Posted on 11/15/2002 6:54:17 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
Election 2002: The Mourning After
by William F. Harrison, M.D.
November 14, 2002
The election of 2002 is over, and as usual, there are winners and losers. The winners are the religious right, big business, rapacious capitalism, corporate raiders, the big rich, the gun lobby, stock manipulators, war munitions manufacturers, those who would rape and pillage our forests, streams, shorelines, and public lands — and the politicians who serve them. The losers are our environment, the middle class, the poor, organized labor, small stockholders, wage earners, those without medical insurance, and those who serve them, and — the biggest losers of all — girls and women of childbearing age, their children, and their families.
More than half the states already have laws on their books or clauses within their constitutions that will eliminate, or severely reduce access, to elective, safe, legal abortion within these states as soon as Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. This is now about as sure a bet as one ever finds in life.
Three Supreme Court Justices — Thomas, Scalia, and Rehnquist — have already voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. A fourth Justice, Kennedy, has made clear that he would dramatically cut back the protections it provides. George W. Bush has plainly stated that his models for the federal bench are Scalia and Thomas, the two most radically "conservative" members of the Court. These two Justices have voted to limit or to overturn Roe at every opportunity to do so during their terms on the court. And if anyone is of the mistaken impression that the "conservative" members of the court will be reticent to overturn precedent, they need only review the Bush v. Gore decision of 2000-2001 term of the court.
I sincerely hope that I am wrong in my negative assessment of the future of Roe v. Wade and therefore of safe, readily available legal abortion. And certainly in some states, notably New York and California, legal, and therefore safe and available abortion will probably continue to be the rule. At the present time, the legislatures of these states seem not to be dominated by right wing lawmakers deeply indebted to the religious right and dedicated to criminalizing elective abortion.
I was a young ob/gyn resident at the University Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, from June 30, 1968, to July 1, 1972. During the first six months of my residency almost all abortions, except for those done ostensibly to save the life or physical health of the mother, were illegal, and safe elective abortion was only sporadically available in most of this country. During the four years of my residency, I saw, or was aware of, perhaps 5,000 illegal and infected or traumatic abortions seen in my hospital — either in the emergency room, in the clinics, or on the wards and in the operating rooms. A significant number of these patients required only minor surgery, intravenous fluids (sometimes blood transfusions), and large doses of antibiotics to successfully treat the short-term complications that resulted from the illegal abortions these young (some no more than children) and middle-aged women endured. Nearly all, with the exception of the most severely ill of these patients, were extremely reluctant to admit that they had undergone illegal abortions and only rarely would tell who had done their abortions. Nor would most of them discuss the circumstances that drove them to this painful and dangerous extreme.
In January 1969, the abortion laws in Arkansas were liberalized and a few ob/gyn physicians in private practice in Little Rock began offering elective abortions in the hospitals in which they practiced, providing that the patient was referred to them by a physician not in the same practice and the patient was willing and could afford to undergo extensive medical or psychiatric evaluation by at least two psychiatrists if the abortion were to be done for reasons of mental health, or by two non-psychiatric physicians in those cases which were to be done for medical complications. We rarely saw any of these patients in our hospital with post-abortion complication. However, those who could not afford, or were unaware of this option still steamed through our doors, and those of the other hospitals in town. (Ours was the smallest of the three hospitals in Little Rock, but it was the one with the largest indigent and working poor population and therefore may have had the largest number of patients with illegal abortions.) We continued to see from three to five of these girls and women in any 24-hour period even after we began to offer elective abortion in our own hospital.
The difference in the outcomes for these two populations - patients who had legal abortions done by competent, surgically trained physicians in a clean environment using sterile instruments, and those done by untrained persons using marginal or even dangerous techniques, frequently utilizing unsterile instruments, or even by the patients themselves — was remarkable. The first group of patients had almost no significant complications, while the second group frequently had major complications requiring hospitalization, intravenous fluids, transfusions, major antibiotic therapy, and even major surgical procedures. Whereas many physicians who trained or practiced before the liberalization of abortion laws in their states or before Roe v. Wade saw the awful consequences of illegal abortions just as I did in my residency program between 1968 and 1972, we were afforded the opportunity to experience firsthand the differing outcomes for both legal and illegal abortions.
