Late-Term Abortion: The Human Side of the Tragedy
Mention “late-term abortion” and your typical Biblewipe will go ballistic. Out spews the fire and brimstone, along with images of a spoiled self-absorbed slut who carries a baby for five months and then casually decides “ugh, I think I’ll get an abortion instead, hey you wanna get stoned?”
The true story is a lot more complicated than that. And that’s unfortunate because the “Family Values” cabal needs everything to be V-E-R-Y---- S-I-M-P-L-E.
In this example, a 35-year-old woman was nineteen weeks pregnant with her second child. “We were so excited. We wanted this baby with every fiber of our beings.”
But a sonogram revealed severe medical problems. The doctors thought the baby would have a 7% to 9% chance of surviving. Among other problems, the baby’s limbs were bent and broken, and he didn’t have any functioning lungs or kidneys.
After three weeks of agonizing over what to do, her doctors told her if she didn’t get an abortion immediately, she’d have to carry the baby to term. She could miscarry at any time, and the baby could be born as early as twenty-eight weeks. The doctors said if the baby wasn’t stillborn, it would probably die a painful death.
So she had an abortion. She said: “He had no chance at life. What we had to think about was how he was going to die. It wasn’t about choice, because the option we wanted — to have our baby — was no longer available.”
Find the fire and brimstone in that story.
An obstetrician, Michael F. Greene, M.D., said: “Part of the strategy of anti-abortion activists is to demonize these women and make them into unsympathetic characters who view second-trimester abortion as a trivial decision. I have never met a woman who didn’t agonize over this decision.”
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said: “These are tragic occurrences. These are usually very wanted pregnancies.”
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: late term abortion, Michael F. Greene MD, Nancy Keenan NARAL Pro-Choice America
posted by Tom Harper @ 7:46 PM
20 Comments:
In the name of God bring back the coat hangers! What we need is a new generation of back alley abortionists!
Whenever one of these morons start droning on about banning abortion, blah, blah, blah, my only question to them is, "Fine, ban abortion and then how many crack babies are you going to be adopting? Who the hell do you think is going to care for these unwanted babies?"
Somehow, in all their pious self righteousness they forget that first trimester abortions are usually sought because the woman doesn't want the baby.
The late term abortions are another story entirely. I can't imagine a situation where any competent doctor would perform this type abortion on the whim of some twit. As you have noted, this type abortion is usually a heart rending decision based on a horrific diagnosis, carefully arrived at after looking into all other options.
The really disturbing thing about this movement is how many of them will applaud the murder of a doctor while proclaiming that all life is precious. So, how do they work that one out?
Rockync: Ah yes, the good old days of coathangers. And of course those homes for unwed mothers, where those godless harlots could sit around and feel ashamed and worthless for the sin they committed. We used to be a Christian Nation :)
There used to be a bumpersticker (not very common) that said something like "Adopt a crack-addicted Mongoloid baby or shut the fuck up." It's amazing, the big 180 these "pro-lifers" do after that sacred fetus is born. Suddenly it isn't sacred any more.
I've read and heard stories about the anguish of people who made a horrible discovery about a pregnancy several months in progress. But this linked article really brought that home.
Yes, by all means close off ALL hope. Don't take the teensiest weensiest chance that the diagnosis or prognosis might be wrong! MAKE SURE THAT BABY DIES! Suck his brains out, stuff his head with cotton batting, and congratulate yourself on a job well done. You woulnd't want the occasional live baby to slip through, or for a kid to have a chance to be held and loved for a few hours before he dies in his mother's arms.
When your idea of "mercy" is killing ailing babies, it's time for a hardness of heart check.
Yeah, we wouldn't want any scenarios like this!
I love these mythical 'hey Sally and Jane, let's all get abortions' women. I've never met one who didn't recognize that it was quite the heavy decision, regardless if it was a tragic situation like this or not. And I doubt anyone else here has, either.
They care about you before you pop out and when you're six feet under. In between, fuck you. You know, when you're living an actual life.
Yeah, Tom, it has always been my practice to hold my judgement of others unless I'd already walked in their shoes.
We have those dregs of society who spread their legs for a vial of crack or a little meth and then end up spreading STDs. Many end up at the old clinic multiple times for abortions and our first thought is, "What the fuck is the matter with these morons? Haven't they ever heard of birth control?!"
Sure they have, but unless you've been addicted to something you can't understand their total narrow minded focus on obtaining and using their drug. They have no room in their brain left to consider taking a pill every morning, even if they obtained them for free.
What should be happening is that these women should be bombarded with treatment options every time they show up at a clinic and we need really tough laws for HIV positive people who knowingly have unprotected sex. Or how about identifying high risk children in the 4th or 5th grade and getting them involved in programs to improve their chances. We might actually be able to fund such programs if we legalize drugs and divert those funds to meaningful endeavors.
