Pregnancy, Rape, and Abortion
This is our latest press release, and I would like to provide it to you for your information:
August 22, 2012 (Omaha, NEBRASKA) – According to Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist who directs a reproductive ultrasound center that specializes in the study of naturally-occurring ovulation events at the National Center for Women’s Health in Omaha, Nebraska, “the question of rape always stirs the emotions whenever it is introduced into the abortion debate. Unfortunately, the emotional impact of rape often clouds a legitimate and truthful discussion.”
In the State of Nebraska from the years 2005 through 2011, there were 26,521 abortions reported to the Nebraska Health & Human Services Division. Of those abortions, 65 were performed for the indication of “sexual assault.” This is a rate of 0.2% of all the abortions performed. Hilgers says, “In other words, 99.8% of all the abortions performed in the State of Nebraska (and this would be relatively representative of other states as well) are performed for reasons other than rape. It should also be pointed out that, during the same period of time, the abortions performed for the indication of ‘incest’ numbered two and the incidence was 0.01%.”
During this period of time, there were 4,111 forcible rapes and sexual assaults reported in the State of Nebraska for those 65 abortions. “Presuming that all of the forcible rapes have been reported, this is a pregnancy rate of 1.6%, which is considerably lower than one would expect for a random act of intercourse, the pregnancy rate of which should range from 2% to 4%,” said Hilgers. “This concurs with recent statements that the pregnancy rate from forcible rape and sexual assault is lower than it is in normal fertility. Furthermore, of those rape victims, 98.4% of them will not be helped in any fashion by abortion; and, for those who are aborted, they are then potentially confronted with a double dose of psychological trauma.”
Our studies of human ovulation by ultrasound (which number over 3,000 separate cycles) and also our study of the natural fertility system show that ovulation can be delayed by stressful events, and that this actually is quite common. Thus, the idea that a woman’s body can “shut down” ovulation and prevent pregnancy is also a true statement. Of course, this is not under the woman’s control. It is an effect of the complex mechanisms of human ovulation and its interaction with stress,” said Hilgers.
“We have the responsibility of finding the rapist and prosecuting him to the full extent of the law and being very firm about it,” Dr. Hilgers said. “We also have the responsibility to the woman who is the victim of rape. But when 98.4% of rape victims do not become pregnant but suffer the emotional trauma of the rape, then crisis intervention and support is extremely helpful and important. More emphasis on this type of support needs to be provided.”
Dr. Hilgers is an obstetrician-gynecologist who specializes in reproductive medicine and surgery. He is also the Director of a nationally accredited Reproductive Ultrasound Center and the Director of the National Center for Women’s Health in Omaha, Nebraska. He is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in the Creighton University School of Medicine and the Director of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction.
Pope Paul VI Institute & National Center for Women’s Health
2012 Physician-Couple Retreat
Make plans to attend the 2012 physician-couple retreat in February! Fr. Jaroslaw Szymczak from the Holy Family Institute in Warsaw, Poland will be the retreat master. Each weekend session includes a lecture, a workshop, and couple dialogue. Presenters at the retreat include Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers, who will offer two CME lectures, and his wife Sue Hilgers.
Download the brochure/registration form and the poster.
February 9th – 11th, 2012 – Omaha, Nebraska
Opening Mass – 4:00 p.m. Thursday, February 9th | Departure – Sunday, February 12th
Location: Pope Paul VI Institute Chapel of the Holy Family and Comfort Inn & Suites.
A weekend retreat focusing on marriage, family, and the practice of women’s medicine in a Culture of Life.
* Daily Mass
* Silent reflection and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament
* Sessions (with lecture, workshops, couple dialogue) include:
– Idealized Visions Versus Reality
– Respect and Acceptance of Differences
– Gift–Not Demand
– A Time for Us
– Dialogue and Communication
– Sealing the Gift of Sexuality
* Continuing medical education lectures (tentative)**
What participants said…
“My husband and I would like to encourage all physicians and their spouses to come and visit with others even if you are just considering the training program. To hear and see the other strong, intelligent, capable physicians talk about their experiences of conversion and to know others like yourself are practicing successfully in the world today without contraception was a great encouragement. It was essential to me in changing my practice; it gave me the courage to do what I already believed. When my husband was also able to understand the issues, I was so worried but he became completely supportive of my decision no matter the consequences. As most people, I needed more than my conviction to live out this belief. I needed a supportive network of colleagues and a partner who believed in it with equal passion. This conference gave me both of these gifts. Thanks! ”
“The retreat was an awesome experience for us. I can’t wait for next year’s retreat.” — Spouse
“The retreat leaders were excellent.” — Physician and spouse
“Fr. Jay was an excellent retreat leader.” — Physician
“Workshops were awesome. The individual dialogue was good as well. Looking forward to our homework! The retreat was an awesome experience for us.” — Spouse
“Liked the workshop (dialogue approach). Conducive to small groups, given the nature of the topics.” — Physician
“It was a great help to hear from Dr. and Mrs. Sue Hilgers on how they balanced family life with their calling to NaPro.” –Spouse
“I thought the retreat allowed for a deeper level of discussions with my fiance than I had experienced on the engaged encounter retreat. We were also given tools to learn to work together and understand better each other’s perspectives. It is clear to me that Fr. Jay has extensive experience with married couples and hardships of the vocation of marriage. I hope that with the knowledge gained and the graces obtained in this retreat my fiance and I will be better equipped to embark on this journey called marriage.” — Physician (wedding date: June 11, 2011)
New EWTN Appearance
Echoes of Our Choices, on Friday, January 20th at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CST, will feature neonatologist Robin Pierucci and will feature Dr. Tom Hilgers, pioneer of NaPro Technology. They will be addressing the underlying causes of infertility and the level of success women have had achieving natural pregnancies.