When I went into private practice in July 1972, there were still a large number of illegal abortion patients coming into the ER of our small community hospital even though there were three ob/gyn physicians on the staff offering abortion. (To my great shame, I didn't offer abortion until 1974.) It was not until the Roe v. Wade decision was rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States on Jan. 22, 1973, that, suddenly, physicians and emergency departments all over the country experienced a dramatic decrease in the numbers of injured and infected post-abortion patients. As a consequence the vast majority of physicians trained since Roe v. Wade have never seen a complication of an abortion and only a tiny percentage of the 40,000,000 or so girls and women who have undergone abortions in this country since Jan. 22, 1973, have had such a complication. Because Roe was decided almost 30 years ago, there is little or no institutional memory among either physicians or women of the once terrible scourge affecting girls, women, their families, friends, and loved ones when these same women and girls were faced with what they considered a catastrophic pregnancy.
I sincerely hope that I am wrong about what the 2002 election of a Republican majority to the U.S. Senate portends, especially for my patients, but perhaps for my daughters and granddaughters. I am now 67 years old with a bad ticker and, perhaps, not too many more years to practice. But now I pray to God that I don't live and practice long enough to see a return to the days of the ubiquitous back-alley abortion. For if what I have predicted comes true, thousands of younger physicians, and millions of girls and women, over the next few years are going once again to experience the terrible problems that will too often occur when a woman is diagnosed with what she considers a calamitous pregnancy, and has no one to whom she can turn.
William F. Harrison, M.D., FACOG
Fayetteville Women's Clinic
Fayetteville, Arkansas
wharri3365@cox-internet.com
Aside from the millions of mangled babies, he neglects to inform his readers of the statistics for women who have died from "post abortion complications", conducted in legally operated clinics! Here's another doctor's view.
Those who support abortion on demand will claim that the reported complication rate for abortions is low. They may be right. Not necessarily because there are few complications, but because the complications are underreported. They are underreported because there is no accurate process in place today to quantify the harmful repercussions of abortion. The abortion industry has successfully kept abortion and abortionists free from the type of review, regulation, and accountability that is an integral part of the rest of the medical profession. Let me give you some real life examples.
I recently took care of a woman who almost died because she'd had an abortion. A few days before I saw her, she'd had an abortion because of a positive pregnancy test. Now, after an abortion, the clinic will examine the remains which have been scraped from the uterus to take inventory of fetal parts in order to ensure that the entire pregnancy was totally eliminated. This clinic noted that there were no fetal parts, which meant that the pregnancy had not been in the uterus.
This situation is known as an ectopic pregnancy, where the pregnancy is not in the womb, but in the fallopian tube. An ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition; the ectopic must be removed or it will grow to a size that will rupture the fallopian tube and result in massive internal bleeding that can kill the mother.
In any legitimate medical facility, a woman with an ectopic pregnancy would have an immediate ultrasound to assess the ectopic, be admitted to the hospital, and have surgery before it could rupture and potentially take her life. In this abortion facility, the woman was sent home and told to call her doctor. Unfortunately, time was not on her side -- before she ever had the chance, her ectopic pregnancy ruptured, she was rushed to the ER by ambulance, and taken immediately to the operating room.
Had this quality of care been provided by any other medical provider--family physician, obstetrician, or emergency physician--it would be considered grossly negligent. By an abortion provider, it does not even cause a stir. In fact it goes unnoted and unreported.
