Maryland’s Path to an Accord in Abortion Fight
The 18-year-old woman arrived at Johns Hopkins Hospital by medevac helicopter in critical condition. Her uterus and bowel had been pierced during a late-term abortion that had started in New Jersey and ended at an unmarked, unregulated clinic in Elkton, in northeastern Maryland.
The surgeons were able to repair the damage, but they were appalled by the woman’s tale of a procedure that spanned two states, a switch to an unfamiliar doctor who seemed to be learning on the job and a clinic unprepared for an emergency. They reported the case to the state medical board. . .
The near disaster in an Elkton mall led to something rare in this era of polarized abortion politics — sharply tightened oversight of Maryland abortion clinics that came into full force this year and won praise from both sides of the political divide. The state’s first system of licensing and inspecting the clinics has already improved patient safeguards without imposing costly burdens, defenders and opponents of abortion rights agree. . .
If the goal is to make abortions as safe as possible, the new Maryland rules — which were negotiated not by politicians, but by health officials in consultation with medical groups, clinic managers and anti-abortion leaders — may offer a different path. . .
“Both sides realized we needed new rules,” Ms. Phillips said. “But we kept the focus on patient safety.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/us/marylands-path-to-an-accord-in-abortion-fight.html?hp&_r=0
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