Alas, Tom, you and I have been around long enough to know this just ain't gonna happen - too much payola going around, too much corruption that would have to be answered for.
Shame isn't it, man's inhumanity to man?
Pat Robertson, er, I mean "Grannygrump": Did you even read the post or the linked article? Or the quote from the obstetrician? Or maybe obstetricians are part of that godless evil conspiracy to kill fetuses.
Randal Terry sends his regards.
Randal: Oh come on, you've just been brainwashed by the pro-abortion lobby. These loose women want abortion-on-demand so they won't be distracted by some stupid baby while they're taking drugs and worshipping Satan :)
Rockync: And don't forget, a lot of anti-abortionists are also against birth control. Talk about not putting two and two together.
You're right, we'd have so much more money available for treatment options if we'd just call off the War on Drugs and the War on Tur. Never happen though.
I always find it ironic that those opposed to abortion are also the biggest cheerleaders for war, and don't have a problem with an Iraq child being ripped apart limb from limb by a US cluster bomb, probably because they're not white children.
Lew: Yup, that's it. Once you're born you aren't sacred any more. But then, if you become terminally ill and wracked with incurable pain and would like a graceful peaceful exit, your life suddenly becomes sacred again.
Same old story with regards to those "Family values" hypocrites.
Remember stem cell research?
Terry Schiavo?
*Anything* scientific?
That is what primitive minds do: deny reality in order to live the delusion of making it fit their own parochial beliefs.
Nothing new here ...
The wingtards aren't interested in the truth, because the truth never favors their delusional living. They prefer to be like little children, waiting for daddy to tell them right and wrong. That's why the truth really doesn't make any difference to the Chimpleton "base" of monkey-worshipers.
Again, the words of George Carlin: "Conservatives don't give a shit about you until you reach military age. They need live babies so they can raise 'em to be dead soldiers. If you're preborn, you're fine, if you're preschool, you're fucked." And his best line of all: "Why is it that most of the people who are against abortion are people you wouldn't wanna fuck in the first place?"
Indeed, I don't know if these anti-choice jerks really understand the point of a late-term abortion. And every woman I've met who's had an abortion-early, late, whatever-didn't make that choice lightly. It wasn't like, "Hm, I have Saturday free. Will I get an abortion or a pedicure?"
If you want to be anti-abortion, you better be willing to support a woman through ALL stages of pregnancy and child-raising. Economics is the most-often stated reason a woman has an abortion--she knows she can't afford the baby. And long-term research by the APA has shown that it's harder on a woman physically and psychologically to have a baby and give it up than to have an abortion, but you know the Right doesn't want anyone to hear about that.
Mentarch: Good description. Scathing but true. And no, there's "nothing new here."
JR: Yup, conservatives just love authority, a firm, crystal clear pecking order. They stand in awe of whoever has authority over them -- the boss, a parent, the government, God -- ready to jump at the next command. And they sure love to assert their authority over the people under them. No room for thought or logic or individuality here -- just do as you're told or else!
Mile High Pixie: Great quotes from George Carlin.
I doubt if these "pro-life" people have any understanding (or any interest) of what this issue is like for the person involved. For the preaching types, it's just a symbol, a chance for them to carry on their crusade.
Terry Schaivo was the most blatant example. A woman goes into a coma for ten years and finally her husband makes the agonizing decision to pull the plug. And suddenly these Bible groups just appear out of the woodwork, campaigning for Terry Schaivo's sacred life and slandering her husband.
Same with each individual abortion case. There's an agonizing decision to be made, and these Biblewipes just want to put this person in a fishbowl and hold them for everybody to see so they can slander them.
When are the grannygrumps of the world going to admit that abortion doesn't involve babies? There is no such possible thing as an "unborn baby."
Great post on looking at women who choose abortions in human terms.
Whoa, Terri Schiavo... I must be a good American. I had forgotten about her already.
I hope her name is mentioned from time to time during the campaign... Not used in a cynical manner, but used as an example of heavy-handed attempts at government control when the Republi-bots start whining about government interference in peoples' affairs. Hell, didn't Congress practically shut down because of the Schiavo thing?
I know some women who have made the abortion decision, and none of them have said it was an easy decision based on the desire for convenience. In the case of one, a relative of mine who had a fetus growing in her fallopian tube, it would have been a matter of life and death to continue the pregnancy. She had to have part of the tube removed, and there was 600cc of blood backed up behind the pregnancy site. She was in constant pain, and it was a good thing she went to the doctor when she did. The fetus was probably not old at all, and certainly nowhere near late-term... this was early-term, and the life of the mother was endangered.