A few years ago, a young woman about twenty years old came to the ER because she was feeling very sick. She'd become increasingly ill ever since the abortion she'd had about a week earlier. I had her admitted to the hospital from the ER with a severe pneumonia. The following days revealed that the pneumonia was just a part of the problem--she had overwhelming sepsis, which is infection throughout her entire body which had, at its source, the abortion.
This woman died. The admitting physician never reported the incident as abortion-related, nor did she inform the abortion provider of the results of his "care." He was still practicing, without the slightest idea that his intervention had led to his patient's death.
The medical diagnosis reads "severe pain"--the real cause is abortion. The record reads "vaginal bleeding"--the real cause is abortion. The operative note says "ruptured ectopic pregnancy and internal hemorrhage"--the real cause is abortion. The autopsy states "cause of death--overwhelming sepsis"--the real cause is abortion.
There is no other practice of medicine where people can suffer and die from complications of your intervention without your being in some way professionally accountable, involved in their care, and at the very least, made aware of it--except abortion.
Abortion is a horrible abuse of the practice of medicine, ending one and a half million lives every year, yet our nation has made it legal. It is an invasive medical procedure, which in my own singular experience as ONE DOCTOR, has led to the death of one woman and the near death of another, yet its practitioners are not held to the same standards of care as the rest of the medical community.
Abortion is bad medicine. It is bad because it pushes sloppy medical care upon women who have been led to believe that their only choice is to abort their babies. It will always be bad medicine because it takes away an innocent human life. Our nation, our community, our mothers, sisters, daughters deserve better.
Dr. Lenora W. Berning, M.D. is a physician with Lancaster Emergency Associates LTD., at Lancaster General Hospital in Pennsylvania. This article is excerpted from a press statement made by Dr. Berning. Reprinted with permission.
Originally published in The Post-Abortion Review, 8(2), April-June 2000. Copyright 2000, Elliot Institute.
Might I add that women who are injured after abortion, if they survive at all, get no justice in our courts since most of the judges are pro-choice and have an agenda to push.
Is that an improvement? The average veterinary clinic is better regulated than the average abortion clinic. The average beauty salon is better regulated than an abortion clinic!
I would take it that you're a man? Answer this: would you want the products of your conception removed against your will??? What if your girlfriend or wife was pregnant with your healthy baby, got into a big fight with you and...decided not to have it in say...the 9th month? Get this! She can! Legally, you have no choice in the matter. She can still be rid of your kid!
Don't take my word for it, either...there are scores of would-be fathers who are grieving for the children they wanted!
And it won't be, if he doesn't repent before he dies.
Look at Russia. Six out of every ten pregnancies end in abortion; by the year 2050 the Russian population will have contracted by 20%, from 150 million persons to 125 million persons. This is like the U.S. population contracting about 60 million persons. Russia is dying a slow death, and its people and economy will go down with it.
Plutarch noted that the decline and fall of ancient Greek civilization was precipitated by the free practice of abortion and infanticide. Today, Europe is facing demographic problems similar to Russia's due to abortion: the average European today is 35; by 2050 the average European will be 55. This is because of low fertility rates in Europe and widely practiced abortion.
Think about it. If there was a disease that killed 1/3 of all newborn children right after they left the birth canal, do you or do you not think the U.S. government would allocate every resource possible to cure such a disease? Of course! Because a country needs the next generation to survive.
If you want to destroy a civilization, introduce widespread abortion. It does the trick pretty quickly.
3-5 botched illegal abortions A DAY showing up in his hospital requiring some sort of emergency follow-up care? Forgive me if I find that just a bit hard to believe.
And I find it appalling and despicable that a practicing ob/gyn, who is no doubt intimately familiar with all stages of in utero development, can be such an unapologetic proponent of abortion. Shame on you, Dr, if I dare call you such.
Very good point. Having children and bringing them up with traditional Christian beliefs means that we will reproduce ourselves, but the evil supporters of contraception, abortion, sodomy, etc. will have disappeared.
Psalm 128
1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD , who walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD .
