Are They Willing: Part III

Our legislators have worked hard to make it increasingly difficult for any woman to get an abortion. I seriously doubt anyone is using abortion as a form of birth control at this time. And obtaining an abortion is not a cheap solution. In four states (Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming) there is only one clinic serving the entire state. (This information comes from Bloomberg, in Vanishing Abortion Clinics in the U.S., Sept. 14, 2015.) So the woman seeking to end her pregnancy faces the expense of traveling to the clinic as well as the expense of the procedure, as well as taking the time involved. Between the years 2011-2014, individual states have approved 231 restrictions on obtaining an abortion.

WebMD documents the reasons given for electing to abort were: failure of birth control, inability to support or care for a child, to end an unwanted pregnancy, to prevent birth defects, rape or incest, and physical or mental conditions endangering the woman’s health. Eighty-eight percent of abortions are performed in the first 12 weeks of life.

Pro-life groups work diligently to make it harder for women to get abortions. Some women have late abortions precisely because it is so hard to arrange. Most pro-lifers also oppose “emergency contraception” (the morning after pill) or the pill that causes a miscarriage. Pro-lifers seem to find it easy to insist women have the baby “no matter what,” though they aren’t the ones who have to have the child or suffer emotionally and financially or care for the child that results.

There are many who deplore and wish to make illegal any abortion performed after 20 weeks of gestation. The Guttmacher Institute says only 17 percent of abortions are done this late in pregnancy. Comprehensive fetal testing is typically not done until the twentieth week, or later. This testing is critical for finding major defects: anencephaly (severe brain malformations), major heart defects, and/or missing organs or limbs. Only 2 percent of all pregnancies have a major defect. Of those, about 0.5 percent are chromosomal. In many cases, there is NO medical treatment that can save the baby’s life or result in any normal future health for the child.

Birth defects include congenital heart disease, spinal bifida, Edward’s Syndrome, phenylketonuria, Down syndrome, cleft palate, club foot, among others. While defects can occur at any stage of development, most occur in the first three months. They can be caused by many things, not all of which are fully understood. Nor are they preventable.

Most health insurance plans will only pay for ultrasound testing at around the 20-week mark, when ultrasound has been shown to be reliable. Dr. Darshak Sanghari, a pediatric cardiologist and fellow of the Brookings Institute (and Slate’s health care columnist) says, “No matter what the legislators do, some fetuses and families will still be faced with a great deal of misery.”

Please read the firsthand account by Heather, titled “Our First Child; diagnosis: Alobar Holoprosencephaly,” on the site A Heartbreaking Choice. This woman ends her account with, “we remember because we loved, and we let go for the same reason.” I’ve now read three very similar accounts, one first-hand from a friend of my middle daughter, and all three accounts have affected me deeply. I’m so very thankful I never had to face the choices these people did, and I’m so grateful they were able to find compassionate doctors to help them legally end their nightmares.

In the end, I have confirmed to my satisfaction that each case is different, and that the people directly involved (most especially the pregnant woman) should be able to make the decision of whether to carry to term or not. Life is messy. We don’t get fairytale endings. People don’t necessarily live happily ever after.