If one of these Biblical wingtards confronted me about my relatives' condition and the decision of the doctor to remove the fetus and the section of damaged fallopian tube, I would do a very non-politically-correct thing by breaking the wingtard's nose. It might break my knuckle, but it just might feel real good.
Yeah, I get more and more intolerant of this kind of shit all the time.
Libhom: So true. But try telling that to one of those "pro-life" types who think life begins at conception.
Snave: Yes, the Terry Schiavo debacle needs to be brought front and center during the '08 election campaign. Not her personally or course (or her family) but just as an example of intolerant and heavy-handed the Far Right can be, all in the name of "family values." McCain is just as beholden to these fanatics as Bush is, and this fact needs to be reiterated again and again during the election.
Sorry to hear about your relative and the medical problems she had. That's the exact kind of thing these rightwing snakehandlers love to exploit. They have no feeling for the personal pain somebody is feeling; it's just another excuse for them to wave their banners and shout their slogans and get in people's faces.
Tom, and to some of your readers:
GrannyGrump..YOU can go fuck yourself!! I'll bet you have very little health problems except that bed diaper your now forced to sleep with.
I learned in school the Greeks used to hold their newborns by a fountain, and if there were indications that the baby was going to be screwed up they'd drown it....I learned what assholes they were, but I know something like that had to have been incredible painful to Ones "hardened Heart".
Oh Ya, and a special note to ya ole' fart Granny dump.....I am in my early 30's, I always worked, and had to many assests in the states, and to be tested positive there with insurance would have been retroactively cancelled; because Ya' son of a bitch I got Muscular Dystrophy. I've had the symptoms since my preteen years, and have always had to struggle. I could only afford the tests in 3rd "World Hell Holes"!! My prognosis you ole' SON OF A BITCH is that first my lungs will start to shut down within the next couple(maybe 5 years)then a heart attack!! Everything I've read, and feel don't look good, or feel good either. YOU OLD STUPID FOOL; IF ONLY YOU'D Experienced half the life of some of these readers then your HEART WOULDN'T BE HARDENED!
I do plan on offing my self before it gets to fucking painful, or I won't be able to. Yes, there have been nights that my wife has found me, and had to talk that ole' .45 out of my mouth. So fuck you again "Granpa Fuck". I don't think you have much of an idea knowing that either your child, or you yourself have a terminal disease at a young age.....I was simply told to toughen up by my "Daddy" who sounds alot like you! As For Rockync, your right legalizing drugs, and regulation, if it had been done when I was a child I would be in a hell of alot better shape now, and from what I've read almost a normal life........SO AGAIN GRANPA DUMP, I can only hope you get raped by some very large MAN so that Maybe you'll have a little reason for not being so kind hearted!!
Oh I forgot for ya Granpa Dick. I picked up smoking, and drinking. I have learned no fear.......for real because of this crap. I do tire easy, but float when tired, I swim out in the ocean as far as I can without any worries of the sharks!! I drive my motorbike way to fast. I have dropped it a few times; that is embarrassing because I don't have the strength to lift it back up, but Why??? Let me tell you, you old bitter fart I'm facing the samething your facing. Just at a way younger age; very soon the end of something that was never meant to go on forever!! People Die. Another interesting fact is that Granpa Dick and the rest of the Good Ole' Christians that have helped stem cell tech. that could help me and many others; is that over 3/4's of those precious embryos that they are protecting from people of the likes of me ARE THROWN IN THE TRASH.........ANYWAYS!!! You fucking due gooders are helping support throwing over 3/4's in the trash. The fact is that they are to old of embryos to be used in a pregnancy........Hey maybe you could cross the street today Grandpa' when a bus is coming!!! LOL LMAO!!!!
Granpa Grump, Look up Agent Orange in Vietnam. It is still there more concentrated than ever; in their deeper wells...The birth defects are horrific. Imagine OUR service men that were effected along with their genome. Here is a site I just looked up http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/depleted_uranium_iraq_afghanistan_balkans.html At this site you'll be able to see the life you openly support not aborting these children will have wonderful lives??? Just imagine the Grunts on the ground; their genomes are being exposed to this as well....I think that when you go to heaven....I'll gladly be in Hades with the rest of us normal people!!
American Hill Billy: Whew! Tear her a new one! I sure hope to stay on your good side :)
I'm really sorry to hear you have MS. It figures that a third world country would offer more options for tests and treatment.
But you never know, maybe they'll find a cure. Stem cell research is moving ahead in some countries; I think South Korea is the leader in this. There actually are technologically-advanced countries where people think already-born people are more sacred than fetuses and stem cells.
America's Bible Brigade is pulling us further and further backwards while the rest of the world moves forward.
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