Botched abortion kills both mother & baby

I have written only a handful of columns that required fighting back the tears. This is one of them.

I got a call last Thursday from a colleague-in-arms asking me for help. He wanted me to write the story I am about to tell because it has been buried by a conspiratorial level of silence rooted in political and media bias.

This is the story about an incredibly loving young girl named Christin. A very active high-school graduate and a beloved member of her softball team and community, she was sweet beyond the norm as so often is the case for children with her diagnosis. She had Down syndrome. (I have heard it said, anecdotally, the extra chromosome which characterizes Trisomy 21, encodes for love. For those of you blessed enough to know anyone with Down syndrome, you will likely agree.)

There is simply something about these gifted children that reminds us all about what really matters in life no matter how busy and how complicated our lives appear. Sen. Brownback, R-Kan., made just that point last week on the third day of hearings on the nomination of Judge Roberts.

He spoke on the effects of Roe vs. Wade and on children diagnosed with a disability while still in the womb. Specifically, the records show that 80-90 percent of all children diagnosed with DS are killed. One tragedy to this statistic beyond the obvious taking of life is that waiting lists of people exist to adopt these children. These deaths are a great loss not only to the mother and family, but society as a whole. By way of example, Sen. Brownback spoke of a young man named Jimmy diagnosed with DS who operates an elevator in the Senate building.

That means Jimmy and Christin were lucky exceptions to the general rule and trend to kill the unborn diagnosed with a disability. Sadly, Chrisitin's luck unexpectedly ran out this past year when she was not only sexually assaulted in January of this year, but remarkably became pregnant. No one seems sure of the occurrence that young women diagnosed with DS become pregnant. According to the experts I consulted, the numbers are likely too rare for an official count. One thing is sure, of those becoming pregnant, complications are likely to exist.

In Christin's case, she was taken by her family at 28 weeks pregnant to Wichita, Kan., to the infamous abortion clinic of Dr. George Tiller. At that time, a drug was administered to kill the baby and another drug to open the cervix for delivery or removal of the dead baby. After starting the procedure, which normally takes 3-4 days, Christin was sent to a local hotel to begin her labor.

Somewhat surprisingly, she returned to the clinic the next day, the abortion procedure was completed and she was once again told to return to her hotel room. Immediately her condition began to deteriorate. When she returned to the clinic, her symptoms were misdiagnosed as dehydration. She was given an IV and again sent back to her hotel where she began having episodes of vomiting and unconsciousness. She was advised to return to the clinic where she became unresponsive. By this time Christin was in serious trouble. According to one doctor who reviewed her autopsy report, she was "bleeding and oozing from every orifice of her body."

A clinic employee called 911. More worried abut the clinics image than Christin, she begged the dispatcher to turn off the lights or sirens of the ambulance. The ambulance arrived and took Christin to the emergency room at Wesley Medical Center, but it was too late. Christin died. According to the medical examiner's report, her horrifying and painful death was a direct result of the abortion. What's worse, it could have been prevented if not for the misdiagnosis and slow response of clinic staff.

I really must wonder how much she understood of what was happening to her during those painful and frightening hours and days leading to her death and the death of her baby. But without any coverage from the news, no outcry from her parents or the public, Christin is now dead. This sweet and precious little girl was sexually assaulted, her baby was killed (likely without her consent) then she herself suffered and died a brutal and painful end.

God help us for not protecting the most precious and vulnerable among us. I can only repeat the questions asked by Sen. Brownback: "What does that do to us? What does that say about us?"

The web link:

http://www.peopleforlife.org/bolton.html

Contains what Blackmum ruled and other justices concurred with with Justices White and Rehnquist dissenting.

Roe v. Wade made abortion legal.

What Doe v. Bolton argued was that there were a number of restrictions on abortion in Georgia that the Roe v. Wade ruling did not address.

Basically, putting restrictions on abortion (in the case of Doe v. Bolton), the plaintiffs alleged that the Georgia statues were unconstitional, but were not addressed by Roe v. Wade.

There were a number of restrictions listed:

1. Person must be a resident of Georgia

2. Physician must approve the abortion

3. That those performing the abortion could dissent from it based on religious convictions.

But if you understand that Doe v. Bolton, addressed any restrictions on abortion, then that is where throughout the nine months of the pregnancy comes from.

A Freeper lawyer with a background in constitutional law could describe it better.

I have no legal background, but I believe that where the basis for the full nine months of the pregnancy comes from.

Basically, saying the baby is now viable (live outside the womb), would be considered a restriction.

Incidentally, Sandra Canoe, the Doe of Doe v. Bolton, never wanted an abortion. Some attorneys approached saying if she would sign these papers, they would get children returned (who was taken by the state of Georgia). She was pregnant at the time, but she was never informed of what this about, and was asked if she wanted an abortion, but she said no.

She was unaware that they were using her to push this decision through.

But the key point is that Roe v. Wade made abortion legal, and Doe v. Bolton addressed the issue of placing restrictions on abortion (which Roe v. Wade did not address).

It may be as clear as mud, but this is the best explanation I can give, and since I am not a constitutional lawyer, I could be wrong.

