"This [the baby ban] was organized to a science in the National Office with Nancy Spannaus taking women to abortion clinics herself to make sure it was done. This is one of those things which the more you find out, the more repulsive it becomes."
Postings by ex-LaRouchians on FactNet's LaRouche message board, September 2006
"borisbad," Thursday, Sept. 07, 2006, 04:26 PM:
The important thing to remember is that there is one line put out for public consumption and another for the members. For instance, LaRouche talks about third world development and helping people advance their lives through technology (technology in his positivist dreamworld solves all problems) while the membership lives in squalor on $5 per day. Likewise, when he wanted to reach conservative Catholics he preached against drugs, and for population growth, but told members not to have children because they would get in the way of organizing. LaRouche is one of those people who preach love of "humanity" but hate real humans.
"xlcr4life," Saturday, Sept. 09, 2006, 07:30 AM:
The abortion question in the org has to [be] viewed in the context of being in a cult of personality rather than an issue. Many things we experienced in the org years ago do not really become clear until one has left and has rethought what happened.
The whole bizarro world of Lyn has to exist on axioms, or what we used to call "multiple connected manifolds." In other words, your actions are dictated by a series of events in the org which have very little to do with the real world. Perhaps the most important axiom is one of perpetual economic collapse--the prediction of the collapse but, most importantly, the idea that humanity will cease to exist and only an SDSLC, NCLC, USLP, FEF, ADC, CFL, CLTEL, NDPC, LODF or LYM can stop this. Whew! I can't even come close to [reeling off] all of the fronts and hats we wore raising the booty for Lyn and Helga. Believe me, Helga's booty grew real fast once she developed a taste of the good life, and her wardrobe had to be refitted many a time.
Now about abortions. This is one of those things which at first was a problem because when you have young, fertile female members with husbands, babies can soon come. In the beginning of the org this did not seem to be a problem as we had members with kids join the org. The problem was that when you start to think of a child you start to think of a family and all of the responsibilities that go along with it. This means that you have to wonder about what exactly you are doing in life following an increasingly crazy group led by a madman. It is one thing to solve all of your home problems of family and school by leaving that world and joining LaRouche. It is another thing when you see that a pack of Pampers costs more than than [your] two days' stipend. Believe me, Phil Rubinstein did the math for us in the National Office one day to pass the time.
At first we had an implied thinking that since we are in a group that has some clear election goals, then have the kids later. There is nothing wrong with this as people start families after leaving school and securing careers and things like housing and health insurance. In the org, your life was one of a nomad for Lyn. You could be told to pack up and ship out to a new local on a day's notice. You could have your relationship busted up by the NC since the reason you did not meet [your] quota at a card table shrine or in a [telephone] boiler room was because of your mate.
The NYC office had a day care center in the Bronx which allowed people who already had kids to park them there while performing their National Office duties. What about new kids?
Well, that question did come up during a conference by a few woman. One LCer I think was Martha Quinde who raised this to Lyn. The answer by Lyn was that you can't have babies during war, and we are in war with the oligarchy. As a sidelight I just thought of how the org loves to talk about the thirty year war in its never-mailed-out-on-time publications. The reality is that Lyn has had his members in a thirty year war against his delusions and demons from childhood if [you] look at his life.
This answer by Lyn did not go over too well with the nearing 30 something female membership. The org cannot have people who think outside the box, er cult. Babies mean that your parents are now closer to you. You can't deploy every day and night around the clock for Lyn. Your five bucks a day stipend and life in the org could be grounds for a visit from the child welfare authorities.
"xlcr4life," Saturday, Sept. 09, 2006, 07:37 AM:
Within every local was a story about a female member who became pregnant. The whispers were there and a few weeks later the whispers stopped as another fiendish plot to destroy the world was discovered and we were off to stop that. Then, fresh whispers were heard as the female member did not show up for card table duty one day. Later you heard that she had an abortion and, within the org, we were relieved.
After I left I wondered about what happened in other locals. Quite a few people began to write on the web that this abortion policy was more than an isolated case. A few woman who are now in their 50s regret what they did because they later found that they could no longer have children. Some women had more than one abortion. What gave me the creeps was when I heard about how this was organised to a science in the National Office with Nancy Spannaus taking woman to abortion clinics herself to make sure it was done. This is one of those things which the more you find out, the more repulsive it becomes.
I can't tell you how many members did this. I can tell you that in Leesburg you will notice that an extremely high percentage of female members have adopted children since they were not capable of having children.
A few high ranking members had children, one example was Molly Kronberg who had a boy named Max. A lot of us thought that this was a way of saying FU to the org as she had Max and then later never had him set foot near the org and instead raised a fine young man who is now a college star.
Spannaus leading the LC train to abortion clinics in NYC was like a bad dream. Here was a woman who herself had two kids when she joined the org who was telling females that there is no time for kids while the economy is ready to collapse. Go to page 41 of the King book for some more Nancy info.
