‘I tried to kill her’: Florida dad thanks his ‘lucky stars’ abortion wasn’t legal in 1964

by Ben Johnson

FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA, March 26, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Although pro-abortion groups often deride the days before legalized abortion as the “dark ages,” a Florida man recently wrote that his greatest blessing came about because he was unable to find a doctor willing to break the law when he was a 19-year-old expectant father.

“I am so thankful the law existed that prevented us from getting that abortion,” Gary Hartley of Fort Pierce, Florida, wrote in a letter to the TCPalm.com entitled, “Thanking my lucky stars that abortion was illegal in 1964.”

Hartley wrote that he and his then-girlfriend believed they were “in no way ready for a settled married life,” so they asked a doctor at a local mental hospital for a prescription that would induce a miscarriage. It failed.

“We contacted him again to see if he would perform an abortion. He wouldn’t. It was illegal.”

Because of what abortion proponents call “forced birth,” the couple and their community were enriched forever.

“Our daughter will turn 47 this month,” he wrote. “She’s a math and physics teacher, and counselor for at-risk children. She is a marvelous human being who has positively impacted the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of young people, and I tried to kill her.”

“There are lots of reasons that a woman may want to have an abortion and they are all valid. The problem is, every time an abortion is performed, somebody dies.”

“You can say it’s not a child,” Healey concluded, “but give her a few months and she’ll prove you wrong.”