The MSFC group at the UAMS was being established by a young woman, Deborah, who is from Fayetteville, a senior medical student whom I have known since young adulthood.  When I went to LR that Friday, there were four founding members, and they had no idea how many people would show up for my talk about "why I provide abortion care."                                                                    

When I arrived at the medical center, now a sprawling and seemingly endless maize of buildings in addition to the University Hospital and its adjacent Medical School complex, I was met by Deborah at the door to the Health Sciences Building.  She ushered me into the room where I was scheduled to speak and we were joined by 2 of her three colleagues in MSFC.  They had placed posters announcing my visit and its purpose all over the medical school campus as well as sending email announcements to all the students and the obgyn staff, and to interns and residents.  Many of the posters were torn down almost as soon as they were put up, but she and her fellows continued to repost each one removed.  She had no idea how many students and others might show up.  They had bought enough sandwiches and soft drinks for 80 people and as noon approached, when the talk was to begin, and only a handful had shown up by a few minutes before my scheduled noon talk, they were getting a little nervous about the audience we might attract.

Then the doors opened and well over a 100, closer to 140 people rolled in, grabbed a sandwich as long as they were available, and took a seat, filling the lecture hall.

I always try to know my audience and to find those who oppose me and allow one of the most eager to ask the first question.  And I do my best to disallow them to make a speech since a large majority of the students have come to hear my speech.  

After I had delivered a short speech and asked for questions, the first question I received was from a student who asked about the opinions of one of the medical school teachers in pediatrics, Dr. K.S. Anand who gave testimony before the US Congress about the possibility of even very early fetuses feeling pain during an abortion.  This testimony was used as a lever to pass federal and state laws concerning second trimester abortion care.

Dr. Anand is one of a tiny handful of mostly Pro-Life activists (Though he calls himself "Pro-Choice") and a very marginalized number of writers addressing the possibility of fetal pain before 26 to 29 weeks of intrauterine life.

When I read of Dr. Anand's testimony in front of the US Congress, I was appalled that someone from my state, and my old medical school had given such obviously biased, and unscientific, testimony - testimony that would very soon be used to support the so called Partial Birth Abortion Bans and the federal law, the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act requiring "fetal anesthesia or analgesia" to be offered and the woman to be informed of the possibility of fetal pain after 20 weeks passed by the US Congress and in several state houses, including Arkansas's.  Even though there is no totally safe way of administering such "pain relief," and it  might have adverse effects on the woman who chooses to believe Dr. Anand's unscientific, illogical and totally biased piece-of-crap testimony in front of the U.S. Senate.

As I told the students, one can find an off-the-wall medical opinion about almost any subject that you wish to address, even in legitimate medical journals.  However, until some "anti abortion Semmelweis" appears, unequivocally demonstrating that a second trimester fetus can feel pain, I think the vast majority of rational, responsible medical opinion should be adhered to, and in this case, the vast majority of medical opinion is fiercely in opposition to Dr. Anand's eccentric opinion.  

After I wrote the following letter to Dr. Anand, he replied and promised to send me many articles in many journals, supposedly written by highly respected investigators, supporting his opinion.  Although I have rewritten Dr Anand several times informing him of his lack of response, I have received no such documentation.

    Dr. K.S. Anand,                  8/24/05              
    Arkansas Children's Hospital
    800 Marshall St
    Little Rock, AR  72202
    Dear Sir,
      You jackass!  
      I am writing you to tell you how distressed and disappointed I am at your witness before Congress for Sen. Brownback's (Rep, KS) harmful Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act as well as your remarks in today's newspapers.   I think that you, as a supposed legitimate scientist, have done great harm not only to the many women and their families who will be adversely affected by the possible passage of this act in congress, but by the successful passage of the act in Arkansas and the other two states that have already done so.
      After reading your asinine remarks in the NYTimes and Chicago Tribune, I have serious questions about your credibility as a legitimate scientist.  I especially was distressed with the following: "There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that pain occurs in the fetus."  (Emphasis added) I would say that given the agenda of the folks you testified for that there is absolute evidence that your testimony will cause significant emotional distress and physical pain for possibly thousands, even millions, of women.  And given the fact that Roe v. Wade is very near to being overturned, and one of the factors that can be attributed to this impending disaster is your false testimony before congress, you will stand a large part of the responsibility for this crushing defeat for America's women and families.    
      You go on to say, "...by the second trimester all bets are off and I would argue that in the absence of absolute proof we should give the fetus the benefit of the doubt..."    
      I would argue that in the absence of absolute proof that a second trimester fetus can feel pain comparable to the pain that an adult or even a 2 yr old child can feel, that we should give the pregnant woman seeking an abortion the benefit of the doubt.  There is no doubt about her ability to experience pain or about the probability of her pain perception  
      As to your remarks about the JAMA authors sticking their hands in a hornet's nest?  I would guess that the person most likely to have done that is you.  And I hope to god you get stung!
         William F. Harrison M.D., FACOG

A few days ago, Deborah emailed me that her MSFC group now has over 20 active members and that my visit was the talk of the campus for a few days.

At the second Medical School I visited, which has a two year old MSFC program, there was a somewhat different outcome.  The students there were not nearly so involved in replacing the torn down posters and neither apparently, were they as active in getting out the word of my visit.  And we had the smallest audiences (I gave two talks on that campus) of any of the several medical schools I have visited.  Oh, and they could get NO adviser for their group at the Medical School, so their adviser came from its associated Dental School!

And also at this event, we had a very unusual thing happen.

At the second talk of the day, at which I showed a short film I have made about my office and featuring the performance of a 6 week abortion and the tiny tissues removed that I call A Loving Truth in opposition to another vicious anti-film called Hard Truth, I opened it up for questions and a young man not a medical student, who later said he was 22 yrs old, go up and screamed, "You're nothing more than a paid assassin!"  He immediately began to wave around some of the same pictures used in the film, Hard Truth, to try to make his point that my film had little to do with the reality of abortion care and practice as it exists in the United States today.  I asked him to sit down, then told him to sit down, placing my hands on his shoulders and gently directing him toward his seat.  Again, he screamed, "You are assaulting me!  I will have you arrested for assault!"  At this point, I really did feel like assaulting him, smacking him in his adolescent nose.

But I didn't!  If I have learned anything in my many years of dealing with irrational verbal and visual assaults, it is to NOT smack my bullying opponents in the nose.  :-)  So I turned away and let him rant on for a few minutes while the students quieted him and he finally sat down.  A short period of excitement for the students, and a very short period of controlled anger from me.  After the outburst, he asked a couple of questions and mentioned a few things that allowed me to address things like "crisis pregnancy centers' and "partial birth abortions."

I think the students at the second school were embarrassed by his rude outburst and didn't exactly know how to respond.  The Antis in the room, with whom he had been sitting, said they had no idea who he was and afterward remarked to my wife that people like him didn't help their cause.

But I really don't know how effective this visit was, since I have received no feedback from the students.  I did leave a copy of my film for them to show at their future MSFC meetings.  And I suggested they get a copy of Hard Truth and compare the images.

Cross-posted at DailyKos.