A Chicago medical center has become one of the nation's first Roman Catholic hospitals to adopt a practice of halting second-trimester abortions for women who change their minds after the multiday medical procedure has begun.
But it's hardly the first hospital to be doing this. A National Abortion Federation member (I'm pretty sure it was Douglas Karpen, whose refusal to remove laminaria got him sued) complained at a NAF meeting that the prolifers outside his clinic were stealing his customers by arranging to take them to a hospital to have the laminaria removed. What's different here, as far as I can tell, is that the hospital has a specific protocol, and somebody put out a press release about it.
While Wolowicki and other staff at Resurrection believe the hospital is saving lives, helping women and upholding Catholic doctrine, abortion providers worry that anti-abortion activists are pushing a woman to pursue a rare and uncharted medical procedure that heightens risks during pregnancy for both the woman and the fetus and could result in premature labor or miscarriage.
Let me get this straight:
1. The same abortion providers who are okay with testing uncharted medical procedures such as D&E and D&X and supercoils on women are balking when somebody else does it?
2. The same abortion providers are worried about possible heightened risks for the fetus? The same fetus that had been slated for death by dismemberment? What possible heightened risk could the fetus possibly face?
"Women requesting an abortion at Family Planning Associates Medical Group have the absolute right to change their mind at any time regarding their decision to complete the abortion procedure," said Dr. Steve Lichtenberg, medical director of Family Planning Associates on Elston Avenue near Cicero Avenue. "We have staff on call 24 hours a day, and are prepared to remove laminaria at our facility day or night, in the event that a patient reverses her decision to complete the abortion procedure."
1. Just FYI, this is the same Steve Lichtenberg who Michael Burnhill chewed out for "playing Russian roulette" with patient's lives by performing risky procedures -- and treating life-threatening complications -- in an ill-equipped outpatient facility. Though I'm unclear as to whether Burnhill scolded Lichtenberg before or after he killed 13-year-old Deanna Bell with a massive overdose of Brivitol.
2. Note that abortion providers expressed no concern -- at least not in public -- about the women being in Lichtenberg's care in the first place. They're just worried about the possible risks of cleaning up Lichtenberg's messes at a fully-equipped hospital.
3. What kind of pathetic counseling are they providing at Lichtenberg's clinic, if a hospital nearby is having to develop a protocol to help the women who changed their minds? Were Lichtenberg's staff providing adequate counseling and informed consent, the women would never be exposed to either Lichtenberg's Russian roulette nor the "controversial" laminaria removal.
4. And if Lichtenberg is so willing to remove the laminaria, why are these women going to the prolifers?
Funny how nobody in the press is raising these questions. Though I suppose I should be glad they're covering the story at all.
UPDATE: Some "prochoice" blogs are making allegations that the prolifers bringing the women to Resurrection "don't care" and just abandon them. Saving Babies Halfway Through Abortion notes quite the contrary:
The hospital shows them it “really wants to be with them on the journey.” With its New Beginnings program, Resurrection Health Care’s satellite hospitals provide the women, at no charge, with a prenatal program and delivery at the medical center.
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