Privacy was another aspect of this ruling.

However, it may be that there were about 37 million abortions by that time, and 10 million women that had abortions might have had damage from the abortion procedure.

Those statistics, unless they go back to 1980, are not very meaningful.

You cannot exclude abortion as a factor in the death during childbirth.

That was something that Mark Crutcher found was true at the CDC during the Clinton years -- manipulation of statistics.

You did provide a reference, granted, but I personally do not buy into the mortality rate, unless there is specific data on those women who died during childbirth. If those women had previously had an abortion, and the childbirth death was due to a previous abortion, that must be annoted to make the statistics clear.

Without any stats, then things like ecotopic pregnancies that cause deaths are not considered -- especially since it has been found that the scraping of the womb by some abortion procedures has been found as a cause of ecotopic pregnancies.

It is sort of like saying that a particular intersection is more lethal than another one, without providing background info.

One intersection might be close to a bar, and it might be the result of drunk drivers running redlights, as an example of what can go wrong with just raw numbers.

And what you are saying is what Mark Crutcher found out was going on at the CDC -- if a woman died as a result of complications of a previous abortion during childbirth -- it was ruled as a death caused by childbirth -- not by the previous abortion.

It is just too simple a way to look at numbers.

You wrote: "The maternal mortality rate is six times higher during natural childbirth than from an abortion."

Having done some extra reading on this topic, I must inform you that this statistic (wherever you got it from) is very misleading.

On one level, it can be argued that abortion is physically safer to the mother than live birth, because the majority of abortions in this country are performed before the 9th weekof pregnancy, when killing the tiny developing baby and removing his or her physical remains from the mother's body, is a relatively rapid and simple procedure, compared to labor and delivery at term.

What the statistic conceals, though, is that in a country like the USA, where almost all birthgiving women have access to modern obstetrics, maternal death is very rare; and a percentage of those deaths are related to complications caused by previous abortions.

Some complications of abortion reveal themselves days, months and even as much as 10-15 years later; and --- here's the kicker ----some of them produce complications in later pregnancy and childbirth. A few you'd want to look at:

Infection, especially pelvic inflammatory disease or PID.

Perforation of uterus. During suction, D&C and D&E abortions, the abortionist is operating blindly, by sense of feel. If he manipulates the surgical instrument too easily or too forcibly, he can puncture the woman's uterus and even her bladder or bowel.

Embolisms. An embolism is an obstruction of a blood vessel by a foreign substance such as air, fat, tissue, or blood clot. Childbirth is a normal process, and the body is well prepared for the birth of the child and the separation and expulsion of the placenta. Surgical abortion is an abnormal process and slices the unripe placenta from the wall of the uterus into which its roots have grown.

In a study done by abortionists themselves, out of 1,182 suction abortions, they reported 9.5% of their patients required blood transfusions, 4.2% suffered cervical lacerations, 1.2% had uterine perforations, and 27% developed infections. (J.A. Stalworthy, et. Al., "Legal Abortion: A Critical Assessment of its Risks," The Lancet). Ectopic pregnancies. If the scar tissue covers the openings from the fallopian tube to the uterus only partially, then the sperm will be able to reach the egg in the tube. Conceptions occurs, and fertilized egg (baby) begins to grow and move toward the uterus. The fertilized egg is too large to get from the fallopian tube to the uterus opening because of the scar tissue blocking part of the opening. The baby continues to grow inside the tube, eventually causing the tube to burst. If surgery is not done to remove the baby, then the mother will die. There has been a 300% increase in ectopic pregnancies since abortion was legalized. (US Dept. H.H.S., Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, no. 33, no. 15, April 20, 1984).

Among women who aborted their first pregnancy there was a 500% increase in subsequent ectopic pregnancies. (Chung et al. "Effects of Induced Abortion Complications on Subsequent Reproductive Function" U. of Hawaii, Honolulu)

Cervical incompetence. After infection, damage to the cervix is the next leading cause of post-abortion reproductive problems. Normally the cervix is rigid and tightly closed during pregnancy. However, during abortion the cervix undergoes tremendous stress and is often torn, resulting in permanent weakening. In a later "wanted" pregnancy, this may result in the cervix opening prematurely, resulting in miscarriage or premature birth. For this reason, the chance that a later "wanted" child will die during pregnancy or labor is at least twice as high for previously aborted women. One study shows the risk of premature delivery and second trimester miscarriage increases 10 times for women who have had abortions.

Normally 5% of babies are born premature. This rate jumps to 40% on aborted women. (Aborted Women, Silent No More: Twenty Women Share Their Personal Journeys from the Tragedy of Abortion to Restored Wholeness by David C. Reardon). Teenage girls are at increased risk because they have immature cervixes and "run the risk of a difficult and potentially traumatic dilation." (C. Powell, Problems of Adolescent Abortion, Ortho Panel 14, Toronto General Hospital). In one study of 50 teenage girls who had abortions there were 47 later "wanted" pregnancies. Of these 47 pregnancies 66% ended in defective births, including 19 miscarriages and 7 premature births. Only 34% ended with a full-term delivery of a healthy child.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.