ISS:Letter On Abortion to Dr. Dobson &  by Dr. James Dobson

   April 4, 1986

   Dear Friend,

   I have said on many occasions that I love to read the mail that is
sent to me by our friends and radio listeners. Most of it is warm and
wonderful and creative. Some is critical and harsh. But all of it is
beneficial, for the mail keeps us in touch with those to whom we are
accountable. You are among that number. This is your ministry and we
need your help in keeping it relevant to today's families. Thank you
for sharing your lives with us in such a personal way.

   Quite frequently, a letter will arrive that has an enormous impact
on our staff. The first administrator to read it will immediately
distribute copies to others in various departments for their reactions
and comments. That interchange is a meaningful part of our work.

   In fact, that process occurred a few days ago when I received an
unforgettable letter from a physician in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His name
is Dr. Marvin Eastlund, and his letter was so important that I
requested, and received, permission to share his words with each of
you. Dr. Eastlund and I have now formed a new bond of Christian
brotherhood--for reasons that you will soon understand. this is what he
wrote:

   Dear Dr. Dobson,

   I am an avid listener of your radio programs on WBCL-FM in Fort
Wayne and and equally avid reader of your books. I listened with
interest to your programs aired last month about abortion and the
trauma suffered by women after having had an abortion. I am an
obstertrician and gynecologist and have had many dealings with this
very situation in my practice. I fortunately see many of the abortion
candidates before the final decision is made, and even more fortunately
have had the opportunity to talk with these women and witness to them
and share with them the reality of abortion. There is an overwhelming
sense of accomplishment when a woman decides to keep her unborn baby
and carry it to term and give that baby a chance to live. I have
rejoiced at the opportunities to be used of God to help those who are
struggling with this decision.

   I have had patients who have had abortions before coming to see me.

   These people are the most miserable. My heart goes out to the woman
who is suffering so much from the decision she made years before. Many
are seeing me because they are now infertile.

   The guilt they express is tremendous. In some cases they killed the
only baby they could have had and now the womb is closed. They grieve
when, if they do conceive and then hear the baby's heartbeat with the
ultrasonic instruments, they realize that the abortion they had
previously was likewise a tiny baby with a heartbeat. The trauma they
experience is overwhelming. the act of the abortion is not just he
removal of pregnancy tissue from the uterus. There is more, much more,
to the procedure than the pro-abortion counselors ever tell the person
who is trying to make a decision. Once done, the damage is very
difficult to live with.

   I had one 40-year-old patient who was not very well medically and
had undergone an abortion about six years earlier. she was in agony
over what she had done. She could not live with herself. She was
drinking alcohol.

   She was on various "nerve" medications from other physicians to help
her cope. She came to see me because she was desperate to have a baby
and just could not. In talking with her she unloaded the grief and
burden she was carrying about the previous abortion. Her main objective
in getting pregnant again was to replace the baby she destroyed. She
felt if she could only get pregnant and have a baby, the previous
problem would be canceled and everything would be fine. God used the
situation that day to His glory. He gave me the insight and words to
say in the encounter that changed that woman's life. I expressed to her
that she did not need another baby. She needed forgiveness. I was then
able to share with her that true forgiveness comes only through Jesus
Christ. That opportunity allowed me to share my faith with her and she
then accepted Christ into her life and experienced the forgiveness she
was desperately seeking over the previous several years. We both
floated out of the office that day! She subsequently conceived and had
a beautiful baby from an uneventful pregnancy. I am praising God for
giving me a "mission field" right in my own office!

   One other situation I wish to share with you was my own experience
with abortion. I had arrived at that point in my career where I was
faced with the choice of saving one life over another. I try to avoid
this predicament of at all possible. However, in the field of medicine,
occasionally one must make the decision of who to attempt to save and
who to let die. These decisions are very hard indeed.

   The woman was a longstanding patient of mine who had had much
difficulty with infertility. After successfully conceiving, she was
then found to have a hydatidiform mole pregnancy. This situation is an
abnormality of the placenta that very rarely is accompanied by a living
child.

   It carries a high potential of malignancy, and once diagnosed, the
uterus should be emptied and the patient treated according to the
findings.

   The malignancy that occurs is very virulent and usually the patient
is dead within a year. The fortunate aspect, however, is that the
cancer is very treatable with chemotherapy with almost a 100% response
rate. Thus, the cancer is curable with aggressive treatment.

   This placed us, my patient and myself, in a real dilemma. How do we
treat this situation? To allow the pregnancy to continue would allow
the cancer to continue giving the mother a certainty of death in a few
months.

   To treat the cancer would possible abort the pregnancy and most
certainly cause gross deformities if the baby survived.

   To abort the pregnancy would allow further treatment but also kill
the baby. We did not know what to do. She felt, as I did, that abortion
was wrong. We struggled together about this issue. I obtained several
consultation opinions from experts around the country. All agreed that
abortion and more chemotherapy was the route to go. Medically, I
likewise agreed that this was the most logical step.

   However, my personal convictions really wrestled with science at
this point. The patient and I turned to prayer and asked for divine
guidance.

