History suggests there are times abortion is justified: Meet Dr. Gisella Perl

By Kerry Patton

"God, you owe me a life - a living baby."
─Prayer of Dr. Gisella Perl after resuming practice after the Holocaust

Kerry Patton (Photo: WIKISTRAT)NBC news was quick on Sunday to begin the abortion debate as Missouri Republican Senate nominee Todd Akin misspoke during a recent television interview. There is no question that Akin failed to clearly articulate his stance on the subject as he attempted to follow the Republican machine’s pro-life stance.

The Today Show was quick to jump all over the abortion debate first thing on August 20th. Conservatives must be forewarned that abortion remains a serious topic of debate among many.

While it may be construed as a distraction by many, it falls into the whole women’s rights and healthcare debate, two major topics in the 2012 Presidential race.

Here is a little bit of advice for conservatives running for office this year—you can never win the abortion debate by taking the stance that the procedure should never occur. As one who is actually against abortion, that bit of advice is even difficult for me to swallow--so pay close attention to the rest of this story.

When it comes to the abortion debate, we can learn one invaluable lesson from Holocaust survivor Dr. Gisella Perl.

For those who may not know Dr. Gisella Perl, she is more than controversial—especially for those who believe the Holocaust never happened.  However, for those more realistic persons who fully understand the horrors of the Holocaust, Dr. Perl was an “Angel of Life.” She was a survivor, a hero to millions and she was devoutly religious.

Dr. Perl was a gynecologist and an innovative researcher in female reproduction. She was passionate about the preservation of life. While there are no accounts proving she would be labeled as a “pro-life’er,” she was indeed pro-life. She was so passionate about preserving life there was a time when she was actually forced to take the lives of many unborn babies.

During the Holocaust, Dr. Perl was forced into Auschwitz. After the SS identified her background as a gynecologist, she was forced to work alongside the “Angel of Death,” Dr. Josef Mengele. It was here where the good “Angel” defeated the bad.

Mengele was a physician conducting experiments for the Nazi regime. He cared less about life and even less about preserving the morally driven profession of medicine. He only cared about his research and experimentation on humans which included men, women, children, and even the unborn. His selfish and evil actions were meant to assist the Nazi ideology, yet accounts prove his narcissistic and sociopathic mind actually cared very little about Nazi Germany.

While Dr. Perl was forced to work alongside her satanic partner, she realized that so long as she lived, lives of many could be spared. It was a sacrifice very few today have the courage to commit. Her concept closely resembled the motto of today’s elite special operations medical practioners within the U.S. Air Force Pararescue—“That others may live.”

Dr. Perl was indeed similar to a special operator. She was a survivor, intelligent, brave, risk taking, and committed. She painstakingly conducted abortions inside the Auschwitz barracks behind the backs of her Nazi guards. She did this with no medical tools, no anesthetics, and no sanitation. Her commitment to life actually took the lives of many. This only makes sense if one truly understands Dr. Perl’s true love of life.

For those who may not understand, if a female prisoner held in Nazi camps was identified as pregnant, monstrous individuals like Dr. Josef Mengele would perform experimentation procedures on them. He would often perform these experiments without any pain reducing drugs, torturing women, later putting them and their unborn babies to death. Dr. Gisella Perl countered such actions by performing abortions without any of her guards knowing. Yes, she took the life of the baby, but she saved the life of a mother.

None of the pregnant Jewish women in Auschwitz wanted to see their babies die. This even goes for those women raped by their Nazi guards. But through the comfort of Dr. Perl, these women believed. They believed that if their lives could be spared through aborting their precious babies, there would remain hope that one day, the women of Auschwitz would be freed—being free meant an opportunity to raise a family in freedom. 

After watching the incredibly moving film Out of the Ashes, an individual who never lived in such hell gets a sense of what these Holocaust survivors went through and the sacrifices they made to actually preserve life.

Dr. Perl did take life yet she did it solely to preserve life. I am sure she was pro-life at heart, as I am. And when people claim the extreme believing there should never be a time to take a life, rest assured they obviously have never been in a similar situation as Dr. Perl or our brave patriotic service members who often take the lives of our enemies during battle simply to preserve the lives of others.

Unfortunately, in the medical world, there are obviously times where doctors and nurses must do what is best for their patients which may also include at times conducting abortions. No matter our individual opinions on such matters, we should not be the ones to judge such circumstances as that is a job left for God.

Sadly, abortions have turned into something much different today. Yesterday they were often conducted for life saving reasons yet today they have become a procedure conducted for luxury—often  for selfish individuals who utterly fail personal responsibility. 

The guilt Dr. Perl and the women in Auschwitz felt must have been unbearable. But they were strong and only they knew what was right and what was wrong as they spent their time in such conditions. Surely, even the women who use abortion for selfish reasons today feel similar guilt. But who are we, people who have never wore their shoes, to judge?

Dr. Perl was the “Angel of Life.” Many have followed her example by attempting to preserve the precious gift from God known as life. Some believe politicians, clergy, and media can force such morally debated principles onto others. No one, to include myself from this writing, has the right to judge the principles and morals others stand behind on such a topic. The only true judgment will come from God.

Hopefully, political leaders understand what Dr. Gisella Perl and the women in Auschwitz went through. They have a story we must all learn from. Most conservatives like myself are against abortion, but truth be told, history proves it is a debate we will never win considering there have been times the procedure was conducted to actually save lives.

Dr. Perl’s actions may have taken the lives of many but, according to survivors' accounts, she also saved the lives of many women who later had healthy families raised in free societies.

~~Kerry Patton is a Senior Analyst for WIKISTRAT. He has worked in South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, focusing on intelligence and security interviewing current and former terrorists, including members of the Taliban. He is the author of 'Sociocultural Intelligence: The New Discipline of Intelligence Studies' and the children's book 'American Patriotism.' You can follow Patton on Facebook.