<p>gla, it is very difficult for me to imagine a circumstance where abortion is the best option, although I’m primarily opposed to abortion after the first trimester. I see no reason for 3rd trimester terminations. I don’t expect everyone to share this view.</p>
<p>I’m a “catch and release” person even when it comes to insects in my house! You could just change the lyrics of “Give Peace a Chance” to “Give life a chance” and you’d understand my point of view.</p>
<p>conyat, I have tried repeatedly to develop a congenial online interaction with you. You seem determined to make sure that that doesn’t happen. Fine.</p>
<p>“If you value human life, how do you justify abortion?”</p>
<p>I don’t justify it; I believe it’s not my call to justify or condemn it. In my view, justification for abortion comes from each individual woman in an individual situation, and the only people who need to hear that justification are her doctor and God. I can’t imagine any situation where my input, or Congress’, is warranted in that three-way exchange.</p>
<p>McCain has been consistently opposed to legal abortion during his Senate career. Obama is pro-choice.</p>
<p>“But whatever, I only posted in this thread because I thought it was important to correct the meme that women don’t die in childbirth in this country anymore because they can just have C-sections.”</p>
<p>No one said that that was true. I just still don’t see why someone could survive a partial birth abortion, but not a c-section, and still wonder what her condition was. There are risks to any procedure, but c-sections are generally safe, as major surgery goes, and have saved the lives of many mothers and babies. </p>
<p>Your friend in Louisiana must have been very ill, and I am very sorry for your loss.</p>
<p>Well the AMA says there can be such cases, so I’m not sure why you have to know the condition of one individual women to accept their position on it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Maybe not in so many words, but this was the post that made me think addressing the meme was important: “I could see inducing labor early, or an emergency c-section solving whatever medical issue exists.”</p>
<p>I wish all medical issues could be solved that easily, but it’s simply not true. And it is a meme. Bill O’Reilly actually tried to sell it on one of his broadcasts:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Since he’s never corrected it, probably a lot of his listeners believe it to be true, that the one or two women who die everyday simply don’t exist.</p>
<p>So are the anti-abortion troops rallying around anyone yet such as McCain? How about Romney; I think he may have changed his position. Edwards? The actor from Law and Order who is running seems very conservative.</p>
The topic of this thread is a particular abortion method that can be used for times when the mother’s life or well-being is in danger. All of my comments are in regards to that particular ruling. I do not wish to enter into a discussion about my feelings on whether and in what ways abortion in general should be legal. My general feelings are based on the simple principle that it’s woman’s body, so it should be a woman’s choice.</p>
<p>“Well the AMA says there can be such cases, so I’m not sure why you have to know the condition of one individual women to accept their position on it.”</p>
<p>I would like to see the ACOG or AMA statement on it, but it is pretty much history at this point, so time to move ahead!!!</p>
<p>So if this thread is only about late-term partial birth abortions, and they aren’t going to exist anymore, then there goes the thread…</p>
<p>I quoted it earlier, and I linked to it, in post #82. But you can easily find it for yourself.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, Jerry Falwell, for one, has said that he’ll even support Guiliani (whose in favor of public funding even for elective abortion), so long as the Democrat’s front-runner doesn’t win. Turns out the culture war wasn’t about abortion after all.</p>
<p>Having read the majority decision in the case, it is quite obvious that nobody is ever going to be successfully prosecuted under this law.</p>
<p>This decision was political grandstanding by a politically activist Supreme Court that favors instrusive government and the imposition of a state religion.</p>
<p>But it won’t continue to be legal to perform abortion to save a woman’s life if Bill O’Reilly and his ilk continue their meme. Denying these women exist is the first step toward making it illegal to save their lives.</p>
<p>But the meme is killing women regardless. As you point out, Catholic hospitals will not perform intact D&X even to save the life of the mother, relying instead on a policy statement that early delivery and C-section will always be effective. A policy that contradicts what the AMA has to say about the medical issues.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t have a problem with the hospitals taking that position, but they should refuse to accept high risk pregnancies, or at least tell people upfront that in a life-threatening situation, their medical options are going to be limited to what the Church approves of, and give them an option to get care elsewhere.</p>
<p>Here’s the part I’m wrestling with. Where in the Constitution does it say that the Pope gets to set women’s health care policy in the United States?</p>
<p>I mean, I’m sure he’s a swell guy and all, but I doubt that he has much knowledge of womens health care.</p>
<p>I don’t see where the Pope is setting health care policy. There are a variety of faiths, some of which strongly oppose the Pope, which consider abortion to be immoral.</p>
<p>SJMom, I believe InterestedDad was speaking about Catholic hospitals with some of the policies that have been mentioned in this thread. Some Catholic hospitals do follow the Pope.</p>
<p>"2) According to the scientific literature, there does not appear to be any identified situation in which intact D&X is the only appropriate procedure to induce abortion, and ethical concerns have been raised about intact D&X. The AMA recommends that the procedure not be used unless alternative procedures pose materially greater risk to the woman. The physician must, however, retain the discretion to make that judgment, acting within standards of good medical practice and in the best interest of the patient.</p>
<p>(4) In recognition of the constitutional principles regarding the right to an abortion articulated by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, and in keeping with the science and values of medicine, the AMA recommends that abortions not be performed in the third trimester except in cases of serious fetal anomalies incompatible with life. Although third-trimester abortions can be performed to preserve the life or health of the mother, they are, in fact, generally not necessary for those purposes. Except in extraordinary circumstances, maternal health factors which demand termination of the pregnancy can be accommodated without sacrifice of the fetus, and the near certainty of the independent viability of the fetus argues for ending the pregnancy by appropriate delivery."</p>
<p>Please note that the AMA agrees with delivery of the fetus if it could be viable. That is in keeping with the usual standard of care in OB and Pediatrics in the US, in all different types of hospitals. I was very surprised that someone on this forum was advocating for the safety of these late term abortions vs an emergency c-section for the sake of the mother. I still don’t see why a late term abortion would have been safer for a particular woman, as the abortions do pose the risk of significant bleeding and DIC.</p>
<p>Catholic hospitals generally do not allow abortions to be done in them. That is their right. Doctors who want to do abortions have to do the procedure at an alternate facility. With maternal complications in late-term pregnancy, that should not be a problem, as there are alternative ways to handle these situations.</p>