Wednesday, May 02, 2007
NOBODY ADVOCATES ABORTION
Every once in a while, when hearing or reading about an abortion controversy, the question occurs to the Militant Moderate: "Who advocates abortion? Who favors abortion?" The answer always comes up, "Nobody." Of course, that excludes a few warped eugenicists with a 1930's mentality that favors improving the heredity of the human race through eliminating the less fit.
Then there may be those who just don't want to pay taxes for the care of the handicapped and the mentally retarded, and who resent the huge medical bills for infants born with severe life-threatening defects. But the irony is that those who are politically opposed to taxes to pay for the care of problem children are the same ones who want to force mothers to birth those infants. Or, at least they belong to the same political party.
On the other hand, some of us do favor keeping the government out of the private business of a woman and her family. And, indeed, some of us believe in leaving decisions involving the health of the mother to a dialogue between the woman and her doctor. We believe in leaving medical practice and procedures to the doctor, and not the government.
Most proposed abortion laws seek to put the government into personal and medical situations where it does not belong. Recent court decisions are doing the same thing with certain medical procedures.
It seems that most of these legal and emotional controversies center on: (1) late term abortions; and (2) the so-called partial birth procedure. In fact, from all the prominent negative publicity and emotionalism about these, one would think that most abortions must indeed be both late term and done with that procedure.
Research indicates that only 1.4% of abortions are performed after twenty weeks of pregnancy. That means more that 98% occur in the first 4.67 months, and thus far short of the third trimester. Thus abortions in that third trimester, to which there is so much objection, is relatively rare.
Of this small number of later term abortions, nearly all are performed out of medical necessity and not from preference. Relatively few across the nation, about 2,000 only, require the partial birth procedure. Again, those are primarily to protect the life or health of the mother, including pro-life women in danger. Few doctors will even consider a late term abortion otherwise.
The heads of hydrocephalic fetuses, involved in most partial birth procedures, pose extremed medical risk to mothers. Delivery threatens the mother's life and health. Natural or Caesarian methods also threaten the mother's ability to have another child, according to doctors.
The partial-birth procedure is sometimes said to be "pro-life" because it preserves the ability of the mother to have other children.
Both pro-life and pro-freedom mothers may choose medically necessary procedures for the sake of their health and the preservation of their child bearing ability. Most of these rare late term abortions are non-political. Instead, these are medical decisions, and they should remain free of government interference.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
