Thoughts from an Abortion Doctor
This is a guest post by an abortion doctor. Her name has been removed to protect her and her family.
I’d like to share some of my thoughts with you regarding abortion. I’m a doctor who does both 1st and 2nd trimester abortions.
Although most of my practice is general OB/GYN, I’m something of an abortion “specialist” because most folks in my profession don’t want to be involved in abortions. I work for a large group where abortions are sent to those of us who will do them, so I perform literally hundreds of abortions a year.
First of all, I and most of my abortionist colleagues are women. Most of us are Jews, atheists, and other non-Christians. Almost all of us are mothers. I continued to perform abortions late into my own pregnancies, and you could literally see the appreciation in the eyes of my patients, knowing that I accepted and supported their reproductive choice.
I rarely tell anyone but my closest friends and family that I do abortions because I don’t want to risk myself or my family. Those crazies out there scare me.
Who Gets Abortions and Why?
We all know that anti-abortionists aren’t really “pro-life,” they are “pro-forced birth.” They make huge assumptions about who the women are who actually have abortions. They think that all the women who have abortions are just young flaky women who have no concern for the life of the embryo/fetus they are aborting. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Most of the women seeking early abortion are either very young or in the late part of their reproductive life. The youngsters are often coerced into unwanted pregnancies by their partners, or they didn’t think or know that they could get pregnant. Some of the older women think they couldn’t get pregnant because they were “too old.”
The decision to have an abortion is an agonizing decision, that few women choose lightly. They will be criticized for whatever decision they make. What kind of terrible mother could kill her own child? What kind of terrible mother could give her child away to strangers? What kind of terrible mother would keep a child she can’t afford to care for?
Did you know that half of the abortions done in this country are done because of birth control failure?
The “pro-coerced birthers” think that these are immoral women who should be punished for their (sex) sins with an innocent child. Then they complain about “welfare mothers” who need money to support their children. Those “precious babies” become children who they don’t want to feed. Aren’t Christians supposed to provide charity for those who need it? Worse then that, they don’t want to use federal funds to provide effective contraception or abortions for poor women. They just want to keep punishing women. Of course, if it’s one of their own, she just “made a mistake, she’s really a good girl.” Abortions happen in the fundie community too, don’tcha know.
Did you know that 1/3 of women who have abortions had a partner who sabotaged their birth control method? This is true domestic violence.
Women who have abortions come from all walks of life. This is not a phenomenon of only the inner city. Many are educated, and most of them are just plain middle class people.
The 1st trimester and early 2nd trimester abortions are most frequently done as elective abortions for unwanted pregnancies. I don’t like to do elective terminations after 22 weeks because of the viability issue. Late 2nd trimester pregnancies are very different.
Virtually all of the late 2nd trimester abortions I do are for fetal anomalies, fetal deaths, and for maternal health reasons. These poor souls really wanted their babies. They are in deep mourning because of the loss of their children. They come in deep grief, many times feeling guilty because they are “killing” their loved and wanted children. They worry if the baby will feel the abortion, and they don’t want their child to suffer.
Performing Abortions
Many folks wonder what it’s like to perform abortions. First trimester abortions (dilation and curettage, D&C) are very unremarkable. Our patients are awake but sedated. The procedure is performed with a suction curette (hard plastic tube), and in the hands of an experienced abortionist, suctioning out the pregnancy lasts less than a minute. The “products of conception” come out as just a mass of undefined tissue about the size of a golf ball. No thunder and lightning. Most patients have worked themselves up to have it be a long, grueling process, but are shocked at how short the procedure is.
2nd trimester abortions are very different. The later procedure is much more difficult and riskier for the mom, hence the limited number of us who actually do them. They are also unpleasant, because the procedure (dilation and evacuation, D&E) involves pulling out the baby in pieces. That all being said, the procedure (in the hands of an expert) is much safer than inducing the delivery, and has a much lower complication rate that the induction does. Many of these poor parents don’t want to be awake for the birth of the child they are going to lose, and just prefer to lose the child under general anesthesia.
I’ve never done the famous “D&X” (dilation and extraction, “partial birth abortion”) procedure. This was the one that was outlawed because opponents thought it was too horrible of a procedure. The concept was to try to deliver the baby intact, but the brain matter was suctioned out to allow the delivery of the head through the cervix. This procedure was designed so that the parents of the child could hold an intact baby, back of the head covered up, after a surgical abortion. Not because we horrible abortionists love to torture babies and then kill them.
