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Pro-Life Doctor Addresses Birthright Volunteers
By Kathleen Mahoney
Special to the Herald
Fredericksburg pro-life physician P. Declan Burke was the featured speaker at the December meeting and baby shower of Birthright of Fredericksburg, Inc. Doctor Burke, who has a long association with the pro-life movement in the Culpeper and Fredericksburg areas, has a general practice in obstetrics and gynecology and specializes in sterialization reversals.
A native of the Galway area of Ireland, Doctor Burke attended the university and medical schools there, serving his internship and residencies at Galway Regional Hospital.
Arriving in the United States in 1965, he did an additional residency in obstetrics and gynecology at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, and spent a year as a fellow in OB anesthesiology at Case Western Reserve University Hospital in Cleveland.
As a new American citizen and a major in the U. S. Medical Corps stationed from 1969-1971 at Tuttle Army Hospital in Georgia, Doctor Burke encountered one of his earliest battles in the abortion war. Hearing that the procedure was going to be performed there, he strongly protested and hurriedly went through channels to stop it, but was unsuccessful.
Doctor Burke gave a spirited and informative presentation for the Birthright volunteers.
Responding to a query about late-term abortions, Doctor Burke described that procedure, which he labeled "an obscenity," but also made the point that "The partial birth abortion is no more horrible than killing the unborn at two, or three or five months."
Burke thinks people have "a visceral response to abortion -- it's either okay or abominable," and people working in the pro-life movement have a difficult job changing minds just because the reaction is so ingrained and "built into your psyche."
"Anti-life sentiment is alive and well," he said, and, he pointed out, it is not confined to the U.S.
Doctor Burke seemed especially saddened that there appears to be a push for abortion in his Catholic homeland. "The media there, like the Irish Times, seems to be really playing up cases of rape victims," Doctor Burke said.
Irene Hagerty, director of the Fredericksberg chapter, announced a recruitment drive for new volunteers, with training beginning Jan. 21.
For information call 540-371-6119 or 540-371-2173.
Copyright ©1998 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
This article was published in the Arlington
Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 23, No 51,
dated Dec 24, 1998, on page 9.
.
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A note from the Web Master:
It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion. Let us not forget that ordinary everyday Abortion is also murder. We must understand that murder is murder no matter the method. Because one method of abortion seems to be horrible does not justify the other methods. We should be horrified and sickened by any Abortion regardless of the method. The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly: "Thou shalt not kill." A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul. Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any Abortion occurs. Please contact both of your Senators and Representative, via letter or phone, to let them know how horrified you are that Abortions are legal and to stop Partial-Birth Abortions and all other Abortions as soon as possible. (It has become apparent recently that they do not respond to email therefore you will have more of an impact by writing or telephoning.)
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