The next bizarro world moment was when we decided to go after the Right to Life movement for recruits and money and formed what we called "The Club of Life." We then boiled the RTL fundraiser lists and proudly proclaimed that Nancy Spannaus was the U.S. President of it [the Club of Life]
Some people today look at all of this and have a deep disgust with Nancy Spannaus. Others have some sympathy for her as she lost one of her two kids in a tragic auto accident in Leesburg several years ago.
Her husband Ed has been emasculated by Helga many a time and Lyn has turned Ed into a compete doofus in the briefings and internal memos.
Now keep in mind that Lyn has a son who he keeps far from the org. Lyn also proudly walked past the female members a few years ago and exclaimed to the Leesburg office that he was now a Grandfather and felt great!
Nancy's other son is in LA and is married with a child I think. He associates with the LYM but makes it clear that he has his own world to deal with.
In all of this understand that Lyn can abort the Spannauses in one memo. He can purge them on a whim and 40 years of Ed and Nancy come to an end one day in the briefing.
"xlcr4life," Wed., July 21, 2004, 07:54 PM:
"One woman had estimated that HUNDREDS of abortions were done via high pressure [on] pregnant members. One woman had three over a three year period. I often wondered why so many married couples had a collection of cats in their apartments...."
As the years role by since I left the Bizarro world, I am often both amazed and stunned by what is revealed by members. When you are in the Bizarro world, all of the outside is defined for you. You do not read the books or articles of the people you are denouncing. You do not hear the testimony of the victims of our fraudulent capers. You will instead hear a sanitized version of events that will isolate you more and more.
The LHLwebsites are promoting the 20th anniversary of the Schiller Institute. There is praise for the heroic work of a dead ender named Nancy Spannaus who was the figurehead of a side show we started called the "Club of Life." Now what was going on back then that should be noted? We had an anti-drug group set up called the "National Anti-Drug Coalition." We raised a lot of money selling subscriptions to a monthly magazine. But, in typical LHL style, we stopped mailing out the magazines, still sold the subs, and then the blamed the drug lobby and Henry Kissinger for thwarting us. Among the many subscribers we sold to were people who were in the Right to Life groups. Since this was virgin territory, we called them up and tried to push LHL and our cult as the superior people. The RTL supporters were not that stupid and quickly hightailed from us. But not before we got some cash from their supporter lists. Like every group we targeted, we burnt them up real quick and moved on to the next group. We would switch gears and create some type of common bond with a layer of people, and go to town on them. This never changes.
What is most upsetting in all of this was our pushing Spannaus as the head of this, while Helga would rail away at the UN for connecting aid to abortion rights. Here is what is most upsetting and a very good example of the hideous monstrosity of twisted logic and cultism that the Bizarro world has created.
It was a quiet secret that a few women in the group had abortions. What LHL did at conferences was to carefully twist the desire of members to have kids into a vicious attack on their commitment to "Saving the Human Species." Time and time again we would hear LHL and the sycophantic leaders on down attack some poor woman for being a traitor for wanting to have kids.
Long after I left the Bizarro World, I stumbled upon the words of a few former members. One woman had estimated that HUNDREDS of abortions were done via high pressure [on] pregnant members. One woman had three over a three year period. I often wondered why so many married couples had a collection of cats in their apartments, but never thought of kids. Then as I joined and heard LHL and company answer members' questions, I understood why. Every year I come across former female members who had abortions after an all-night encounter with the leadership. Most of these woman had children after they left and have nightmares over how they were treated.
What does this have to do with Nancy Spannaus? Well, it turns out that she was considered the grand dame in the NYC National Office for marching women into the providers' office. For this, we had money to spend. To be fair, we had a day care center in the Bronx for people who had kids BEFORE they joined, but the stories of individuals being harangued and harassed are no longer just whispers.
A German woman who was a member of the European office wrote a book about the cult when she left. She devotes pages to the pressure on members to have abortions in West Germany under Helga's command. I do not wish to name people because of the personal nature of this. But, there is a current female whose husband is quite featured in the publications who tried to have a child for years. From what I heard, she was five months' pregnant when her husband and Spannaus accompanied her to end the pregnancy. I was not there for this, but I remember the rumors.
To have these people even remotely talk about life is an absurdity. But, in the Bizarro world, it all makes sense. There has to be no shame in a woman who discourages people from having kids, while having two of her own trotting [into] the office. [This is a reference to the two children of Nancy and Ed Spannaus.--DK]
When you total the financial, emotional and physical carnage that this cult has caused to the people who believed in certain ideals, then you no longer care what happens to certain people. I was flabbergasted at one poster's mention of a recent abortion incident that took place in the Baltimore area. Those of you [who] have some personal history of this should expand this story.
Out of respect for some people, I will just say that Karma does exist. Those who were sorry, became blessed. Those who did the pain, suffered in a certain way 20 years later.
There is a lot more to the stories of the pain that has been inflicted on people by this collection of hypocrites and convicted criminals.