Why Do I Perform Abortions?
I would be the happiest person in the world to never do another abortion again. So why do I do them? Because pregnant women with unwanted pregnancies are willing to risk just about anything, including almost killing themselves, in order to try to end unwanted pregnancies.
I remember reading some statistics comparing abortions in the U.S. and Mexico, before they were legal there. About the same number of abortions were done in each country, just over 1 million abortions a year. In the U.S. about 10 women died as a result of legal abortion. In Mexico, about 10,000 women per year died as a result of illegal abortions. 10,000 women who were mothers, sisters, daughters, wives. Not pre-viable fetuses.
There’s excellent evidence that in countries where women control their reproduction, the families are more prosperous. Funny that, women knowing when it’s a good or a bad time to add a child to their family.
You would never pick out an abortionist in the crowd. We would probably be the last people you would figure. We are the kindest, most compassionate people you would wish to meet. We are, however, very passionate about protecting the lives and reproductive rights of our patients.
Last time I checked, abortion was legal in this country. But I can tell you that the people who oppose abortion have no feelings of any kind for the poor women who have to make the terrible decision to end a pregnancy for whatever reason. They want to end abortion because they love those theoretical innocent children.
Oh, yeah, forgot that we are all born sinners. Maybe they aren’t such great babies after all.
Via: http://unreasonablefaith.com
I’d like to share some of my thoughts with you regarding abortion. I’m a doctor who does both 1st and 2nd trimester abortions.
Although most of my practice is general OB/GYN, I’m something of an abortion “specialist” because most folks in my profession don’t want to be involved in abortions. I work for a large group where abortions are sent to those of us who will do them, so I perform literally hundreds of abortions a year.
First of all, I and most of my abortionist colleagues are women. Most of us are Jews, atheists, and other non-Christians. Almost all of us are mothers. I continued to perform abortions late into my own pregnancies, and you could literally see the appreciation in the eyes of my patients, knowing that I accepted and supported their reproductive choice.
I rarely tell anyone but my closest friends and family that I do abortions because I don’t want to risk myself or my family. Those crazies out there scare me.
Who Gets Abortions and Why?
We all know that anti-abortionists aren’t really “pro-life,” they are “pro-forced birth.” They make huge assumptions about who the women are who actually have abortions. They think that all the women who have abortions are just young flaky women who have no concern for the life of the embryo/fetus they are aborting. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Most of the women seeking early abortion are either very young or in the late part of their reproductive life. The youngsters are often coerced into unwanted pregnancies by their partners, or they didn’t think or know that they could get pregnant. Some of the older women think they couldn’t get pregnant because they were “too old.”
The decision to have an abortion is an agonizing decision, that few women choose lightly. They will be criticized for whatever decision they make. What kind of terrible mother could kill her own child? What kind of terrible mother could give her child away to strangers? What kind of terrible mother would keep a child she can’t afford to care for?
Did you know that half of the abortions done in this country are done because of birth control failure?
The “pro-coerced birthers” think that these are immoral women who should be punished for their (sex) sins with an innocent child. Then they complain about “welfare mothers” who need money to support their children. Those “precious babies” become children who they don’t want to feed. Aren’t Christians supposed to provide charity for those who need it? Worse then that, they don’t want to use federal funds to provide effective contraception or abortions for poor women. They just want to keep punishing women. Of course, if it’s one of their own, she just “made a mistake, she’s really a good girl.” Abortions happen in the fundie community too, don’tcha know.
Did you know that 1/3 of women who have abortions had a partner who sabotaged their birth control method? This is true domestic violence.
Women who have abortions come from all walks of life. This is not a phenomenon of only the inner city. Many are educated, and most of them are just plain middle class people.
The 1st trimester and early 2nd trimester abortions are most frequently done as elective abortions for unwanted pregnancies. I don’t like to do elective terminations after 22 weeks because of the viability issue. Late 2nd trimester pregnancies are very different.
Virtually all of the late 2nd trimester abortions I do are for fetal anomalies, fetal deaths, and for maternal health reasons. These poor souls really wanted their babies. They are in deep mourning because of the loss of their children. They come in deep grief, many times feeling guilty because they are “killing” their loved and wanted children. They worry if the baby will feel the abortion, and they don’t want their child to suffer.