   We both came away with the peace that, in this situation, her life
took priority over the baby's. I then tried to refer her to someone who
would handle the abortion. I look back on that as a way for me to
settle the issue in my own heart. She thwarted that attempt by asking
me to do the procedure. She did not want anyone else operating on her.
Here I was going against my own principles by doing an abortion! That
was very hard to deal with. I then realized that I had already done the
abortion when I agreed with the go-ahead plan. I again prayed and
received the peace of mind that this was the proper step. I scheduled
the procedure and remember vividly standing at the scrub sink just
before the surgery, agonizing over this decision. Just a few hours
before, I had obtained an ultrasound of the pregnancy showing a live
fetus with a beating heart and what appeared to be a normal pregnancy
in progress. The very thought of destroying that unborn child nauseated
me. I prayed in earnest while scrubbing. I probably prayed more
earnestly than I ever have before. I prayed to God to forgive me of
this sin I was committing.

   I asked Him to stop me if this was not in His will. I offered my
life for that baby's. I told God to take my life right at that moment
and not let me take the life of that baby. Nothing happened and I
finished scrubbing.

   I went into the room and began the D & C procedure. All the time, I
was very uneasy about doing the procedure and wished I were somewhere
else at that moment. Before inserting the dilator, I asked once again
for guidance from God. If this were not to be, please stop me now.
Nothing happened. I proceeded to dilate the cervix and explored the
uterine cavity. To my relief and, I must admit, surprise, the uterus
was empty! Just hours before there was undeniable proof of a live
pregnancy there. Now there was nothing! I first thought I might have
perforated the uterus by accident and was not in the right place.
However, I carefully retraced my steps and was convinced I was in the
right place. I was then able to remove a small piece of tissue that
looked like degenerating placenta.

   After a careful exploration of the uterus, I was still dumbfounded.
I called one of my partners who was very familiar with the case and
explained the findings to him. He likewise was not sure what to do.

   We agreed to stop the procedure at this point and obtain another
ultrasound.

   That ultrasound showed an empty uterus! The pathology report
confirmed that the tissue I removed was degenerating, "burned-out"
placental tissue.

   I witnessed a miracle! God heard my prayers and intervened and took
that baby home with Him, thus freeing me from the act of destroying
that baby. There was no other explanation for that finding.

   Even some of the nonbelieving physicians who were familiar with this
case agreed with me. I had never felt so close to God before. He
answered the petitions of my patient and me and saved us both
tremendous guilt by doing the abortion. He led us along the path to the
point where we could only receive the guidance from Him after we fully
submitted to Him. He

   then took control and performed in such a way that no human could
obtain any glory from what He did.

   The patient then underwent the remainder of her chemotherapy and
experienced a very successful recovery from her cancer. We both grew
immeasurably in our faith through this whole experience.

   I apologize for this very lengthy letter. I have been wanting to
share this with you for some time. Your recent broadcasts on abortion
gave me further stimulus to put these thoughts and episodes in writing.

   I support you fully in your Christian witness to the world and
especially in your stand on abortion. Your message is heard by many,
many people, and you are being listened to. There is a difference in
hearing and listening. Let me tell you, people are listening and lives
are being changed by your testimony. God is being glorified through
your efforts.

   Thank you for your time and your friendship through the medium of
radio.

   Sincerely,

   Marvin E. Eastlund, M.D.

   I thank the Lord for physicians like Dr. Eastlund who have taken an
unflinching stand against the killing of unborn children. In fact, it
is my hope that doctors who are "on the fence" will read his letter and
be touched by the truth of its message. Each one who comes to this
understanding can, of course, help preserve the lives of precious
little babies who would otherwise be lost. As for the rest of us, let's
pray that the Giver of Life will open their eyes to the significance of
this issue that confronts us.

   You might be interested in knowing that Focus on the Family has
recently developed a new area of service to women facing unplanned
pregnancies. It is our belief that many babies are aborted because
young mothers are confused, frightened, and lack the resources to carry
to term.

   If they only had access to medical care, Christian counseling and a
place to go, they would follow the dictates of their hearts. That's why
local Crisis Pregnancy Centers are so vital in this battle to spare the
lives of unborn children. Unfortunately, CPCs are usually underfunded,
overworked and short on educational materials. I wish more churches
would provide financial aid to these centers of life, but, for whatever
reason, most are threatened with bankruptcy.

   That's why we are developing a support mechanism for the more than
500 CPCs with whom we are in contact. We will be providing free
literature, audio cassettes and video tapes to those that need these
materials. A budget of $15, 548 has been designated for the next few
months with more to come. I wish we could allocate ten times that much
to this worthy cause.

   Your help in this and related pro-family activities would especially
be appreciated again this month. March was difficult for us and April
always brings a tug of war with the tax man. Anything you can do to
defray our expenses would be like manna from heaven to us. We will
receive it with thanksgiving and grateful hearts to our Lord and to His
generous and loving people.

   And remember! Let us hear from you when you feel like writing.

   Without your response, this ministry becomes a vacuous conversation
with ourselves. Dialogue with you is much more interesting!

   Your friend in Christ,

   James C. Dobson, Ph.D. Focus on the Family P.O. Box 50 Arcadia, Ca.
91006
