Open Letter to Obama: A Personal Perspective on Late-Term Abortion

[IADEMO2004]

http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=3ADD41AB98CEF7629166CA63989F6164?diaryId=2568

Well done CornField

[MountainLaurel]

1. An incredible piece

That shows why no one other than a woman, with the assistance of a medical practitioner, should have the right to make such a decision.

[LiberalFighter]

6. It is outrageous that the state medical board denied the waiver to allow the procedure.

How ethical is that state medical board to require a woman to continue with their pregnancy when the fetus does not have a brain or skull?

[Cerridwen]

9. Ethical?

The only way I can think it could make sense is if the people making the decision view women, especially pregnant women, as living, breathing, incubators and/or consider the emotional impact of such a decision of lesser importance than the "life" of a brainless, skull-less fetus.

Beyond that, no, it makes no sense to me.

[MountainLaurel]

12. That's pretty much it

But don't forget the fear factor: fear that the pro-forced-birth forces will get hold of information that a late-term abortion will be occurring at the facility and bring the masses and the plastic fetuses to the next board meeting.

[debbierlus]

2. Content is gone from link. Why is this an open letter to Obama?

[ljm2002]

5. Why an open letter to Obama?

Because of his statement that "mental distress of the mother" does not count when deciding on whether to have a late term abortion.

Please see my other post for the tinyurl link -- the content is there.

A very moving account, and note that she was denied a waiver to have the late term abortion in her own state. Because as we all know, it is so very important to prevent those recreational late-term abortions that women are always trying to get.

Bastards.

[ljm2002]

3. A very moving story! And a very important one!

Your URL didn't work, had to cut and paste the last part... but this is really important. Here is a tinyurl version that works:

http://tinyurl.com/5jtr2g

:kick:

K&R

[Cerridwen]

4. Link fix for you if you'd like

http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=3ADD41AB98CEF7629166CA63989F6164?diaryId=2568

copy & paste into browser.

DU software goobered the one in the OP

[redirish28]

7. Page is blank. "Unable to find Page" is all I'm getting

[Cerridwen]

8. See posts #3 and #4 for working links n/t

[Bunny]

10. To be fair to Obama, I think his statement is clear that late term abortion would be

acceptable in this particular case, because of the condition of the fetus.

This does not mean that I agree with his stance on the mental health of the pregnant woman, because I don't, it's just that I don't think it's fair to associate it to this particular pregnancy.

[MountainLaurel]

13. Perhaps

But in this case a late-term abortion may not be necessary for the health of the mother, if bearing an encephalic fetus would cause no physical harm (as made obvious by the fact that the author's friend did carry such a fetus to term). However, I think they are often performed in these cases if that is the mother's preference, for a variety of absolutely valid reasons. But because those reasons are unrelated to the mother's physical health, they indeed would fall under Obama's characterization of mental distress.

[Bunny]

14. That's a good point, I hadn't thought of it that way.

I guess I assumed that Obama would not oppose a late term abortion in the event of a severely deformed fetus. I'll have to rethink this. Thanks for the info.

[LWolf]

11. What an incredibly painful letter that must have been to write.

It's quite painful just reading it, from an anonymous distance.

It took incredible courage to open those wounds and put them on display to the world to make this point.

I hope Obama is listening.

[Radio_Lady]

15. Nobody should decide what to do except the doctor and the patient.

Anything less than the full and unfettered choice of the mother and the family is ridiculous.

I carried a stillborn baby to term in my first pregnancy, although the doctors knew she was dead. No one used ultrasound then, but everybody knew. They didn't tell me because of concerns over the psychological impact.

Instead, they forced me speak to adoption agencies about giving up a baby girl. I was young and didn't knew the baby was supposed to move. My husband had left me -- we married in great haste and he thought better of it after just a few months and completely abandoned me. This was in 1960 and there were no legal abortions being done in New York at the time.

I carried almost to term, and saw the macerated fetus briefly after the delivery. I believe the term is "macrocephalic" -- huge crushed head and clearly dead. There was no way that would have ever been a normal baby and other people knew it months before I did.

Later, I wrote a letter to the psychiatrist who decided to withhold this information from me -- I took him to task for not telling me the truth. I wonder where he would stand if this came up today.

That was a powerful letter and I'm so glad you posted the link.

Let's hope women remain able to choose whatever treatment they need or want in these situations.

[PeaceNikki]

17. I have to tell you that I agree 100% with your statement:

"Anything less than the full and unfettered choice of the mother and the family is ridiculous."

I'm sorry you experienced a stillbirth and that the doctor handled it the way that he did. I'd like to think that 48 years later it would be much different. I posted a powerful piece in the women's forum on this topic.
It's a good read:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=229x10212">The Case for Repealing Anti-Abortion Laws

No country needs to regulate abortion via criminal or civil law. Only when abortion has the same legal status as any other health procedure can it be fully integrated into women’s reproductive healthcare.

Choice is a topic that I take very seriously.

[Radio_Lady]

19. Thanks, PeaceNikki. I have to tell you that I am dealing with the other side of sexuality...

I'll be "four score and ten" in 2009. So what and how to "do it" in the later decades occupies my mind mostly. Actually, sex is mostly in my mind these days for lots of reasons.

That is a fascinating document and I read it thoroughly. Makes me want to move on up to Victoria, B.C., Canada, to spend the rest of our lives there. We've seriously thought about it after both the 2000 and 2004 elections.

However, our children and grandkids are all here in the U.S., and we're getting more hassled by both auto and airplane travel (plus it's now so expensive that we are really limiting our auto trips.) We are starting to realize that we are paupers in this new system. We are out of the stock market and reassessing everything; our house didn't sell so we can't downsize. I've never felt so insecure in my entire life.

I interview dozens of women and men on these issues from 1971 to about 1983. The conundrum of "when does life begin?" will never be solved. We do have to hang on to our women's rights as best we can.

[Radio_Lady]

20. I just realized that my approaching age is THREE score and ten... or 70...

Not "Four score and seven years ago..." which I must have been confused with... the beginning of Lincoln's Gettysburg address.

A score is 20, Radio Lady. You have to go back to elementary school, because you were clearly asleep at the switch, at least in mathmatics.

[Control-Z]

16. Page seems to have been taken down?

'We're sorry, but we were unable to locate that page.'

On Edit: I found the link fix up thread after first posting. Sorry.

[LWolf]

18. Use the link in post # 3. It's good. n/t