Performing Abortions
Many folks wonder what it’s like to perform abortions. First trimester abortions (dilation and curettage, D&C) are very unremarkable. Our patients are awake but sedated. The procedure is performed with a suction curette (hard plastic tube), and in the hands of an experienced abortionist, suctioning out the pregnancy lasts less than a minute. The “products of conception” come out as just a mass of undefined tissue about the size of a golf ball. No thunder and lightning. Most patients have worked themselves up to have it be a long, grueling process, but are shocked at how short the procedure is.
2nd trimester abortions are very different. The later procedure is much more difficult and riskier for the mom, hence the limited number of us who actually do them. They are also unpleasant, because the procedure (dilation and evacuation, D&E) involves pulling out the baby in pieces. That all being said, the procedure (in the hands of an expert) is much safer than inducing the delivery, and has a much lower complication rate that the induction does. Many of these poor parents don’t want to be awake for the birth of the child they are going to lose, and just prefer to lose the child under general anesthesia.
I’ve never done the famous “D&X” (dilation and extraction, “partial birth abortion”) procedure. This was the one that was outlawed because opponents thought it was too horrible of a procedure. The concept was to try to deliver the baby intact, but the brain matter was suctioned out to allow the delivery of the head through the cervix. This procedure was designed so that the parents of the child could hold an intact baby, back of the head covered up, after a surgical abortion. Not because we horrible abortionists love to torture babies and then kill them.
Why Do I Perform Abortions?
I would be the happiest person in the world to never do another abortion again. So why do I do them? Because pregnant women with unwanted pregnancies are willing to risk just about anything, including almost killing themselves, in order to try to end unwanted pregnancies.
I remember reading some statistics comparing abortions in the U.S. and Mexico, before they were legal there. About the same number of abortions were done in each country, just over 1 million abortions a year. In the U.S. about 10 women died as a result of legal abortion. In Mexico, about 10,000 women per year died as a result of illegal abortions. 10,000 women who were mothers, sisters, daughters, wives. Not pre-viable fetuses.
There’s excellent evidence that in countries where women control their reproduction, the families are more prosperous. Funny that, women knowing when it’s a good or a bad time to add a child to their family.
You would never pick out an abortionist in the crowd. We would probably be the last people you would figure. We are the kindest, most compassionate people you would wish to meet. We are, however, very passionate about protecting the lives and reproductive rights of our patients.
Last time I checked, abortion was legal in this country. But I can tell you that the people who oppose abortion have no feelings of any kind for the poor women who have to make the terrible decision to end a pregnancy for whatever reason. They want to end abortion because they love those theoretical innocent children.
Oh, yeah, forgot that we are all born sinners. Maybe they aren’t such great babies after all.
Via: http://unreasonablefaith.com
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on -
what was not clear on my post? I said most abortions occur at 12 weeks or less, 3 months. Most women who don't want this golf ball sized thing in their body easily rid themselves if they can scrape up the money..... a smaller number of abortions are second trimester, divide 40 weeks by 3 you get 14, 13 and 13......willing moms who previously wanted a baby now are faced with dead or dying horribly deformed or genetically defective fetal things..... and the last category are the obese, raped or very young girls who just did not know what to do..... are you going to deprive any of them of their freedom and force them to stay pregnant? Have you ever changed a urine bag and catheter on a HUntington's Disease patient? If amnio or other diagnostics or family history becomes known to a willing pregnant mom, you really want to deprive her of her choice not to pass on this deadly genetic disease that makes you a vegetable by age 40? I do not care if a fetus is viable I am saying you must not use viability as a weapon against women who are the only people who should make the choice.... her doctor/s are ethical people....the sterile "debate" point of viability is moot, a woman's choice is her life and your 3 days before due date is not happening by "choice" but car crashes, hemmoraging, sepis, ectopic pregnancies, any therapeutic situation is her doctors' issues, not your debate stupidity
-
-
Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
I'm ignoring most of what you typed to avoid unnecessary digressions.
what was not clear on my post? I said most abortions occur at 12 weeks or less, 3 months.
No. You said:
every idiot who pretends s/he can tell a woman "at some point" you must be forced to stay pregnant is a defender of slavery.
