Don't be fooled by the cross on the roof
("Christian" abortion hospital)

by Dan Gura  2/4/05 (originally posted on Illinois Leader)

Drivers passing by Advocate Lutheran General (Park Ridge, IL) on the second Saturday of every month are often surprised to see dozens of pro-lifer's holding graphic abortion photographs.

They are even more shocked when they learn that a hospital with the cross of our Savior on its roof:

* performs second trimester abortions (up to 23 weeks);

* performs multiple gestation abortions (e.g. twins reduced to one child);

* aborts babies by induced labor, also known as a "live birth abortion"; and

* allows a minor to abort her unborn child without parental knowledge or consent

(source: Advocate Health Care System Policy; Pregnancy Termination, January 17, 2002)

Advocates Against Abortion At Advocate's (AAAAA) goal is to educate
patients, visitors, staff, motorists, and area residents to the hospital's
dark secret.

AAAAA recognizes that most people innocently assume any hospital with a cross on it's roof is a Christian hospital and that it follows God's
admonition, Thou Shalt Not Murder. Sadly, in the case of Lutheran General, they are very mistaken; it is actually an abortorium.

Until three years ago, I myself had no idea Lutheran General Hospital, which brags on its' website that it "provides Level III obstetric, Perinatal and neonatal services, the highest level of care designated by the State of Illinois", also aborted perfectly healthy babies. For some reason this wasn't something they mentioned when two of my children were born there.

To the contrary, they state "our NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) provides quick access to a sophisticated healing environment for premature, low-birth weight and other fragile newborns." That is, unless the hospital's Perinatal Ethics Committee (PEC) deems the baby unworthy of life.

One can only wonder what their NICU staff of "nine neonatologists and hundreds of specialists, including pediatric cardiovascular surgeons, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists and specially-trained nurses" think about healthy babies being aborted in the same building where they fight to save babies lives, including that of "Riley Savage (who) weighed only 1 pound, 12 ounces when he was born."

I also wonder what these highly trained professionals think about being on staff with one of Chicagoland's most notorious abortionists?

Advocate Health Care's Doctor Directory lists Vinod Goyal, MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology, as practicing at Lutheran General Hospital. They do not mention that he owns and/or operates five abortion clinics in the Chicago area under the name Illinois Abortion, Inc.

AAAAA knows that public pressure can force Lutheran General to stop
performing abortions. The key is getting the word out to as many people as possible. To this end, they have undertaken a publicity campaign which has been reported on in the Illinois Leader as well as Pioneer Press.

Last summer over 1,500 area residents and medical professionals received a post card bearing a drawing of the HEAR NO EVIL monkey informing them that "Lutheran General Hospital performs second trimester abortions." and asking the question, "Now that you have heard evil, what are you going to do?" (Pro-lifers go postal on Advocate, the Illinois Leader, May 28, 2004).

This February, pro-life students from Christian Liberty Academy, Arlington Heights, led by teacher Tom Morrison, will be going door-to-door in the neighborhoods around the hospital distributing thousands of copies of the pamphlet, "Should YOUR hospital be doing ABORTIONS?"

Rev. Lee Joestin, Pastoral Care at Lutheran General, is both a member of the Perinatal Ethics Committee, a/k/a the pregnancy termination committee, and an ordained pastor in the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church. He reluctantly admitted to me that the pamphlet is "accurate" but prefers to refer to the killing of God's most defenseless creations as "performing a procedure."

He would not respond when I asked "by what right did this group (PEC) of mere mortals assume the role of God, deciding who lived and who died?"

Morrison asked this same question of the hospital by letter, "How can
Advocate justify the barbaric practice of infanticide, commonly known as abortion? Do you not see the contradiction: on one hand, claiming to serve the health needs of individuals, families, and the community, yet on the other hand, terminating the lives of the most vulnerable and innocent of individuals--growing babies in the womb?

Not surprisingly, Tom also did not receive an answer.

So what can you do to hold the administrators of Lutheran General
responsible? How you can help end this obscenity?

AAAAA invites everyone who believes a hospital should be saving babies lives instead of killing them is invited to join them in front of Lutheran General's main entrance, 1775 Dempster Street, Park Ridge, on Saturday, February 12th, from noon until 2 P.M., as they Pray To End Abortion at Advocate Lutheran General.

You can also call Bruce C. Campbell, Lutheran General's CEO (847.723-8446) or James Skogsbergh, President/CEO Advocate Health Care (630.990-5606) and demand they stop the killing.

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