Psalm 37
34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,
36 but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found.
37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a posterity for the man of peace.
38 But all sinners will be destroyed; the posterity of the wicked will be cut off.
Millions? Hardly. In fact, minimal compared to the number of live births that occur each year (almost 4 million). The chance of miscarriage greatly reduces as pregnancy progresses. It is 10% at 3-6 weeks gestation, 5% at 6-12 weeks (or less chance if heartbeat is detected), 3% in the second trimester, and 1% are stillbirth fullterm. And if we could somehow add to that the number of viable babies that are aborted each year as well, no comparison at all.
Look at all of the horrific deformities, diseases and complications that routinely arise during pregnancy.
Again, statistically minimal. And how many of those deformities and diseases are brought about by abusive behavior or environmental encounters during pregnancy? Example - smoking, drinking, drug use, exposure to toxins, passing of disease such as STDs, inadequate prenatal care etc. How many really are true unpreventable deformities and disease? Again, minimal, considering that the total of birth defects is 3% of all US births each year. And once more, if we could add in the total number of viable aborted babies, those figures would go down even further.
In many of these situations, abortion is the only option if the woman is to survive.
Absolutely not true. According to the CDC, maternal mortality from 1982-1996 was 7.5 deaths per 100,000 live births, maternal deaths being defined as any occurring during pregnancy, childbirth or within 42 days post delivery that were directly attributed to complications of pregnancy/childbirth. And incidentally, contrary to popular propaganda, the AMA has stated that there are absolutely no instances where PBA is used as a life-saving measure for the mother.
Yet you people still claim that your invisible deity is pro-life. How strange.
Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee..."
I am an atheist who is stridently anti-abortion. Abortion is a ritualized mass murder cult, a collective human sacrifice of the idolatrous and Pagan Religious Left...
Where do I get this idea?
Consider the words of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan:
Part IV. Of the Kingdom of DarknessChap. xlv. Of Demonology and other Relics of the Religion of the Gentiles.
[14] An image, in the most strict signification of the word, is the resemblance of something visible: in which sense the fantastical forms, apparitions, or seemings of visible bodies to the sight, are only images; such as are the show of a man or other thing in the water, by reflection or refraction; or of the sun or stars by direct vision in the air; which are nothing real in the things seen, nor in the place where they seem to be; nor are their magnitudes and figures the same with that of the object, but changeable, by the variation of the organs of sight, or by glasses; and are present oftentimes in our imagination, and in our dreams, when the object is absent; or changed into other colours, and shapes, as things that depend only upon the fancy. And these are the images which are originally and most properly called ideas and idols, and derived from the language of the Grecians, with whom the word eido signifieth to see. They are also called phantasms, which is in the same language, apparitions. And from these images it is that one of the faculties of man's nature is called the imagination. And from hence it is manifest that there neither is, nor can be, any image made of a thing invisible.
[15] It is also evident that there can be no image of a thing infinite: for all the images and phantasms that are made by the impression of things visible are figured. But figure is quantity every way determined, and therefore there can be no image of God, nor of the soul of man, nor of spirits; but only of bodies visible, that is, bodies that have light in themselves, or are by such enlightened.
[16] And whereas a man can fancy shapes he never saw, making up a figure out of the parts of divers creatures, as the poets make their centaurs, chimeras and other monsters never seen, so can he also give matter to those shapes, and make them in wood, clay or metal. And these are also called images, not for the resemblance of any corporeal thing, but for the resemblance of some phantastical inhabitants of the brain of the maker. But in these idols, as they are originally in the brain, and as they are painted, carved moulded or molten in matter, there is a similitude of one to the other, for which the material body made by art may be said to be the image of the fantastical idol made by nature.
"...but for the resemblance of some phantastical inhabitants of the brain of the maker. But in these idols, as they are originally in the brain, and as they are painted, carved moulded or molten in matter, there is a similitude of one to the other,..."
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