Those two statements are not the same at all and are quite possibly in direct contradiction. What did I not make clear in my requests for clarification? Did you mean this above statement or not?
I presume not by your later response that does not resemble at all what you typed.
Honestly, I don't see what the changing of urine bags have to do with my questions. They only further my suspicions of arguments from emotion. -
-
Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on
-
women who discover they are carriers of Huntington Disease genetics and who learn how horrible the condition is have every right to decide not to impose that horror on their progeny.... many women generally ask amniocentesis done to test for fetal anomalies, especially women who only intend to get pregnant once carrying a fetus to term, they don't want to waste this one shot on a defective or dying brood.... I wrote quickly almost cryptically, but if you were sensitive to women's point of view, their bodies, their rights, you would not need everything explained to you in great detail, just mention the problems solved by abortion rather than the liar ass question, when does a fetus become a person???? I always say when a willing healthy mom wants to get preganant. It is the intent and the desire of the host woman, no fact per se regarding a fetus supercedes a woman/s right......congratulations if you are expecting..... I hope you and your spouse have a fully informed and un-eventful pregnancy, getting the best of care so that her health is maximized in a dangerous condition.....watch out for gestational diabetes, weight gain in excess of projected weight for "her" height and stature may be due to diabetes.... I hope that your genetic family history and her genetic family history has no problems that cause you to make a disappointing change of decision from wanting a child to aborting a fetus.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Reggie on
-
Okay, really?
the sterile "debate" point of viability is moot
It is?
her doctor/s are ethical people
They are?
If amnio or other diagnostics or family history becomes known to a willing pregnant mom, you really want to deprive her of her choice not to pass on this deadly genetic disease that makes you a vegetable by age 40?
What about healthy babies? -
-
Permalink Reply by S S Tragus on -
Stumbled across an article, now half a year old, but still very relevant. Find it here.
It is a moving article about people of conscience taking sides and not just being fence-sitters, but it is really too bad that he still references the bible. As long as people rely on 'sacred' texts, it is always only a matter of reading selectively and of interpreting the selection(s) according to your pre-existing leanings.
We need to, as I've written elsewhere, grow up as a species and learn to stand on our own feet, think through our own issues, solve our own problems, rather than relying upon ancient and outdated texts and the people and institutions who would help us interpret them. -
-
Permalink Reply by Matthew Bowler on -
Thanks for your thoughts. While it may be necessary to have a legal method for abortions it might be fair to mention alternatives. I think it is imperative that impregnation be referred to as the worst STD you can possibly get.
The best thing anyone can do is to promote self responsibility. Abortion is a difficult decision and has lasting effects on people who go through with it. People should know the risks and consequences before they put themselves into a position that they have to contemplate this issue in the first place. Conspiracy theorists have said that the government supports forcing equality in the market place so that women do not raise their family. Why are there so many stupid people? Because kids are being raised by reality T.V.
I knew a girl who had 7 abortions and asked me what she should do with the eighth. It's disgusting.
There is another aspect that you do not consider.. besides legal and illegal there is the matter of federalism. I think abortion issues would be better handled at a smaller level than the Federal Gov. Abortions while sometimes necessary are not a positive experience. State and locally funded alternatives could help to reduce them. If there are not better alternatives.. by all means.. do what you gotta do. -
-
Permalink Reply by Kristen Powell on -
Welcome to T/A, friend. And your comment was interesting. But why did your friend choose to have so many abortions if they weren't positive experiences?
-
-
Permalink Reply by Matthew Bowler on
-
She couldn't stop the incubus? She cried when she told me she was pregnant again. Did I side with her and tell her it was ok? Nope. It's not ok. She used the fact she could get pregnant to try to keep who ever she was dating around. After 7 times, maybe she would have tried not getting pregnant, loose some weight and try to improve her life and not depend on some asshole. I'm ok with Atheism really, just not when it is used to justify thoughtlessness. What I like about this web site is the first word... "THINK". Think about what you are doing before you do it, talk to others, make plans, take responsibility for your actions, if you make a mistake learn from it and live the best life you can!
-
-
Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Sarah Homan on -
So are you of the opinion that pregnancy and childbirth should be a punishment to "teach her a lesson", a punishment exclusively for women for having sex?
