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 Reggie on -
First off, abortion is definitely not a women's rights issue to me.
Probably because you are not a woman and don't have to worry about pregnancy.
I didn't say "30 days". I said about a month or so.
Oooooh! Not 30 days. Just a month or so. Really? Is the "or so" supposed to represent another 30 days? Last I checked, 30 days is about a month or so. What are you smoking?
It's the idea that some irresponsible couple
This is the source of your anger, I know. I know many people like you who get so worked up about other people's perceived shortcomings that it sends you into fits of rage. But your own faults are gleefully glossed over and rationalized away. It must make you so angry to think that women will not be punished for having guilt free sex. Man, that has got to piss you off!
"Do you think we shouldn't blah blah blah because of technology we have today?" Straw man much? Come on, dude, you know that wasn't the argument I was making.
First off, it was a female that made that point. But we know how little you think of women, so we'll just let it pass. Second of all, it WAS part of your argument. You were blathering on about how we have no right to this procedure. The point is that it is a medical procedure like many other medical procedure. A clump of cells in the uterus or a clump of cells somewhere else in the form of a tumor. Same thing. Hell, you can feasibly clone someone from the latter. Point is, the clump of cells growing in a uterus may be human, but it is not a person and does not deserve full rights or personhood.
Then there is the issue of post-abortion depression that a large number of women go through.
Christians love throwing this fallacious fact around. First, that is not true. Large number of women? How large? Where do you get this stuff from? Your church? What about post-partum depression that "a large number of women go through"? Should we outlaw birth?
Honestly, I am not a religious person. I'm a full-blooded atheist and proud of it, but I am a moralist. I'm not arguing to make abortion illegal, but I think it's definitely wrong, in that it's irresponsible, making a sacrifice of a human life, and may very well come back to haunt you.
Sigh. Full blooded, huh? How will it come back to haunt someone? At Judgment Day? It's fun to watch you profess so vehemently to be an atheist and let slip your religious underpinnings.
I'm sorry if a moral atheist shocks you. I really hope the whole atheist community isn't this way.
You think we are shocked because of your superior morals? Chew on this. Many atheists "divine" our morals by actually thinking about them. Some are no brainers such as murder or incest. But others require thought. What shocks us about you is not your morality, but the lack of thought you seem to have put into coming to such an absolute position on such a morally gray subject. At least this Sunday you can brag to your fellow Catholics about how you engaged in battle with morally bankrupt atheists. -
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Permalink Reply by Heather Ray on -
right? you sacrifice a glob of cells every time you scratch your nose! this sacrifice of human life you refer to is only legitimate if you think that this cluster of biological material is already imbued with a soul- doesn't really scream atheist to me.
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Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on -
here is another example by REGGIE ABOVE where "atheists" in the same sentence with "Catholics" betrays Atheists..... why on earth or aboard Apollo 8 must Atheists continuously self deprecate our right to be proper nouns? Please, Please please demand full equality in the grammar of English. The New York Times said on it's pages since 1920 the hell with Webster or Cambridge or Oxford or the Chicago Manual of Style and committed to always capitalizing "Negroes." How many more Atheists must die before Atheists get it that we are targets or hate, religious bigotry and institutionalized violence against Atheists and we Atheists must demand full civil rights legislation and equality in every venue.....WE BEGIN BY always showing ourselves some respect, we are not adjectives and epithets, we are Atheists
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on
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I'm not really comfortable being called an Atheist. Atheism is, to me, an unbelief, a negative, a rejection of claims by theists. If it were actually something that made positive claims, then I could see making it a proper noun. I'm a Skeptic as well as an atheist. The way I use these terms has nothing to do with respect or disrespect.
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on -
I'm an atheist, and I consider it the same as saying that I have blue eyes or that I am a skeptic or that I have brown hair. It's an aspect of me, but it does not define me.
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on
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I'm sorry if a moral atheist shocks you.
Congratulations on using the 'atheists have no morals' argument, despite claiming to be one yourself. We usually only get that from fundamentalist religious types. What's next, are you going to claim that we should all be out killing people due to our lack of moral guidance?
The debate over when it is ethical to abort a zygote/blastocyte/fetus/etc is an ongoing one, and depends heavily on the definition of 'a human life'. There has already been one very long discussion on this forum that went over this ground in a good amount of detail. I suggest that you read over that conversation and absorb what was said, in particular the parts about what does and does not constitute a human being. Just having the genetic code is not enough, or you are guilty of killing a 'human' each time you cut yourself shaving.
In case you can't be bothered with reading what is in that thread, let me state my opinion up front. Sentience is the determining factor that I use to discriminate between 'human' and 'grouping of cells'. Once brainwave activity begins, abortions are right out, barring medical need. (Fetal anomalies, etc) I don't know anyone who considers abortion to be 'last-minute birth control' as you seem to be describing it. That is a strawman and a trivialization of the actual position that women who consider an abortion find themselves in. -
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on
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And notice how I can disagree with Dave when he says:
Once brainwave activity begins, abortions are right out, barring medical need.
Without even being an over emotional basket case. And I am not saying his position is wrong, but I do wonder if cognitive science is at a point to answer these hard questions yet. -
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on
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A good question, Reggie. There's also the question of how much brainwave activity counts as being sentient, and how much is just the neural pathways being constructed. Our ability to detect brain activity has improved, but I don't think that it is at a level that it can reliably detect the difference between sentient and non-sentient activity yet. (Alpha waves? Delta waves? I do not know)
I'm satisfied with my position on sentience being the dividing line, but recognize that detecting that dividing line with sufficient clarity might be beyond us at the moment. -
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on
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I might use consciousness. But that brings up a troubling argument of toddlers not being considered conscious like you or I. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a clear demarcation for for the answer we seek on the subject.
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Permalink Reply by Johnny on -
You really don't seem to understand that none of us are pro-abortion. Most of us are pro-choice. Because we believe it should be an individual and personal choice. And the church, the government, the neighbor, or you should not be able to prevent someone else's personal choice.
Honestly, I am not a religious person. I'm a full-blooded atheist and proud of it, but I am a moralist. I'm not arguing to make abortion illegal, but I think it's definitely wrong, in that it's irresponsible, making a sacrifice of a human life, and may very well come back to haunt you.
But it is a personal choice, and woman's right.
I'm sorry if a moral atheist shocks you.
Get off your high horse! -
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Permalink Reply by Misty: Baytheist Living! on -
Awww.. I just realize I missed this post. It made me sad until I read all the responses from the people that DIDN'T miss it.
...and then I laughed.
(See below for what I would have said.)
Going through the rest of the conversation now to see if I missed anything else. -
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Permalink Reply by Larry Carter Center on
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Petey boy, you know nothing about Atheism. You do know how to spew priestly dictates upon women's lives. If you have a female partner that wants to breed 27 children in the next 22 years, let them learn real Atheism, the freedom to think, to choose their own paths, not the violation of civil rights free of enslavement to every possible pregnancy....we real Atheists here do not care what you accept or not, our ethics are predicated upon solid logic, not the arbitrary morals of your gawd Jehovah and his mom virgin Miriam....critical thinking skills are not evidenced by fascist lies against women's freedom to choose....
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