the Jane Roe and Jane Doe of Roe v.Wade and Doe v. Bolton. These two women, represented by the Texas Justice Foundation, will act as amicus for Donna, as well as filing their own suit seeking to reverse the Supreme Court decisions in which they were used as pawns by the pro-abortion lawyers.
The next step in the litigation process will be to file suit in Texas with similar legal theories on behalf of Texas women who have been victims of abortionists and denied equal protection. These women’s constitutional rights have been violated by a lack of informed consent and by being treated differently under the law than women in other contexts. The Texas Justice Foundation needs post-abortive women everywhere in the United States to come forward to tell the courts how they have been injured by abortion. Then suits may follow in other states. These women are needed to tell how their lives have been damaged by abortion. Not just physically injured, but especially the emotional trauma, pain, and suffering. The Texas Justice Foundation is asking each woman who has suffered in any way from abortion to fill out an affidavit (“Questions for Women Who Have Undergone Abortion”) with the personal facts surrounding her abortion. [A copy of this form is enclosed with this issue of Lifeline. This form and “friends of the court” forms are available from http://www.operationoutcry.org—Ed.] It is through these women’s testimony that the litigation will be successful in ending the tragedy.
Any woman who has undergone an abortion is encouraged to take this step to help the healing process. Many women have felt that the actual process of writing down their story has helped them tremendously in dealing with their feelings of shame, grief, and blame. Women say that writing down their story sets them free from the fear of the shame. It is through these courageous women’s stories that other women will not have to go through the same suffering. You can help prevent other’s pain. Regardless of when the abortion occurred—two weeks ago—or twenty years ago—each woman’s story is needed. Donna Santa Marie pleads with women who have suffered this tragedy of abortion to join with her on her journey through the courts of the United States to act now so that other women will not lose their precious children to what society calls “choice.”
The personal testimony of women will help the courts to understand the widespread damage abortion has caused throughout the United States. Once the affidavit form is completed, it should be taken to a Notary Public to be signed and notarized. The Notary Public will not have to read the form, only the title. While every woman’s full name is needed for the form to be legal, her identity may remain confidential if she checks the box asking that only initials be used. The forms should then be mailed to the National Foundation for Life at P.O. Box 516, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0516. You may make unlimited copies to provide to anyone you know who has had an abortion. The Texas Justice Foundation is available to answer any questions, and the women on staff, some whom are post-abortive will help women fill out the forms at (210) 614-7157, 8122 Datapoint, Suite 812, San Antonio, TX 78229.
The National Foundation for Life and the Texas Justice Foundation urge you to become part of this history-making effort to overturn Roe v.Wade.
Kathleen Cassidy, J.D., is an attorney, the Women’s Health Protection Task Force Leader for the Texas Justice Foundation, and a part-time professor. She can be reached at Texas Justice Foundation, 8122 Datapoint, Suite 812, San Antonio, TX 78229. Phone (210) 614-7157 or email kcassidy@txjf.org.