The Orbis

Vanderbilt Students for Life recently examined the “truth” about abortion by inviting former abortionist Dr. Steve Hammond to speak at Wilson Hall on October 28. Dr. Hammond, a native of Jackson, Tenn., has been practicing medicine for 25 years.

Hammond was a second-year medical school student when Roe vs. Wade ruled that abortion was a legal procedure. He was given the chance to opt out of learning the abortion procedure in school, but he decided that it was just a standard procedure worth learning.

As an intern, he moonlighted on Saturdays by performing 50 to 70 abortions per day in an “assembly-line” fashion. A young woman lost a lot of blood in a particularly difficult operation, and because of this he decided to quit performing abortions.

Hammond somehow managed to twist this unfortunate experience into a religious conviction. He dramatically compared himself to the Biblical Paul as being “the greatest of all sinners” and spoke of how guilty he feels for his previous “crime.” He believes his views on abortion are transcendent, in that they focus on the eternal aspects of life.

In contrast, he alleged that all other views are secular because they live in the moment. Hammond also claimed that anyone who is pro-choice is pro-abortion although he failed to consider examples of people like John Kerry, who are opposed to the practice of abortion, but recognize the importance of choice for women in America. Hammond supports this view by asking, “What is more American than apple pie than choice?”

Throughout the lecture, Hammond inarticulately described the procedure in full detail several times. To enhance the shock value, he added phrases such as, “when the powerful suction is turned on, it breaks the sac and tears the baby apart” and described the “shards of tissue” left over after the abortion. Although he was reading directly from a speech, Hammond proceeded to continually misuse the words baby and fetus.

Dr. Hammond is known locally for his testimony to the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee, which aided in the passing of a partial birth abortion ban in the state. Throughout his lecture, Hammond implied that pro-choice people support partial birth abortion, while everyone else can recognize the inhumanity of this “infanticide.”

He also asserted that there is absolutely no excuse for an abortion, even in a high risk pregnancy. He ignored the numbers of deaths of women in childbirth and countered that abortion is just as dangerous.

Dr. Hammond also discussed the impact of birth control on his view that life begins at conception. The American Institute of OB-GYN’s defines life as beginning at implantation. He refuted that definition and claimed it was only written in that way to allow intrauterine devices and the morning after pill. He said he never prescribes these methods of birth control, and many of his patients seek him out because of his views.

Dr. Steve Hammond led an unconvincing lecture that was based primarily on conservative religious views and relied heavily on the book The Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by the Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind by Dr. Bernard Nathanson. He provided little factual evidence and even served to strengthen the views of pro-choice individuals in the audience.

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