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
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Permalink Reply by Misty: Baytheist Living! on -
Ok.. until you address some of the points leveled at you, this isn't a discussion, it's simply an imaginary soap box for you to stand on and preach without providing any basis of fact or information.
There are plenty of posts to you asking you specific questions that you have failed to acknowledge, let alone answer, and then had the audacity to say I'm attacking you ad-hom. (In a friend request.)
Yes I think you are a douche bag troll, not just because you are on an atheist website while listed as a Xtian, but because of your douchie behavior.
Frankly I welcome all points of view, as long as they give as good as they get. You have failed to defend your opinion as anything based in fact. You just spout off stupidity while moving goal posts, ignoring point blank questions, and generally acting in a manner that made me call it as I saw it.
Being an Xtian wouldn't get you that label from me unless you earned it through actions. I have always, ALWAYS defended the people of faith that come here to converse, because I think they have a lot to offer the community. The funny thing about having nothing to hide is that we welcome questions and chances to express our points of view. I personally came up with the idea of having a forum JUST for theists to express their opinion in an open, friendly manner, so please don't accuse me of ad-hom. Proselytize Point was my suggestion. I have also invited my religious friends to this site for the purpose of respectful discussion and exchange. You can't provide that. You just change the subject or blatantly ignore points specifically addressed to you. Until you start acting like a reasonable, rational voice in this discussion, you will be treated like a troll.... and trolls just get ignored.
So buck up and start answering, or this is my last post to you, and I suggest everyone else follow suit. -
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Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on -
fuck you Matthew and your insane religion, you are not welcome here, your enslavement of women unethical stands is reprehensible and disgusting.. go drink your Jeebus blood and eat his skin somewhere else....Ingersoll always said: "Baptism? It is a good idea with soap." Matthew, your genocidal religion and it's non-extant Jehovah is a monster never saving any of his alleged children from tornados, earth quakes ,tsunami, war, disease or competitor gawd Thor striking innocents down with lightning..... why do you bring your stupid obscene faith here and piss on intelligent people here?
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
FYI, LCC:
First of all, this is a site for everyone! :] No one is excluded no matter what their background is or what beliefs they hold. We invite you to join in all discussions on every topic or issue addressed here on Think Atheist. We extend respect to all guests and members, and expect the same courtesy in return.
http://www.thinkatheist.com/page/about-think-atheist-1
Please keep in mind that NAME CALLING, PERSONAL ATTACKS and EXCESSIVE PROFANITY will likely result in you being blocked or ignored by others in the community, even those you were not specifically addressing. We are here to discuss in a mature fashion. Those that cannot do so are invited to go elsewhere. Mods can delete posts whenever necessary.
http://www.thinkatheist.com/forum/topics/debate-guidelines-for-ta
Please temper the rhetoric. -
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Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on
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you have it completely up side down, the South Carolina government actually burdens women and doctors on this issue, forcing women to "hold in their hands for one hour" propaganda for "fetal development" while making no mention of how a woman might die in pregnancy, no mention of a single symptom of what to watch out for.....
It is unethical for any Atheist to claim it is "moral" to force pregnancy on any woman.
There is nothing "moral" about involuntary servitude, the worst kind that owned and raped and impregnated the "chattels" of brood stock African field hands and house servants.....
your "moral" argument implies some women must be kept pregnant against their will.....
nor does the Department of Health and Environmental Control provide information on what to look out for in any complications post abortion. The statistics are way over 90 percent of totally safe unremarkable symptoms. Infection rates in hospitals are higher than that for all patients and all proceedures.
Theocratic politicians have only one agenda, to impose religious guilt upon women.
ON the other hand all doctors are ethical practitioners totally dedicated to the care and well being of women. .... it is only the outside religious nuts who want involved in women's reproductive health choices who are immoral and unethical in any imposition of their opinions upon women.....
it is the evil Congressmember Henry Hyde, catholic theocrat of Illinois that cares nothing for poor women and many have suffered or died from unwanted pregnancy and are denied care under Medicaid or Medicare since 1979 -
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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Sarah Homan on -
A court DOES NOT MAKE law, so they cannot say that the decision must be left up to only a physician.
There are three ways in which a law is made: by executive order, by case ruling or by legislative amendment. Segregation was not made illegal by state or federal Congress; it was made so by CASE LAW. US federal Indian law [think: Johnson v. McIntosh, 1823] is all based on case law. So yes, laws can be "made" by either US Supreme Court precedent ruling or by legislative Amendment.
It states that criminal abortion law "violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects against state action the right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy." Sorry, I don't see how abortion is a privacy issue.
14th Amendment also protects one from being conscripted into slavery. And forcing a woman to remain pregnant — something which puts her body, not the man's, 100% at risk; something which affects her body and life (ALL pregnancies puts a woman's wellbeing and life at risk), resulting in permanent negative changes to her body not including hours of possibly excruciating pain on the level of illegal torture — if all of this is against her will, thus depriving her of self-determination and bodily autonomy, this IS slavery — childbirth chattel slavery which robs her of her liberty, to be precise. -
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Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on
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the only "criminal" abortion is one forced upon a woman or an incompetent back alley quack who does not use an ultrasound to fully examine a patient before s/he goes inside a uterus and starts scraping around..... the life of a mother and the death of her freedom is all that matters here, your insane religion forced upon women is unwelcome.... acorns are not trees, embryonic development is parasitic ..... there is never an embryo with more rights than a free woman, and none are equal to a woman....if she is willing and she is healthy, her doctors will keep her informed of good fetal development, if not, aborting dead or dying fetal things is none of your business buddy
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on -
What Reggie said about what Larry said about what Neal said.
Well said. -
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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Sarah Homan on
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Dave G, you group-thinker, you :> Long time no see. :: hugs::
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on
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Good to see you too, and good to be back from vacation. I enjoyed the time off work, but a week without net access was driving me nuts. :)
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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Sarah Homan on
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So fucking what, I know a woman who had one abortion to save her life, it was beautiful. Why don't you tell your friend about condoms, they're cheap.
I am glad you addressed that point. I forgot to address it but I really questioned the validity in his case of the woman who had seven abortions. I don't know if it varies from state to state, but I recall reading in my research on this somewhere that owing to liability after a 3rd abortion a woman can't get another one — and this is in the states that still have abortion facilities (which illustrates how practically impossible an abortion really is to obtain for many women across the US). I am not sure on this so don't quote me on it yet, but it does seem to make sense given the fact that being an abortionist in and of itself is enough to put a big red bulls-eye on yourself and your family. -
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Permalink Reply by Kristen Powell on -
He is not a troll--I invited him to check out thinkatheist.com, so he is airing his opinion. Just putting it out there.
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