To view this program live online, visit EWTN Television and click on “Television” in the top black menu bar, then select “Live TV – English” and choose your viewing area.
An alternate show time will be 3:00 a.m. ET/2:00 a.m. CST.
Also, check out Dr. Catherine Keefe‘s radio interview on Spirit Catholic Radio Network’s Daybreak with TJ and Rachel (click the red “Listen Live” button at the top of the page). An interview with her will air this Tuesday, January 24th at 8:00 a.m. CST. She will be speaking about NaProTechnology and her trip to Colombia where she presented this new women’s health science.
Available Now! The NaProTechnology Revolution
Dr. Hilgers’ new book, “The NaProTechnology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman’s Cycle”, is now available! This book for the general public discusses many aspects of the new women’s health science of NaProTechnology. Full-color graphics embellish this great hardcover gem that should be on every woman’s or medical professional’s book shelf!
Record Numbers Complete Training
Record Number of Practitioners Complete Pope Paul VI Institute’s Training
For Immediate Release — April 11, 2011 (Contact: Sue Hilgers, Institute Advancement, (402) 505-8949, suehilg@aol.com)
(Omaha, Nebr.) From April 2-9, 2011, 107 women’s health practitioners from the U.S., Poland, Mexico, Nigeria, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada, gathered in Omaha to complete Education Phase II of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction’s training in the Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology. It is the largest number of practitioners to attend the Institute’s the annual training, which has been offered for 33 consecutive years.
The Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction is the leading education and research center in the United States in the area of natural regulation of human fertility and the development of morally and professionally acceptable reproductive health services. Dedicated to Pope Paul VI’s challenge to “physicians and health care professionals” and to “men of science,” it is a living memorial to the challenges placed before us by the Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life).
Each year, the Pope Paul VI Institute offers two Education Phases for national and international students in the following programs: Practitioner Interns, Medical Consultants, Double Program Interns (Practitioners and Medical Consultants), Nurse Practitioners, Physicians Assistants, and Pharmacists.
Medical practitioners from around the world pose with Dr. Hilgers (back row, tan jacket)
at the Pope Paul VI Institute Education Phase II training conference in Omaha, April 2-9.
According to patient and conference attendee Joanna Najfeld of Warsaw, Poland, the Creighton Model and NaProTechnology is a revolution in women’s health.
“I strongly believe that all women deserve the empowerment that comes from self-awareness of their body, navigating their own fertility in an educated and reliable manner,” she stated. “I am going to work with couples and women, teaching them to track the symptoms of their cycles in order to navigate fertility and monitor health, and, if necessary, obtain the proper NaProTechnology diagnosis and effective treatment for infertility, miscarriages, premenstrual syndrome, post partum depression, ovarian cysts, abnormal bleeding, or whatever the problem may be. I am really looking forward to making this revolutionary FertilityCare service accessible to women in my country.”
Another attendee, Ezenkwele Ezi, an OB/GYN practicing in Enugu, Nigeria, plans to return to her country and become a medical consultant of NaProTechnology. Dr. Ezenkwele said the most striking thing she learned in the second education phase is the possible link between NaProTechnology and breast cancer.
“More research needs to be done in this area,” she explained, “but the results could possibly provide a solution to preventing the breast cancer, which would be an enormous achievement in medicine.”
Dr. Lewis D. Lipscomb, an OB/GYN practicing in Winston-Salem, NC, said that after attending Education Phase I in October, 2010, he decided to cease prescribing contraception and performing sterilization.
“I can finally go to work with a true sense of peace, knowing that I am practicing in accord with my faith, and helping to promote a culture of life, family values, and respect of sexuality,” he stated.
