The following article is from the Chicago
Tribune. This is a good example of the problems caused when right-wing
Christians get a chance to stack the court deck full of laws that are strictly
intended as harassment to women who want abortions. They want harassment and
that is what these laws get them. -SJ Otto
By Robin
Utz
My
husband and I desperately wanted to have a baby. We looked extensively into
adoption and tried to get pregnant for four years with the help of fertility
specialists — enduring two in-vitro procedures and multiple failed embryo
transfers. We were thrilled when our most recent in-vitro fertilization proved
successful.
Unfortunately, we discovered after my 21-week anatomy
scan that our daughter — Grace Pearl — had bilateral multicystic dysplastic
kidney disease. Her kidneys were not functioning, she had no amniotic fluid and
her lungs would never develop properly. Three doctors told us our daughter's
condition was 100 percent fatal due to the early onset of her disease. She
would either be stillborn or would not survive long after birth. My own risk
would increase sevenfold if I continued to carry her.
We made the excruciating decision to terminate the
pregnancy at 21 weeks and five days — nearly six months. We did this out
of love: Terminating was the least painful and most humane thing we could do
for her. We did all we could to take on the physical and emotional suffering
ourselves, instead of allowing her to feel it. The physician cut her umbilical
cord prior to the termination to ensure that her heart would stop beating and
that she'd have as peaceful of an experience as possible. Her pathology report
confirmed the doctors' fatal diagnosis.
But the process to get that abortion in Missouri
— the state where we live — was one of the most callous and insulting
experiences we have ever endured.
My husband and I had to wait 72 hours after consenting
to the abortion so we could "consider what we were doing." I had to
sign a statement affirming that I heard my baby's heartbeat (a sound that
brought tears of joy to my eyes when I first heard it) and that I saw an
ultrasound (I had asked for more than what is routinely provided to reassure
myself, having experienced a miscarriage in the past). We were given a packet
explaining that we were terminating “the life of a separate, unique, living
human being.” There are no exceptions to these protocols, even for people
terminating for fetal anomaly.
For the rest click
here.
No comments:
Post a Comment