I have been asked in the comments to yesterday's post to summarize the article about Dr. Hern, the last provider of the late term abortions in the U.S. Initially I said no, but then relented since he probably represents 30% of my audience...
The author of the article describes what it is like to do what Dr. Hern is doing. He draws a very vivid picture of a man, his reasons behind choosing his occupation and staying there despite all the hate and death threats he has been receiving for DECADES. While one might disagree with Dr. Hern's political and world views, one fact remains very clear - he is the last one in his field in the U.S. When he is gone, there probably won't be anyone willing to replace him - because of the death threats he, his employees, and family members receive on a regular basis and because of contempt from colleagues and even patients(!). While I am the first one to admit that I do not agree with the reasons some of the women choose to abort late term, BY LAW these abortions cannot performed on a "whim" or for the woman's convenience after 24 weeks of gestation. Something MUST BE WRONG either with the fetus or the mother. Those are not the cases where the woman wakes up one day and decides that she no longer wants to be pregnant.
The articles leaves off on the following questions: if a woman's life is endangered by pregnancy and the last late term abortion provider is gone, where will this woman go?
(This really is not the best summary and I would highly recommend reading the article itself and do more research on the subject. There are other options available in critical situations, but discussing them is well beyond the scope of this summary.)
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ReplyDeleteI highly doubt that in the case of possible or probable life threatening situation to the mother, a regular surgeon would refuse or would not be capable of doing it. They can do a C-Section too.
ReplyDeleteMoshe, that is why you need to read the article. Believe or not, people must travel to get these procedures done. In the situation where the fetus is not viable, doing a C-section could be an option, but a lot more traumatic physically and unnecessarily so.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is a surgery, let's not go so far as saying "a lot more".
ReplyDeleteit's a medical fact, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would say that aborting a child with a Down syndrome is an ethical dilemma (and for the reconrd, I am against), if a woman has a fetus that is not viable and the pregnancy is putting her health in serious risk to boot, why should being cut open be her only option? Especially if there is another much safer and less traumatic procedure? And the former is performed not for medical reasons, but because some extremist minority decided so - for themselves and everyone else?
Abortions come with possible serious side effects and the probability of occurrence increases the later the abortion is done.
ReplyDeleteAnd c-sections don't?
ReplyDeleteLess surprises.
ReplyDelete