The Creighton Model FertilityCare System and the new women’s health science of NaProTechnology have been developed through a research and education effort coordinated and directed by Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, director of the Omaha-based Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction and clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Creighton University Medical Center.
The Creighton Model FertilityCare System provides comprehensive, professional services through individualized follow-up, standardized teaching tools and ongoing research. The Creighton Model is a medically standardized modification of the Billings Ovulation method. It is the only education program in this field that meets the education demands of a newly emerging allied health profession and provides a case management approach to teaching.
Two organizations unite Creighton Model FertilityCare Centers nationally and internationally: FertilityCare Centers of America and FertilityCare Centers International.
A highlight of the training conference was the presentation of a “Fides Et Ratio” (Faith and Reason) medal awarded to Dr. Thomas Hilgers by the Polish Catholic Scholar’s Guild. Pharmacist and Pope Paul VI Institute faculty member, Janina Filipczuk of Toronto, Canada, received the medal for Dr. Hilgers in Poland on March 19. She presented it to Dr. Hilgers, “for his faithful service of the human person and its dignity, as well as the affirmation of human fertility.”
***
Founded in 1985, the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction has developed a new approach to women’s health care that embodies the best principles of medicine and offers superior treatments to women and challenges mainstream medicine, which relies on contraception, in vitro fertilization, and abortion. Through the Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology, its healthy, moral solutions to issues in women’s health care impact the lives of thousands of women, couples, doctors, medical students, priests, and babies nationally and internationally. More than 1,000 teachers and 300 physicians have been trained in the Creighton Model System.
Thomas W. Hilgers, MD
Senior Medical Consultant
Obstetrics, Gynecology, Reproductive Medicine and Surgery
Director: Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction
Clinical Professor Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Creighton University School of Medicine
Physician Couple Retreat — You and I = We
This February, we held our first-ever physician-couple retreat, which was specifically for physicians and their spouses/fiance[e]s to strengthen these physician couples in promoting a culture of life. Our retreat master, Fr. Jaroslaw Szymczak, tailored the retreat lectures, workshops, and couple dialogue times to physician couples. I had the opportunity to present two continuing medical education lectures on NaProTechnology. We look forward to offering the second retreat in this series later this year and to offering other retreat opportunities for those whom we serve.
Journal Article Published!
In March, Dr. Hilgers had a paper published in the Journal of Gynecologic Surgery entitled “Near Adhesion-Free Pelvic Surgery: Three Distinct Phases Over 23 Years.” The article presents a surgical technique that “allows patients with the most extensive form of pelvic adhesions to undergo reconstructive pelvic surgery wtih a near-adhesions-free postoperative outcome. The study shows that, “with the use of a comprehensive, well-defined set of surgical antiadhesion techniques, it is possible to perform adhesion-free or near adhesion-free reconstructive pelvic surgery.” (Taken from Abstract, J GYNECOL SURG 26:31)
Pope Paul VI Institute Celebrates 25 Years ~ Celebrate Love & Life
This year, the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction–the home of FertilityCareTM and NaProTechnology–celebrates its 25th anniversary! Over Labor Day weekend, many staff, former employees, patients, friends and benefactors of the Institute joined together for a weekend of festivities here in Omaha.
Preceeding the festivities, we held a two day-long conference series. On Thursday, September 2nd, intellectuals and moral theologians presented on the pastoral directives in Pope Paul VI’s life-changing encyclical Humanae Vitae. On Friday, September 3rd, medical professionals from around the world and other interested lay people attended an international conference on the new women’s health science of NaProTechnology.
The culmination of the weekend was Saturday’s Family Fun Day. Families and friends of the Institute enjoyed inflatables, pony rides, a fire truck and smoke trailer, a police car, face painting, clowns, music, unicyclists, arcade games, testimonials, book signings, and much more! A tiered birthday cake and a drum battle between Dr. Hilgers and two of his sons crowned the day’s events!
Saturday evening was marked by a special reception and gala banquet. Raymond Arroyo, a newscaster on Eternal World Television Network and author of best-selling novels on Mother Angelica, gave a lively and enlightening talk. The weekend also included two special Masses, an opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal Justin Rigali and a closing Mass celebrated by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.
For coverage on the weekend’s events, visit Zenit and search for “NaProTechnology” and for “Zimowski” (articles range in dates from September 2, 2010 through September 11, 2010).
Coming Soon! A NaProTechnology Book for You…
Dr. Hilgers is preparing to release a new book for the general public on the women’s health science of NaProTechnology. The book is expected to become widely available in late September, but it will be released at The Labor Day Weekend Celebration of Love & Life. Look for The NaProTechnology Revolution: Unleashing the Power in a Woman’s Cyclethis September!
Audio Podcasts
Please enjoy these audio podcasts from Dr. Hilgers.
Additional podcasts are available on the web site of KVSS, Spirit Catholic Radio