And if your "friend" to whom you are referring already has a weight problem, has it crossed your mind she might have tried everything within her limited resources to do something about, and that forcing her to remain pregnant when she doesn't want to be is not going to do anything except maybe permanently traumatize her and give her even MORE of a weight problem and totally trash her body beyond repair — if she survives the pregnancy and birth?
What's not OK here is that religion is used to justify and legitimize the conscription of women into childbirth chattel slavery.
What's not OK is a very real lack of access to affordable reliable contraception and tubal ligation.
What is not OK here is that Christians get to impose their beliefs on others' bodies without any thought beyond controlling others (namely women). That is what is truly not OK.
I'm sorry, but my pussy is for ME because it's MINE. It's a "face-parking-zone", not a "ruin-my-body-for-a-baby" zone. It is not for anyone else to own and control as if my body, in whole or part, were their property. No one, especially a man whose body this will never happen to, has the right to force something upon me what is tantamount to torture that wouldn't even be legal at Guantanamo. -
-
Permalink Reply by Matthew Bowler on
-
Don't put words in my mouth. I don't want to control anyone. I want women (and men for that matter) to have control of themselves and strive to improve their own moral fiber and happiness. You sound like you are in control of yourself, congrats.
I could not help her. She wasn't my "friend". She was a complete out of control loser even by her own standards. My point was not that she should or should not go through with the pregnancy but that there is most likely a better way for her to live her life and she should give thought to alternatives to her life style.
Hmm... never heard of that.. does tubal ligation cost less than 8 abortions? Learn something new every day. -
-
Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Sarah Homan on
-
A tubal ligation costs over ten thousand dollars the last time I checked (several years ago). I am sure that what she paid for 7 or 8 abortions does not come close to that.
I don't know where you live, but doctors in PA will NOT do a tubal ligation unless the woman requesting it is over age 35 AND already has at least two children. So a young woman in PA who KNOWS she never wants to go through pregnancy and childbirth cannot get this procedure done, even if she's got the money to afford it.
An IUD costs upwards of $700 — might as well be a million if you cannot come up with the $700 upfront all at one clip. Title X monies which fund Planned Parenthood do not cover the Mirena IUD in any Planned Parenthood in Pennsylvania, but a special Medicaid one-shot grant does. That's how I got mine and I had to travel to get it. Tubal ligations are not covered at all here.
Many rural areas of my state have NO Planned Parenthood clinics to serve poor/uninsured/under-insured women at all. I live in such a region. When you're so poor you can't even afford a car, let alone the gas and tolls to travel, getting access to reliable contraception is no better for poor women where I live than it was during the pre-Roe days. Access to abortion — same thing. Just as bad as pre-Roe days. Unless you've got money and if you live in a big city like Philadelphia.
Oh, and local pharmacies (which are few and far between in rural areas) frequently refuse to stock and sell Plan B. So emergency contraception is also mission impossible to get in many areas. Because of pharmacists' right to refuse to do their job in the name of their "freedom of religion." -
-
Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on
-
if you really want to see people behaving responsibly, train parents and kids to know facts at age 2 and 5 and 10 age appropriate sex ed.... no mysteries, no religions, full equalities and total non-violence taught pro-actively..... instead we have wage slavery and horribly low minimum wage laws, no health insurance for all but the extremely poor women, sans Hyde Amendment funding and the Medicare crowd that never gets pregnant at age 65.... we have a Roman Catholic crime Cosa Nostra which bans condoms, pills and abortion, the alleged Holy See full veto power over world wide condom distribution by the United Nations EFFECTIVELY CAUSING DEATH by HIV, stds and more unwanted pregnancies....get these gangster Nazi popes out of bedrooms and political circles and you shall see a huge drop in total number of abortions, a near zero population growth and slightly more than one live birth per female world wide....
-
What's new today
Forum
Do Men have the right to a "financial abortion"
Started by Adam in Small Talk. Last reply by Belle Rose 3 minutes ago. 114 Replies 0 Likes
Blog Posts
Why Respect Relgion - A Post From FB.
Posted by Robert Karp on May 21, 2013 at 10:34am 2 Comments 0 Likes
Events
Services we love
Check out our new mobile/tablet version of Think Atheist! www.ThinkAtheist.com/m
© 2013 Created by Morgan Matthew.
