The Pro-Abortion Policies of the March of Dimes
The March of Dimes (MOD) is an organization that enjoys a positive public image. And while MOD has done much to eliminate birth defects, their methods of accomplishing that admirable goal and their vision of a brave new world run disturbingly counter to pro-life philosophy.
March of Dimes adamantly claims a neutral policy on abortion in its literature. Phone calls to MOD offices often yield indignant responses to any who dare question the organization’s respect for defenseless human life.
March of Dimes IS PRO-ABORTION!
But persistent denials aside, the March of Dimes does have a strong pro-abortion philosophy that is becoming increasingly explicit. And it runs even deeper than many knowledgeable pro-lifers suspect.
Due in large part to MOD policies, abortion has actually helped ‘eliminate’ many birth defects. This is accomplished by aborting babies with medical conditions.
A major part of the problem is rooted in March of Dimes’ promotion of ‘prenatal diagnostic procedures,’ (amniocentesis). Amniocentesis can determine if the baby is healthy. When used late enough in pregnancy, the unborn child may be successfully treated while still in the womb.
March of Dimes, however, advocates the amniocentesis procedure at a point in pregnancy when the only ‘treatment’ is abortion. The organization piously asserts that it leaves the choice to abort to the parents.
Freelance writer Mary Meehan, whose well-documented article, “A Good Charity is Hard to Find,” which appeared in the Fall 1992 edition of the Human Life Review, shines an incriminating spotlight on the March of Dimes and other charities. Meehan indicts MOD for their complicity in aborting handicapped children.
“They claim no position on abortion, ” says Meehan. “They don’t have to; all they have to do is lead parents into temptation. The pressure on parents to abort so-called ‘abnormal’ children is very strong.”
(Dr. Jerome LeJeune, the famed geneticist who isolated the chromosome responsible for Down’s Syndrome, has compared the MOD policy of ‘neutrality’ to selling weapons to terrorists and claiming no responsibility for the eventual outcome.)
Fetal Reduction Kills Siblings
Meehan also fumes over MOD’S more active but virtually unknown pro-abortion policies. In her Human Life Review article, she quotes extensively from a March of Dimes publication called Birth Defects (Vol. 26, No. 3, 1990). The booklet contains an ominously titled piece that describes in disturbing detail the benefits of “fetal reduction,” which is actually the abortion of some of the preborn infants in multiple pregnancies.
In the essay “Fetal Reduction and Selective Termination in Multifetal Pregnancies: Outcomes, Ethics, and Counseling Issues,” Birth Defects magazine describes technical aspects of such abortions in a shockingly matter-of-fact manner.
In addition, March of Dimes has taken a public stance in favor of fetal tissue transplants. Meehan notes the irony.
First, unborn children are killed because they are somehow not human enough for legal protection; then their bodies are used – because they are human bodies – to help older humans, “read her HLR article. “It is the ultimate case, perhaps, of exploitation of the defenseless by the powerful (Senator [Ted] Kennedy, et al.) It pits one disadvantaged group, the disabled, against the most disadvantaged group of all, the unborn. Moreover, it distracts attention and money from other medical research that is ethical and that may prove more helpful to the disabled.”
“People have absolutely no idea what many charities are doing,” concluded Meehan. It’s time pro-lifers helped spread the word.
EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE: Christian Life Resources has made an attempt to clarify these policies but MOD has steadfastly refused to respond to our inquiries as well as those of other pro-life organizations.
This article is very helpful to read. The company that I work for is asking me to join in a March of Dimes (MOD) walk / fundraiser. And, I remembered hearing that MOD supported abortion, but I wanted more information … and I found your article. I am thinking that I will make many copies of this article, and hand it out during the walk, and also try to have converstaions with people to explain what this article is saying. I am sure that majority of people do not realize what MOD is doing. Thank you.
Our local Publix is soliciting donations to MOD. Frustrating. I love that grocery store.
I love color street & just found out thats their charity of choice, ugh!!
Hi there! This article is very interesting, however March of dimes is actively trying to decrease the number of abortions via proper sex education and a push for affordable contraception. For the sake of transparency, I have no respect for Anti- choice, pro birth organizations such as this. But I do believe you can be “pro- life” for yourself and not take the choice away from others! But spreading false information like this is very detrimental to an organization that has the same core values as you.
Thank you for your comment, though you do not need to be pugnacious when expressing the contrary views. If we are in error, then document the error with credible evidence that is more than an opinion. If March of Dimes has now stepped away from these policies (which they had defended in the past), provide the evidence and we will gladly publicize that. In our last contacts with March of Dimes, they have stood by their policies. To our knowledge, they have not changed. We welcome a changed position if, in fact, the position has changed.
Hello. I was wondering if I could reprint The Pro Abortion Policies of the March of Dimes. A well meaning neighbor is asking for donations. I have told her in the past I don’t support March of Dimes but am a proponent of right to life organizations. I don’t know if she forgot or didn’t understand from the past. Anyways, I would like to give her a copy of this article so she can read it. I do not want to do any recopy without explicit information as your pages is copyrighted and I want to respect that.
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